Making a Lightbox/Drawing Board

I’ve just made a lightbox that doubles as a drawing board. I’ve seen a few around and after a bit of research (thanks to SoulcraftCandy for the tip on opal acrylic), I got cracking. The house we are renting has a lot of wood offcuts (and a workbench) out back, so I used that to make the frame. I ordered the acrylic cut to A3 size and used a clip on light fitting and 23W CFL bulb as the light source (it’s not perfect for light distribution, but it does the job).

I used some old screws to put the wood together and went to my local ironmongers, Akerman’s, to get some fixing plates and some additional screws.

I love going in there – it is like The Two Ronnies sketch (if you haven’t seen it, watch the video linked to below – it’s a classic). The proprietor dresses just like Ronnie Corbett and there is the same level of wise-cracking. I asked “Can I have a dozen wood screws like this one?” and he paused, then replied “It’ll take me a while to get them as rusty as that.” I love that shop.

The Two Ronnies Fork Handles Sketch

So a few trips to Akerman’s and a lot of sawing and fixing (those blogs under the acrylic are sugru – like permanent Blu-Tack) later, I have my lightbox.

It’s not perfect, but it’s hell of a lot easier than holding my work up against a sunny window (especially with the weather we’ve been having…).