The Alleyway

One of my flatmates is brilliant at talking, he spins tales like intricate little webs with such a poker face that the truth is indistinguishable from a lie. One of these stories has earned him an association with the name 'The Alleyway'.

Adin-Jenks http://adin-jenks.deviantart.com/art/Alleyway-Stock-164030882

An Alleyway is a place that summons up all sorts of dark images of grime and criminal activity. Dodgy trade deals, violence, and drunken antics.

When we moved into the flat we jokingly said that we would get him a sign on his bedroom door that said 'The Alleyway' we teased him for a while about it before leaving it to rest a while. In the back of my mind I've been meaning to get on with making the sign and surprising him with it. Last week I finally got on with making the sign.

I sketched out a few diferent layouts on paper. I then grabbed a skinny piece of ply and sketched out the shape of the letters on the ply with Pencil. When the blocked shapes were perfect I drew over them in vivid marker to make it easy to see when I got to cutting the shape.

My workspace filled with tools

I readied the jigsaw, for such a small and intricate shape as a word I needed to turn the reciprocation speed down and ensure that I was using it on the correct setting that allows for curved cutting on wood. I then set to cutting out all of the negative spaces around the letters this was difficult at times. I struggled to clamp the ply in ways that would hold it firmly but allow my intricate maneuvers with the jigsaw. At times small pieces of ply would chip of and I would have to slow down, this tests ones nerves, any further damage would result in the shape being unusable.

First paint job

When the shape was finished I sanded it with my new toy, a 1/3 sheet sized electric finishing sander; this smoothed both main surfaces. I sanded the edges with scraps of sandpaper allowing my fingers to get in and sand the small grooves.

After the first paint job.

When the shape was done I imagined how it would look on the door. I decided to mount it on a larger piece of wood and also to paint it. I painted it black completely on both sides and the edges and then mounted it on the block of wood.

Initially I had planned to screw it to or hang it on the door but I decided instead to save the door and just duct tape it to the top of the door frame, this meant that no lasting damage would come to the door. Another project was achieved with a scrap of ply and a few hours of work.

The doorway

When my flatmate arrived home and noticed the sign above his door he was both impressed and pissed off at me. The sign is a reminder of his ability to spin believable tales from lies and also how some tales will stick and refuse to come off.

The Alleyway.