Farmer's Market

Now that the holidays are over, I am beginning to turn my attention to the garden.  I intend to display this sign as an awning, but it could hang as a flat sign as well.  Whatever your fancy is.  I constructed this out of an 8 foot 1x4 that I cut in half to make two 4 foot lengths.  Then I purchased wooden garden stakes that come in clusters of stakes.  You can purchase these at Lowe's or Home Depot.  For a lighter weight sign, you could even use paint stir sticks, but I doubt that would hold up outside in the elements.

 I painted all the wood with Rustoleum Blossom White.  This is a good paint for indoor/outdoor use.

 I laid out the 1x4s evenly spaced and straight and started laying down the pickets on top of them.  I used a right angle ruler to make sure the pickets were going on straight and were not at a slant.  Since I did this in the dining room on the hardwood floor, I protected the floor with an old towel to prevent scratching and glue runs.  As I laid down each picket, I put a good dab of wood glue on both of the 1x4s and then laid the picket on top.  I did this for every picket.

 When I had the whole row done, I very carefully started stacking books and magazines on top of the project taking care not to move my pickets.  As you can see, my addiction to decorating books and magazines serves two purposes.  They make great weights for gluing projects.  You want good contact so you get a good connection between all the wood pieces.  For good measure, I used a fresh 25 lb. bag of Cindy's dog food.  Use whatever you have that has solid weight that will apply pressure to the glue.

 I let this set up for 24 hours before I lifted my weights from the pickets.  Just for good measure, I had my husband drill pilot holes so he could reinforce it with some long skinny nails.  I know there is a particular name for this type of nail, but it escapes me right now.  They are the kind with hardly any head on them although nail heads would not bother a thing.  This is a rustic outdoor project.  FYI, my husband thought I was going for overkill with the nails since my gluing job was stupendous and even he was impressed.

Now that everything has been constructed, I set out to do some stenciling.  As always, I take an extra couple of minutes to map out the lettering on the goof-up pages from our copy machine.  Never discard these.  I use them for everything imaginable.  Once the lettering is mapped out, I lay down painter's tape so I keep the lettering straight.  Keep your sample lettering either above or below where you are placing the lettering on your sign so you know just where to place your next letter and use your masking tape as your leveling guide.  Once the lettering was done, I gently sanded it back and sprayed it with Valspar Clear Flat.  The can also says for indoor/outdoor so this is a great product for your garden signs.