These are corbels I bought at a flea market. At first I thought I would make a mantle-shelf with them, then I noticed that they didn't match, so I really could not use them in the same piece. Then I came up with the idea of a hanging chalkboard sign.
First I cut a two "frames" from a sheet of 5/8" plywood,
then cut a circle out of a thinner hardwood panel.
I painted them with a black chalkboard paint.
Once dry I glued and nailed the frames on either side of the chalkboard making it like a sandwich.
Clamp it down and let it dry.
Next I needed an arm at the top of the corbel. I had a decorative piece that I salvaged from an old buffet hanging around. I'll use it on one of the corbels and use some 1x4s to make a similar one.
After cutting and sanding the edge I ran it through the table saw to mimic the groove in the other piece.
I'm adding a small piece of wood between the arm and the corbel to make it a little easier to join the two pieces together.
I cut a piece of cove trim to dress it up a bit and attached it to the bottom of the arm.
The smaller wider piece is screwed to the bottom of the arm...
...then I started the screws in the small piece...
...and attached it to the corbel.
Once the construction was done I mixed up some home made chalk paint in a basic brown.
Then I dry-brushed on some lighter colored paint on all the high spots to mimic some distressing.
I made a black glaze, painted it on and gently wiped it off, trying to push it into all the little crevices.
I ended up with two really cool chalkboard signs!
