Rustic Wooden Heart

Hi Everyone, It's been ages since I last posted an instructable, although I have some half-written ones, waiting I guess for the right time :-D

COVID 19 has hit the world over...and many have had their plans their lives changed. Many have lost loved ones and yes...some even their jobs. There were many hearts broken cause they had to cancel their plans for a wedding; as all were asked to be in quarantine. I know...... :-D there are many jokes going around ...saying that God is giving them a 2nd chance! lol.

Anyways, as I do kind of sometimes work for event planners and I had heard some brides had t cancel their weddings. I felt sorry for them...and I thought to help lighten some strangers mood in these trying times. So what better way than a giveaway??

As we are in quarantine...I had to use what supplies I had in hand. Luckily for me, I had some pallets and thought to make a slatted heart sign as I had made a few years back. It's to mark the best day of your life! Now this best day can not only be your wedding day....it can be any day that you feel is very important to you. The day you finally got your little baby, the day you found that special someone, the day you made a change in your life for the better!

The dark brown stained heart is the one I made 3 years ago. This time I thought to go for a vintage look.

It's pretty simple to do...and I hope you like it too

Pallet wood or slatted wood

teal paint

white paint

brown wood stain

sandpaper

saw

First cut off the slats off the pallet.

I measured the slats and found the widest part of the heart is 20 inches.

I fold an old paper in half and drew half an heart free hand marking 10 inches from the edge. Cut the heart out.

Now place the heart on the slats and determine how many slats you would need. Now sand the slats.

place the slats down and trace the heart.

Attach all the slats within the drawn heart with 2 slats of wood by gluing and then nailing it.

Wipe off excess glue and wait till it dries.

Now using a jigsaw or hand saw cut the shape out.

Give the cut edges and the whole slatted heart a final sanding all over

This time I thought to go with a vintage look.

So I first dry brushed white then teal.

finally I went over in selected places and edges with watered down dark mahogany stain.

Finally use a sand paper and sand over the whole heart in random places and some edges to give it a rustic look

Finally after I was satisfied, I sprayed the whole heart with spray varnish.

Then I cut only the first 2 lines in vinyl and transferred it to the board. You don't actually need a add vinyl. A paint pen too will suffice. I did not add the date as i have done for the dark slatted heart in my introduction as I did this as a giveaway and so would not know the date :-)

I hope you liked this tutorial will find it useful when making your own slatted heart. I would also love to have your vote for the heart contest....It would be really awesome if I could win something!