Last year in May I made a chalkboard gift for my friend who was pregnant with her first baby, and it has been my most popular post to date. So today I made a similar picture for my mum, and I took photos each step of the way so you too can learn how to write in chalk and make it look beautiful!
My mom wanted a design similar to the back of this journal from Chapters Indigo, but I didn't want to copyright, so I chose my own fonts and used Pixelmator (love this app - like Adobe photoshop for Mac, but cheaper and simpler) to keep a similar design.
The banner and squiggly line looks weird because I actually used the picture I took of the back of the journal. Couldn't find anything similar that I liked as much as the original.
Blogger won't allow me to upload a file for you to download, so here is the picture I made, feel free to copy it/download it for your own use.
Okay so Step #1 - figure out your design, and make sure it's similar in size/proportions as your frame.
Step #2 - If your picture/frame is like mine (17.5''x23''), a regular size printer won't be able to print an image big enough. So what I did is crop the photo multiple times (into an 8''x10'' image to fit regular 8.5''x11'' paper) and print it out.
**When I cropped the image on the computer, I made sure the images overlapped so it would make
them easier to fit together, so I had to trim the separate images a bit.
I taped my image onto the frame to make sure it would fit before moving onto the next step.
(sorry for the dark image)
Step #5 - Once you've outlined your entire image in pencil, flip it over and tape it to your chalk board. Make sure it's exactly where you want it to be (probably centred). Then use your pencil and trace the letters again. What you're doing is rubbing off the pencil from the backside so that it creates an outline in pencil that you can use as a guide for your chalk.
Once you have finished tracing your image, lift up a corner to make sure the pencil has transferred onto your chalk board. If it hasn't, you need to press down harder. Your chalk board should then look like this….
Step #6 - Before you trace the outline in chalk, sharpen it first. That's right. With a pencil sharpener. Having a pointed tip chalk is what gives you the beautiful designs and clean lines.
You'll have to keep sharpening your chalk quite often, and you'll probably go through a few pieces. But the thin lines look oh so good.
TIP: After you've finished with the chalk drawing, use a q-tip with water to clean up any smudges.
FINAL PRODUCT:
Please let me know if you have any questions, I'd love to help you along the way!
You can also purchase the products I used by clicking on the links below, or by all means, improvise using what you have at home! :)
Chalk sharpener - I recommend buying an eye/lipliner sharpener, because they usually come in 2 sizes to fit the larger pencils, and you'll need the larger size so that the chalk will fit.
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