Rainbow Wooden Water Color Skyline Wall Art

Make a beautiful wall art hanging with reclaimed wood, a laser cutter and watercolor!

Step 1: Supplies

-A Piece of Reclaimed wood, rectangular shaped, or you can cut it to be a rectangle

-The piece I used came from the old deck (I believe it was a floorboard)

-A black and white image (from google) of your favorite city's silhouette

-Watercolor paints

-A laser engraver

-Optional: Clear varnish

Step 2: Laser Cutting the Skyline

-Set up the drawing file (I used Inventor) with the image and vector lines around it, leaving extra space on the bottom of the skyline image

-Get your laser engraver ready to go and place the wood piece in the cutter

-Engrave!

Step 3: Watercolor Painting

-Paint in the water color pigment heavily in the top part of the skyline

-Use whatever colors you would like, making sure to cover most of the image

-Have a cup of water and brushes handy

-Use the water to blend the paint down the picture, allowing drips to run down the wood

-You will need a lot of water to make the pigment flow down the board and create the drippy look

-It was helpful to paint in the pigment while the board was laying down, and lean it up on something for putting the water on so that the paint dripped down

-Let dry

Step 4: Optional Varnishing

-After it has dried, use a clear varnish to seal in the paint and keep the wood water tight

-I used DEFT clear wood finish gloss spray

-The finish is a good idea if the art will be hanging outside in the weather, as if the watercolor is exposed to water it will run, but the clear coat will protect it

-If you decide to finish it, make sure you are in a well ventilated area so that the fumes will not hurt you

Step 5: Done! Admire Your Beautiful Work

-Hang it up

-Or lean it against a wall

-Enjoy!

Comments

[DIY Hacks and How Tos]

Great looking piece of wall art. Do you have any suggestions for those of us who don't have access to a laser engraver?

[Kira Biener]

You can always freehand the skyline, or use a wood and inkjet printer transfer with mod podge. To do the transfer you print out the image with a standard printer, put mod podge on the surface of the photo and put it face down on the wood. After it dries, you get the paper wet and rub off the paper, leaving the ink behind.

[Bennett Groshong]

you can print out a piece of paper with the design you want and cut it out, you can then use spray paint or trace it out to transfer the design to the wood and then you can paint it however you want