Years ago when my dad was still alive he had carved the 3417/Welcome sign to hang off an antique lantern post.  This was a beautiful folk art address sign that really showed pride of place and a glimpse into their home that they were so very proud of.

After many years of crazy Nebraska’s weather the sign had turned into a very sad lawn ornament that most people would have thrown away.  The paint was pealing the wood was splitting and there were chunks of molding that had fallen off and landed in the dirt.

After losing my mom last year we were getting ready for a very special estate sale.  I decided it was time to restore the 3417 yet again, so I picked up all the pieces, took the sign off the post and brought it home.  

To say this was a labor of love is an understatement.  I’m not a flashy sort.  Actually the grungier things are the better I like them.  But this sign was so special to my parents & they were so proud of all they had accomplished in their home. It personified their home, and what their lifestyle was all about. (Actually this sign was a lot glitzy even for them but their life together was full of love and surprises with a little bit of glitz thrown in for flavor).  I had to bring it back.

The first thing I did was start the arduous task of scraping the chipping paint.   I didn’t worry about getting all the paint off just mostly went after the loose stuff.   You can see by the pictures there were lots of cracks and checking.  I didn’t really want to fill the cracks because I wanted the sign to be just what it was with all it’s scars and bruises. When that was complete I then very lightly sanded it.  I just wanted to get any slivers off.

The next step was to glue and clamp.  I had so many clamps on this thing that it was levitating!  I unfortunately didn’t take pictures of that step. As you can see there were several areas where the moldings had fallen off.  A project like this is when it pays to have a multitude of clamps in different sizes.

Painting the entire sign black was the easy part, to achieve the color under the gild I painted the dolphins as well as the welcome and the 3417 red with acrylic paint I had on hand.  Next I applied adhesive designed for gold leafing.  It comes out like white glue but is specific to this technique.  Allowing the glue to set and get tacky is very important, you don’t want it to be to sticky when you apply the very thin sheets of gold leaf.  Apply leaf to your surface and pounce into place with a soft brush.  This will create separations in the leaf and allow red to show thru.  This is an ancient technique and red is the classic color underneath gold leaf.

After the leafing was complete I put a glaze over all the leafing to dull it down a bit, then I sealed it.  So the sign proudly directed the estate sale goers to our doorstep.  When we sold the house the sign came with me.  I didn’t know exactly what I was going to do with it but I’m in the process of a bathroom remodel and it just may be the bit of glitz I might need in there.  Stay tuned.  Oh and a cute pooch in the background never hurt anything.

Thanks for stopping!

Shelley