Simple Sign

Rick and I are going to assemble our little greenhouse lean-to this weekend.  We have all the components and have set aside this weekend to get it all together.  But you know me, I need to start decorating before there is a place to put decor (ahem – dollhouse for example….).  

Our vision for the greenhouse it to have a small structure where we can over winter delicate plants and a place where plants that are doing poorly, but still have potential, can go to recuperate.   

Right now we just stick plants behind the shed and have started referring to that area as the infirmary.  That is what spawned the whole notion of having a greenhouse in the first place. 

So of course it needs a sign.  I set out by finding a piece of scrap wood in Rick's inventory.  What I ended up using is a pre-primered scrap of one by four left over from the bathroom remodel (toe kick, maybe?).  I printed out the word "infirmary" in a font and size I thought would work to be used as a trial run.  The font I used is Hand Shop Typography.  It has a hand lettered quality I really like.

Once I was satisfied with the size I then printed out the letters for the sign in reverse, on wax paper, using my inkjet printer and transferred the design to the wood.  Let me explain how this is done.

1. In MS Word create a blank document  
2. Insert a text box  
3. Enter your text in the font and size you like  
4. Right click on the text box and select Format
5. Under text options select 3-D Rotation
6. In the X Rotation box change it to 180 degrees

Boom!  It is in reverse!

Prepare your wax paper by cutting it to 8 1/2 x 11 and attaching to a regular sheet of printer paper so it will feed into the printer easily.  I just used two sided tape.  I've used spray adhesive in the past but it is just overkill.  Then print, making sure that the image (or wording) is printed on the wax paper side.   

Be careful when handling the printed wax paper because the ink will be wet.  My image actually spanned two lines so I cut it out and then carefully lined it up on my scrap piece of wood and then firmly pressed it down, transferring the ink to the wood.  It smudged a little in the printer but that didn't worry me too much.  I used a q-tip to clean up any ink on the wax paper that was outside the lines and didn't worry if there were any gaps in the ink.  My intention is to use the impression from the ink as a guide for painting the lettering.

I had already created the sign when I decided I should blog this so here is an example of what the transfer looks like on a cardboard box.  

See?  It gives you a nice clean image to follow when you are hand painting.  I used regular old acrylic paint in a dark, forest green for the lettering.  Some of my lines are a little wobbly but that's okay – I really wanted a hand lettered look to the sign.  

It will eventually go above the doors of the green house which you know I will share with you once we get it all built.  Now my begonias will survive the winters here.