Sneak Peek Saturday - Chalkboard Welcome

As the wedding nears, I am getting a more and more concrete vision of what it will all look like.  Don't get me wrong..... I've always pretty much had in mind what I wanted.  Some changes have happened along the way, in terms of practicality,etc., but I knew what I wanted from the start.

One thing I have had my eye on was a chalkboard that MMM made for himself - for his pottery business.  I know that I have mentioned that he is an excellent potter - he makes really interesting and inventive pottery.  You can check out a few of his things at his Etsy store: Creatively Strange.  You may just find something you can't live without.
  

  
Here are a couple of shots of a teapot set in progress and then the finished work, below.  Don't they have a wonderful steampunk feel?
 

 
He's a true talent, on his way to being recognized, and deservedly so.

 

Almost a year ago, he picked up a cupboard door at our local ReStore, and after putting several layers of classic black chalkboard paint, it turned out to be quite a thing of beauty.  Time to consider an alternate, albeit temporary, use for this item.  It will make a perfect welcome sign for our wedding.

 
I lettered it with a liquid chalkboard paint marker,

carefully laying out the words, and a border design to finish it off.

Here's a very useful lettering tip, for anyone who struggles making their lettering look nice.  First, it's helpful if you write in a standard fashion - that is, generally making your strokes the way we were all taught back in third grade.  If you don't write in cursive, or if you developed a non-standard way to make your letters (many left-handers do, for instance), then this will be less helpful.  

Generally, here's how it works: any stroke that initiates at the top and then goes down gets double the thickness.  Strokes that initiate at the bottom and go upward are single thickness.  So.....you simply write out, as neatly as possible, whatever your message is, then go back over it, thinking carefully about the direction those strokes took.  

See that 'W'?  After the curlicue, it starts with a downstroke - that's double thickness.  Then an upstroke - that's single thickness.  Then the second half of the 'W' begins with a downstroke - again, double thickness.   It finishes on an upstroke.  Single thickness again.  I added curlicues and geegaws to fancy it up, so there are a few extra fancies, but it's really no big deal to write this way.  You just fatten up the lines afterwards.  It couldn't hurt to practice this on a sheet of paper before you do something that's more permanent - with paint, for instance.

Well, what do you think?  I love it!


Love,


Sass