Dry Erase Board

Several weeks ago when I was at work a lady came through my line with a 4' X 8' "thrifty white hardboard panel" board (basically a thin sheet of malamine) that she had the guys in the back cut into one foot squares. When I asked her what she had planned for the pieces she said she was a teacher and she gave each square to her students to use as a "dry erase board".

This intrigued me.  Over the next couple of weeks a few more people came in with the same plans. Now I really wanted to look into it further. I had wanted to get something similar so we could put our grocery lists on there and notes to remember things. A full size 4' X 8' board was just over $13 and our store gives free straight cuts. A 36" X 24" plain dry erase board is about $15 on-line.  

I finally bought a board at the end of a shift and since I wasn't sure of how big I wanted it I had our guy cut it in half.  I figured I would cut it to how I wanted it once I got home.  What I hadn't thought of was that though my cars trunk is fairly large I would not be able to fit the now 4' X 4' boards in. Fortunately the boards are fairly thin and I was able to give them a slight bend and manuever them into the back seat of my Hyundai Sonata!

I used some reclaimed wood pieces to make the frame. I wanted to cut a slot into the frame to fit the board into and because I don't have a proper table saw to do that with I ended up modifying my saw in order to make the groove.

Then I glued everything together and I was ready to fancify the border. I couldn't find any tiles at our local stores that I liked that wouldn't need cutting (Lowe's or Home Depot) and I felt I'd be paying a small fortune for the tiles I liked at Michaels.  So I went on-line and found a new favorite mosaic tile outlet at www.mosaicartsupply.com.  

The only problem is now I miscalculated how much I would need and I'm a whole side short.  I ordered more tiles today and I'm eager to finish up.

I got "tiny iridescent recycled glass mosaic tile".  The ones I got are a fairly neutral color and I think I will grout it with black to make them really stand out.

It feels good to be doing a mosaic type project again.  As I said, I'm not done yet, but I will post a picture when it's all finished.