We’re big nerds in this house. We love Star Wars and Star Trek and all of that. So I decided to create a subtle nod to that nerdiness in our dining room on the cheap. Here’s How to Make a Typography Sign with a Pencil and Paper!
Yes. The ‘Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.‘ phrase is an homage to our love for Star Trek: TNG. It’s a command frequently used by Captain Jean Luc Picard to the food replicator on the Enterprise. Anyhoo! There’s a really simple technique for doing up a sign like this all your own!
Here’s what you need:
- Something to put your words on (canvas, wood, paper, even a wall. We used a piece of wood we salvaged from the demolition of our old hallway bookcase!)
- a plain old HB pencil
- a ball point pen or writing implement with a hard tip
- a printer and basic paper – (We like this printer!)
- paint and a small craft brush
- painter’s tape
- a word processing program with the font of your choice
Step one is to select your phrase and then type it out with each word on one page. When you select your font, make sure it’s something with heft. You want to be able to ‘fill it in’ later, so scroll-like fonts and super thin ones don’t work as well. (Unless you plan to trace it with a fine tipped paint pen, in which case, go to town!)
Cut your words out and arrange them on your medium. I used the Stencil font set at 150 for the font size. My wood is about 24″x5″ to give you a sense of scale.
Now flip over your words and go over the entire back side of your paper with your pencil.
Arrange your words again and tape them in place to keep them secure. Using your hard tip pen, now trace the letters and push with some degree of force. This will transfer your letters to the medium underneath!
Now, all you have to do is paint your transferred letters in your colour of choice with your small craft brush. We chose to use Sunday Brunch by PARA Paints*. It’s a great yellow-y accent colour. We realized it’s likely called Sunday Brunch because it’s very close in colour to an egg yolk!
Now, Captain Picard can have his tea (and his Sunday Brunch) in our dining room. 🙂
Nerding out over here!
LL&P
-E
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