Since I am new at this whole painting thing, I wasn't interested in spending a bunch of money, well because, I may suck at it. So, I waited for "The Lob" (Hobby Lobby) to have a sale and I went and picked up my supplies there. Everything I bought was 50% off, so I was one happy girl.
I purchased a larger sized canvas because that is just the look I was going for with my sign. The sign was going to be in our great room, so I wanted it to be pretty big. I bought a few paint brushes and some Acrylic paint, in the colors I was going to use.
Tip: I have used a few different brands of Acrylic paint since making this sign, and the best I have used was the "Master's Touch" Acrylic paint. It was a really smooth paint and it dried nicely. I purchased that at "The Lob". A few other brands I have used are "Liquitex" and "Artist's Loft" and I was not happy with those brands. They seemed to gum up on me and did not go on as smooth as the "Master's Touch". Feel free to use whatever type you'd like, but that is just what worked for me.
Tools Needed:
Canvas
2 Paint Brushes
Acrylic Paint
Stencils
Ruler
Pencil
Bowl of water
Papertowel
To begin, I painted the entire canvas the background color I wanted. I wanted more of a washed out look so I just didn't use a bunch of paint on my brush. It's better to start out using less paint, and then add more paint, if needed. I used a larger brush (picture below) to paint the background and then I used a smaller brush (also pictured below) to fill in the lettering after I stenciled it all out in pencil. I waited 1 day for the background paint to dry before stenciling the letters.
Background brush I used: Master's Touch Flat #12
The color I used here was ..... well crap.... the color name is not on the bottle. It is a teal blue color. After letting the background paint dry, I then stenciled all of my lettering out in pencil first. I tend to "eye" things instead of using rulers to measure and space things out correctly. I "eyed" this entire sign, and in hind-sight, I won't do that again because I think some of the lettering could have been straighter. I have since used a ruler when doing another sign, and I would recommend using a ruler to draw a line straight across the canvas, so that you can then stencil your lettering on top of that line. This way, if the line is straight, the letters will be straight.
So, I used stencils I bought at Hobby Lobby (you can get them at Michaels, too). I stenciled everything out first. The entire sign. Then, I went back and filled in the lettering with a smaller brush, using white acrylic paint.
The brush I used for the letters was: Master's Touch Flat #2
I took my time and didn't do all of it in one day! Someone told me once to enjoy the process (Thank you Therese), and if you are making a large sign like this, take your time. :)
This is the finished sign below. I am really happy with how it turned out. What is also great is that you can make any type of sign you'd like. You can make a "playroom" sign for the kid's play room with rules on it like "be nice, share, or have fun". You can make a "family" sign for your home using words like "family time, forgive one another, or cherish the memories" type of wording. Or, you can make a "City" sign using words describing your favorite town or city or special vacation spot. The ideas are limitless!
Below is another sign I recently made for my cousin's wedding. She asked me to make this for their photo booth they were having for all of their guests. I used a ruler on this one, since it was an important sign. :)
I used the same tools and acrylic paint as well (just in different colors).
Tip: Acrylic paint is very versatile. You can use it on paper, canvas, wood, plaster, glass, terra cotta, and other materials.
Remember, you are just an idea away from making a really cool piece of art for your home!! Go for it!
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