Go Thunder! Wall

Well, this Judy on a very sad day.  It's 9/11's 15th anniversary, and I've been watching all the tv specials about that day.  I must say I've cried a few tears today, and my heart goes out to all those who were affected by a loss of a loved one.  It has to be a life altering event. 

But I have a short post tonight.  If you have a favorite sports team, and want a fan's room or a man cave, this is the post for you.  However, if you've always wished you could paint vines weaving their way down your staircase, but HATE stencils (which I hate for large projects), then this is the post for you.  Or if you ever have to paint a scene for your child's choir project at school, again, this is the post for you.  When my daughter was in 5th grade she was in a Disney program and they did all the music from many Disney films and I was asked to make the backgrounds because the year before a friend and I had painted the background for Surfing Santa.  So I learned this trick then.

Later as a fifth grade teacher, we have the word silhouette in our vocabulary each year, and I wanted something to set this word into their brain.  So I posed each child in front of my chalkboard, but had it covered with black paper, and I shined an overhead projector at them, and traced their profile onto the black paper using chalk and then each child cut theirs out and glued it to a white paper.  We made a display without names and had the parents come in and find their child.  Later they got to take them home. 

So I've given you a hint.  You will need:  a projector, whatever it is you want to project on an overhead film sheet, a pencil or something to trace, and the paints to use later (acrylic is best as its washable if you make a mistake).  Plus brushes and drop cloths. 

To entice you to want to do this, let me show you my finished man cave for my son after he moved in.

He put programs from all the Thunder games he'd been to all around it.  This was a surprise for him, and I have pictures of unveiling it to him, and the surprise on his face.  I have to tell you it was a sad day when I had to paint over it to please renters, after he got a new job, a new wife and moved to another town.  Boo Hoo. 

Here's the wall pre painting.

Pretty plain room, huh?
 

 

1.  Decide your design and have an overhead film made of it.

 

2.  Get a projector ( I borrowed one from my church for this, but now I have my own as my sweet daughter got it for me at an auction).

 

3.  I put my projector on the fireplace across from this and positioned the picture onto the wall the size I wanted and the location and just left it on while I traced it.  I did turn out the lights so I could see all the details I needed to see.

 

4.  Trace the picture on to the wall.

 

5.  Be sure to put down drop cloths, as you may be messy like me.

 

6.  Then get paints and brushes and go to work.  It took me about 2 or 3 hours and after it dried next day I did some touchups.

 

7.  In the meantime, I wanted standout letters for THUNDER.  I found them all at Michaels, but they were missing U so I did an O and cut out the top.  Then I painted them all white (too bad I didn't buy prepainted ones like I see now)  and attached them with those stick on picture hangers that pull off without ruining the wall.

 

And that is all there is to it!  So easy.  You can do small designs and large designs. 

I'm not happy with the placement of the U as it looks too low or else N was too high.