Painting Words

So I went to try this new technique I found on Pinterest to trace a printed word/name with a ball point pen on a desired object to give you an indented outline for painting.  Well when I attempted to do this with my kids names on their bedroom doors I realised, to my dismay, it would not work.  Firstly our panel doors with wood grain effect made it all too difficult to trace a straight line.  Secondly, these doors are so hard that no pen or pencil would make an indent.  My heart was set on painting these names directly on the doors... and since my free handing skills are good but not that good I had to think for a while of what I could do!

So I came up with an amazing solution!

Painted Name

 

I printed my kids names off Word in the desired size and font... but mirrored.  Then I placed the printed paper face down on  the door in the position I wanted it and rubbed along the letters as to act as a transfer.   It worked... surprisingly, and faintly left the ink from the letters on the paper, on the doors.

I then painted over these transferred names with the desired colour and done!

Doors Before

Doors After

Now this may sound all too easy.  Well once I figured out how to mirror the image with Word 2010, it was.  Sadly with Word 2010, my trusty old Wordart trick didn't work to flip the text in a mirrored position, and my printer doesn't have the automatic option.  So it took several different attempts of a few different techniques before I finally put a few ideas together and made it work!

You can flip Wordart by using the 3D Rotation tool found in the format shape option in the drop down menu, when you right click on your Wordart.  But for some reason it does not let you make Wordart larger then 72 pts, which was not big enough for what I wanted to achieve.

So I found another technique that I will use for much more computer projects now and for those of you who have this same problem here is how to make text on Word "Mirrored":

- type the name/word using the standard word cursor
- selected it
- click copy

The next step is the new trick I learnt:

- when you go to press paste; click the little down arrow underneath it and select "paste special"
- then from that pop up menu select "Picture (Enhanced Metafile)"

This action pastes the text you just copied as a picture. 
Now to rotate it to be Mirrored:

- right click the object and select "Format Picture"
- select 3D rotation
- then in the "X" row under the rotation subtitle enter 180 degrees
- click close and your name is now mirrored!


Here are the pictures off the process from start to finish for the "Painted Names" project.


Print Text in Mirrored Position Using an InkJet Printer

Tape Document Face Down in Desired Area

Ink Transfer Left Behind

Rub Along Text With Finger

 



Painted Word

Paint Over Letter Transfer



Apply Second Coat



Finished Name On Bedroom Door



 

 



And that was my Sunday afternoon project.  I am very thrilled with how the doors turned out!  I painted the names in the same colour as the hall way, which was Benjamin Moore's CC-570 (Night Train).  My best tips for anyone who would like try painting text is to take your time, relax and enjoy! 

 

 

Here is a quick note about another project I did this weekend.  I found these great one time use, "peel & stick" stencils at Dollarama.  So I put them to the test and added a little flare to my powder room.  It worked pretty simple.  They come on a roll so you just have to make sure it's level, smooth it on the wall as you unroll, paint and peel off.  It did bleed a bit, but it was uniform... and I kind of liked the effect.

 

Powder Room with Dash Border Stencil

 

Stencil Sample