A Canal Plastics customer spotlight
Every so often a customer sends us a photo that stops us in our tracks. This was one of those.
Dale Pape took our Fire Tortoise acrylic sheet, the molten red-and-black cast pattern that looks like liquid fire caught in glass, and built it into the arch above his kitchen. Then he backlit it with an LED strip. The result glows like a slow-moving lava flow across the top of the room, and it turns an ordinary cabinet soffit into the centerpiece of the whole space.
Best part? It was a total DIY project. No fabrication crew, no special shop. One determined homeowner, a budget bandsaw, and a material that does the heavy lifting on its own.
Why Fire Tortoise works backlit
Fire Tortoise is a cast acrylic with deep, swirling color worked right into the material. It is not paint and it is not a film. That means when you put light behind it, the light travels through the swirl and the whole panel comes alive. The dark veins stay rich, the reds and ambers ignite, and the pattern reads differently from every angle.
It is the kind of material that looks good on a shelf and unforgettable with a light behind it. Dale figured that out and ran with it.
In Dale's own words
We asked Dale to tell us how it came together. Here is what he sent, and we could not have said it better:
"Working with Canal Plastics' Fire Tortoise sheets on my kitchen arch project was so rewarding. This was a total DIY project, and these sheets were very easy to work with. I cut them easily and accurately with a budget bandsaw by taping a poster board template to each sheet. I used automotive pinstriping tape over the seams. They're back-lit with a LED light strip, and look amazing, especially at night. I'm so glad that I went with the Canal Plastics product and plan to use their product again in the bar area of a British pub/man cave my son and I are building."
How Dale did it
Every project is different, but Dale's approach is a smart, low-cost blueprint for anyone thinking about a backlit acrylic feature at home. Here is the method he used.
1. He made a template first
Before touching the acrylic, Dale cut a poster board template for each section of the arch. An arch means curves and angles, and a paper template lets you test the fit and adjust before you commit to cutting the real material.
2. He taped the template to the sheet and cut
With the template taped directly to each Fire Tortoise sheet, he followed the line on a budget bandsaw. His words: easy and accurate. You do not need an industrial saw to get a clean cut in cast acrylic. A steady hand and a good template go a long way.
3. He hid the seams with pinstriping tape
Because the arch spanned more than one panel, Dale had seams to deal with. His fix was automotive pinstriping tape laid over the joints. It is thin, it is dark, and it disappears into the framing, so the eye reads the fire as continuous.
4. He backlit it with an LED strip
The finishing move. A simple LED light strip mounted behind the panels turns the whole arch into a light fixture. As Dale says, it looks amazing, especially at night.
Not a bandsaw person? We cut to size.
Dale did his own cutting, and he nailed it. But you do not have to.
If you love this idea but do not own a bandsaw, or you just want the panels to arrive ready to install, we cut Fire Tortoise to size right here in our shop on Canal Street. Send us your measurements and we will handle the cutting, so all you have to do is frame it and light it.
What's next for Dale
Here is the part we love most. Dale is not done. He told us he is already planning to use Fire Tortoise again, this time in the bar area of a British pub and man cave he is building with his son.
That is exactly why we do what we do. A material leaves our shop, a customer makes it their own, and it becomes part of a story we never could have written ourselves.
Thank you, Dale, for trusting us with your project and for sending these photos our way. We cannot wait to see the pub.
Fire Tortoise is one of our cast acrylic finishes, cut to size and shipped nationwide from our shop at 345 Canal Street in SoHo, Manhattan. Working with makers, designers, and DIYers since 1963.