Ray's Woodworking

All Guides - Start Here

Beginning

Tools

Wood

Sign Designs

Methods

Layout Guide

Tool up

1. Measuring tapes, in & mm scales
2. Calipers / dial indicator guage
3. Yard sticks
4. Straight edges, 1' and 3'
5. Triangles
6. Carbon paper, transfer / freezer paper
7. Large Compass / string
8. Black sharpies, pens, markers
9. Grid paper, Masking paper
10. External (Red) double sided tape, painters tape
11. Scissors, X-Acto knife
12. Scraper, putty knife, blades

Carving

1. Lightly sand the wood face; leave back as is
2. Use sanding sealer before any layout or carving of pine boards
3. Use sanding sealer on any worn, aged boards or with divots or loose grain
4. Add top, middle and bottom reference lines before carving

Laying Out

Check Spelling, esp. names!!

1. Lay out letter sizes
   • Determine inset or outset
   • Determine letter fonts and sizes
   • Lay out longest line first
   • Set letter in the middle of the sign left to right, top to bottom
   • Set a pencil at the letter bottom and draw a rule line
   • Lay out letters along that line and repeat for other lines

   Not enough letters? Use similar letter as place holder, mask off before spraying

   • Give outset letters more space
   • Inset letters can almost touch each other
   • Square up and place the spacing, measuring from ends to each letter
   • Balance largest letter lines top to bottom
   • Balance other letter / art spacing on lines above and below
   • Base lines that allow clearance for the cloud
   • Rough in the design and white spaces
   • Finalize the exact position of every single detail

   Snap a picture and show it around. Get other opinions

2. Double check:
   • Locations, locations & locations
   • Go over each letter comparing to the font printout
   • Double check letters for:
     • Square - to the top edge and to each other
     • Spacing - inset vs outset
     • Spelling: especially of people's names
     • White space is consistent throughout the entire sign
   • Inset can be closer to the edge
   • Inset letters can be closer to each other
   • Outset can not be close to the edge
   • Allow edge clearance for the cloud on outset
   • Spelling of company logos and names
   • Wrong Letter orientation and letter / number substitutes
   • Punctuation mark omissions, misplaced or sign anomalies
3. Draw 3 base line marks for each line- letter tops, middles and bottoms
4. Large signs

   Has to be perfect! Flaws in large products show

   • Fancy fonts? Check font sheets for letter orientation
   • Layout templates and patterns have to be precise
   • Create full size font sheets for carbon transfers
   • Determine border styles
   • THEN determine line counts, outset/inset and line locations

Spraying

Take your time

Ink, Primer - shake can well. check temperature and cool or heat as necessary 1st

1. Mask off:
   • Rule lines, Art lines, patterns
   • Missing letters, missing punctuation marks or substitute letters
   • Divots, cracks, splits, knots or raised grain areas

   Any place that will bleed ink or primer

2. Spray in short bursts holding can high and work down as needed

Vertical spraying = blowing letters off, spitting and splatters

3. Spray top of sign down, then bottom up
4. Light shadowing is all that is needed for lettering and patterns

Blue tip = fine spray

5. Draw or re-draw rule lines across letter tops, middle and bottoms
6. Add punctuation marks or pencil lines for missing letter areas free hand
7. Add cloud lines

Pattern Suggestions

1. Pattern sets of 10 (3.5 x 3.75) $25

   1/8 Birch Plywood

   • Animals
   • Birds
   • Cats
   • Christmas / Holidays
   • Christian
   • Cocktails
   • Dogs
   • Farm
   • First Responders
   • Fish
   • Halloween
   • Hunters & Wildlife
   • Jets
   • Miscellaneous
   • Music
   • Nautical
   • Patriotic
   • Scrolls & Vines
   • Southwest
   • Sports
   • States
   • Tractors & Machines
   • Trees & Flowers
   • Valentines
   • Weddings
   • Western

Place patterns side by side (inset facing outset) not top to bottom.

Fonts

Make font sheets; landscape A - M rows upper and lower case for each font

1. Font selection: Times New Roman, Clarendon, Western, Tiki, Fatty Font, Bookman, Universal condensed, Edwardian Script
2. Font sizes: .5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5 4, 6
3. Skewed - Italic: top and bottom adhere to base lines but are slanted 10 degrees to the right.

Hard to read at a distance - used for accent or directions

4. Tilted - slanted: Letters do not remain on the base line

Used for emphasis, visual effects and eye appeal

5. Add top, middle & bottom reference lines before carving;
6. Select & re-scale

Use font print outs during layout and have it in front of you; Watch for mirror images

7. Check the original font style and orientation:

   Mark orientation on the back of each letter or spray the back side yellow or white

   • Legs - stroke on the left is narrower on left than right side: A N
   • Backwards, upside down letters; N has serif on top, point on bottom
   • S is wide on the bottom, narrow on top
   • O letter is round, 0 number is oval
   • W left is wide, right is narrow and slanted
   • M is not slanted
   • X Top right to bottom left is narrow
   • Y, V Right side is narrow
   • Substitute letters: M for W etc.
   • Substituting letters for numbers, numbers for letters; 0 for O
8. Very large letters
   • Enlarged on the printer to the correct size for the sign
   • Lay the paper in place and tape across the top
   • Slide carbon paper under and trace using a stylus

Different fonts use different spacing called leading.

