Clarence's Catch Phrase

It is a Christmas tradition in my family to sit down, wrap presents and watch the movie, It's a Wonderful Life. It is my dad's favorite movie of all time. His favorite quote from the movie is actually inscribed in a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Clarence the Angel: "Remember, no man is a failure who has friends." This drives home the point to a previously despondent George Bailey, that despite descending into a nadir in his life, his positive impact on all those around him and the friends and family he's garnered as a result, make a "rich" man, regardless of his financial situation. It's an amazing movie. You should watch it. Anyways... Oh right, project description.... I made a back lit wall hanging for my Dad with Clarence's inscription. It was cut on on the water jet out of aluminum and back lit with adjustable color LED strips. A simple project, but it really adds to the holiday ambience.

Required Resources: 3 hours, $40

Size: 6" x 60" x 0.125"

Materials: Aluminum Sheet, 5' Color LED Strip

Tools: Water Jet

New Techniques: I've done some back lighting in the past but this time was a little different because I mounted directly to the wall/ window molding instead of making a separate backing board. I probably would have made it a stand alone piece if it hadn't been for the fact that it's difficult to travel with a 5' slab of wood across country during the holidays (not that I haven't done this before). Anyways, designing it to fit in this particular locale, gave an intentional-ness to its look that I ended up working quite well. It's true that this piece now has to stay up year round, but I think my parent's prefer it that way.

Lessons Learned: The battery pack has to go somewhere. I overlooked the visual impact of the LED battery pack in this installation. In the past, when doing a back lighting project I can hide the wires, batteries, etc., in the backing board. In a stand alone piece like this, I didn't have that luxury (especially since my parent's were remiss to let me make "modifications" to the wall in their newly remodeled kitchen. I eventually found the most unobstrusive place for the battery pack, (to the right of the sign on the crown molding) but it is still a bit of an eye sore.