Design stretcher frames with sayings: ideas with watercolor, hand lettering and brush lettering techniques

Spice up your interior and give the wall more character with a homemade painting. We will show you how you can design a stretcher frame with sayings. So you start the day highly motivated and get inspiration while working in the home office. Or you can display your works of art in the living room and amaze your guests. Let yourself be inspired by the ideas in the article and learn how to best implement the watercolor, hand lettering and brush lettering techniques. By the way, you can also design stretcher frames with acrylic paints – we will explain how to do that. The DIY suggestions are really uncomplicated and are well suited to the topic of “painting”.

Design stretcher frames with sayings: Watercolor lettering

The aqua painting technique is referred to as “watercolor”. The word is derived from the English words for water and color. Special watercolors are used, which are first diluted with water and then applied with a brush on a canvas or on a sheet of paper. The special thing about the technology is that, unlike acrylic or oil paints, they are slightly transparent and the surface shows through even after several layers of paint. Watercolors score with their ease of use and are therefore perfect for complete beginners. They are ideal for painting landscapes and abstract motifs. But if it should be more precise, the experienced painters prefer to use oil paints.

The watercolor technique has been particularly popular lately. This is due to watercolor lettering, i.e. font painting, in which beautiful quotes in handwriting are conjured up on the canvas with watercolors and different techniques. There are of course a few tricks that we’d be happy to reveal to you in the following lines. However, it is important that you prepare well before you paint the letters. Watercolor lettering is first and foremost not a handwritten character, but a pencil sketch. In many cases, you will even need to prepare a template first. To do this, you will need the following materials:

• A lead pencil for drawing the outlines of the letters on paper
• Smooth sheet of paper
• A black fineliner that you can use to trace the contours.
• Paints
• Scissors in case you need to make a template and cut out the letters.

Design stretcher frames with sayings: Make Wartercolor lettering picture yourself

First, we will explain to you how you can conjure up an abstract watercolor painting with a beautiful message yourself. You can use watercolors or watercolors. After the picture is complete, display it on a sheet of glass to keep the colors intact. Otherwise the colors may fade over time. You still need the following materials:

• 1 stretched frame or optional for beginners: sheet of paper
• Matching picture frame and glass pane
• Watercolors or watercolors
• paint brush
• Cling film or self-adhesive transparent craft film
• Possibly a template for the letters
• pencil
• Fineliner
• Scissors or better a cutter knife

This is how the beautiful picture with the saying is made:

1. First create the template. Choose a short, inspiring saying or quote. Paint the letters on a piece of paper and place the transparent film on top. Cut the letters out of the foil with the craft knife and position them on the canvas.

2. Paint an abstract picture. A painting technique comes to the rescue. It’s called wet-on-dry. The brush is moistened and, if necessary, the watercolor is thinned and applied to the dry canvas. Put several layers of each color on top of each other. This technique works best if you choose several tone-on-tone colors. So you can easily create a nice transition between the different colors.

3. Let the picture dry completely before carefully and slowly removing the self-adhesive craft foil. In the end, the font should remain completely white.

Design stretcher frames with sayings: Brushlettering made easy

Do you have a stretcher at home? Then the next idea comes up. We explain how you can use the brushlettering technique. But first you should choose a longer saying or quote. It also looks very cool when you paint parts of the text of your favorite song on the canvas. We will now explain to you how you can master the lettering.

The first step to a successful lettering is to find the right font. It goes without saying that the decorations should not be missing. If you only want to paint the letters with one color, then you should do without 3D decorations. It looks much better if you go for a brushlettering style that is either completely devoid of embellishments, or you can paint reflections of light on the letters. The following rule of thumb applies: the shorter the text, the more embellished it can be. And vice versa: the longer the text, the simpler it should be. Otherwise it will not be legible and will quickly tire your eyes.

Beginners can opt for the so-called “fake calligraphy”. The text is actually not painted directly on the canvas, but the brushlettering look is only faked. Select a text and a lettering, draw the letters on the canvas with a pencil and then fill them in with ink and a brush. Connect the individual words with long ligatures. There are numerous ligatures in brushlettering that are usually used to connect certain letters.

Designing stretcher frames with sayings: hand lettering for beginners

In contrast to brush lettering, in which the letters are painted directly on the canvas with a brush, in hand lettering the contours are first drawn with a pencil and then filled in with a felt pen. There are only two rules that you should be aware of. 1. The text should be easy to read. 2. The text should be written in cursive. As a rule, the hand lettering technique is much simpler than the brushlettering.

