Introduction: How to Make a Wall Perpetual Calendar

About: I enjoy repurposing and restoring old furniture and making woodwork projects that are not seen every day. I make most of my projects using wood that is either, recycled,reclaimed and love to repurpose and rest…

I work in aged care and our activities office asked me if I could try to make a wall calendar for our residents. Our residents were always asking her what day and date it is, so she thought it would help them to have one that would be updated everyday for them to see.

Step 1: Find Scrap Materials

For this project I used all recycled materials which were scraps left over from other projects. My plywood was 58 cm x 53 cm. I sanded the board with an orbital sander using 180 grit sandpaper.

Step 2: Make the Backboard

I used a compass to mark an area that I wanted to removed to give the board a better cosmetic look. And used a jigsaw to cut the corners off my board.

Step 3: Build the Storage Box

Because all the blocks are not in use all the time, I wanted to make a box that attached to the board that stored the excess blocks so they would not get misplaced when not in use. To make the storage box, I cut 2 pieces of plywood 32 cm x 12 cm for the bottom and lid of the box. And for the sides I cut 2 pieces 11 cm x 11 cm, and for the front piece I cut 32 cm x 11 cm. I used a nail gun and glue to join all the sides together. I used small hinges to attach the lid to the box.

Step 4: Make the Blocks

To make the blocks for the months I cut 3 x pieces of wood 31 cm x 4 cm squared on the table saw. They should be made long enough to accommodate the length of the longest month of the year. I printed out the months, days of the week and numbers so I had an idea of the size. I used the table legs for the days of the week blocks, and squared them off on the table saw and the final size was 28 cm x 4 cm squared. I sanded all the blocks using 180 grit sandpaper and used a router to remove all the corners from my blocks to get a better look.

Step 5: Make the Number Blocks

The date blocks needed to be a lot bigger than the rest so they would stand out and not get lost on the board. To make my blocks I used scraps from my wine barrel tables and joined them together to get a bigger block. My blocks were cut to 7 cm square.

Step 6: Router the Edges Off the Blocks

I used a router to remove all the corners. I knew I would end up with lots of different colours because I was using scrap wood but felt if I stained the board dark mahogany the blocks would stand out better.

Step 7: Make the Shelves

To make my shelves for the blocks to sit on I cut 2 x pieces of plywood 31 cm x 4 cm and for the date 16 cm x 8 cm. I stain the board dark mahogany and gave it 2 coats of gloss varnish. I added some corner decoration to give the box a nicer look.

Step 8: Attach the Shelves

To attach the shelves to the board I used hinges at first but felt the looked ugly. I removed all the hinges and used glue and screwed the shelves to the board from the back.

Step 9: Label Your Blocks

To do all my wording on the blocks I used temporary tattoo paper because this is the easiest and the best way to transfer images that I have found. To see how to use tattoo paper for image transfer you can see the process on this tutorial that I did using PVC pipe. http://uniquecreationsbyanita.com/pvc-pipe-photo-...

To do the block numbers, block 1 was numbered 0,1,2,3,5,6 and block 2 was numbered 0,1,2,4,7,8 the number 6 doubles up as a 9. These are my completed blocks. Which were given 2 coats of gloss varnish.

To see a more detailed tutorial on this project http://uniquecreationsbyanita.com/how-to-make-a-perpetual-calendar/

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