[TK421]

This coming weekend is the community yard sale where all in the neigborhood are invited to put out their wares. It's a great opportunity to get the word out for the yard haunt. I'll have the cider hut and the mausoleum out, and I was thinking I would put out a yard sign, similar to a "for sale" sign, at the end of our driveway.

My thought is to print out this poster I made, and then shellac it onto a cut sign board. The sign I hope to build will be around 18" x 22".

 

[TK421]

I've got a web site that descibes the haunt. I want to do more with it, but for now it gives the basic information.

I also have fliers that I print up. I'm going to print up a whole bunch of them to have on hand for the community garage sale on Saturday.

Below is my flier from last year. This year, I'm going to use the new graphics (the haunted town) but the information provided will be the same.

 

[TK421]

Excellent sign!!
Just remember, when you do this much PR, you should expect a lot of visitors come 10/31.
Be ready to handle the extra crowds!

TK421, PM me the details of the community yard sale. I will have to stop by and check out your creations.

I'm really hoping to get a good turnout this year. That's one of the main reasons I am trying to advertise early.

 

[TK421]

Ok, redesigned the shape of the sign. I felt the old shape was too similar to the Slaughtered Lamb sign.

Here's the new design.

My plan is to print out the sign at 18" x 22" and gently tear the edge, then I'll glue the printed sign to a 1/2" piece of wood cut out in the same shape and painted black. Then I'll shellac the whole sign.

Do they make a flat shellac? Or some other flat sealer? Maybe a flat, clear enamel.

 

[TK421]

I usually get polyurethane in a small 1/2 pint can (Minwax) and just brush it over. I'm 99% sure that you can get a matte (flat) finish in either a brush-on or spray.

Frankie's Girl, thanks for the tip. I will go today (or maybe tomorrow) and check it out.

 

[TK421]

Polycrylic Protective Finish - Water-Based Clear Protective Finishes

It looks like you'd be looking for the satin finish, but if it does come out too shiny, you could always hit it with a fine grade sandpaper or steel wool to dull the shine.

Fantastic!!

Thank you so much for the link -- it really helps to see what I'm looking for when I go to the store.

I spent today cutting, printing, glueing, etc. But first thing tomorrow morning I'll hit Lowes and pick up a can.

 

[TK421]

The first thing I did was print out the outline of the sign onto several pieces of paper. I taped the pieces together and then cut out the shape to use as a template.

Here's the plywood all cut out (I used a jigsaw).

The sign with edges sanded and spray painted flat black.

The sign with the "poster" printed, cut, and glued on. To marry the paper to the edge I used more of the flat spray paint to blend the edges.

The sign looks the same on both sides. My plan is to hang it out at the end of the driveway on a post I built Monday.

Tomorrow morning I will go to Lowes and pick up the Polycrylic Protective Finish that Frankie's Girl suggested.

 

[TK421]

Wow this sign looks great! Where did you get the town image from? I may have to borrow a similar image like that for my haunt!

All right -- I will give up my source. The graphic is a Guy Dyas sketch from "The Brothers Grim". There are several wonderful sketches, but I liked this one the best. I have used Guy Dyas as inspiration for much of my Old Town Haunt theme.

I took the original sketch from Guy and played with it a bit in Photoshop to bring out the colors, add some orange, and apply more water staining and parchment tecture.

 

[TK421]

TK421 - you really are truly, truly talented and I LOVE your website...is that what you do professionally?

Thanks for the compliment. There's so much more I want to add to the website -- I just don't have the time to restructure and build the sub-pages I want to add. Especially when I've got 86 days until Halloween!!

I am a graphic designer by trade and work with Photoshop, Freehand, Flash, etc. Most of the time I'm designing corporate educational materials.

 

[TK421]

Finished the sign and the little flier box. used the posthole digger and set it up at the end of the driveway. Right in front of our lavender bush.

You can see my pumpkin plants in the background.

 

[TK421]

Here's a close up of the little flier I printed out. It looks better printed.

 

[TK421]

I took the graphic to Staples and they printed it out on two 11x17 sheets. The 11x17 (tabloid) is the largest size they can print before moving to the "big" machine that costs a ton to print on.

Anyway, Staples charged my $1.25 per sheet to print it out, so I got both sides done for $5 -- it was great. I then took the sheets home and cut them out and glued them together.

After that, I spray-painted the edges of both sheets with the flat black spray paint to better blend it into the wood.

Finally I glued the sheets onto the wood, did a little more spray painting, and let it dry. Once dry, I put on the minwax clearcoat.

 

[TK421]

Just designed a new sign for Primmsylvania. Going to be building and shipping it to KPrimm.

This is going to be about 3 feet wide and 18 inches tall. It will be printed on four overlapping sheets, then mounted on plywood.

I'll take lots of pics.

 

[TK421]

Here are some other signs I put together last year for my haunt. I think they turned out pretty well, but I'm going to make a new "enter" sign this year that includes an arrow -- so people know exactly where I'd like them to start the tour.

This one is 16" x 10" and rested about a cauldron for collecting canned foods.

This is just a small sign at 10" x 7", but was enough to give people a clue. This year, I need to make sure the sign is better lit so people can see it more easily.

 

[TK421]

TK, what kind of glue are you using to attach the paper sign to the wood? Mine peeled off last year.
Thanks for the info.

I just used a spray adhesive I picked up from Lowes.

Looking at the can, it's . . .

Duro All-Purpose Spray Adhesive.

 

[TK421]

Just wanted to let you know I have started the construction of KPrimm's signs. I'll get the sheets printed in the next day or two, then I cut everything out, secure the sheets to the boards, and do many, many coatings of the spray shellac.

 

[TK421]

Three signs I'm building for him are:

 

[TK421]

Ok, for those you you who wanted to see more . . . here are some designs for Spookilicious Mama. This was the initial design.

 

[TK421]

Next, I went with a darker color theme and changed the font. This was based on a request to introduce a little more "midnight syndicate" into the sign.

 

[TK421]

This color scheme was well received, but it lacked some of the finess of the first sign, so I built a third sign with another font and angled the text to give it more style.