How to Make Wood Signs

There are many ways to make these cute farm animal signs. I will show you how to both make this sign using the wood transfer method and using HTV iron on.

I made a set of farm animal designs a while back – a chicken, cow, horse and pig. The chicken came first, in case anyone was wondering. har har

I’ve included these FREE printables (PDF and PNG) and templates (SVG cutouts) of all 4 signs in my resource library

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    You can always just print them and put them in a simple frame which works great.

    Materials For Making your Own Wood Transfer Sign

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    Blank wood sign – you always make your own but I’m not much into woodwork so I just buy mine from Amazon.

    Either pencil (for lighter boards) or chalk (for darker boards)

    Sharpie or Acrylic Paint – I love Acrylic Paint Pens, they are so easy to use are perfect for this project. Sharpies are probably the more common and they work just as well for this project.

    Modge Podge – It really helps to seal the edge areas for the paint so there is no bleeding. I’ve also just used elmers glue in a pinch.

    How to Trace onto Wood

    There are many methods to trace letters or an image onto wood. I just chose to do this with a pencil because it’s something everyone has around the house.

    How to transfer the design and letters to wood

    DIY wood sign

    Position the print out on the board and trace the outline of the image. The idea is to do a carbon copy out of the image.

    Seal the design edges with glue or modge podge

    I like to do this with a q-tip but a brush works too. Be sure to extend beyond the edge of the design.

    Draw the letters and design on wood with your sharpie

    The glue or or sealant works amazingly well for preventing the sharpie and paint from bleeding.

    How to Iron on Wood

    If you have a cutting machine, these designs can also be make using the SVG cut file format of the sign which is also included in my resource library.

    First, cut out the design using your cutting machine. I use a Cricut. (Check out my article on which Cricut is best for beginners if you don’t have one)

    Be sure to mirror your design.

    Place the design over the wood. Then place the teflon protective sheet over it.

    I usually iron at around 300 deg F which is usually the Wool setting on an iron. I go in increments of 30 seconds check in between to see if the vinyl as adhered.

    Do a warm peel of the transfer sheet.

    That’s it!

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    2 thoughts on “How to Make Wood Signs”

    1. Adriana Gordon

      Do you have a tutorial on how to frame the wood sign?

      1. I do not, I have say, I’m not sure I’ve ever tried to frame a wood sign. I’ll have to look into it sometime.

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