abloom Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 Hi everyone! I haven't done any miniature projects for a while, but I'm back at it, working on a 1:48 Greenleaf village, and I am clueless about how to make the shop signs. I love the fancy vintage lettering, but I'm no calligrapher. How do you make your beautiful signs, or can you have them made? Any advice would be much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 When I need signs or labels, I do them on the computer In MS Word, using whatever font is suitable. I sometimes print them on sticky-backed paper, sometimes on photo paper for a more substantial appearance. !:48 could be a challenge for readability, but surely there is a font that will work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abloom Posted December 30, 2020 Author Share Posted December 30, 2020 Thanks, Kathie! I'll see what fonts we might have and start experimenting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fov Posted December 30, 2020 Share Posted December 30, 2020 Ditto what Kathie said. Or search for store logos that would be appropriate for your stores and shrink them down. That's how I made the glass window of my Blackbird Bar (printed onto sticker paper). After gluing a printed sign to a piece of wood, you can seal it with Mod Podge or varnish to make it look less like paper. I use the matte and gloss varnish available in the craft paint section at Michaels. Here's a sign I made for the bathroom in my bar roombox. I found the image with a Google search. The brush strokes of the varnish look like wood grain, which was good for this sign, but if you don't want that sort of texture you can use a thicker coat of varnish to prevent the brush strokes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abloom Posted December 31, 2020 Author Share Posted December 31, 2020 Ooh, Emily, that looks great! The shop names I'm thinking of are more specific than I'm likely to find, but if I can make them on the computer and print them out, gluing the paper to wood and varnishing it sounds perfect. Thanks for the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medieval Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 I don't know how well it would work, but print them on transparency paper made for printers so you don't see the paper at all. Or a cri-cut machine with clear contact paper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fov Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 That's what I did to make the bar window. I used sticker paper intending to cover the entire window with a sticker (so you wouldn't see a seam) but couldn't get the sticker on without wrinkles. I ended up cutting around the logo but then the seam of the sticker is visible. I had better luck with a transparency sheet, which I cut down to the size of the window and inserted along with the plexiglass (the transparency sheet is too flimsy to use on its own). There's also ink jet decal paper, but I haven't tried that. Bar window with sticker paper (someday I'll redo this with the transparency sheet method): Another window with transparency sheet: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 I found some laser-cut wooden letters at Hobby Lobby to make my 1:12 Brimble's sign, but I don't know how small the cut letters are available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 3 hours ago, havanaholly said: laser-cut wooden letters If you want to go with a letter-by-letter method that isn't 3-D, Google "press on letters" for a wide selections of vinyl letters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 In 1:24 and smaller scales vinyl press-on letters could also be 3-D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abloom Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 On 12/31/2020 at 9:30 AM, Medieval said: I don't know how well it would work, but print them on transparency paper made for printers so you don't see the paper at all. Or a cri-cut machine with clear contact paper Wow, that sounds interesting. I didn't know there even was transparency paper for printers. I just discovered the cricut machines, but not in my budget ... yet, anyway ;) Thanks for these possibilities! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abloom Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 Emily, your window stick-on signs look great. And your bar ... omg! I love the idea of printing on a transparency and covering the whole window so there's no edge. Thanks for sharing it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abloom Posted January 3, 2021 Author Share Posted January 3, 2021 Holly and Kathie, I think the vinyl press-on letters are what I've seen a few people use on videos and I wanted to try them but I didn't even know what they were called :| Now I know what to look for. Thank you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 3 hours ago, abloom said: Now I know what to look for. Try Googling the Letraset brand name for rub-on letters that are whisper thin. They have thousands of fonts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abloom Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 Kathie, THANK YOU!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.