Layout may be slightly wider than normal due to font leading. Fix this on the computer by reducing the size of the spaces between the letters. If the letter is 36 then drop the space between to 12 etc.

9. Wider spacing on large letters may be ok. Double check often during layout!

Small Artwork

1. Glue paper to the board
   • Tape it down on one side
   • Lift and spray glue
   • Let it dry for 2 minutes
   • Keeping the back of the paper up, lower the paper so the taped side contacts the glue first
   • Use a putty knife or flat surface to squeeze out air as the paper is lowered

Letter & Pattern Layouts

Large patterns can be cut into sections or folded for storage

Reversible templates take 3 seconds to spray; printing and carbon paper takes more time

1. Make from Acrylic, birch ply, hardboard
2. 1/8 thick letters
3. Cut out wood patterns can contain intricate detail
4. Use 1" square graph paper for scaling up large patterns

Multiply by final measurements to make the pattern

5. Larger Templates
6. Stencils
7. Coloring Pages
8. Pictures of silhouettes re-scaled

Pictures / images on the sides, not top or bottom esp. with squared signs

9. Clip Art (watermarks = copyrighted)
10. Line art (no watermarks ok)
11. Grid paper

Fold in four, count out inches and cut out pattern. Then glue on and cut out

Arches

1. Set letter in the center and set pencil on the bottom
2. Draw with a finger in an arch across the wood to set the bottom line

Alternative methods

3. Lay out letters in a rough arch so one letter is exactly in the middle of the new arch
4. Put a pencil mark at the bottom of the highest letter
5. Set clamps at the bottom of the outermost letters
6. Flex a piece or thin metal or wood to bend the arch and draw the arch line
7. Make arch patterns from 1/4 stock: 12x24, 6x24, 4x18, 4x14

Letter Sets

1. Fonts
   • Bookman, Clarendon, Fatty, Tiki, Universal Condensed, Western
2. Sizes
   • .5, .75, 1, 1.5, 2 - 6
   • American Sign Letters 4 - 36

Transfers, Small & Large

This process can be scaled up from one piece of paper to several. To make posters make sure the margin prints out the index marks for cutting later

NOTE: Letters and images will print out backwards, so the program has to swap the image left to right BEFORE printing. Hence the software

1. Software for Poster creation
   • Rapid Resizer
   • Posteriza
   • Inkscape
2. Software for photo manipulation
   • Microsoft Paint
   • Corel Draw
   • etc.
3. Logos
4. Use imaging software to flip the image for transfers

Images are backwards from the original

TIP: Make a copy and flip or invert it, then copy again on transfer media

Transfers

1. Get the image and expand it to fit
   • EXAMPLE: Original print out is 4.5 but wants 12. 12.0 / 4.5 = 2.66 x 100 = 266%
   • 266 % = 12 x 12 (1 ft2)
   • Splice 8 1/2 x 11 down the center
2. Check colors and customer specs
3. Place a blank piece(s) of the transfer paper you will use onto the board in the exact final position needed
4. Using masking tape place tape NEXT TO the top, bottom and each corner as index marks for locating the transfer paper after printing
5. Remove the paper from the board, leaving the taped transfer marks
6. Print the transfer onto the paper

   To make better transfers spray silicone spray or WD-40 on the printing side and wipe off before printing.

   Spraying the paper before printing extends the working time. Working time is 2 - 3 hours after printing, but shorter time yields better results.

   • Freezer paper - print on glossy side
   • Label backing - print on glossy side

Ink remains wet so handle carefully so as not to smear the image

7. Multiple page posters
   • Lay the transfer ink side up
   • Align the registration marks on each page and make cuts for overlapping each piece
   • Use small pieces of tape to carefully stick the pages together LOOSLY so they can be un-done as the poster alignments are adjusted
   • Tape the seams together on white spaces

   No tape over inked areas

   The entire set of papers should now be one large poster with no tape on the printed parts

   • Turn the entire transfer over onto the board at the top index marks and lay the papers down slowly, being careful not to smear
   • Use small tape pieces to keep papers together
   • Double check and adjust the final position
   • WITHOUT MOVING the transfer, carefully tape the top edge onto the board

   Taping the sides and bottom may be necessary

   • Using a spoon,, roller flat squeegee or flat plastic rub the transfer onto the board
   • Use extra pressure where paper seams are located in the image
   • Occasionally lift the bottom to check for blank spots
   • Work from the top down
   • Carefully lift the paper to check your work