July 14, 2011

Wood Grain Initial Plaques



I've been working on a gallery wall for my front entry way. I thought I would some personalized typography would be the perfect thing to break up all the frames. I had two pieces of scrap wood. (Actually 2 blocks of wood from some "never got made" pinewood derby kits.)

But I remembered a number 7 that was made from Young House Love. Here's my take on that project.

 [1]  Sloppily stain one side of the blocks of wood.

 You could also leave it plain wood tone, but I used some clearance stain so that it would somewhat match the dark wood in my home.

 
[2] Using Microsoft Word {or something like it} choose your font, change your desired letter into the dimensions of the wood piece, & print it out.

  [3] Tape over the dry stain with painter's tape, covering the whole piece front. 



[4] Tape the printed letter over the painter's tape.




[5] Use an Exacto knife to cut out the letter, making sure to press hard,
cutting through the paper and tape.


[6] Peel off tape around your letter and paint 2-3 coats of paint, peel of letter shaped tape when final coat of paint is still wet.

[7] Apply clear coat.

[8] You can attach picture hanging hardware- or like in my case, just drill a hole with your Dremel for the nails to fit into.

Here's an up close of the finished plaques, it's a little hard to see the wood grain in the pics but I tried my best!

As always, thanks for for checking out my project! And a BIG thanks for these oh-so-fabulous sites who've featured this project!!