Price Blocks

The Renegade Craft Fair is coming up and I'm always stumped about how to display items without making it look completely temporary and cheap while keeping the crafty theme.  After doing an embroidered book called Front & Back where I embroidered letters on a cardboard cover; I thought why not do it with numbers but into wood with holes drilled in it.  The perfect price display item: Price Blocks!  

I thought they would be better suited with a little stand since stuff is always falling at craft fairs from the wind and kids pushing stuff over.  I made some paper mock ups, gathered up some wood, and got to it!

Here I made shapes in illustrator mocking up the look of the block and printed them out on card stock for a heavier weight template and more perfectly curved edges.

Here's the wood as I got it in larger pieces.  I started with the actual price blocks cutting them on a table saw into the correct widths depending on the number of digits used.

Then I cross cut the strips into the smaller 2 and 3 digit block sizes.

Half of the blocks cut and stacked.

Then I started on the stands cutting them into 1" strips.

Using the table saw and dado blades I cut an indent in the stands where the price blocks would sit.

I cut those strips into smaller stand sizes for each block.  Then I sanded all of the edges and rounded the corners of all of the cut pieces.

Here are all of the stands cut and sanded.  The 2 digit blocks are finished and have rounded edges.  Still have to drill the holes in the 3 digit blocks and rounds the corners.

Drawing the rounded corners from the template on the larger pieces as a guide on the circular sander.

Sanded the 3 digit block corners and now drilling the number holes with a drill press.

Laser cutting the dollar sign into the finished wood blocks.

Finished embroidered price blocks with stands. 

Two pieces shown separately.

Unstitched blocks.  The color options are endless!!  See them up close at the Mokuyobi Threads Renegade Craft Fair booth #161

You can purchase the price blocks in my etsy shop