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Artful Project Prompts
How to Make a Decorative Painted Namaste Sign
The light in me honours the light in you.
By Violette | Updated December 6, 2018
Greet visitors to your home with a wooden Namaste sign. Namaste is a sanskrit word meaning "the light in me honours the light in you" or "the divinity in me bows to the divinity in you".
What better way to welcome your friends than with a cheery beaded sign? This sign graces the front door of my magic cottage — however I do have numerous other signs thought the home and garden with various sayings. Some of them are: You are Magnificent, Let your Magic Out, Peace, Love, Joy, Sit a Spell, or Bliss.
Use any piece of discarded wood. The lumber store has offcuts or bins of wood you can make good use of! I have often received free wood for my projects.
Materials Needed:
- Discarded piece of wood
- Sandpaper
- Gesso
- Latex paints
- Acrylic paints
- Glitter
- Mod Podge
- Copper wire
- Assorted large beads
Namaste Sign Making Instructions:
- Cut your piece of wood to size (my Namaste sign [shown at top of page] is a 5" x 22" piece of plywood discard).
- Sand the wood.
- Basecoat with gesso or latex paint.
- Choose a colour for your background and paint with latex paint.
- Paint a checkered pattern around the border of the sign.
Decide which word you would like to paint and sketch it freehand onto your sign; or choose a font on your computer, print the letters out and transfer them onto your board with graphite transfer paper.- With assorted colours of acrylics, paint your letters. When dry embellish them with dots or stripes or leave plain.
- Mod Podge entire sign and sprinkle glitter on it if desired. If you plan on having your sign outside it's a good idea to coat it with a good quality varnish for protection.
- Cut a long length of wire. Drill holes at the top of the sign. Thread wire through hole and twist together to secure.
With excess wire you can wrap around a pencil to achieve a whimsical spiral. Thread assorted beads onto the wire. Thread wire through hole and twist to secure, and again create another spiral.
Feel free to further embellish your sign with danglies such as charms, forks and spoons that have a hole drilled in them. Simply drill holes in the bottom of the sign and attach a piece of wire to your embellishment.
©2005 Violette. All rights reserved.
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Violette Clark is a whimsical creative spirit living in BC, Canada. She can be found driving her Glittergirl van around White Rock and living in the Magic Cottage. ...
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