Market Sign

I apologize for not being around for a while.  I have been recovering from surgery and dealing with an infection at the site if the incision, so actually I've been doing a lot of nothing. I did work on a few little projects though.

I have this little wall space that is the bulkhead over my kitchen cabinets.  It isn't really a lot of wall so you cant hang a picture, and I dont' have a pile of pretty plates I can put there.  I've been dwelling on it for some time now and decided a board would fit there really well so a few  signs seemed the logical thing.  Going through my stash the other day I found two signs that I had painted years ago when I sold fresh eggs and rabbits.  They hung at the end of the drive for years and were weathered and discoloured.  In other words perfect. They got me thinking ... If I could hand paint a sign fifteen years ago I could certainly paint something now. I don't own a cricut or anything like it so freehand is the way I've always done things. 

I wish I had taken some before pictures but a board is a board.
I picked  a board that looked like the right size and sketched the lettering on with a pencil. 
I painted the letters directly onto the board , because I thought I wanted the background natural but when they were done I hated it .  
To fix it I painted over the letters with some white chalky paint, then repainted over the letters with some the black again.  It was better but looked like I had just painted it.  duh..

 

I grabbed some white vinegar and sprinkled some large droplets over the surface of the board and with a cloth I immediately rubbed with the grain to take some of the layered paint off.  I used a sanding block to take off a bit more until I was satisfied with the look and then covered the whole thing with some paste wax for dark furniture.  The dark wax is what gives it the "not just done" look I wanted.

It's the perfect fit  for the area above the stove and I wish I had done this years ago.  I love it.

And here's this little "eggs" sign I made about fifteen years ago.  You can't duplicate the wear that wind and rain create so this little treasure is perfect. It sold a lot off eggs, and the cash bought a lot of chicken feed. It's a  hard working little sign that deserves a place of honor above the fridge. 

Feel free to leave me a little note. I'd love to hear from you.