DIY Tutorial – Creating a Custom Wedding Blackboard

Readers, something a bit different for a post today – a wee DIY tutorial. 

Since the wedding, I’ve been meaning to share a blog post and some content around our day.  I did my first ever DIY wedding cake last year, which I wrote about on the blog (the moral of that was DIY all you want, but offer to DIY for someone else, not your own big day!)

Anyway, I massively enjoyed the creative side of all our planning and right from the start, knew I wanted to put a load of individual touches to our day.  We had a reasonably long engagement, giving me time to source stuff in sales, buy up Xmas decorations (honestly) from sales in places like Poundland (I know, again, you are like WHAT THEY HAVE SALES?!) and curate a load of simple and rustic style décor for our wedding.  

I hired in sashes for our chairs from a supplier, as I knew she’d do a way better job than me and enlisted the help of friends and family to help us set up the venue, but most of the décor, we did ourselves, collecting it as we went (and bonus, you can sell it on afterwards!)

In the midst of a load of stuff going wrong before the big day (long story short, our venue burnt down, some bad news about family and friends etc) I found the whole process of working on my décor projects as a bit of a relief and focus.

And today I’m sharing how you can DIY your own blackboard for less than £30… if you’re willing to put in the time and effort.  And make sure you buy markers that clean off with water and fairy liquid, so someone else can use your lovely piece of artwork again…

Image Credit: Ally Stuart Photography

Step 1 – Procure Blackboard

Here’s my big secret. I went to children’s Ikea. This started out its life as a kid’s toy.  It’s a blackboard on one side and a whiteboard on the other… I painted over the whiteboard side to make it look like the rest of the painted wood. 

Step 2 – Buy paint and sandpaper. Get some brushes and white spirit for clean-ups

I managed to paint this using 2 tester pots of sage green paint from Homebase’s value range. £1 each.   Maybe stretch to buying one more in case you need several coats. I also cheated and did 2 coats on the front and one on the back because nobody saw that anyway.

Step 3 – Preparation is key

Sand down all the wood with the sandpaper, then using a cloth and white spirit, clean it down before painting. 

Mask off the edges of the actual blackboard.  Nobody wants paint on there.  

Step 4 – Paint

Go for one coat and see what you think. It might need two, depending on the colours you are using.  Let it dry between coats.

Step 5 – Start work on your Stenciling.

You’ll need a printer, paper, greaseproof paper, pencils and a chalkboard marker.

Step 6 – Choose Fonts and a Size, Find a New Use for Greaseproof Paper

I created a canvas on MS Publisher, but there are some great tools out there like Canva that allow you to create designs. I created the canvas to the size of the blackboard, designed it, saved it as a PDF and then printed it.  It took up 6 pages of A4, but I stuck these together to make a big sheet of paper, the same size as the blackboard.

Then, cut a sheet of tracing paper / greaseproof paper, to match the size of this.  Overlay it onto your text sheets and trace out the text you want on your blackboard.  Once you’ve traced the front, trace the reverse, so there’s pencil on both sides of the greaseproof.

Step 7 – Onto the Blackboard We Go

Once you’ve traced out the wording or signage onto your greaseproof sheet, pin it to your board and using a dark pencil, trace over the front again, to leave a light imprint on the board.  Once you’ve traced it, there might be some gaps, so go over them on the board with a pencil (straight onto the board this time).

Once you’ve traced directly onto the blackboard, it’s time to get your whiteboard marker out and fill in the letters,after you've outlined them with the marker. Keep a damp cotton bud handy, to clean up any mistakes.

I’m a leftie, so I started from the bottom right and worked back on myself, so I didn’t smudge the text as I went.  Right handed, normal people probably won’t have issues with this.   Let the chalkboard ink dry properly, before deciding if you need a second coat or not.

Decorate your board with candles, flowers, fake ivy etc, to create a gorgeous looking rustic piece of décor, that nobody would know was an Ikea kids toy! 

If you manage to create your own, let me know. I’d love to see it!

Claire x