Creating Signs with History

I'm linking this to SNS All About Crates over at Funky Junk Interiors. 

I love antique signs, but the cost is rising on the real deal.  This is an easy thing to make, even for people who don't feel comfortable painting freehand.  One of the keys to creating a convincing antique sign is what you paint it on.  An antique styled sign painted on a brand new, nicely edged piece of wood is going to immediately scream, "I'm a reproduction!"

This is an original antique sign.  Can you believe my neighbors were selling this at a yard sale?  I think I paid $2.50 for it. 

The cool thing is that the Trostle family owned the famous "cannonball barn" in Gettysburg.  If you visit the battlefield, you can still see the holes from the cannonballs fired during the Civil War. 

This simple sign painted on a piece of barn siding inspired me to make my own.  I've been hauling the crate below around with me for years and I've never really had a good spot for it.  I really wanted to make a sign for my guest room that looked like an antique German gasthaus sign.  I spotted this crate and knew the slats would be perfect, so I ripped it apart with a crowbar.  (I'm going to get a few more signs out of this puppy.)

I used a cream acrylic paint and freehanded the lettering, finishing the piece off with some sanding and dark walnut stain.  Some signs should have perfect and even lettering, but I didn't want this one to have the "manufactured" look.  I wanted it to have the "history" of some plump, red-cheeked Bavarian man asking his wife to paint a sign to hang on their gasthaus.  I grew up in Germany, which is where I developed a love of European style.

Yep, that's me in my dirndl.  (Wow, I can see my son in my face big time!) 

We were so fortunate to live in Garmisch for two years, right in the heart of the Bavarian Alps.  I have lots of memories of traveling through Europe and staying in picturesque, family run gasthauses, so this sign was perfect for my house.

It is a convincing reproduction because it's on a old piece of wood, the font is right for the style of sign and it's not perfect.

I used the other piece of crate I ripped off for the sign in my bathroom.  I wanted it to look like a piece torn off an advertising crate, so the lettering needed to be evenly spaced.  I used my projector for this, but you could use stencils or transfer paper.

If you remember, I made this antiques sign out of an old headboard that I purchased at an auction for $1.00.  I wanted to give this piece the "history" of sitting outside of a quaint shop where it was exposed to the elements, which led to chipping paint and faded letters.

So, next time you're out junking, look for old pieces of scrap wood, tables with damaged legs, even old bed slats.  When you're creating a sign, think about where it hung, where it's been, and how it was made.  This will help you create a story for your piece, which all old pieces have.  There is a barn in my town that is half collapsed and I am seriously going to ask if I can have that wood.  "Hello.  I noticed your barn has fallen down.  Umm...can I have it?" 

We've already established that I'm crazy enough to do it.