Hand Lettered Pallet Sign

Being a hand lettering enthusiast (more about my love for hand lettering and calligraphy soon), I find it very therapeutic when I am able to sit down and practice my technique every day. I am going to show you how we first made the pallet sign (super easy) and then how I hand lettered the pallet sign a couple months ago for a charity organization.
First, Dean and I gathered four old and weathered pallet boards that we had stored in our garage. These are pallet boards that we found for free and knew that we would make use of them at some point. The roughness of the natural wood made it a little difficult to hand letter perfectly but that’s what makes the finished art unique.
Take two 1″ x 2″ scrap wood and cut them shorter than the the height of the sign. There is no need to be precise in measurements, the important thing is that all the boards are secure. Ours happen to measure around 12 inches.
I like to draft out the lettering before actually painting. In this case, for the large landscape I had to write on, I decided to use chalk to draft the scripture. The chalk can easily be wiped off with a damp rag after the paint completely dries. Before you use your chalk, it is a good idea to sharpen it by rubbing it on a piece of paper until you get a pointed tip. This gives you more control while you are writing.
A wood paint marker was recommended to me by the instructor of a hand lettering class I took locally. I used the Zig Woodcraft marker in arctic white. I had to trace over my chalk rendering several times to get the opaqueness of the white paint marker, mainly because the surface was not smooth. I would probably use paint with an artist paintbrush for a rough surface like this again. I used the side of the chalk to get the thicker lines when drafting out. the word “WELL” and I used Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint in duck egg blue. Love that color!
Here is the finished project. It will be the first thing you see hanging on the walk when you walk in the front door to the transitional home. We hope that it brings inspiration and peace to whomever it serves. Please share this project on social media if you liked it and don't forget to subscribe to our emails on our website.
Diane and Dean DIY
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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