Sandpaper Letters II

Assalaamu 'alaikum.

When I first posted about the sandpaper letters I was full of enthusiam and excitement because the project would be my first arty-crafty project where I get to do everything. I actually didn't really know what I was in for and to be honest, I think my instructions made it seem a little airy-fairy [please excuse my funky terms - they pop up from nowhere].

Anyhow, I decided to embark on the journey – what a journey it is!

Here is what I did [I'll insert pictures where I can inshaa`Allaah] – please bear in mind that I did not do all of this in one day, rather over a two-week period (major procrastinator!).

1. First, I printed off the letters from here – actually, what I did was save each image onto my desktop, inserted them into a word document and edited them so that there was an outline of the letters rather than a filled background – gotta save ink!

2. Then I cut out each letter; there're no shortcuts for this one, you've gotta cut each individual letter.

3. Trace around each letter on the back of a sheet of fine (FINE) sandpaper. Remember: the letters must be traced back-to-front so that when you cut them, they'll appear the right way around.

 

4. Again, cut out each individual sandpaper letter – yes, it can be tedious, but stick with it. For letters with holes – i.e. a, e, o etc. – I used a stanley-knife blade to get an accurate cut.

 

 

5. I got an A4 sheet of card (blue for vowels and red for constanants) and cut them in half by hand; a paper cutter would have been useful here, but we use that which we have.

 

6. I glued a letter in the middle of the card to ensure that it was relatively even all round. For this I used PVA glue to stick the letter down, I'm not sure what else would work.

 

 

Let it be known that I've only actually done two letters because I realised that I don't have enough card to do all the letters of the alphabet. This will probably mean that the letters won't be finished anytime soon. Inshaa`Allaah, I plan to back each card with cardboard to make it less flimsy… this will probably lengthen the time it takes to finish these, but inshaa`Allaah they will be.

I hope this has been of some help. Feel free to ask any questions if I haven't been clear with any of the above.

Was-salaamu 'alaikum
~ Umm Junayd.