Wooden Rustic Signs Tutorial

I'm one of those people who picks up beautiful things when I'm out and says "I bet I could make that".

Earlier on this year I wanted to make some vintage signs for around the place and I happened to take photos as I went, which means I can bring you todays tutorial without having to actually make something from scratch (which is great as I've got 50 wedding invitations to make... read about that in my other blog!)

As so many of my projects do, it started with dismantling a pallet.

Working with pallet wood is not only frugal (usually free), but it gives me the opportunity to break out my favourite tool, DUM DUM DUM (< dramatic intro) my angle grinder!!!


Start by cutting your desired shape from the pallet plank. I went for the traditional 'arrow' shape as it meant I could get 2 signs from one piece of wood.

Once they are cut out you can sand them down - traditional sandpaper, a sander or an angle grinder with a sanding disc! This is not for the feint hearted and you should be confident in handling power tools to attempt it!

Once sanded your sign will look less like firewood and more like something you'd want to own!

 

 

I like to leave some marks and damage showing as it all adds to the rustic look of the signs. 

 

 

Now it's time to break out the paint. As I do a lot of this sort of thing I have Annie Sloan Chalk Paint about the place. For things like this the paint isn't very important but, in general, Annie Sloan is great for covering in one coat.

 

 

 



Once your paint has dried give it a bit of a sand back to show the wood around the edges. I'm also lucky enough to own some plastic stencils that I bought from eBay but you could print letters off and cut them out. Or you might be one of those lucky people with really lovely handwriting.

Space your letters and start stencilling (or writing) your message.

If you don't have a stencil brush, don't worry, just wrap an elastic band around the bristles of a 1" brush to make it stiff enough to use.

Once you're finished with your lettering, drill a couple of holes, string it and put it on display for the world to admire! Oh, if it's to hang outside then you might want to give it a coat or two of varnish.

These are for two separate locations lol!