I've started making a mirror for our guest room, and wanted to incorporate this quote by Victor Hugo, "To love beauty is to see light". It really resonates well with me, since I photograph a lot and think about light all the time. My sister is coming over for an exchange in the spring and she also photographs a lot, so I thought she would appreciate it as well.
Anyway, I made the words into "subway art" street signs, but when the mirror was almost finished it just didn't seem right. So, I made this basic street sign instead.
How do you make the worn out effect on the signs? you might wonder. Here's how:
1. Paint your pieces of wood white (I used acrylic paint from crafts store)
2. Rub a candle over the areas which you want to "wear out", I recommend making a practice piece since depending on how and how much you rub the candlestick on there affects the outcome
3. Paint them black (again, acrylic paint)
4. Use sandpaper to gently bring out the white for the desired worn areas (the wax from the candle makes the black paint not stick)
I learnt this candle-method from mod podge rocks blog.
Mod podge rocks blog made their signs by printing out signs they made and mod podging them on the wood pieces, so check their site out to learn that method. I, however, was almost out of ink so I made stencils instead.
So, I wrote out the words in Word in light grey, printed them, put clear cover over them, carved the letters out and then dabbed the white paint on with a foam brush. I wish I had had a roller-one, though.
You don't necessarily need to use the plastic clear cover on there, but I want to keep my stencils "sterdier" in case I need them again. I used the same stenciling-method in an earlier post,
you can check it out for photos of making the stencils.
Then I got this wooden stick from Lowes which I waxed, and glued on the signs.
Please e-mail me or comment with your e-mail, if you want me to send you the file with the words, all ready to be carved out!
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