How to make an antique retro style sign
Instruction
This sign is made from some old wooden planks I had in the workshop and finished with antique pine coloured wax.
I'll share how where to get the elements to make a similar design, which fonts I used and the settings of engraving the wooden planks.
Any wood can be used for this project. I used old wood planks I had and didn't do any sanding or preparation to keep the natural imperfections of the wood as I wanted the sing to look like an antique.
The base elements for this design are from a website called designbundles.net which I have then customised with custom text and fonts.
The two fonts I used are Rye, which can be downloaded from Google fonts, and Battles Bridge that is available from fontspace.com.
I then used the curve text and font sapcing tools in XCS to make the lettering fit with the design.
I was using wooden planks that I had never engraved on before so I first used the material test array to decide on the best settings for this project.
Using my 5w xTool D1 I used the settings listed above, 90% power, 50mm per second, 140 lines per cm and 1 pass.
To darken the wood slightly and give a old vintage look I used some antique pine coloured wax polish. This wax is applied to the wood, left to stand for 30 minutes and then rubbed with a clean cloth to give a smooth finish.