How to paint lettering on a wood sign (and have crisp lines!)

What you’ll need:
– Vinyl cutter: I have a Silhouette Cameo – Cricuts are great too!
– Stencil Vinyl: Oracal 631 from Amazon
– Transfer Paper: JH Best Crafts from Amazon
– Plywood: Sande plywood from Home Depot works well
– Wood Stain: We use MinWax Weathered Gray and Verathane Dark Walnut
– Sand Paper: We use 120 grit and then 220 grit
– Mod Podge
– Acrylic Paint: Any white outdoor acrylic will work well
– Paint brushes for stain and small brushes/foam brushes for stenciling – Polyurethane: Optional for sealing boards

If you’ve made it to this page, you are at least a little interested in the prospect of making your own wood signs. I don’t blame you – it’s a blast! I’ve used my vinyl cutter for so many projects – stencils, stickers, iron-on designs, cardstock – my favorite crafting purchase yet!

First things first – decide how large you want your sign to be. We typically buy 4′ x 8′ pieces of plywood and have them cut down at Home Depot, but a smaller piece will work for just a few signs. After cutting the wood, sand it with 120 grit sandpaper to smooth out any rough edges and to even out any imperfections in the top of the board, finishing with 220 grit.

Once your board is cut and sanded, you are ready to stain! One coat provides full coverage on the plywood since the color is fairly light and uniform. We applied two coats of the stain shown above to get a darker color, but I think next time we will use the Premium Varathane and see if one coat does the trick. We recommend staining the back first, waiting a couple hours (follow directions on your stain can), and then staining the front and sides so that any drips or touch ups are on the back. When staining the back, be careful around the edges to minimize the amount of stain that seeps under the board onto the front. When you are wiping off the excess, run your rag under the board as well so that any stain that does seep under doesn’t pool. Once your boards are stained, make sure you leave enough time for them to dry completely before stenciling – we wait overnight which is probably aggressive, but better safe than sorry!

In the meantime, get familiar with the design software on your Silhouette Cameo or Cricut. I watched a ton of You Tube videos to get tips and tricks for the Silhouette Cameo. Here are some big ones:
– Tip #1: When using script fonts, it’s helpful to weld the letters together before printing, shown in the image below on the left – it makes it easier to weed the lettering out of the stencil in one piece.
– Tip #2: Make sure to leave enough blank space around the edge of your design page so that your vinyl doesn’t slip during your cut.
– Tip #3: In the Design tab, you can select whether or not you are using a cutting mat, shown in the image on the right. I typically send my vinyl through without a cutting mat because I’ve found that it’s easier to keep the vinyl straight in the machine, but test it out to see what works best for you.

Once your design is welded and ready to go, select ‘Print’ in the right-hand corner of the image below on the left. On the print page, make sure that the type of vinyl you are using is selected (stencil vinyl typically has a matte finish). The default speed and force that populates will typically do the trick, but I always load vinyl into the machine to test my blade before printing an entire design. The test button will create a small triangle in the left-hand corner of your vinyl, and you can use this to double check that the blade is cutting through the vinyl but not the backing (seriously, I do this before EVERY print job). After your test, make sure your vinyl is loaded back into the machine, and send to print!

While your stencil is printing, it may be hard to tell whether it’s actually cutting your vinyl – be patient! When your print job is complete, unload the vinyl and cut out your stencil, leaving some room around the lettering. Then, weed out the letters in your printed design. Make sure that any standalone pieces (such as the centers of ‘a’s and ‘e’s) do not lift up with the vinyl.

Once you’ve weeded all of your lettering, apply transfer tape to your entire design (try to cover in one piece if possible) and press down firmly to push out any bubbles. At this point, I always lay out my design on the wood and mark where I’ll position it so that it’s centered. It can be difficult to peel up and re-position your vinyl once you place it down, so it’s worth the extra checks and measurements. 🙂

Carefully peel off the backing off of your vinyl, making sure those standalone pieces stay stuck to your transfer paper, and place the vinyl design on your wood board. Use your scraper or any straight edge to make sure that there are no bubbles in your vinyl and that the entire design adheres fully to the board.

Once your design is placed, peel up the transfer tape to unveil the stencil! Tip: If your vinyl starts to come up with the transfer tape, lay the transfer tape back down and firmly press on the design so that it adheres to the board. When you’ve removed your transfer tape, double-check that all edges are stuck and that there are no bubbles (this is the key to crisp lines!). I line the edge of my vinyl stencil with painter’s tape for an extra buffer to keep paint from venturing outside the stencil lines.

Using a foam brush or a paint brush, apply a thin layer of Mod Podge onto your design, making sure that it’s applied within all of the crevices. This step can be optional, but it creates another barrier to keep paint from seeping under your stencil. You will be able to tell when the Mod Podge is dry because it will turn clear.

Finally, time to paint! I used a small stencil paintbrush for this tutorial, but a foam brush works as well. When painting your signs, make sure that your coats are VERY thin – it should look like you’ve barely painted after your first coat (shown on the left). Thin paint coats will protect against 1) paint pooling and seeping under the vinyl and 2) paint sticking to your vinyl and peeling up when you remove your stencil. These are lessons learned from LOTS of trial and error – you’re welcome! I wait about 20 minutes between paint coats and typically apply three coats (shown below on the right). Honestly, I think that two would probably do the trick and one would create a more rustic/worn look.

After your third coat, wait 30 minutes before peeling off your stencil. You guys – this is my favorite part! Carefully and slowly peel up your stencil to uncover your crisp paint lines and beautiful lettering! I find that following the direction of the lettering when peeling up the vinyl helps to create clean lines, shown below on the left. It can also help to cut off chunks of the vinyl as you peel so that it doesn’t get unwieldy. For standalone pieces, such as the loop in the ‘g’ below, use a stencil weeding tool or a pin to pick up the edge without chipping your paint.

If you will be using your signs for home decor or if they will be outside, we recommend finishing them with a couple coats or polyurethane, or a polyurethane spray, to protect both the lettering and the stain.

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Tip: If you are looking to use a mirror or acrylic as your sign material, simply follow the steps above to create and print your design and weed out the vinyl around the design versus the lettering itself. This creates a sticker, as shown below. Use transfer tape to give structure to your sticker, peel off the backing, and place on your mirror or piece of clear acrylic for a pretty sign without the paint!