What’s it cost to make this hand-lettered plaque?
Sometimes a project just shouts for hand painting
By Ralph Toews
Posted on Friday, October 30th, 2020
Materials:
2 sq. ft. cedar for the 20-by-16-in. blank: $15 CDN
One-half liter of Sansin exterior stain: $15 CDN
Misc. sandpaper, One Shot enamel, etc.: $10 CDN
Total materials: $40 CDN (or about $30 in US dollars)
Labor:
Discuss project, design and prep file: 1 hour
Laminate blank, sand and stain blank: 1 hour
Make pattern: 30 minutes
Hand letter: 1 hour
Add border: 15 minutes
Total time: 3 hours, 45 minutes
When we got the order for a required location sign on a boathouse, we thought it was a good opportunity to offer a traditional hand-lettered wood panel. The client agreed that handcrafted simplicity for this kind of sign would be a nice touch.
The project proved to be a bit of a challenge since the background of the sign was to use the same trim stain from the building. We didn’t realize the stain would react as it did on the pine panel we started with. After a second panel was laminated and cut from cedar, we were good to go.
