# Pirate Tavern Sign



## HalloWierdo (Aug 13, 2014)

This is my first post here and I really wanted to “give back” after using a lot of the tutorials and general ideas from this site. This year I plan to have a pirate themed Halloween complete with a tavern façade. So I needed an old rustic sign to lure in all those rum guzzling bilge rats. After some time searching the net I was able to find a few tips here and there. Well I put them together and made my attempt. Here is my tutorial for an old tavern sign. Hope it helps ya land lubbers!!!

First I got myself a 2 inch piece of pink insulation foam from Home Depot. I traced out my measurements and cut the general shape out with a hot knife. I then grained the foam with a soldering iron to resemble wood. There are plenty of tutorials on the net for this so I won’t go into all that. I also painted the sign using the standard method. I fully painted the sign black followed by dry brushing numerous wood type colors
This was my end result. 









I then wanted to put some “iron” bands around the planks to simulate holding them together. I got some thin craft foam and spray painted them with Rustoleum’s Hammered Iron. 








They turned out great and I hot glued them to the sign.








I then needed some type of nails hammered through the bands. I picked a brass tack to create this look. It was easy to do and I liked the look of the brass. 








OK so I needed a name for the tavern. Being a dog lover I went with the name “Sea Dog Tavern”. I was able to download the font “Pieces of Eight” from a free font site that seemed to be perfect. I wasted some printer paper trying to get the right size but it worked out and I test fit the lettering before the next step. 









Now the fun part rolleyes: sarcasm), cutting out these letters. It was challenging but with the help of a hot knife it moved right along. Not sure if there is a better way to do this but it was all I could think of. 








After cutting I laid out the letters once again to get a sense of spacing








I then spray painted the letters with a chrome paint and aged them with a black acrylic, cherry wood stain, and a green acrylic. I used a fairly wet brush and "jabbed" at the letters to create a pitted type of look. Then secured them onto the sign with hot glue. 








Next was the symbol for the Sea Dog Tavern. What else but a dog! I figured I'd stay with the metal look and found a great logo that fit . Again printing it out to judge size. 








I cut it out the same way as the letters and it was given the same ageing technique. Again secured with hot glue and it was finished. I was really pleased with the outcome. Id love to hear some opinions or maybe some short cuts to doing this easier. Thanks everyone and Happy Haunting


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## Tzaddi93 (Aug 1, 2013)

Beautiful work!


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## DaveintheGrave (Feb 12, 2004)

Looks terrific!


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## PirateDex (Jun 25, 2014)

Blimey, awesome job on the sign and quite the tutorial as a give back. I see that I will be keeping this one saved. Thanks


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## mxmarsh (Jul 17, 2011)

Looks Great!!!!!!


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## Screaming Demons (Sep 15, 2008)

That looks fantastic! But I'm not clear on what are the letters made out of?


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## ollieee (Sep 16, 2010)

Awesome sign. The raised letters are a nice touch adding to the dimension. I take the lazy approach by cutting out a paper stencil also using the Pieces of Eight font and then airbrushing with acrylic paint. Many signs of that era were simply painted. But I may have to raise my bar and try this on my next sign. Thanks for the tutor.


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## myke124 (Sep 22, 2010)

Great looking sign !


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## HallowweenKat (Sep 29, 2010)

Your sign looks great!


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## Vandalay Industries (Sep 1, 2014)

Nice work!


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## HalloWierdo (Aug 13, 2014)

Screaming Demons said:


> That looks fantastic! But I'm not clear on what are the letters made out of?


Thanks everyone for the kind words and advice! 

Demon just to clarify its just a standard craft foam sheet, the same as what the "iron" straps were made from. You can pick a bundle of them up at Michael's for cheap


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## Froderick Fronkensteen (Sep 29, 2013)

This is awesome! I want to do the same thing, but do the Slaughtered Lamb sign from American Werewolf in London


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## Haunted Higleys (Sep 2, 2014)

Thanks for the tutorial. It looks great!!


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## fun69ohguy (Jul 29, 2008)

Thank you for the tutorial!! I copied yours almost exactly, but have given you and this forum every bit of credit. Your wood grain came out better than mine absolutely amazing. One tip I have is, I luckily have a Cricut cutting machine, so I was fortunate to not have to hand cut any designs or letters. Thanks again for the excellent tutorial!


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## ollieee (Sep 16, 2010)

So jealous, I have always wanted a Cricut but for how much I actually neeeed it I could not justify the price. Your sign turned out awesome as well.


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## itw69fxst (Oct 29, 2014)

excellent job on this - very impressive


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## Sharonr3106 (Sep 8, 2014)

Looks really great! My theme is Pirates to, so just going to start setting up tomorrow for party on Friday


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