Youth 39 – Youth Ministry Blog

Some student ministries have the luxury of fat budgets and lots of tech toys but, if you’re like me, you struggle to purchase any of the flashy gadgets.  Sometimes it takes a creative approach to make a youth room cool.  You may have your stumin logo on the back wall of your stage or on a wall in your youth room painted in just one color.  However, a little bit of work and for a very low price you can take that boring wall and make something that really pops!  A 3D logo.

It’s not as hard as it sounds.

Here is what you will need:

1. Some foam board.  You can find these at art supply stores or somewhere like Home Depot.  If you get the construction supply kind of foam, make sure you get the kind without a plastic coating.  If you do, you will have to peel it off.

Make sure to remember that you can’t use normal glues and paints on foam without some sort of coating.  Paint will eat right through it so make sure you get latex paint and water-based coatings.

2. An overhead projector.  A video projector will work if you have your logo on a computer.

3. A pencil

4. A really sharp knife or jigsaw. (If you are lucky enough to have a hot wire foam cutter, use it.)

5. A really fine sandpaper

6. Rope Light in your favorite color. (They make some led light sticks that you can use if you don’t like rope lights.)

7. 2′x4′ blocks

Note: The bigger you want your logo to be, the bigger the foam board needs to be.  I suggest a 4′x8′.

Here’s What To Do:

• Put the foam board against the wall and secure it in place.
• Project the image of your log onto the foam board.
• With a pencil, outline your logo.
• With the knife, or hot wire, cut the logo out using the pencil outline as a guide.  Take your time, foam is not the easiest thing to work with.
• Sand the edges of your logo cutout to make it smooth, as smooth as possible.
• Paint the whole thing front and back with a latex primer.
• Paint the whole thing with your favorite color.  I suggest one coloring it because the second color comes into play with the lights.  If you have a talented artist at your disposal you can get as detailed as you want.
• Glue the 2′x4′ blocks to the backside of your logo.
• Attach the logo to the wall using the blocks to nail/screw/hang into place. This will have your logo on the wall with a 2″ gap between the back of it and the wall.
• Put the rope lights behind the logo and turn them on.  You should have a pretty cool 3D logo effect.

We are fixing to do this in my youth room and I will post pictures when I have it completed.