I was looking for ideas for a Father’s day gift that I could make using my Cricut.  Many men in Australia have a man cave or a men’s shed as they call them.  I thought a man cave sign with man cave rules would be a great idea.  I looked online for ideas and most of the man cave signs were all made as not to offend others or worded to be politically correct.

But that is not the real world when it comes to a man cave sign.  Imagine this…  5 Guys sitting around a bar drinking and chatting and one goes, oops sorry I have flatulence and belching issues today. That is just not how men behave in the real world.  These were the funny rules I think men would really like in their man cave. 

I was looking on Pinterest for new ideas when I came across the reverse canvas.  This method is when you take a canvas, and remove it from the frame and put it back the other way around. This method is used mainly to make signs or to add iron-on vinyl to the canvas.  I used this method because I have access to lots of used canvases.  I work in aged care and when our residents do art therapy the canvases are thrown away if the resident does not want to keep it. We ended up with a large box of used canvases, so this method was perfect for me.

How to make a funny bar rules sign 

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Removing the canvas from the frame

It makes no big difference using a used frame for this project because it will be on the back which will be covered.

To remove the canvas you will need a staple remover to pull all the staples out.  Pliers can be used to remove staples that don’t come all the way out.

Once the canvas is removed, You can paint the frame with black gesso. You can also stain the wood if you like.

When I was painting the wood I noticed the corners all have this messy finished which I did not like. My idea then changed and I gave the frame a mixed media makeover.

Cover the edges of the frame

To hide the messy finish on the frame I used Elmer’s glue and some serviettes.  I added a coat of Elmer’s glue to the frame and covered the glue with a serviette.  You can use your fingers to push the serviette into the glue and push the serviette to get a bunched effect. You can add another layer of glue over the top to make it more durable. Once the glue was dry I used a sanding block to remove the excess paper.  

Add elements to the frame

I used nuts, bolts, Allen key, hinges, washers and thumbtacks etc that I found in my workshop.  I used some steampunk charms and resin chess pieces that were leftover from my Game of thrones Lamp which was so popular.   You can use hot glue to add some character to the frame, this looks great once highlighted. You can add whatever you like to the frame. To glue the elements in place I used a hot glue gun and  E6000 glue.

Adding text to the canvas

Place the frame over the canvas and measure the space you have available for your text.  You can also draw a pencil line around the outside of the frame, you will need this later.

The text for this project was made on a Cricut Explore Air 2 vinyl cutter.  I added the rules I wanted to have on my canvas in Design space.  Design space is the software for the Cricut vinyl cutter. Once I was happy with all the fonts and the layout the Cricut did the rest.  I used iron-on vinyl for this project, so make sure you mirror the image in design space so it cuts the correct way.

Weed the vinyl

To weed the vinyl means to remove all the excess vinyl, so you are only left with the words or images you want to keep. I use and X-acto knife to do weeding, but there are proper weeding tools if you want them instead. The sticky backing film can now be positioned on the canvas ready to be ironed on. Put the frame over the text one last time to check the position is correct.

Cover the text with a cloth and using a hot iron with no steam, push down on the iron. I do 8 seconds at a time, you can lift the film to see if it is transferring. Try not to push it around like you would an iron because it will smudge like my last line of text. 

Cut the canvas

Where you drew the line around the inside of the canvas, draw another line all the way around 1cm in. Cut around the inside line, this will give you a 1cm overlap on the frame.

Paint the frame

I used black Gesso to paint the frame.  Paint over everything so you have no colour showing.  Gesso is a primer and has very good coverage that is why I chose to use it.  But any black acrylic paint will work. 

Add the bronze wax paste

I have made a few of my own wax pastes in different colours, but bronze is my favourite.  Using your finger, dip it in the paste and rub your finger over the surface of the canvas.  Don’t fill in all the nooks and crannies or the look is not as effective. Repeat this process over all the elements on the frame.  

Staple the canvas to the frame

To keep the back of my frame tidy, because I had all the painting on the back.  I cut a piece of craft paper the same size as the canvas which will also be used to hide the staples. Staple the canvas to the back of the frame.  Using masking tape to attach the craft paper.

And TA-DA that is the man cave sign done. Here are some close-ups so you can see the detail.

More man cave projects

Wall-mounted drop-down pallet bar

Wine barrel table with built-in wine bucket.

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