Days of Thanksgiving: Give Thanks Primitive-Tutoral

Someone told me I should write a tutorial for some of my projects, and I actually remembered to take pictures of the process for this one! I started with an old piece of wood. The older looking, the better in my opinion. I have some signs in my kitchen that you literally don't touch or they will fall apart! So....

Step 1: Find old wood in the size you wish to use. *Tip: I never buy wood, unless I am doing a very specific project. An easy way to obtain wood is to troll the local construction sites or community clean ups. Never take new wood from construction sites. Only the scraps are okay for taking. If your wood is too new looking, you will have to distress it prior to the project.

Step 2: Fonts! I love fonts. I actually downloaded new fonts for this project because I was looking for something very specific for my project. I got my fonts for this sign at Fontspace. I went with "Engravers" for "THANKS" and "Respective" for "GIVE." Choose the font(s) you wish to use and size them on the computer. This is a more difficult step and may take a few printings to get the size correct for your sign. *Tip: When you print your lettering, do it in a mirror image. It makes the font easier to transpose onto the wood.

Step 3: Transpose the printed font. I have tried many different ways to do this. The first few times I did it, I actually cut out the letters and used them like a pattern or stencil. That was really hard when the letters were very swirly or intricate. The next few times I traced them into the wood with an XActo knife. Again, very tedious, it left cuts in the wood, and my finger would be numb for weeks from the pressure. So I looked on Pinterest and found this way where you can use a wet paint brush and brush over the back of the image and it "bleeds" the ink onto your wood. This works. But you have to be careful not to use too much water, and it works better on lighter backgrounds. So I came up with an idea of using chalk. I outline the font with chalk, turn the paper chalk side down onto the wood and rub the lettering with the end of my Sharpie. Be careful not to move your image. The chalk will stick to the wood and you can simply paint inside the lines.

Step 4: Paint. Fill in the chalk lines with paint.

Step 5: Once the paint dries, use a dry rag to dust off any left over chalk that may be remaining on your sign.

That's it!! Now you have a primitive Thanksgiving sign to show off at your family gathering. These are great for mantles, table tops, or the front porch! I've put mine on my cabinet in the dining room and added some other primitive styled stuff around it.

  

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