Sign Making with Anthropologie & Co

February 7, 2017

by saradwells in Art, Bay Area Adventures, DIY Post Comment

This past week I had an opportunity to work with Sweet and Crafty and Anthropologie & Co on creating hand lettered wooden signs. This was a free workshop put on by my local Anthropologie in Walnut Creek and it was FANTASTIC. I never need an excuse to spend time at Anthropologie and if there is a chance to make something while I am there, well, SIGN ME UP!

*^^^Narine set a beautiful table for each of us in the workshop. We were able to take all of the supplies home! I have the nameplate she did for me in my bathroom.*

Narine is the owner of the Bay Area event planning, design and hand lettering company Sweet and Crafty and could not have been a better teacher for all of us on the art of hand lettering. Have you ever hand lettered something before? Like, more than scribbling notes on a Post It or a grocery list on an index card? I had not and with my background in art I assumed it would be no big deal.

*^^^Our fearless leader Narine of Sweet and Crafty*

I was wrong :). Hand lettering is such a precise art form and takes loads of practice. Luckily with Narine as our guide, most of us caught on quickly and were able to design something we felt confident about. The goal of the class was to learn and create a hand lettered reclaimed wood sign. I am proud to say I did it!

*^^^Hand lettering supplies laid out beautifully for our workshop. We were able to take all of these supplies home.*

*^^^It took awhile but I did it! And I love it!*

Deciding what you want to letter and then scaling it properly to the piece of wood (or other material) that you are lettering on really takes time and practice. Then you sketch out the letters and design in pencil or chalk and finally, you paint. I found the painting to be the easiest part and the scaling the hardest. Like I said before, it is an art form and takes loads of practice. I have a newfound appreciation for those hand lettered signs I see all over the place! Narine was a patient teacher and Anthropologie was a lovely classroom to learn in.

*^^^I didn’t realize it until I took this photo but my scarf, shirt and jeans are all from Anthro 🙂*

After class I did a little shopping and picked up a few things for our upcoming trip to Thailand. It was a perfect morning! If you are ever interested in participating in a workshop at your local Anthropologie, I suggest following your local location on Instagram. I learned about this workshop and others like it by following the Walnut Creek location; I then DM’d the store manager to sign up. Super easy!

Also, if you are in the Bay Area I highly recommend Sweet and Crafty. They have gorgeous products and stellar wedding and event planning services. It almost makes me want to redo my wedding (nearly 20 years ago) over just so that I can have them do it!