Thread: Sign lettering, font, stencil??

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I want to make a sign for Nightmare Manor but Im not sure how to get the really cool fonts that some of you guys use. Do you print it and make a stencil or what? How do you transfer the print out to the surface of your materials? I dont know if it matters but I'll be painting on wood as thats what I have available.

Some folks use an overhead projector and reproduce the image and then trace it. I have printed them out and used an x-acto knife to cut them out before. It all depends on how in-depth your project is.

If you need the fonts, there are a couple of threads on here that can get you started.

Thanks SouthernBelle, I have fonts I just dont know how to get them on the wood so I can paint it. The x-acto knife sounds like a good idea, if I print it out on card stock instead of regular paper it would be easier to trace. I'll give that a shot

There are several; web pages that have FREE Halloween fonts.
I print them to the size I want, and I can turn the paper if need to reuse it to avoid waist.
I got a 40% off coupon from the net of Hobby Lobby and cot a HOT WIRE table top for about $25.
Image of Letters cut with hot wire tool - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Then I used floral foam to cut the letters out of. I placed the letter over a blue foam sheet from Home Depot. and got the lineup I wanted. then out lined them with a dead ink pen.
I then Cut the Blue foam into the shape of a placket. and the did some math the hard way (LOL)
I figured out how many Orange Christmas lights per string I would need to evenly light the areas the letters were on.
01SETUP.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
The drove the dead pen through the blue foam.
I then painted the placket. and added the lights
I hot glued the back of the placket were the light came through to keep them in place.
I then used a 3 way light show plug with remote I also got at Hobby Lobby. and hot glued it to the back also.
02WIREINGSETUP.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
I then lightly painted the top or face of the letters only (leaving the sides white).
when they were dry I added a little hot glue the the letters and force them down over the bulbs of the lights.
after that I added the talking skulls also.
04OUTSIDETEST2.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

I printed out my fonts, traced it on to the wood with carbon paper. Worked like a charm!

Originally Posted by goolie

I printed out my fonts, traced it on to the wood with carbon paper. Worked like a charm!

That's a really great idea. I had never thought of that one.

I'm waiting for someone to ask "What's carbon paper?"!

Originally Posted by OpenTrackRacer

I'm waiting for someone to ask "What's carbon paper?"!

What's carbon paper?
(I know what it is... I'm a graphic designer... just being a smartass)

A shortcut to having to go get carbon paper is this little art trick. Trace onto tracing paper the letter/image, then flip the tracing paper over and lightly go over it with a soft pencil like you would for doing a rubbing. The goal is to cover all the areas where the traced image was on the front side with graphite.

Then flip it back right side, lay it onto whatever surface you are wanting to transfer to, and retrace the lines... the rubbed pencil with transfer off onto the surface, just like carbon paper!

Carbon paper!!! Brilliant idea! that'll be soooo much easier than trying to cut out letters with a x-acto knive... Im impatient and dont do well with tedious tasks lol