American Flag

Hi Everyone!  I hope this finds you enjoying your weekend.  A few weeks ago (has it really been that long ago?) I had the opportunity to guest post for Hani @ Craftionary back in April (prior to the craft fair and my dad's ordeal).  I was honored to be asked.  So with Memorial Day and Independence Day coming up I decided to show you how to make a wooden American Flag.  I've had this on my to make list for a couple of years now.  I was happy to have a reason to make it.

I started out by picking out pieces of 1x2" boards which are called furring strips from my stock pile of boards.  I used these because they are pretty inexpensive and that way I didn't need to cut boards down to the right width.  I cut 7 of them down to 26" and 6 of them down to 39".

This is cut from a scrap of plywood.  I cut it 13x10 1/2".

Here's what it looks like when I laid it out for a dry fit.

I also cut four of theses rails.  This is what will hold all of these smaller boards in place.  Once everything was cut, I sanded each piece smooth.  The sanding is what took the longest.  Furring strips are a bit furry because they haven't really been planed and pre-sanded.  Since they are made to not be seen.

I painted everything before I put them together.  I painted 7 red boards and 6 white ones.

And I hand painted the stars on.  I decided to make the Revolutionary War flag because I was going to age it and thought that would look better.  Plus I really didn't want to paint on 50 stars.  If you don't want to hand paint them, you could always use a stencil or vinyl to make the stars.  I decided I wanted the hand painted look.  White over this color of blue took about four coats of white to get  really good coverage.

Here it is before I turned it over and added the rails.  I dry fit it together before flipping so I could move boards around for a better fit.

 I flipped it over and added the rails.  I glued and nailed them together and then added screws to key boards like the ends and the blue piece.

 Then I flipped it over and sanded it.  I hit the edges and any high points.  I then added an antique medium to it to give it an aged look.

 You can see the sanded and antiqued areas.  I really like the way that turned out.  It gives it the right amount of age.

Once I was happy with it, I added a clear coat to it so it can be used outside.  The only thing I have left to do is add the hooks to it so it can hang.  So there you have it.  Now you can make your own wooden flag.  Thanks for stopping by.

Linking to:
http://thecheckeredapple.blogspot.com/2012/05/patriotic-link-party.html 
http://www.itsybitsypaperblog.com/2012/06/patriotic-project-parade-linky-party.html