Sheila Landry Designs

Sheila Bergner-Landry, Designer

7344 Hwy #1, PO Box 410, Meteghan, Nova Scotia, Canada B0W 2J0
Phone Number: 902-482-7174 Email: sheilalandrydesigns@gmail.com
Website Address: www.sheilalandrydesigns.com

SLD444 Springtime Chicks Word Art

An original pattern with complete instructions.

Copyright 2014 Sheila Landry Designs

 Sheila Landry Designs
Sheila Bergner-Landry, Designer
7344 Hwy #1, PO Box 410, Meteghan, Nova Scotia, Canada B0W 2J0
Phone Number: 902-482-7174 Email: sheilalandrydesigns@gmail.com
Website Address: www.sheilalandrydesigns.com

SLD444 Springtime Chicks Word Art

Introduction
As the days begin to get longer, blossoms are starting to appear and the cool colors of winter
begin a metamorphosis into soft and pretty pastels. Our Earth has had its rest over the winter, and
soon it will awaken into the lively spring season where lively colored flowers and creatures will once
again be the focus of our attention. It is truly an exhilarating time of year.
This bright and cheery word art vignette will help you bring in the season of spring in style. Its’
cute and “springy” chicks will certainly add a smile to anyone who sees it. The pieces are easy to cut
(I used 3/4” ash for my samples) and you can choose to finish them in oil, stain them, or even paint
them as I did for the samples, using a quick and easy stenciling technique. The “springy:” legs and
wings add additional interest in the pieces as well.
I hope you have fun making them and they will brighten your day!

Materials and Supplies

-One piece of wood 6” wide x 11” long x 1/2” - 3/4” thick for the lettering and the bird bodies
-One piece of wood 3” wide x 8” long and 1/4” thick for the feet and wings
-Scroll saw blades – Olson Mach blade in size #3 or Reverse tooth PGT blade in size 5
-Size 2 reverse-tooth scroll saw blade for cutting feet and wings
-Spray adhesive
-Blue painter’s tape (2”)
-Clear packaging tape (optional – read instructions)
-Drill press and small bit for entry holes (Size 57 Drill bit or similar for drilling holes for the 18
gauge wire)
-Hand-held orbital sander and various grits of sandpaper
-Spray shellac or DecoArt Spray Acrylic Gloss Finish (DAS12-7)
-Mineral oil (optional finish) - see instructions
-18 Gauge craft wire in gold for ‘springs’
-3/8” dowel rod
-Small pliers for shaping wire
-Five minute two part epoxy
-Wooden craft sticks (popsicle Sticks)
-Small piece of aluminum foil for mixing epoxy
-Paint brushes - 1/4” Deerfoot Stippler, 3/4” Shader or Glaze brush, Lining Brush (size 1), and
Small Stencil Brush (also available from Laurie Speltz)
-DecoArt Americana acrylic paints in the following colors: Banana Cream (DA309), French
Vanilla (DA184), Indian Turquoise (DA087), Lamp Black (DA067), Orange Twist (DA266), Peaches ‘n
Cream (DA023), Pistachio Mint (DA253), Poodleskirt Pink (DA267), Snow(Titaniam) White (DA01),
Spa Blue (DA277), Wisteria (DA211)

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 -DecoArt Glamour Dust Ultra Fine Glitter Paint in the following colors: Celebration Pink
(DGD10), Crystal Ice (DGD09), Lavender (DGD17), Lemon Drop (DGD15), Lime Light (DGD05),
Tiger Orange (DGD04) and Turquoise Sparkle (DGD07)
-Creative Coach Background Basecoat Stencils by Laurie Speltz: BSC266 Fun Flourishes (see
contact infomartion at the end of the pattern)

Procedure
-Make photocopies of the original pattern and keep them for future reference. Patterns may
be reproduced for the purpose of making the project – not for resale or sharing purposes. Finished
items that are made by hand may be sold for profit, but not mechanically manufactured. Credit to
the designer is encouraged. Pattern and photographs are copyrighted by Sheila Landry Designs.
Redistribution of this pattern, photos or instructions is not permitted.

