Distressed Signs
You never know when inspiration will strike. We had a sliding glass door installed in our back room ( hooray!) and had to remove part of our white picket fence to make room for the entryway. My husband threw the old fence to the garbage pile but I couldn't let that beautifully distressed wood go to waste! People spend a lot of time trying to get wood to look like that, and here I was sitting on a pile of naturally aged wood!
I knew immediately what to do with them. Here is the first sign I made :
I planned on selling it, but I liked it so much I kept for myself.
The second sign I made was for a friend who has three boys. The first one leaves for college in the fall and she plans to display a sign for each boy and the school they choose. We decided to use the college font and colors for each school. I really hope I get to do a Michigan State one! ;)
I am also about to make a third sign for a friend who wants to move back to New Zealand one day. She wants a sign that says "Aramoana" which means "pathway to the sea" in native New Zealand language. The miles will actually be kilometers and be the number of Km away that the town in NZ is where she hopes to live. She hopes that seeing it in her home will be just the right amount of motivation to get back to NZ one day.
Here's how I did it:
1. Sand wood down to remove a large majority of the paint. How much you want to keep painted is up to you but at least get rid of the chipping paint and sand lightly everywhere to smooth things out. You can either sand by hand or use a palm sander. I sanded this one by hand.
2. Print out the words you want on the sign. Play around with fonts and sizes until you find what you like.
3. There are two ways to transfer the words to the sign for painting:
- Trace over the paper, pressing hard, with a ballpoint pen. This will leave a light indent that you can paint inside of. (I used this method for my Lake Michigan sign.)
- or buy carbon paper and trace the letters onto the wood leaving a light outline of the letters which you can then paint. (I used this method for the Michigan Tech sign.)
4. Paint! I used acrylic paint and a very thin brush with the bristles in a straight line. This takes a steady hand and a lot of patience.
5. When the paint is dry, screw in two eyehole screws into the top of the sign and hang with a piece of natural rope. This part is optional. The sign can be also sit upon a ledge or be screwed into a wall.
Overall I loved this project and plan to find more old wood so I can maybe sell more than 2!!
What do you think? I'm taking orders now ;)
I knew immediately what to do with them. Here is the first sign I made :
I planned on selling it, but I liked it so much I kept for myself.
The second sign I made was for a friend who has three boys. The first one leaves for college in the fall and she plans to display a sign for each boy and the school they choose. We decided to use the college font and colors for each school. I really hope I get to do a Michigan State one! ;)
I am also about to make a third sign for a friend who wants to move back to New Zealand one day. She wants a sign that says "Aramoana" which means "pathway to the sea" in native New Zealand language. The miles will actually be kilometers and be the number of Km away that the town in NZ is where she hopes to live. She hopes that seeing it in her home will be just the right amount of motivation to get back to NZ one day.
Here's how I did it:
1. Sand wood down to remove a large majority of the paint. How much you want to keep painted is up to you but at least get rid of the chipping paint and sand lightly everywhere to smooth things out. You can either sand by hand or use a palm sander. I sanded this one by hand.
2. Print out the words you want on the sign. Play around with fonts and sizes until you find what you like.
3. There are two ways to transfer the words to the sign for painting:
- Trace over the paper, pressing hard, with a ballpoint pen. This will leave a light indent that you can paint inside of. (I used this method for my Lake Michigan sign.)
- or buy carbon paper and trace the letters onto the wood leaving a light outline of the letters which you can then paint. (I used this method for the Michigan Tech sign.)
4. Paint! I used acrylic paint and a very thin brush with the bristles in a straight line. This takes a steady hand and a lot of patience.
5. When the paint is dry, screw in two eyehole screws into the top of the sign and hang with a piece of natural rope. This part is optional. The sign can be also sit upon a ledge or be screwed into a wall.
Overall I loved this project and plan to find more old wood so I can maybe sell more than 2!!
What do you think? I'm taking orders now ;)
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