Family Farm Sign
4 Materials
$5
4 Hours
Medium
We are living on a farm that has been in my husband’s family for more than 100 years. His grandfather Fernan and his grandmother Mary established the farm and passed it down to their seven children and innumerable grandchildren. I wanted to honor them by “naming” the farm and making it official by posting a sign by the road — “FernMary Farm!”
While visiting a rummage sale (don’t we all love those!), I found a gentleman who was selling a broken walnut plaque for $2. I told him that this was exactly what I was looking for and thanked him excessively. :)
This $2 piece of wood was going to immortalize Fernan and Mary, the farm they created, and the family they raised.
A $2 piece of walnut wood
You just never know what you’re going to find at a rummage sale! I needed a nice piece of hardwood and even considered ordering some online, but then I found this beauty for $2.
Thank you, Microsoft Word!
Using my computer and MS Word, I created and printed a document showing how I would like FernMary Farm to appear on my sign.
Do-it-yourself graphite paper
But how to transfer my pattern to the wood? Not wanting to spend $$$ on graphite paper, I found that a pencil serves the same purpose. Just scribble around the pattern on the reverse side. Hold the pattern up to a window to make sure you covered the whole outline.
Secure the pattern
I centered the pattern on the board and taped along the top edge like a hinge — you’ll want to flip back and forth to make sure the pattern is transferring.
Trace the pattern - pressing hard
Using a pen, I traced the pattern on the front, and the pencil marks on the back transferred the pattern to the board. You have to press pretty hard and go over some areas more than once.
Sharpie time!
Once the pattern was transferred, I carefully went around the letters with a Sharpie.
FernMary Farm on the board!
Here is the pattern transferred and completely outlined with a Sharpie.
Now — here is where you may choose to go a different route than I did. It would be easier to just paint the letters and stain the wood, but, you see, my husband bought me this power tool ....
A new Dremel carving tool!
This is my first power tool, and I couldn’t wait to use it! For those of you who are unfamiliar with a Dremel, it is a rotating tool (kind of like a drill) and is used for carving wood, etching glass, and sharpening knives and scissors. That meant that FernMary Farm was going to get carved into this piece of wood!
For the script letters along the top, I used a precision point on the Dremel, going very slowly and staying within my Sharpie lines.
For the large letters along the bottom, I used the 1/8-inch router attachment.
Do-it-yourself reflector paint
Since this sign was going to go along the road, I wanted the letters to be highly reflective. And what is more reflective than glitter!
After lightly sanding the surface, I mixed some white glitter that I had on hand with white craft paint and carefully filled in every letter.
More Sharpie work!
To make the letters pop (and to cover all the white paint I accidentally got on the wood), I outlined the letters with my Sharpie. I was going to paint the wood black, so the Sharpie made it possible to have nice, crisp-edged letters that blended seamlessly with the black paint.
Adding some character
Here you can see that the board has been painted black, but I wanted to add some brown, gray, and red streaks to simulate weathered wood. I just smeared small amounts of color here and there with horizontal strokes, added some water to dilute, and wiped with a paper towel.
Ta-Daah!
Here is the finished product. FernMary Farm is born! I covered the piece with three coats of polyurethane to make it waterproof and winter proof in hopes that it will stand for generations to come and honor those who came before.
Honk and wave if you drive by! :)
Resources for this project:
See all materials
Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.More info
Comments
Join the conversation
2 comments
-
What a special way to name your home!
-
Thank you, Wendy! I spent a week trying to come up with the perfect name before it hit me!
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?