Custom sign time! Definitely one of my top favorite things to make!
I have a friend at work who asked me if I could possibly make her a sign. She LOVES Disney Cruises; in fact, she is getting me to come around to the idea of taking my family on one soon!
She's so enthusiastic about Disney Cruises that she actually has a room in her house devoted to her Disney Cruise obsession! Now, that's love!
She asked me for a sign that she can put in her "Cruise Room" to bring everything together. She gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted, and she didn't give me a time she needed it by, which takes a lot of pressure off!
But, I really wanted to get this started... I had a vision come to my head that I needed to get out and make real!
Here goes!
I ran a Google search to find some Disney Cruise-related imagery that I could use to tie in to the sign. I came up with a combination of the different logos that they use in their promotional material as sort of a "mash-up."
I found a font that was similar to the font that they use in their logo; it's called Newport Classic SG. I wanted this to be a custom sign for her, so instead of using "Disney," I used her last name!
The next thing is to figure out which wood I'm going to use!
My plan is to use different thicknesses of wood to give the piece a lot of dimension. The letters, logo and the accents on the ship will all be made out of 1/4" backer board material. The ship and waves will be made out of 3/4" spruce.
I applied tape to the backer board, and then used spray-on adhesive to apply the paper to the taped wood.
I did the same process with the ship. If you've read my other posts, then you know that the tape is there to protect the wood from the adhesive so it doesn't get all sticky.
To the scroll saw!
I cut the letters and logo out first; I thought these would be the most difficult, so I went ahead and tackled them first...
And I'm so glad I did!
The wood material is already so thin! Match that up with a font that is super thin... Needless to say, I got it done. I just needed some extra time to make sure nothing cracked or split. For the letters that have holes (R and O), I used a drill to make a hole just big enough for my scroll saw blade and cut the holes from the inside out.
Next comes the ship and waves!
I cut out the basic shapes of the ship and the waves using the scroll saw. These were not as difficult to cut "precision-wise" because they are thicker and the saw blade had some more resistance to slow me down naturally.
Lastly, I went ahead and cut out the accents for the ship!
I mocked it all up to make sure that the accents fit appropriately together. Looks really good so far!
Okay, now that all the cutting is done, it's time to give everything a good sanding and wipe down!
I used a combination of manual sanding by hand (for the thinner wood pieces) and my belt sander (for the thicker pieces). I had to be careful with the thin backer-board wood pieces to make sure they didn't snap or chip, so I definitely took my time.
Once all the pieces were sanded, I wiped everything down with a damp cloth and laid it out on another piece of wood to see how it looked!
I REALLY like how this is coming out! I also like the board underneath, so I think that'll be my backboard!
Now that all the pieces are sanded and cleaned, it's time to move on to the backboard piece.
I didn't want to just mount the pieces on to a generic piece of board; I think it looks a bit lazy when people do that. Instead, I went ahead and routed the edges around the perimeter to give it a more finished look...
To rout the edges, I clamped the piece to the routing surface and moved my router slowly along the edges. I turned the piece to do each side and re-clamped. The last thing I wanted was for the backboard to move during routing!
Next up was either painting or staining the backboard...
I went with stain! Since the small pieces are getting painted, I thought the wood might break it up a little bit. I used Minwax Provincial stain that I wiped it on using a rag to give it a lighter color. I let backboard sit overnight to dry fully.
Next is painting all of the other wood pieces!
I decided on using acrylic paints for this part. The color scheme is quite simple for the logo and the lettering; I tried my best to paint the ship to match the color of the real ships in the Disney Cruise fleet!
I let the paint fully dry overnight. There were some pieces that needed some touching up after the paint dried. However, there's a good chance that, during assembly, more areas may arise that need touching up. So, I'll wait until everything is in position and glued down before fixing these tiny little blemishes!
For assembly, I decided on a combination of Liquid Nails and super glue; The liquid nails was used for larger pieces, such as the ship, waves and the components of the ship. The superglue was used to glue down the letters. Using superglue on small pieces is more effective; plus, this really prevents visible "spill over!"
I let the piece fully dry overnight before moving on!
I decided to move the logo above the lettering; I just think it looks better and it's a little more cohesive!
The next day, I noticed some spots where the Liquid Nails did spill out. To fix this, I used an X-ACTO knife and cut off the dried excess glue. I also took this time to touch up the spots that needed to be fixed with paint!
On to poly!
I went with a spray-on high gloss polyurethane on this one. I think it gives it a real "POP" and it seemed more appropriate than using matte finish!
I also sealed the back when the front dried. Luckily, I didn't have to wait very long, thanks to my "rapid drying" poly!
Lastly, I went ahead and added (2) D-ring hangers on the back for my friend to hang it up (if she so chooses).
And just like that, it's all done!
I really love doing custom signs like this! There's something really rewarding about making something that is "one-of-a-kind" and has never been done before! This sign came out really nice; it looks like something they might even sell at Disney! I know my friend is going to love it, and I can't wait to show it to her!
And who knows? Because of her inspiring me to check out a Disney Cruise for my family, I might need one of these for myself down the road!
Anchors aweigh!
-Kevin
Comments