Introduction: Paint Good Looking Signs

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About: Mostly harmless

If you don`t want poorly handwritten signs for your business/ event or whatever,
but can't afford (or are to cheap to buy ) a store made one - this is the instructable for you!

You'll be able to use any letter-style and size

Step 1: Materials

- a piece of plywood or whatever you want to use - cut in the desired  shape and  size
- paint in desired colour, i prefer acrylic-based ones, because they dry quick, but any outdoor-paint will do.
- a paint roller
- paintbrushes suitable for fine lines
- some sheets of A4-paper
- a printer
- carbon paper- one sheet

- tape

For changeable date:
laminate pouches
laminator
scalpel or permanent marker

or
Laserprinter
printing foil

Step 2: Background

paint the background colour in at least 3 coats
be very accurate with the edges

Step 3: Layout

Take some empty sheets of A4 paper and lay them on the sign, in my case fit 2,5 A4 pages.
take a pencil and write the letters you'll need on the sheets - you don't have to write pretty, you only want find out,
what size the letters have to be.

Now start your computer and an office programm ( i like photoshop better, you can easily stretch the letters) and write
the letters in the desired font on you virtual A4 paper.
Compare with your handwritten letters
Choose a light colour for ink-friendly printing :)
you can print on the before used, sheets of paper

Step 4: Tracing

Lay the printed letters in place on your sign and tape them on - but just on one side! (see picture)

now place the sheet of carbon paper (carbon side down) under your printed paper
and trace the letters with a pencil and moderate pressure

Step 5: The Real Thing /finishing

now grab the paintbrush and fill the letters you'll see on the background

this may take some time but it's worth it ;)

small details can be painted with markers, but you should only cheat that way if the sign won't hang permanent.

you're done by now!

As you might notice i didn't paint the date on the sign, I wanted to make it changeable for next years event, see the next steps for different solutions for that.


Step 6: Changeable Date Solution 1

the easiest way to do that would with a laser-printer , simply printed on a piece of foil...
could'nt do that so i came up with these two solutions, both take about the same time...

Solution one:

Pint the letters and cut them out with a scalpel
laminate the letters
cut out and attach with staple gun

Step 7: Solution 2

take a empty laminate pouch and place in laminator

then place it on top of printed letters and trace them with a permanent marker

cut it in size and attach it with staplegun on the sign.

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