Looking for a solar lit acrylic, plastic, whatever sheet

July 13, 2013 2:01 PM

I bought a number address plaque from Etsy and I love it. However, the wall it is mounted to is blue, and consequently it is pretty difficult to read the sign from the street. I'd love to mount something behind it to solve this problem.

Here is an example of the plaque. Ideally I could cut a sheet of outdoor sturdy plastic or acrylic and simply adhere it to the back of the plaque -- since the plaque gaps from the wall this wouldn't require me to remove it to do so. I'd love it even more if I could light it somehow -- and most of all if it were solar-lit and came on at night. I have a lot of other solar lights in the yard and they don't have to be that bright to be a great accent.

I'm open to some DIY but all I can find are huge sheets of edge-lit plastic for neon signage and the like. I'm sure the problem is that I'm googling the wrong terms but apparently I need some help learning the right ones. Thanks!

posted by cacophony to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

Best answer: At home centres you can find 2x2 and 2x4 plastic sheet intended to cover lighting fixtures in the drop ceiling section. Different types are available. To cut, score with the appropriate tool and snap or have them chop it to the size of your sign. Use carpet tape to stick it on the back. Then put solar or garden light fixtures on a timer behind each number.
posted by seanmpuckett at 3:37 PM on July 13, 2013

Best answer: To simply make it easier to read, order a piece of white/whatever color acrylic. (I usually use Tap Plastics.) MAke sure it's more than wide enough to cover the backs of the numbers, and epoxy it in place.

Lighting it up would be a doable DIY project, there are tons of ways to do it. Probably the easiest would be to do somethign similar to the above, but use their 60% sign white arcylic which lets light through, then get a standard solar path light and mount it behind to illuminate the acrylic from behind.
posted by Ookseer at 3:41 PM on July 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I would personally have the acrylic cut to an inch or two larger than the sign, drill the corners to match, mount it to the wall, and mount the sign overtop—that way you don't lose the cutout/depth/shadow effect. For lighting you could either put a solar powered sconce light above the sign, or a ground-level spotlight underneath.
posted by wreckingball at 5:19 PM on July 13, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks, these are all great suggestions and I am now pointed in the right direction!
posted by cacophony at 8:47 AM on July 14, 2013