I figured the next item on the list of things to make for my friend’s wedding was a nice, easy project that could be done in a day. I was thinking that if it weren’t for the two hour dry time between coats of paint, I could have knocked this out in an hour or so. What I didn’t take into consideration with the time frame was making a typo in the initial printing stages. So, unless you’re total muppet like I am, this is a brilliant piece to pass the time while binge watching Netflix of an afternoon. Otherwise, it’ll take an extra four hours to add two extra coats of paint to cover up your mistakes.
The beautiful bride-to-be posted this picture on Facebook.
Now I’ve known her for a quite some time. And having heard the tumble of filth and profanity that spills from her mouth on a daily basis, I knew there was no chance that a simple “Are you serious?” happened after he asked her to marry him. Not to be hoodwinked by an innocuous picture on Facebook, I felt the need to query her response to The Question.
And so it was decided that I would make the same sign for her but with the original swearing included.
Sadly common sense and good judgement prevailed over fun and poor decision making. The desire for profanity was recanted at the eleventh hour and the sign was made with a more PG feel to it.
Now, at Bunnings, you can get the board cut to size for free. So I asked a much-less-clumsy-than-I-am person to cut it at 500 mm leaving me with a 50 cm long piece and a 73 cm piece of board. Once home I sanded the ends where he had cut it to smooth them off.
With the white paint, use a wide paint brush to paint the background colour. You’re going for the rustic feel from the original photo, so don’t extend the paint all the way to the edges, and angle your brush to create the rough effect. Oddly enough it is harder than it looks to get a look of casual indifference on purpose. Especially if you’re a bit of a perfectionist.
Two coats should provide enough coverage to create a base you are happy with, but if you have chosen a particularly porous piece of timber or a different brand of paint, you might need an extra coat.
While the paint is drying, use your software of choice to design what you want to paint on your sign. My personal favourite is Photoshop, but you can download The Gimp for free. It is a superb piece of freeware for image editing. Careful what you google if you go looking for this and avoid image searches unless you are sure no one will be looking at your browser history.
With the page in landscape aspect, I used Lover’s Quarrel, 400 pt for the cursive writing and Eccentric Std, 300 pt for the block letters. At this size, it will print over two pages. So due to laziness and care factor, I just had the words run off the edge of the page. Once I was ready to print out the second page, I nudged them over to print the rest of the word.
To transfer the type to the board the correct way around you need print your words out backwards. If you are using Photoshop, rasterise the type and flip it horizontally.
Time to grab a glass of wine and wait for the last coat of paint to dry.
Once the base is dry, rule a straight pencil line for the bottom row of text to be lined up against.
Tape some greaseproof paper to a piece of A4 paper. My printer kept jamming if I didn’t tape it all the way around. And after a little trial and error, I can tell you that, for my printer, the key is straight, thin edges. It worked best when I used a card from my wallet to flatten the tape down so the printer could pick the paper up properly. And clipping a small amount from one of the top corners let any trapped air out, stopping the printer from jamming.
Print your design onto the greaseproof paper.
Any printing on the sticky tape will not set and make a mess on your board, so it is best to line it up so that you can cut these bits off.
Working relatively quickly, cut the greaseproof paper from the A4 sheet you used to stabilise it and cut off any sticky tape with wet ink on it. Once both pages are printed and cut, tape them together at the back, taking care to line up the text.
Ink side down, line the bottom row of text up against your pencil line and tape the greaseproof paper in place. I’m sure you’ll notice that in the picture my text isn’t lined up against the pencil mark. After I placed the print out on the board I wasn’t happy with the placement and moved it.
Using a card from your wallet, rub across the back of the greaseproof paper, transferring the ink from the waxy paper to the board. Pull the paper aside to check enough ink has transferred to make the letters distinct enough to paint over then discard the greaseproof paper once you are happy with the transfer.
Working carefully, paint over the ink.
Just a couple of quick tips if you’ve never done this before:
· Work top to bottom, left to right. Unless you are left-handed, in which case you should start on the right.
· Move the board around so you do not accidentally smudge the paint with your hand.
· Use a decent quality, reasonably stiff brush. You want defined edges, not soft watercolour style edges.
· You will more than likely need two coats of paint for the lettering as well.
Once your lettering is dry, erase the pencil line and flip the boards over to affix hooks if you are intending to hang them. I spaced mine 9 cm from the top and 5 cm in from the edges. Although I don’t believe these are going to be hung at the wedding, I put the hooks on in case the couple would like to hang them at home as a memento of their day.
And there you have it, a personalised decoration for a wedding that you could potentially make with leftover bits and bobs you have around the shed.
