Crafting with Acrylic Scraps

Do friends and family ever give you random things to make stuff with?  Every so often someone will offer me something they found in their attic or that they plan on recycling.  I've been offered everything from incense holders to lab supplies.  Recently my brother gave me a box of acrylic scraps from the sign shop he works at.  It was a bunch of random shapes that were mainly the pieces cut out from the inside of letters such as "O" and "D".  I decided to use the scraps to make some decorative art (pictured above).  They're just the right size to display on a shelf or use as a paperweight. 

Here's how I made them:

Above are few acrylic pieces that my brother gave me.  Most of the acrylic is clear but it also comes in other colors.  If you happen to have a local sign shop, see if they have any acrylic scraps they can give you.  Otherwise, you can buy acrylic sheets for crafting.  You will probably have to cut it yourself.

Supplies:

Clear acrylic plastic
Black Elmer's painters pen
Gold metallic paint
Foam brush
Felt
Scissors
Glue
Rubber stamps - *optional
StazOn ink pad - *optional

All the paint is applied to the back of the plastic.  Because of this, all words have to be written backwards. 

With a painter's pen, draw out your choice of word or image backwards on the acrylic.  

Once the black paint is completely dry, paint three layers of gold paint over it.  Let the paint dry between each layer.

Cut out a piece of felt and glue it to the back of the gold.  Let dry.

When you flip over your piece, it should look like the picture above.  I also experimented with rubber stamps for this project.  For the bottom piece, I stamped it instead of using the painter's pen.  The rest of the steps were all the same.