Any shark-themed summer birthday party should of course include plenty of sharks themselves! We wanted to create some shark-inspired decor for our party and we knew that a DIY Beware of Sharks Sign would be the perfect fit! Using a mix of wood, paint, netting and stencils, you can easily recreate this rustic driftwood sign.
Start creating your DIY sign by arranging the unfinished wood planks into a pattern that you like.
Once you have arranged the unfinished wood planks into a pattern that you like, use hot glue to secure the pieces together one at a time. Simply press firmly and hold for a few seconds. We arranged our unfinished wood planks into a jagged pattern for a more worn and driftwood appearance, but you can make a smooth edge if you prefer.
Gather up a few acrylic paint colors that you will need to transform the unfinished wood planks into worn looking driftwood.
Add on a thick layer of the gold acrylic paint using a foam paint brush. There is no need to allow the paint to fully dry before applying the following coats as you want your colors to blend together.
Next, apply a thin coat of silver acrylic paint. You can use a damp paper towel to help blend the colors and remove excess paint. You want to be able to see some of the wood grain at the end.
Now add a thin coat of black acrylic paint and use a dam paper towel to blend and wipe away excess paint.
Add one final coat of white acrylic paint and again use the paper towel to remove excess paint and blend the colors. This should leave you with an aged and weathered looking sign.
Once the base of the sign is completely dry, start painting the phrase "Beware of Sharks" on the board using blue acrylic paint and a paint brush. Don't be concerned with making the font perfect, you want a rustic and hand written look.
Complete your phrase on the sign and allow the paint to dry completely.
Place a shark stencil in the top right corner of the sign and use a foam paint brush to gently dab white acrylic paint onto the stencil.
We chose to leave the shark stencil's smile off of our shark for a more ferocious look, but you can easily stencil the smile in for a more friendly shark!
Trim an 18" long piece of the cotton fish netting using a sharp pair of scissors.
Using a very light hand and a foam paint brush, gently dab on a mix of gold, silver, and black acrylic paint to give the netting a worn and aged look.
Hang the painted fish netting from either side of the sign by draping it across the corner.
Lastly, display your new DIY Beware of Sharks Sign at your Shark Birthday Party and enjoy!
See how we incorporated this shark sign into our Shark Birthday Party. Don't miss out on the tutorial to make your own DIY Shark Hat Party Favor and delicious Shark Jell-O Jars!