Hex signs are a form of traditional Pennsylvania Dutch folk art. They have been painted on the sides of barns to ward off evil spirits, offer good fortune or wish happiness for hundreds of years. These sentiments are perfect for the harvest season! Here is a colorful interpretation for your Thanksgiving table to wish all your guests health and prosperity for the holiday season. — Halligan
CLICK HERE for the full how-to after the jump!
Materials
- wood log (or you can purchase pre-made cut pieces here or here or here)
- 4 paint colors + white paint
- clear fast-drying waterproof sealant
- paintbrushes
- carbon paper or tracing paper to make your own carbon paper
- pencil and ballpoint pen
- computer and printer
- tape
- miter saw and sandpaper (if not purchasing pre-made stump pieces)
Instructions
1. Print out templates to the size of your wood. I made my images large in case you have a large circle of wood. You can shrink by scaling down the print-size percentage.
2. If you did not purchase your log pieces, cut 1/2″ to 3/4″ thick rings out of your wood log. My log was about 4″ in diameter. Sand surfaces until smooth.
3. Cut out paper design circles and a carbon paper circle the same size. If you can’t find carbon paper (don’t forget to look in your check book), you can make your own with tracing paper and pencil lead. Instructions here.
4. Tape both layers on top of the wood, with the carbon paper facing the wood and the design facing up, and use a ballpoint pen to trace design.
5. After the design is lightly lined, paint all shapes in with a thin layer of white paint.
6. Use your paint-by-numbers guides to paint colors.
7. Seal with a quick-drying clear sealant.
29 Comments
Love, love, love those coasters, what a fantastic idea!
These are so fun and so unique – I’m itching to get making for Christmas, (quite panicky, in fact, as time moves on too quick and I promised myself to make each family member a Christmas gift this year!) – maybe I’ll give these a go this w/end – I’ll post them if I do (& if I may?). I’ve got a knitting project online at the mo if you are interested…
Thanks, Claire
those are simple wonderful! and what a great present to make for a loved one!
xo,
cb
These are really smart & gorgeous!
I was wondering if you knew other places besides the wild outdoors, where I could get tree branches to make my own wood coasters? Would a local Armstrong have it?
Wonderful!!! I love these!
LOVELY, HALLIGAN!!!
I WANT TO MAKE SOME ASAP.
XO
I love these! What a neat project. :)
I’ve been seeing a lot of wood log coasters and stuff– really like them. A stamp (esp. hand-carved) would be fun too.
Thank you so much for the templates so many possibilities to use them with. Fabulous tutorial!
What a fab little project! I love that the process can be applied to just about anything…
really amazing. Oh so gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.
Lisa great idea about the stamp too!
Love these-so colorful and useful too- would be so cute hung on a narrow wall.
Absolutely darling! Thanks for sharing this…The cheery colours will help a soul through the long grey winter ahead, too!
Wow! These are cool! I made some tile coasters this year -but i will have to try these too!
I am in architecture school and asked our woodshop manager about a project like this recently and he said not to bother because eventually wood cuts like this will dry and just crack into pieces… does anyone have thoughts on this? I don’t want to waste my time if they’re just going to fall apart. That’d be a crappy gift to give.
These are great! Thanks for the fun project and the lovely tempates–I love traditional folk art
these are very cute
these are amazing!! thank you so much for sharing.
smartie-pants!
i love everything halligan makes.
I love this idea! I’m wondering what sealant you used? I often have the problem when I make coasters of the dried sealant sticking to the cup. Any “clear fast-drying waterproof sealant” suggestions? thanks!
Hi there! Can someone please tell me the type of paint I need to make these?
They are so great!
Hex signs remind me of my childhood. I grew up in a Pennsylvania Dutch community (my parents and grandparents actually speak the language) so these totally take me back and are so perfect. I know my son would love to do these, too and it would be great to teach him about some of our Heritage.
I seem to be seeing more and more of this type of stuff – things made out of wood slices. I wonder what sparked it. Cool DIY project! My wife would love this.
Awesome project idea! I saw this the day it was posted and quickly did some research on economical pre-cut pieces since I don’t have easy access to limbs or ways to cut them… I ordered some pine slices from rusticwoodworking.com and received them today–beautiful grain and only $1/per slice! It appears their inventory changes out rapidly so there are plenty of good options and ranges of quantities and cuts. Can’t wait to try this project out!
done and done! i’m trying to add bits of color to our muted mid century abode, so this is perfect :) thank you!
¡Vaya Contigos!
These are absolutely gorgeous for the quirky at heart. I just stumbled across your site searching for DIY projects and absolutely love it. I will be returning! :)
Hey, they look fab! I agree with RamonaRode, do you have any advice re sealant? I have also made coasters but hot cups always stick to the coaster…thanks!
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