I work in a residential care home for the elderly.  Some of our residents have dementia and some just plain forget what day it is. But whatever the reason we get asked a lot what day, date, and month it is. I wanted to make a large perpetual calendar so the residents could always see what day it was.

How to make a perpetual calendar

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Making the base

All the materials I have used to make this perpetual calendar were free old pieces of furniture that I have stripped down and repurposed to keep my hobby cheap. My plywood was saved from a construction site, it was just dirty with a few screw holes in it.

I measured out the size I wanted my Perpetual Calendar to be which was 580 mm x 530 mm x 10 mm. You can use a compass to mark the corners which you can cut using a jigsaw. 

I used an orbital sander and 180 grit sanding discs to start and ended on 240 grit sanding discs.   For a softer look, the edges were removed with a wood router and round over router bit.

Making the storage box

Not all the blocks are used at the same time, so I needed to add a storage box where the others will be kept while not in use.  In a place like a care home with lots of people, things get moved around and lost all the time.  So I made a box that would be attached to the Perpetual Calendar for the spare blocks.

I used more scraps of plywood to cut 2 x 320 mm x 120 mm which will be the lid and the bottom. For the front, I cut a 320 mm x 110 mm and 2 x 110 mm x 110 mm for the side panels. 

I used wood glue to attach the sides and used a nail gun to hold them in place while the glue dries.  I only used a nail gun so I could carry on with the project. If you do not have a nail gun you can use wood clamps to hold the box together while the glue dries.

Mounting the box

It was at this stage I realised that using plywood for the box was not a good idea.  Because I needed to screw the box to the board if I screwed into the end grain the sides would split, and glue might not be strong enough. 

To solve this, I cut small support blocks which I glued to the side and back of the box and used a nail gun for more support. I don’t think I have ever made a project that has worked the first time. 

I used the wood router and a round-over router bit again to remove all the edges for a nicer look. Small brass hinges were used to attach the lid to the box.  In hindsight, it might be easier to make a complete box and glue the box to the board. 

It is 6 months down the line and this calendar is still perfect. so both ways will work.

Making the Calendar blocks

I picked the font that I wanted to use and printed out all the days of the week and months in the year on paper.  It is a good idea to do this to make sure they fit onto the blocks you have cut. (And use spell checker LOL)

If not keep changing the size of the font until it is correct.  This is much easier than trying to cut the wood to size. I cut 3 x 310 mm x 40 mm x 40 mm on the table saw which are for the months. 

To make the blocks for the days of the week I repurposed old table legs which I square off on the table saw. They were 2 x 280 mm x 40 mm x40 mm. I again used the wood router to remove all the edges and used an orbital sander and 180 grit sanding discs to smooth out all the blocks.

Making the Calendar date block

I wanted the calendar date block to be bigger than the others so it would not look lost on the board. Not having any thick wood at home, I glued some old scraps together and clamped them in place while the glue dried and cut out 2 thicker blocks. They were 70 mm square.

The sides from all the blocks were removed and sanded smooth finishing with 240 grit sandpaper.

I know from past experience using so many different woods for the same project can work if you are using a dark stain like dark mahogany. I did not stain the blocks because I wanted them to stand out from the board.

Adding the shelves

 I cut the shelves for the blocks to sit on, they were 2 x 3100 mm x 40 mm and for the bigger blocks, 160 mm x 80 mm. For a nicer look, you can use a router and remove the edges.  I used a level to align my shelf and added l shaped brackets to secure the shelves.   

The board was stained Dark Mahogany and given 2 coats of gloss oil-based polyurethane. I added decorative corners to the box just to make it look nicer.

Refitting the shelves

The board was finished but I hated it, I thought the brackets under the shelves looked nasty, they had to go. I used a fine needle to mark out the position of the shelves. 

I drilled a hole using a slightly smaller drill bit than the screw to prevent splitting. To secure them I added some glue and screwed the shelves in place from the back into the pre-drilled holes.

Adding the words

To do my image transfer for the blocks I used a temporary tattoo paper which was so easy to use. It is as simple as typing out the info and printing it on temporary tattoo paper. 

Temporary tattoo paper comes on 2 sheets, one for printing and the clear to transfer the image. I did not have enough paper at home, so I used every inch of my page.

Remove the backing from the clear sheet and apply it to the printed sheet using a credit card to remove all the bubbles. You cannot lift the clear layer once you smooth it down.

I centred the word on each side and made a tiny mark with a needle.  I cut the label to the size of the block.

Transfer the Perpetual Calendar text

The clear coat is now removed, and the label is put on the wood.  Get a damp cloth and hold it on the label for about a minute.

(Update: I have made new projects since this post and the image transfer works better if you seal the wood first.  You can use any clear polyurethane first it makes the wood less porous, and the tattoo does not curl at all).

You can test the corner to check if it is ready and it just peels off.  No waiting hours and no messy rubbing and perfect image transfer every time.

If the edges curl up like the image below you can smooth it flat using your fingers.  I did not check my printer settings and some labels were printed in greyscale and others in black.  The black ones look so much better, but I had no more temporary tattoo paper and it takes weeks to arrive. 

I used a black sharpie pen and just coloured in the numbers before I added the transfer sheet. I just need to learn to colour inside the lines on some of them.  An even simpler image transfer method is using waterslide paper see Dog cold water dispenser.

Labelling the calendar number blocks

Label the blocks as follows 1 block has 0/1/2/3/5/6 and block 2 has 0/1/2/4/7/8 the number 6 doubles up as a 9. I gave all the blocks 2 coats of oil-based gloss polyurethane to seal in the temporary tattoo paper. And my blocks were done.

Storage box for blocks not in use.

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