Old Road Sign Tutorial

My daughter is finding out about the lease on a Brooklyn apartment TODAY! To celebrate - and in anticipation of driving up there to help her move - I've been making some fun crafts and repurposing some things she left behind.

Meyerland is an area in Houston where my wonderful son-in-law Ben grew up. He is a screenwriter among other talents, and Meyerland is the name of the screenplay he and his friend Blake have written. They will be filming in October and want to screen it at the Sundance Film Festival next year. COOL!!!

My daughter loves greens, whites, creams, and lots of texture (and mid-century modern furniture - a girl can dream, right?). I thought this sign would be a fun addition to their new home.

EASY TO MAKE!!! Here's how I did it:

I bought a piece of balsa wood at Michaels for less than $4. The piece is maybe 4 inches wide by about 2 and a half feet long (GUESSTIMATE). I just picked a board that felt long enough. So scientific!

Then I banged up the board to "age" it. I used a hammer to gently knock some dents in it, a Phillips head screwdriver to make a few gouges, and I scraped some horizontal lines in it with a flat head screwdriver. I took it outside to bang the edges on some rough cement and ended up splitting the end. It wasn't bad enough to glue.

After that I slopped on a coat of dark brown acrylic paint and caught the edges with it too. The back is still plain balsa wood.

I used these chipboard letters, which I LOVE, from Hobby Lobby, because they have the simple shape of roadsign letters.

I wanted to trace the letters and make them even as well, so this was my solution. Regular tape is low tack and easy to move around while I was trying to make the letters spread out evenly.

Once I got the letters spaced out, I traced around each one with a pencil and used a cream (antique white) acrylic paint to fill in the letters. The easiest way to do this for me is to use a small flat artist brush. I dipped the brush in the paint, turned it sideways, and brushed inward from the pencil edge to the center of the letter. I turned the sign upside down to paint the other half of the letter.

DON'T WORRY if the letters aren't absolutely perfect - mine aren't either. My favorite grandma saying is "IT WON'T BE NOTICED ON A GALLOPING HORSE."

After I painted the letters, I went back over the brown with a dark avocado green. I left some brown showing around some of the letters because I didn't want to be perfect on them.

Next step: blurry sanding. I used a few sheets of sandpaper and sanded the heck out of the wood. I should have put a wood block or something inside the sandpaper; I was rubbing so hard my fingers were burning (TWSS). I wanted to sand enough paint off to show the brown paint through the green and cream.

Almost done! I wiped off the sandpaper with a damp paper towel, and then I applied some antiquing glaze. Love this stuff!

I brushed it on quickly, not worrying if I got it on every single centimeter.

I then learned how difficult it is to take an action shot by yourself. This is the end of the board after I wiped the glaze with a damp paper towel. I only left the glaze on a couple of minutes while I went to get the damp paper towel. It filled in the cracks nicely.

At this point you could coat it with a sealant to protect it. I would make it matte to keep the antique look. You could do this with any color combination, including, say gray and white (or aqua and red, yum!)

And that, my dears, is that. The simplest project I've done for my NYC-bound girl and her wonderful husband!

I'm linking to:

Trendy Treehouse

The Power of Paint  at Domestically Speaking

Whatever Goes Wednesday  at Someday Crafts

Show and Tell  at Blue Cricket Design

Get Your Craft On Tuesday at Today's Creative Blog