Want to make a signboard that will take you back to the 60’s?

Sign boards are one of the important things a business should have. It is another way of promoting or advertising a company or product. To make a sign board more appealing think of a design that will catch the eyes of potential customers. Consider making a sign using old letters. Old letters are unique and interesting because of the special feel they create. Here is a step-by-step procedure in making an antique-looking sign board.

Before making the sign, familiarize yourself with the old letters. Look at sign boards, posters or pictures that contain old-style letters. Research on layouts and colors used before.

First off, prepare all the materials you need in making the sign. What you will need are a flat wood for the frame, clear non-polyurethane or oil-based varnish, water-based cracking varnish, gloss varnish, black patina, sandpaper and color paints.

Start making the frame. Choose a flat wood. You can use an old frame, driftwood or stair boards. Measure the size of the letters. Make sure that it will be visible and it will fit on the frame. Clean the board using the sandpaper to smoothen the surface. Lightly paint it with varnish or paint it using light color paint for the background. Light colors make the crackling effect more visible. Then add a tinting effect.

Begin sketching your design on the board. Choose old style letters so that it will match the background. Paint or color the letters with high contrasting colors. Color the sides of your frame. Add some design but do not over-decorate it. After the paint dries, gently rub the surface of the frame with sandpaper. The purpose of rubbing is to dull the sign so that it will show wear and tear. Coat the entire surface with thinner. The coating on the edges must be heavier than the center. Use another brush to stipple the surface. This will smooth out the surface and will give an aged effect. Let it dry. Then, coat the surface with oil-based varnish. Leave it for about two hours before applying the water-based varnish. After an hour the cracks can be seen. You may use hair dry to speed up the drying process and more cracks will be visible. When the board is completely dry, rub the surface with black patina. This makes the cracks more visible. Finish it by coating gloss varnish to make the color richer. Old-style sign boards are best and mostly used in clubs and restaurants.

Start converting your atmosphere with that antique look and have that 60’s feel.