A simple fun Halloween decoration. This only took a few hours to create. The most time consuming part was try time. I bought all my parts at hobby lobby. The letters were pre-made ready to paint. I did use a pair of pliers to remove the store hangers. I gave them a light sanding to get a bit of sticky off from tags.
I painted them outside because I knew the splatter could get messy. Each letter has 3 coats of matte charcoal latex craft paint. Paint front, back, and all edges. Once completely dry you can splatter. To splatter use a wide brush like a cheap paint brush for walls. Depending on the paint you may need to thin it a little. You can test the splatter on some craft paper. Dip brush in paint and fling it, whip it, wave your arms around. Anything to get the paint to move. My neighbors probably had a good laugh watching me splatter these. Small speckles are achieved by using a tooth brush. A normal bristled toothbrush, not one that has rubber nubs. Dip the paint and then holding the brush at an angle to the project run your finger backwards along the bristles.
Don’t be afraid to go crazy. Its only paint!! If your not happy with the look its ok. You can wipe it off or paint over it. When you are happy with the look. Seal it. I use a rustoleum clear top coat.
Once your all done painting, top coat, and everything is dry you can attach it all.
Turn over your project and line them up they way you want them to hang. Using fishing line and a staple gun I attached the fishing line to the back of the wood. I used boxing tape to attach the fishing line to the eyes. I used two lines to connect each letter. Once would have allowed them to flip and move to much.
Once the letters themselves where together I measured the space I planned to hang the letters. then decided how far down or how much slack I wanted. I subtracted the measurement of the letters width from the opening width and divided it in half to get each of the lines to hold the letters to the house.
If your anything like me your visual. Sometimes I have an idea in my head and when I create it I realize I want to change it. Or I find out things just aren’t going to work out as planned and alterations are needed. This turned out that way. When I first hung them up the weight caused them to shift a bit on the line and they looked off. So I would recommend when cutting your lines to hang them leave a bit extra. Also take your scissors, fishing line and staple gun with you to hang them in case you need to tweak anything.
A project like this is very customizable. You can spell anything and have it float almost anywhere. Where I have mine, when the porch light is on it gives it a back light. I do with the eyes glowed some how. Maybe next year I’ll modify it.