Clip Art is Not Always Evil

At our annual museum fundraiser we needed a cheap and bold way to decorate out Great Hall. The title of the event was "Treasures from the Vault" and the theme was Indiana Jones-ish in nature.

I purchased a Dover book called "Design Motifs of Ancient Mexico" and brought in some JPGs to PartsWorks using the tracing tool. I machined the images from 1/2" blue insulating foam, then hit the finished product with an 18" paint roller to darken the high points. Here is our test:

Here is the finished product the night of the event. Each column was uniquely decorated with a surround of the "mushroom" light, a vertical, element, and a squarish base treatment. No two alike images were used. Archways over doors and facades for the registration desk were also created.

Total cost: $12 for the book, $150 in blue sheet foam, $40 in 3M "Command" removable adhesive strips. My time on the project was probably more than I wanted to spend (computer work plus time on the machine was about 40 hours over a period of 2 months) but it gave me the opportunity to learn a great deal.