Latest project & help requested

[Dusty Buffalo]

Here's my latest accomplishment. These are my niece and nephews names that I'm going to put on a ribbon to hang on their wall or bedroom door.

I usually paint my creations but this time I don't think it would look right.
I thought I would stain the letters but don't have much experience with that.

Here's where the assistance is needed.

I thought for my niece I would stain it a light color as the ribbon is so pretty that I don't want to compete too much with that. The ribbon in case the color doesn't come out very good is a light purple or lilac. I also thought about putting a light whitewash on it but I wasn't sure how that would look. Her bedroom is striped (painted over the paneling) in purple, pink and white. She's 6 and is very girly, girly.

My nephew is only about 6 weeks old and wouldn't even know its there for a while. His ribbon has different shades of blue and green with a white stripe. The wood trim in his room is a dark wood. I thought of staining his name in a dark wood also, not quite as dark as the trim. Think 70s wood stains, everything was that dark wood. That's the color of the trim.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

[Marcel in Longueuil]

Kelly,

My first suggestion is, if they are available to you, get SAMAN brand acrylic stain and mix the color you want. They are a joy and easy to use.

Or

Get some artist oil or acrylic colors. They are color pigments.

Mix the colors until you get the shade you want.

If oil, us turpentine or mineral spirit to dilute to an almost semi transparent state. Mix your colors, then add a little thinner untill you get a stain like transparency.

If acrylic, mix your colors and dilute with water or an acrylic medium same as for oils. Only, expect the acrylic to raise the woodgrain and you will need to sand more than with oils.

Other options are food coloring, fabric dyes, natural dyes (flowers, herbs, tea, coffee)

Good luck to you, and BTW I really like the Font you used.

NOTE: Just remember to write down the recipe if you want to reproduce the same color stain (you may if you like the color)DAMHIK

Regards,
Marcel

[sawdustus]

Kelly,

Absolutly beautiful . I have had good luck with craft store acrylic paints. The come in little jars, a multitude of colors, and are very inexpensive. As Marcel said, you can also mix them to get a custom color but because they are water based, they raise the grain a bit. The only drawback I have found is that they dry a little darker and duller than they go on. A top coat of polyurethane varnish or dewaxed shellac does wonders.

You have inspired me to do make one for my grandaughter. If you don't mind, could you tell me what size is the ribbon (width) and what font did you use? Thanks.

Sawdustus of Hiawatha

[Dusty Buffalo]

Thanks for the ideas.

The font I used is a Walt Disney Script from http://simplythebest.net/fonts/

I'm not sure which category it falls under exactly but if you look under W it's the first font that comes up. They have all sorts of fantastic fonts.

As for the ribbon width, I think it was about 2" wide. I created the letters in a size I thought would be about right and found the ribbon afterwards. I really didn't go by particular size since I could resize the font in Word to whatever I wanted. I didn't buy that wired ribbon, which made it a little harder to find what I wanted. Almost all ribbon these days, at least where I shop is that stupid wired stuff. I know I could probably pull it out, but I didn't want to mess with that.

[sheltiecarver]

Neat cutting, Kelly.
You can use regular wood stains - any that you use for other projects. Just try them on some of your scrap and let them dry to test it out. Those are too nice to ruin with a stain you don't like. If you stick to one brand, you can mix them as you wish.
I think that whatever finish you use, Samantha and Colton will love them (Well, Colton may take a while)
As for the "whitewashed" look - do you mean over stain? You might try a watered-down wash of acrylic (craft paint - in those little bottles). Again, try it out. Less is often better - it's easy to get carried away - wonder how I know?
Be sure to use a clear coat over whatever you use - those little crevices will collect dust and need to be easy to clean.
Again, nice job on the letters. They would represent a major challenge for me. (I can feel my jaw clenching right now as I think about cutting them!)
Sandy

[workin for wood]

normally i am into the natural wood colors...but if i'm feeling crazy, I"ll go with a transfast dye...this is so simple to use, just put some dye in a glass or jar and mix in some water. The more the dye, the darker the color. a dye sits on top of the wood and allows more wood grain to show through, where as a stain soaks into wood, removing more of the grain. transfast is a company..you can go to their website or i think woodcraft stores sell it.
Don't ask me what color to co-ordinate your picture to your room...I'm a man, might as well be color blind.

[will8989]

How about bright shocking Pink?!!! and hang it on the white stripe!! That way you'll have all three colors on one stripe!! Way back when, I had a room that had bright pink, purple, green & yellow in stripes and circles! The walls were purple, shocking pink trim & doors and the curtains & bed spread had the stripes & circles! I did it myself!! I painted the walls and made everything myself!! It was fabulous! The shocking pink was, and still is, my most favorite! Sorry Kelly, I was reliving my youth for a moment!

Betty