Welcome! We’re celebrating the anniversary of the Disneyland Hotel with this project. It’s inspired by the original hotel sign, but it’s different! If you’ve been to the resort, there are three towers: Fantasy, Frontier, and Adventure. Each hotel has a sign outside with a monochromatic illustration representing each land. I didn’t want to be like everybody else and create the original hotel sign. So, I took inspiration from these signs and made a hybrid! These are the supplies:
| Supplies List: | Tools List: |
|---|---|
| Craft Plywood | Box Cutter |
| Printout of Font | Right Angle Straight Edge |
| Polycarbonate/Acrylic Sheet | Pencil |
| Carbon Paper | Acrylic Paint Brushes |
| Acrylic Paint | E6000 |
| Colored Pencils |
Let’s Begin
Right off the bat, I put the measurements of my craft plywood into Adobe Illustrator. I typed out “Disneyland” with the font (“Enchanted Land” by Sharkshock) and created outlines to separate each letter. I got them to fit onto the plywood size, the next step would be to make them fit on 8.5×11 paper.
After playing Tetris with the letters, I printed them out on three pieces of printer paper. I used my slicer-dicer to cut everything out.
Next, I spaced out the letters onto the plywood. I had to be conscious of where I was going to cut the wood and make it as efficient as possible. Then, I outlined the blocks.
I then prepped my cutting station with a right angle straight edge. As you can see in the photo below, I lopped off the larger sections first.
Securing the straight edge with two clamps, I (and my dad–thanks, dad!) sliced into the plywood with a box cutter using a fresh blade.
After many many slices, the plywood separated. I repeated for the remaining larger pieces and then each individual letter.
If the in-between parts were small enough, I took an electric sander and sanded them down. If they were too big, I cut those with the box cutter as well.
Finally! The letter blocks are all cut out!
I laid the paper letters on top of the plywood pieces to make sure the sizes match.
When I was satisfied with the placement, I used carbon paper and transferred the letters onto their plywood pieces.
Side note: I smacked my finger into one of the clamps while cutting the plywood which resulted in…well, injury. Thus the bandage.
Transfer complete!
Next step, painting the background a robin’s egg blue.
I got to use these Golden paints my sister-in-law got me for my birthday. They were so smooth and beautiful!
After letting the base dry, I sketched out my design on each letter. I had already decided there would be 0.5″ in between each letter so I sketched accordingly.
Starting with the big letter ‘D’, I drew things that represented Fantasyland like the tea cups, the Matterhorn, the Carousel, and Small World.
Next, I moved into Adventureland with the entrance carved face, Jungle Cruise, and Indie.
Finally, Adventure turned into Frontier with Big Thunder Mountain, the train, and the Mark Twain.
I started with dark blue and an almost white blue to define the details. In the end, I used about 4 shades of blue.
To solidify some lines, I used colored pencils over top the paint.
After the tops were all done and dry, I used Ultramarine Blue to paint the edges of each letter.
Finished up by outlining each letter with a sepia drawing pen.
I used a Mat UV Varnish to seal the letters.
For the mount, I took a piece of polycarbonate glass replacement and cut it in half using the same technique as cutting the plywood. I had to cut it to size and made sure the seam would be hidden by a letter (letter ‘Y’ to be specific).
Then, I glued each letter down (with my 0.5″ spacer) with E6000.
All done!
I went into this project thinking I would do the original hotel sign. BUT, I couldn’t shake the unsatisfied feeling I had in my gut. After doing some research, I decided to be inspired by the tower signs. I’m so glad I did something different. There are so many people who have created the original signs and they look amazing. But I don’t want to be like everyone else. I’m very happy with how my sign turned out!
Thanks for everyone who made it down here! Please follow us on Pinterest and Instagram for more unique Disney projects. Don’t forget to share with your Disney DIY loving friends and family. We really appreciate it!
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