Kelsey Mix – Online Editor/Copy Editor
Courtesy of: www.ellaclaireinspired.com
To start, you will need to find some kind of large board. I got mine {2 of them, actually} at a yard sale for free, but you could use whatever you can find. I think that nailing a bunch of boards together would give a similar look to this one.
This painting technique is one that I use when I want to achieve the look of layers of timeworn paint. There is probably a better way to do this, but this is my own little funky way, and it works for me.
First, mix some homemade chalk like finish paint using this recipe:
1 Cup flat latex paint
1 Tbs. unsanded grout
I used my favorite paint color. It is called “Cake Batter” from Lowe’s. After making the homemade chalk paint, paint a layer on your board. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and mine certainly wasn’t. Once you are finished painting your first layer, leave the rest of your chalk paint open to the air so it will thicken up a bit. Let the first layer dry completely.
Next, grab a paint color that you want to layer on your sign. It doesn’t have to be chalk paint, but it can be if you want. I chose a green color, but you can use whatever you want. Brush it on {I use sponge brushes, by the way} unevenly all across your board. You want to go heavier in some places and lighter, or no paint at all, in others. With this layer, try not to leave many globs of paint anywhere. Wait until this layer is completely dry before proceeding.
Next, grab your chalk paint again. By this time, it should have thickened as it sat. For this step, I glob my chalk paint on very generously. It makes it look really pretty when distressed. Paint over the areas where the chalk paint is still exposed, overlapping, and semi blending into {green} the areas around it. Leave bits of your second layer {green} showing.
Next, I used finer grit sandpaper and a palm sander. Start in the areas where your second layer {green} is exposed and sand, not pushing too hard, and moving your sander in a circular motion outward. This will smooth out some of the top layer and expose more of the second, as well as some of the wood. Just keep sanding in circles until it looks how you want.
Take your words that you want to use. I wanted my sign to be pretty large so I ended up blowing this up to be pretty big—nine pages big! Then, just print it off and tape all of the pages together. Center your image on your board, and tape it down to the board. Go over all of the letters with a ballpoint pen, pushing really hard. This makes an indentation in the painted finish underneath.
Then go over the indentation with the pen to make an outline that you will be filling in with paint. Next, just use a small paintbrush to fill in the letters with paint. It doesn’t have to be perfect since you will be distressing it. For my sign, I used red, orange, and brown. Then I highlighted “Pumpkins” and the arrow with a mixture of a yellow with a tiny bit of brown and orange. When you are finished painting, just take a sanding block and distress your words a bit. Clean off your dust, and you are finished!