In the following we offer a hand lettering craft idea with which you can design a stretcher frame with sayings. You need the following materials:

• Stretcher
• Old road map
• paint brush
• Mod Podge
• 1 sheet of paper
• black marker pen
• black fineliner
• black pencil
• eraser
• Pastel pencil in dark blue or black

First, you should practice hand lettering and choose a popular lettering. Pick an inspiring but short saying on the subject of travel. For example, “Traveling is an adventure” or “Your adventure is waiting for you” are suitable. Draw an arrow above and below the saying. Complete beginners can also download, print, and trace a template from the Internet. Experienced hand lettering enthusiasts can certainly do the job without help. After the text and arrows are done, leave them aside and stretch the card onto the stretcher. You can also buy a stretched canvas frame, cut out the map and glue it on it. Brush the road map with Pod Modge. Now lay the sheet of paper on the road map so that the lettering is facing the map. Paint the back of the sheet with the pastel pencil. Remove the paper from the road map – the outlines of the lettering should be on it. Color them in with black fineliner. The new wall decoration is ready.

Design stretcher frames with sayings: Lettering with block letters

Would you like to design a stretcher frame with sayings, but do not dare to do the brush lettering and have doubts that you can master the handletting? Then lettering with block letters is ideal for you. It is an uncomplicated variant that is quickly conjured up on the canvas and that you can use a trick to showcase it effectively. You will need the following materials for your craft project:

• Denim fabric, dark blue (you can also use blue linen fabric as an option)
• Stretcher
• Stapler and staples 24/6
• Scissors or craft knife
• white chalk or white textile paint and brush
• ruler
• pencil

This is how the picture is taken: First, use the stapler to cover the stretcher with the denim. Trace the outlines of the letters with the ruler and pencil and then paint the letters over them with white textile paint or with chalk. Write a nice message and surprise someone on a special occasion with a loving saying like: “Love is all we need”.

Design the stretcher: paint a beautiful picture with acrylic paint and the bounce lettering technique

A picture as a nice memory of the first year with your baby. You can create a beautiful picture with acrylic paint. For this you need the following materials:

• Acrylics
• Self-adhesive film
• pencil
• scissors
• Stretched canvas or a sheet of paper
• Freezer bag with zipper into which the stretcher frame or sheet of paper fits

You can use the bounce lettering technique when painting the letters. The letters are usually painted in block letters, with the baseline above or below serving as a guide. That makes the lettering a lot more interesting and automatically attracts attention.

How to tinker the picture: First you should paint your child’s name. Draw the outlines of the letters on the self-adhesive foil. Since the picture will be very colorful anyway, opt for a simple print font. Arrange and cut out each letter above and below the baseline. Glue the letters on the canvas or on the paper. Put dabs of acrylic paint on several places on the picture, place the stretcher in the freezer bag and seal it. Now it’s the little artist’s turn – give the baby the picture and let him draw motifs with his fingers. If you don’t feel like painting anymore, take the picture out of the bag and let the colors dry completely. Then carefully remove the stuck on letters and flaunt the picture.

Design stretcher frames with sayings: make an abstract spray pattern

Now we will explain to you how you can make an abstract spray pattern. You will need the following materials for this:

• Old newspapers or foil to cover the work surface
• Watercolor or watercolors
• Self-adhesive letters
• Old toothbrush
• Disposable cups
• paint brush
• black ink

First, glue the letters to the canvas and form a short and inspiring saying. It is best to opt for a plain print. This is how the spray pattern is made: Pour a little water into the disposable cup and dissolve the water color in it. Be careful not to dilute the paint too much. Dip the bristles of the toothbrush into the watercolor and hold them over the canvas. Then run your finger over the bristles. Continue until you have evenly distributed the splatter marks across the canvas. Let the paint dry, then carefully remove the self-adhesive letters. Leave all but one word white. Color in the selected word with the black ink.

Lettering gives artists another opportunity to create exciting images. In the photo gallery below you can find more examples of how you can create beautiful lettering art yourself. let yourself be inspired!

Glue newspaper over the stretched frame and write a nice message on it with the hand lettering technique. Connect the letters with ligatures

The principle is the same as when tinkering with the stretcher with the road map, only in this case you need newspaper instead of the road map

Design stretcher frames with sayings: craft idea with the brushlettering technique 

Form letters on canvas with glue

Hand lettering: Use different lettering with embellishments in one picture

First paint the surface with acrylic paints, then paint the motifs and text with ink and a brush

Beautify the children’s room with a self-made wall decoration 

Watercolor picture with hand lettering in different fonts