You know all of those pretty wooden signs that we see at Hobby Lobby, Homegoods, Target, and pretty much everywhere else?! Well it is super easy to create your own version! Plus, the price to create your own wooden sign is a fraction of the cost of buying one! So, if you would like to see how to make a wooden sign of your own, just keep reading!
How To Make Your Own Wooden Sign – What You Need!
- Wood
- Print out of the design you want to put on your sign (make sure it’s printed backward)
- Brush Pen (Sharpie would work as well)
- Tape
- Paintbrush
- Water
- Paper towel
What To Do
Pick A Design!
The very first thing that you need to do is find a design that you would like to transfer to the wooden sign! I created my design in Procreate on the iPad, but you can get your design from anywhere you like! After you find a design that you like, it’s time to print it out! It is IMPORTANT to remember to print your design backward! I forgot at first and had to print it again! You do this so that your design is facing the correct way when flipped over and the ink is on our wooden sign!
How To Make Your Own Wooden Sign Set Up
Next, I like to do is get everything set up, to make this an even easier process! So, I filled a small bowl with water and got a paper towel to get excess water off the brush with. Then I placed my sign on the counter and placed the design that I printed out where I thought it would look good. I did have to cut the paper to fit onto the sign I chose. Finally, I then used two pieces of tape to keep the design in place throughout the project.
Time To Transfer
Personally, I have found that working on one word or part of the design at a time works best. So, take the paintbrush and wet it, use the paper towel to get excess water off the brush. Then paint the water onto the word you want to work on first.
Once you have painted the water onto the paper, take one finger and wipe away any standing water that may be there. I learned to do this the hard way because my paper began to rip, I’ll show you how that looked below.
Next, you’ll want to find something that you can use to rub the design with to transfer it to the wood. I used a Starbucks gift card, but you can use anything you can find! Rub the design, following each line. I would lift the corner of my paper to see how well the ink was transferring from the paper to the wood. Once I was satisfied with how it looked I moved onto the next part of the design. You complete these same steps, painting the design with water and rubbing the design into the wood until you’ve completed your whole design.
After completing the entire design, I pulled the paper off the wood. At this point, the design looked really good! I could have left it like this for a more “vintage” look per se, but I wanted to darken the letters a little bit. This is where the brush pen or sharpie comes into play.
Final Touches
I waited probably about 30 minutes before going onto the next step, because I wanted to make sure that the ink had set into the wood and wouldn’t smear when I completed the next step. I followed the design with the brush pen, filling in the lines. Be super careful with this part! I will say that the design I used had really small lines that were hard to fill in. Next time I will probably pick a pattern with thicker lines. However, I am still happy with the finished product!
How To Make Your Own Wooden Sign Recap
There you have it! How to make a wooden sign of your own that is just as pretty as all of those that we see at the store! This is a perfect gift as well, since Christmas is just around the corner!
Please let me know if you give this DIY a go! I would love to hear about your experience! Also, if you have any other ways that you know to make your own wooden sign, I would love to hear about them! I am always looking for new and fun DIY projects to do!
Until next time!
ps. Be sure to check out these other DIY projects you may like!
