Custom Family Sign

For Christmas, my brother, my sister-in-law, my husband and I used to exchange presents.  Now that we both have families, we skip our gifts and just do the god-parents gifts from the boys.  It's always tough to buy a gift for a couple without it being the standard restaurant gift certificate.  This year I decided I should make them something for their home, and make it personal.  One day it dawned on me.

My brother has a tattoo on his inner bicep that says "Familia Fortitudo Mea".  It means "Family is my strength" in latin. Bingo!  I would just have to change it to say "Family is our Strength" since it would be a family gift.

Sign installed

Oh, and of course I needed to have a helping hand from my husband.  My dear hubby cut me 2 pieces of wood, and we bought a router.  He routed out the edge to create a nice detail. While I was at it, I figured my client would also enjoy a sign for her new home, and her growing family. It would be a "Thank You" gift for their home.  I really don't care for much of the signage work out there, mostly because it's mass produced and is missing that hand made, old, worn look.  I knew that these signs were going to be very distressed, much like the Beaver Dam sign I did.


What better way to start out getting a distressed old sign, then letting my 3 year old go to town on the wood and paint it for me!! Yep, Kyle helped out. He wasn't feeling the banging with the tools part, but he loved to paint.  I left it in the capable hands of my assistant and her assistant, Kyle, to get it down. If I had actually watched, my OCD probably would have smoothed out the globs of paint he put on.  And I do mean globs, they paint was so thick in some areas I was able to smooth it with a putty knife 12 hours later and it was still wet. But it created the perfect under base.

Painting in the lettering.

The boards were first primed, then base coated a deep chocolate, then a Navajo White.  I used every kind of tool to beat them up.  Then I used the computer to create the designs and projected them onto the sign. I traced them in pencil.  The names were painted in a light grey, and I sanded them down.  The quote was painted in black. I went back with a heavy grit sandpaper and really took a lot of the paint off.

I worked on both side by side, easier to do them together.

Detail of letterings being sanded. 

Next step was this fabulous crackling varnish. It gives the look of old oil canvas paintings. I sprayed the
signs first with Damar Varnish and while tacky, brushed on the Cracking Varnish.  I sped up the drying process with the hairdryer. Like a kid in the candy store, I was ecstatic to see the cracks forming. The kit comes with a antiquing black. It is rubbed into the cracks with a dry cloth.  I sealed it all with a Flat Varnish, my "old" signs can't be shiny.

Close up of crackle. Love the different sizes!

I love how the antiquing part just emphasizes the distressing.

Both my client and my brother and sister-in-law were thrilled with their gifts. I was so happy that it went well and they loved them. Now I just have to work on more to try and sell!

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!

Should look nicer above mantel then on my floor!

I love the random sizing of the crackle 

You can see the crackle even on the black areas

Extra distressing on these letters