How to Make Vinyl Signs

A sign is one of the easiest and cheapest ways that a business can advertise its services. In fact, a sign with vinyl lettering is one of the easiest ones to make on your own and can be made for much less money than it would cost you to order a professionally made sign. Not only that, but you can customize your sign in any way that you like.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Wood size of desired sign
• Sandpaper
• Primer
• Paint
• Paintbrush or roller
• Sheets of vinyl in desired colors
• Exact-o knife
• Tweezers
• Measuring tape
• Pencil
• Printer
• Computer
• Clipart
• Transfer tape
• Squeegee

1. Sand the edges of your wood smooth and lightly sand the front of your sign.

2. Prime your sign and set it aside to dry completely.

3. Paint your sign and let it dry completely.

4. Print the letters, numbers, and images that you would like to appear on your sign in the desired size.

5. Cut out all of the items that you printed for your sign with scissors or an exact-o knife.

6. Cut your images from your vinyl, using the printed versions as stencils. If your vinyl came on a roll then secure it to your cutting surface with a few strips of tape.

7. Measure and lightly mark your sign so you know where to place everything.

8. Peel away the excess vinyl from around your items and then place transfer tape over the top of your items and remove the backing paper from the vinyl. The vinyl will be attached to the transfer tape with the sticky side facing out.

9. Place the vinyl items where desired on your sign, then squeegee them on.

10. Peel away the transfer tape at a 45-degree angle from your sign, slowly rocking the transfer tape slightly side-to-side.

Tips & Warnings

• If you want designs on your sign, you can either paint them on yourself or you can make them with a Cricut diecutting machine, which cuts vinyl shapes. There are commercial sized machines as well as personal diecutting machines that can make this project much faster as they will cut out all your letters, numbers, and images.