The Cat's See How: Signs

If you are old enough to remember burma shave signs on the highway, then you will remember the inspiration for this sign.

Back in the day of road travel, there were series of 4 signs in rhyme, ending with "burma shave" all along America's highways. Well, it will make Mike and me smile at the wedding, even if we are the only ones to remember.

Making the signs was quite a learning process. We went through a variety of wood ideas, from shingles to barn wood to 1 x 3's and ended up buying a 2 x 4 foot piece of oak at Lowes for under 10 dollars which was adequate for the 16 signs we planned. I printed off the signs in a variety of fonts and chose "cinnamon cake" as my favorite. These were printed in 125 size. That too took a lot of testing! Then I spaced them out on a piece of brown paper to see how they would look.

Next Mike cut the board into 12 inch sections and then cut pieces to fit each sign. Meanwhile I scribbled on the back of each print out with a graphite stick .. a #2 pencil would do, but we were going into major production and the graphite stick was faster. I was able to position them on the wood and draw over the letters with the graphite on the back transferring to the wood.

Next I carefully painted the letters using black acrylic paint. But the signs seemed so ... normal. I used a punch to cut 3/4 and 1 inch circles and put them randomly on a signs for the smoking area. (don't you love the name ... my brilliant husband thought of it.)