Preparing the Wood & Cutting

-Sand your wood smooth to remove planer marks. This will also make it easier to finish once
the design has been cut.
-Use the soft brush attachment and vacuum all the dust from your pieces of wood.
-Apply your pattern to the wood using your preferred method. Be aware of the grain direction.
I found it was easiest to place the flat bottoms of the letters along the edges of the boards. (Figs 1
and 2)

Fig 1 Fig 2

-If you feel that you are cutting a wood that is particularly hard or dense, you may place an
additional layer of clear packaging tape over the entire surface of the design to help prevent burning.
This step is optional and not always necessary with all types of wood.
-Use a small drill bit and drill the entry holes of the lettering.
-Note – when cutting thick, dense wood such as Maple, it is best to use the smallest blade
possible that will still allow you to follow your lines. Using larger blades will result in additional friction,
which will burn your wood from the heat built up and will also ‘grab’ your wood and cause ‘chattering.’
Also remember that when you are cutting through hard, dense wood, it is best to keep the saw at a
higher speed and feed the wood through the blade slowly, allowing the blade to do the work. This will
help alleviate the above mentioned problems.
-Cut the lettering and bird bodies using the #3 Mach Speed blade or the #5 PGT blade, your
choice.
-Cut the feet and wing pieces using the #2 reverse-tooth scroll saw blade.

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Finishing and Optional Painting
-When you are finished, remove the pattern pieces.
-Sand all pieces smooth, using 120 grit sandpaper.
-Vacuum the pieces to remove any dust.

Mineral Oil (optional)

-When making pieces such as these, I prefer to soak the entire piece in mineral oil and only paint or
stain the fronts (and backs on the chicks.) This eliminates the need for tedious painting of the sides
of the piece, but still offers a nice contrasting finished look.
-To apply oil, use a brush to apply oil liberally and allow it to soak in for several minutes. (Fig 3)
- Place the piece on several folded paper towels and gently blot the excess oil from it. Then
place it on a metal rack (like the one you would use to cool cookies or cakes) and allow the oil to
absorb into the piece for several hours or overnight. You will know when your piece is ready to
continue finishing when it is no longer shiny and dry to the touch. (Fig 4)

Fig 3 Fig 4
-After allowing the oil to dry for a full day or more, you can apply color using acrylic paints (see
below for instructions). If you choose not to color your pieces, you can simply apply several coats of
spray shellac or varnish over them to seal the oil if you desire. For a smoother finish, you can sand
very lightly with 400 grit or finer paper between coats of shellac.

Painting the Pieces (optional)

-On projects such as word art, I like to only apply color to the face of the letters. I think that
this not only looks nice, but eliminates the tedium of trying to paint the small spaces on the sides of
the letters. This is particularly true when each letter is a different color. I found that the easiest way
of applying color to the face of the letters without getting paint over the side is by using a Deerfoot
Stippler brush. A Deerfoot brush has a flat top and resembles a brush you use for stenciling. The
bristles are rather stiff, and it is used to tap the paint into place rather than stroke it on.

-Paint the face only of the letters,

exclamation point, wing pieces and feet. Paint
BOTH sides of the chicks’ bodies. Do this by
loading a small amount of paint on the deerfoot
stippler brush and holding it perpendicular to the
surface of the letters. Apply color by gently tapping
the color onto the letters. (Fig 5) Paint the pieces
using the following colors:

Fig 5
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 “S” - Orange Twist
“P” - Indian Turquoise
“R” - Wisteria
“I” - French Vanilla
“N” - Pistachio Mint
“G” - Poodleskirt Pink
“!” - Spa Blue

-Paint both sides of the chick bodies as well as the tops of the wings with Banana Cream.
(MAKE SURE TO PAINT THE WING PIECES SO THEY ARE FACING OPPOSITE EACH OTHER!)
-Paint the tops of the chick’s feet as well as the end of the beaks of the chicks with Peaches ‘n
Cream.
-When the paint is dry, add a top coat layer of Glamour Dust Ultra Fine Glitter Paint in the
following colors over the following pieces (Fig 6):

“S” - Tiger Orange

“P” - Turquoise Sparkle
“R” - Lavender
“I” - Crystal Ice
“N” - Lime Light
“G” - Celebration Pink
“!” - Crystal Ice
Chick bodies and wing tops - Lemon Drop
Tops of chicks feet - Tiger Orange Fig 6

-When everything is dry, use the Creative

Coach Background Basecoat Stencils (Design
BCS266 Fun Flourishes - or stencil of your choice)
and Snow (Titanium) White paint to apply a random
flourish design to the front of the letters, as well as
to the chick pieces (See detailed instructions on the
process in the accompanying article “Using Stencils
for Easy Embellishing” (Fig 7) (Do not stencil the
chick’s feet!)
Fig 7
-Once again, when the paint is dry, use Lamp Black paint and dot in the eyes of the chicks by
dipping the back of a paint brush into a puddle of black paint and applying it to the chicks. Allow all
paint to dry completely, and spray with several coats of spray shellac or gloss varnish. Allow to dry
completely again. Transfer marks to drill the bird wings, feet and body.

