Deer Sign Tutorial

 

I can hardly believe that I’m sitting outside in the dark on October 17th, typing this blog post! It’s a very pleasant 71 degrees,with a slight breeze going, and crickets singing on high. What awesome weather we are having!

Last week I made a sign that someone ordered for her boyfriend, who is a hunter.

I haven’t shared a sign tutorial in a while so I thought I would share this one.

It started out as a plain piece of maple wood..

I applied a dark stain, using a bristle brush. I rubbed some of the stain off before it dried, using an old t-shirt. I did this in sections.

After the stain was dry, I sanded the piece, to get the color a little lighter. I planned to use black paint for the letters that would go over the stain and wanted that to show up.

  

                       Before sanding                                                             After sanding

 

Next I found a silhouette of a deer that I downloaded and enlarged, using Microsoft Office Word. I played around with it until I had it the size I wanted. It ended up being six pieces of paper.

I taped it together and cut it out. This was my stencil. 

I used double stick tape to tape it down and since I used my sprayer to apply the paint, I put stones along the edges of the deer so the paint wouldn’t creep underneath the stencil.

I then sanded the sign, especially around the edges.

Next I was ready to print out the letters. I played around until I had the right size. The font style I used is called Segoe Print.

I taped down all the letters and measured everything, to make sure I spaced it evenly.

I traced the letters using carbon paper to transfer.

I used yellow carbon paper for the letters that were on the stained part. It showed up much better than the black.

Before painting the letters, I stood back and eyed the sign, making sure everything looked evenly spaced. 

I used a paint marker to color the letters.

And the final result..

Of all the techniques I have used in making signs, this is still the one that will turn out best for me. It takes a little more time, but it is usually worth it!

I hope you are all having a lovely fall. Thanks for visiting!

-Mary