Printable House/Mailbox Number

I've been staring at my neighbor's mailboxes and they look all grand and stuff with fancy address plates... Mine is just plain O boring covered with limestones. So I borrowed ideas from this street number plates instructables: https://www.instructables.com/id/Contemporary-Stree...

and a few other Pod Modge photo transfer instructables to make my own printable 100% customizable acrylic House/mailbox number. if you make the fonts larger, it could have been a house number.

Things you need:

Laser printer printout with your desired image - Can be color prints as well but the color won't be that vibrant

Pod Modge and a cheap $0.40 brush from walmart

Acrylic sheet (I used 8x10, about $4.5 from home depot) or you can use glass ($2.5)

paper towel, some water

Drill with drill bits

Mounting Screws / Fancy Standoff Screws like this one: http://www.standoffsystems.com/files/PhotoGallery/...

Frosted Spray Paint

Razor blade - optional

Acrylic Cutter / Box Cutter / Glass Cutter - optional

Design your desired pattern with MS paint or Photoshop or whatever. I used free online editor like this: https://www.picmonkey.com/

Print it out in black & white or color on cheap thin low grade paper. (INKJET WILL NOT WORK) If you use fancy thick paper, it will make later steps a lot more miserable.

Brush the paper pattern with a layer of Pod Modge - not too thick! one layer is enough.

Then peel off the acrylic protective film on one side then put it on the pattern. Now you can see through it and reposition if needed.

(other Pod Modge tutorial asked to reverse the image but it is not needed because the acrylic is transparent. I intentionally design the pattern to be "at the back side" to protect it from the elements)

Now gently press the pattern to make sure there's no raised air bubble or big glop of uneven Pod Modge. Let dry for 5-8 hours.

Once it dried up, its time to massage the paper. just like a massage, Wet, Rub Rub - Wet Rub Rub.

Wet some paper towel (not dripping wet, just barely saturated) and wet the paper one section at a time. Start massage and rub gently in circular motion to get the paper off leaving the glue and image on the Acrylic.

Do it one layer at a time, don't try to rub everything off at one spot or the image will fall apart. Once you get the first layer off, move on to the next section and let dry. Circle back to the first section, wet it a bit more and rub again GENTLY, I usually repeat this about 3 times and 98% of the paper would come off.

After most of the paper is being removed, the pattern will be surrounded with dried glue that looks opaque. I used a razor blade to carefully remove most of them. (its OK to scratch the acrylic a little, it won't be visible after the frosted spray.)

Then brush with 1 layer of Mod Podge, let dry. Repeat to add 2 coats total. This prevents the pattern from peeling off.

Spray with Frosted glass spray paint until it looks good. At this point, the edges of glue would be barely visible and scratches would be gone. Spray until you achieved the look desired.

Drill some holes in the front and peel the protective film. Mount it up with the appropriate screws. DONE!

I like the photo transfer method because you can actually customize it to print anything! (maybe a picture of your whole family??) And it is easy with a cheap $50 toner printer. No Laser cut, no expensive tools, decent results. have fun! It would be a fun family weekend project!