Step 1 : Design

When I first started out making my display, I decided on using a large board 7x4 foot, which I would drill to take the lights and also paint with an image so there would be a christmas scene during the day.

Having miserably failed art at school, the challenge for me was how to design the scene and then how to scale it up and transfer it onto the board.

Clip art came to the scene and cut and paste enabled the design to be readily done.

Step 2 : Scale Up


This was achieved very simply. Once I was satisfied with the design, I printed it onto an overhead transparency and then positioned an overhead projector in front of the board to get the correct scale.

Painting it up was an easy next step, as all I had to do was follow the image whcih was now exactly the right shape and size. The job was completed by drilling the holes for the lights.

The picture is not very good as there is an overhang on the house which casts a shadow.

You can readily adapt this technique for making large templates for wire framed objects etc.