Making a wedding sign

A friend of mine was getting married and asked me for some help.  One of the 'crafts' I helped out with was a wedding sign.  She was having an outdoor wedding and wanted to have a sign to guide her guests on where to go to when they arrived at Fort Mason. 

Before I get into the sign details, let me just tell you, if you are thinking about maybe getting married at Fort Mason, I would HIGHLY recommend it.  The General's Residence is BEAUTIFUL!  (I know I'm using a lot of CAPS but this place totally deserves it).

Okay, I'm done gushing about the location, back to the sign making.

 

She initially thought a chalkboard sign would be a great option, until I suggested a cheaper alternative (essentially free since I had all the materials already).  We could use an old canvas I had lying around, paint it black, use some white paint and BAM! instant 'chalkboard'.

 

Step 1:  Paint your canvas 

Since we were going all DIY on this thing, we went with a Robin's Egg Blue background instead of the standard black.  I spray painted the canvas (but you could also use some acrylic paint) and then got to work on my design.

 

Step 2:  Come up with a design

When designing a sign, you can find lot of inspiration online.  I found a great image of a pointing hand that really helped set the 'mood' for the sign.

 

Step 3:  Create a template

I recommend using a large piece of paper and pencil to create your template.  This way you can eventually trace your design onto the canvas directly. 

 

Here is my initial design (eventually we went bigger with the hand image so there wouldn't be as much empty space).

Looks good, but a bigger hand would be better.

 

 

Step 4:  Trace the design onto your canvas

After drawing everything out, I covered the back of my template with graphite (thankfully I had a random chunk of graphite which made covering the back of the paper easier, otherwise I would have had to use a pencil)

Then I began the tracing process.  I used a pen and used a book to support the back of the canvas (don't want to bust through it!).  I'm not going to lie, this part is annoying- you've basically just traced the same design twice, but man it creates a sweet looking sign.

After tracing you are left with this! 

Step 5:  Begin painting

Make this bad boy official and start putting some ink on it!  I wanted to use white and black, so I painted my 'white' areas with some acrylic paint and used a black sharpie to fill in the 'black' areas.  I know what you are thinking, 'Black sharpie, is she for real?'  YES, I am so for real.  Black sharpie is your friend and if I'd had one of those cool white sharpies I would have used that instead of the white paint too. 

This sign looks great!  Can't wait to see the final product.

 

 

Step 6:  It's done!

Please excuse the garbage can next to the sign