August 6, 2012

DIY Hand Carved Mr&Mrs Signs

Another DIY! (there will be more :D)
DIY Hand Carved Mr & Mrs Signs
For photos and chair signs :)
Materials

Wooden Plaques $2 each from Dollarama = $2.26 CAD
Sponge Brushes from Dollarama $1 for 6 = aboug $0.19cents
Wood Cavring Tools $? These were from grade 8 lol! We had a class for a day or two where we had guest teachers that taught us how to wood carve. This is my first time wood carving since then :) (6 years later)
Coffee (not pictures) - free! just poured left overs from work into a jar.
Total: $5.65 CAD + brushes left over

Step 1 Trace
Print out your letters onto a piece of paper (I used the font Book Antiqua). Regular paper is fine, you don't need tracing paper. Shade the back of the letters with a pencil then postion, tape and trace.


Step 2 Divide
Draw a line in the middle of each of the letter's legs or curve. See pic.


Step 3 Outline
I used the V tool to outline the letters and the middle lines.

Step 4 Carve
I first used the v-tool to carve inwards, then the U tool to smooth it out.
^ before smoothing out (don't have one with Mrs)
^ smoothed out

You could leave it as is or do what i did, Coffee Stain!

I used a sponge brush (regular brush should work) and brushed coffee over the wood.


For the letters, i let it puddle hoping it will make the letters darker. Note that the wood can only soak so much.

After 15mins+ wipe off the excess and let dry. 


TA DA! Finished 
I don't know if I want to paint the letters over. Not sure if it'll pop. Hrmm!!