Final Assembly
-Use the size 57 drill bit and drill a test hole in a scrap of wood to see how it will fit the 18
gauge wire. You want the wire to fit snugly into the hole, but have a little bit of play so that there is
room for the epoxy glue. Your own drill bit size may vary due to the exact sizes of both the wire and
the drill bits vary. I strongly recommend that you test for a good fit.
-Place the drill bit in the drill press and set the depth so that when it is fully pressed, the tip
of the bit is approximately 1/8” - 1/16” above the table. You do this because you don’t want to drill
SLD444 Springtime Chicks Word Art Page 5
completely through the feet and wing pieces of the chick. Once again, practice on a scrap piece of
wood and do a test drill. When you are satisfied, drill the feet and wing pieces of the chick, making
sure the wing pieces are facing opposite direction. (If you already painted the wings and feet, you will
drill the UNPAINTED sides of the wings and the PAINTED sides of the feet.!)
-Drill the bottom dot of the exclamation point in the same manner, not going through completely
to the bottom.
-Use the same drill bit and drill the BODY of the chick on BOTH sides, drilling about 1/2” into
the piece. You may also want to drill just one hole entirely through the body so the placement is
exactly the same on both sides. If you do this, do so with caution so you don’t break the small drill bit.

-Drill two holes in the underside of the

chick’s body to accept the wire “legs” where
indicated on the pattern. Drill each hole about 1/3
in from the side of the piece and again, drill about
half an inch into the piece. (Fig 8)

Fig 8
-Drill a hole into the upper piece of the
exclamation point using the same bit and again
going about 1/2” into the piece.
-Use the dowel rod as a guide and twist
the 18 gauge wire around it approximately 5-6
turns. Use the wire cutters to cut it, leaving
approximately 1/2” on each end. (Fig 9) You will
need four “springs” for each chick, and one small
“spring” (about wraps around the wire) for the
exclamation point.
Fig 9

-Squeeze out a small puddle of glue onto a piece of aluminum foil. (Fig 10). Use the craft stick
to mix it completely. (Fig 11)

Fig 10 Fig 11

SLD444 Springtime Chicks Word Art Page 6

 -Drag the end of one of the pieces of wire through the puddle and push the wire into each of
the feet and wing pieces, and the dot of the exclamation point. Allow this to dry at least 30 minute to
an hour (even though it is 5 minute epoxy, I find it is best to let it set a bit before proceeding.)

-When the pieces are dry, apply the glue to

the opposite ends of the wire in the same manner
as above and push the ends of the wire into the
corresponding holes. You may wish to place the
chicks on their backs to allow the legs to dry. (Fig
12) You can also lay the exclamation point on its
side.

Fig 12

-Allow this to dry completely before bending your pieces into shape.

In this project, I used some of the adorable stencils by Laurie Speltz to really jazz up the lettering and chicks.
For those of you who don’t feel you have the talent to paint, using stencils are a wonderful alternative and can
really add interest and professionalism to your projects with very little effort. I love Laurie’s stencils because
they are well-made, reasonably priced, and very versatile. Her “background stencils” (like the one I used here)
can be utilized in a variety of ways and on many different projects. You can purchase any of her stencils or
other patterns and supplies at her website called
“The Creative Coach”. (http://lauriespeltz.com/store/Default.asp) I hope you check it out.

DecoArt paints and mediums are available at most craft suppliers, both online and in stores. If you are
unable to find any of the DecoArt products that I used in making this project, you can order them online at
www.decoart.com.

If you have any questions regarding this project, please contact us at 902-482-7174 or by email at
sheilalandrydesigns@gmail.com. Visit our website at www.sheilalandrydesigns.com to browse our large
selection of patterns, take a look at our free instructional articles and videos, and download a free copy of
our pattern catalog. You can also join our mailing list to receive our bi-monthly newsletter so you can be
the first to see new patterns and learn about special offers available to our mailing list customers only.

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