Distressed Custom Sign

I had the pleasure of working on this sign for a local winter sports club, called Beaver Dam. The logo was recently updated, but they wanted an old, worn down look for the sign. This will be hung up on a fire place mantel.

A local lumber place cut the wood in a circle, and I had a custom stencil cut to specifically fit the circle. There was no way I was free handing a painted circle!

I first painted the board black, and laid out my stencil. A custom red and beige were mixed to match the hockey jersey colors. Because I was going to be doing a lot of distressing and glazing, the colors were going to change anyway. After the stencil was completed, I did a light sanding around the outside edge, glazed over the piece with a dark brown glaze and brought it to the designers for review. I was given the go ahead, to really distress the piece. That's when the fun began. I literally hit the board with lots of different tools to give different marks. A hammer, pair of pliers, some weird tool that was my husband's, a nail set, a 5 and 1...screwdriver...you name it. I then sanded down random edges around the lettering, circles, and artwork in center.

Then came the fun part. Crackle. I used an antique crackle that you would find on an old canvas. One that had been laying around for 100+ years. I first spray the Damar Varnish on. Very stinky, be sure to have the windows open. Then, once it gets tacky, 2nd coat. The first one really seals the work. Once the 2nd coat is tacky, I applied the crackle varnish. This has a yellow brown tint, which adds years of age on the piece. It also smells, and is easy to work with. I used a hair dryer to force the cracks, as I tend to be impatient, I like to see it happen quickly! There they were, hundreds of crackle lines, big, small, tight, and large, and it works like magic. You can leave the piece as is, or, like I did, rub the antiquing black into the cracks and wipe away the excess. What I like about this, even though a majority of the piece is black, you can still see the crackle on the black area. It came out perfect. I will be taking it back to the designers for review tomorrow! Hopefully it's a go!