Blue Whale Replica Sign

01

Creating the Base

The most important part of this process is right at the beginning: creating the shape of the sign. In the original sign, there is a line where the two planks came together, and I used that line as my guide to help recreate the shape. I started making the outline with a pen first. Having some guide to cut along is one of the most important things when it comes to recreating a shape.  Once I was satisfied with my lines, I began to cut. Slowly. So slowly. I tend to err on leaving more room than less because it’s always easier to take away then it is to add.

After doing some research, I discovered that the fin on the Blue Whale sign is raised. Or, at least, I’m pretty confident it is.  I used some of the wood that was effectively scrap from the base and cut out the fin shape.

02

Putting the Piece Together

Before I sanded the project, I wanted to connect the two pieces of wood that made the base. To make this portion extremely sturdy, I added two types of locking mechanisms. First, I did an internal lock. This consisted of drilling matching hole on each plank and placing wooden dowels between them. Like Ikea furniture.

I didn’t have the screw locking mechanism that normally goes with the wooden dowels, so I instead used mending plates along the back of the sign. For these, I lined up one side of the mending plate on each piece of wood before attaching the screws. This made the project super strong. Some irrational part of me was constantly worrying about the sign breaking so I really went to every effort to make sure that didn’t happen.

03

Finishing the Details

With the wood now aligned, it was time to sand the whole project. I sanded the fin separately from the base but tried to make everything a smooth as possible. This is where some of the defined edges really came to life! With everything in its place, I screwed the fin into place to make the sign looked finished.

And then it dawned on me that I wasn’t done with this step. Who wants to see exposed nails on the front of your sign? I sure don’t and neither did whoever created the original because screws (or nails) are no where to be seen. Which means it’s time to use wood filler to fill in all of my mistakes. And there were a couple more than I like to admit but wood filler does an amazing job at hiding the scuffs and dents. After the wood filler was finished drying, I did one more quick sand before taking the sign inside to paint.

04

Painting

Like with all my painted wood projects, I started with a primer on the wood. This allows the wood to take the color better and really hide the wood grain underneath. And that was the desired result for this project. Now, at this point, you might be thinking: how do you know what color the sign is if the show was in black and white?!? And, I can’t say I do know.

The gradation of color is apparent in the show (with whatever very quick glances we get to see the sign). And, considering the nautical theme, going from blue to white seems like a pretty safe bet. I think this is also what the movie chose to do but I’m not sure because I have not seen the film, just other fan art around the internet.

To get that proper gradation, I did a dot approach. This is where I dotted the surface with the colors, I wanted the finished piece to be. Then I took a large paint brush and did a large sweeping stroke – starting at the top and then slowing moving down. These gradations generally do well go from the dark to the light and I really wanted the top to be dark to accommodate the white lettering.

05

Letter Blocking

One of the hardest parts of making this sign was adding the words. Words are generally hard to do, and this project was no exception. Especially because I had no idea which font this was. There were a couple that matched closely but I have a feeling that this font was a bit freer form giving the time the sign was created. I created a stencil to get the words matching as closely as possible.

But even with a stencil, I had to carefully paint in the lines. Paint like to creep, and it can get under the stencil or sticker you’re using if you go too fast. Hoping to avoid having to do extra work, I tried to go slow and steady. Well… as slow as I can go… which probably isn’t very slow but I’m trying!