Football is a fascinating sport. Actually, it’s more than that, it’s a culture.
It seems to be the thing that turns summer to fall, and the energy that pushes winter through to a promise of spring.
Die-hard fans often span generations, with loyalty running through their veins in shades of team colors.
I came to truly understand what a big deal this sport is, when I slowly discovered how many layers-deep football knowledge can go. I know now, that there is honestly no end to how many different stats a human brain can think of.
My trickle down appreciation is due in full, to my husband’s steady sprinkling of football info over the past 13 years. He’s the reason I have stretched my version of wood art into football territory.
This project is subject to interpretation; meaning, there are a lot of teams out there, from many different sports. Endless possibilities!
I used a University of Alabama house flag as a template to trace and create my template for the logo. They can be purchased online, on homedepot.com.
Paint colors by Glidden Paint. (Home Depot)
I based my purchase for all the lumber around the 24”x48” sheet of plywood that I began with. The final dimensions ended up being 40”x 22”.
(The lumber for this project is subject to the overall size desired upon completion. So in other words, anything goes.)
To create the background for the logo art, I started with a 1/8” thick sheet of plywood, slightly larger than I intended the art piece to be. (48"x 24") I used cedar boards because they are lightweight.
Once I figured out the board layout, I used gorilla glue and clamped the cedar onto the plywood with heavy objects. Because I have limited heavy objects laying around, I do a few rows at a time. It’s important that the cedar boards aren’t longer than the plywood they are glued to.
After all the boards are attached and the glue is fully dry, I run it through the table saw and shave off each edge. The edge of the plywood backing will run smoothly along the guide rail, giving you a clean and straight cut each time you rotate the piece.
Next, I painted the background using Glidden Paint’s “Team Colors” in Alabama crimson. (Found at Home Depot.) When the paint was dry, I laid out my pine 1x3’s to measure and mark for the frame.
I chose a wraparound box frame, to give myself room for error. (I cut them a hair longer than my mark, and then sanded off any overhang after they were attached.)
Once the 4 frame boards were cut, I set them aside. To give the frame some added stability, I used a Kreg Jig to ready 4 small pieces of scrap 1x3’s to be attached to the backside of the cedar/plywood background.
Next, I glued/nailed the scraps to the rear of the cedar/plywood background, keeping the edges flush by holding a separate piece of scrap wood against it as I nailed.
Flipping the background back over, I laid it flat with the front facing up. I slid some spacer blocks underneath it before attaching the frame with my AirStrike. Doing so creates a lip around the frame in the back, which means it will hang flat against the wall like a box frame should. When I lined up all the edges of the frame around the cedar/plywood background, I glued and clamped them in place, nailing each side.
Nailing the frame on from each side secured it so I could turn it back over and reinforce the frame with Kreg screws.
With the background and frame complete, I moved onto the logo. After creating the stencil, I traced the design onto some leftover 1/8” plywood to help guide me on the next part: gluing and clamping small scraps.
Over the course of an afternoon, I used glue and small heavy objects until I covered my traced design. Once the last piece was in place and the glue was dry, I retraced it on top. Next, I drilled some holes in corners and key places along the shape. I did this to give myself little markers on the backside of the plywood…
The hole marks on the back act as a guide to trace the backwards logo on the backside. (Tracing the design on both sides helps if/when you need to flip over the piece while cutting.)
Using my RYOBI cordless jigsaw, I started cutting out the design. I adjusted the speed a few times as I worked on it, depending on how much of a curve I needed to cut.
When I was finished cutting , I used my Corner Cat sander to sand off my trace lines and smooth all the edges.
After I painted the logo white, I secured it to the crimson background and called it a day. Of course I had to go back and create another team art piece… (I am a neutral party in all this.) ;)
Football is a fascinating sport. Actually, it’s more than that, it’s a culture. It seems to be the thing that turns summer to fall, and the energy that pushes winter through to a promise of spring. Die-hard fans often span generations, with loyalty running through their veins in shades of team colors. I came to truly understand what a big deal this sport is, when I slowly discovered how many layers-deep football knowledge can go. I know now, that there is honestly no end to how many different stats a human brain can think of. My trickle down appreciation is due in full, to my husband’s steady sprinkling of football info over the past 13 years. He’s the reason I have stretched my version of wood art into football territory. This project is subject to interpretation; meaning, there are a lot of teams out there, from many different sports. Endless possibilities! I used a University of Alabama house flag as a template to trace and create my template for the logo. They can be purchased online, on homedepot.com. Paint colors by Glidden Paint. (Home Depot) I based my purchase for all the lumber around the 24”x48” sheet of plywood that I began with. The final dimensions ended up being 40”x 22”. (The lumber for this project is subject to the overall size desired upon completion. So in other words, anything goes.)
To create the background for the logo art, I started with a 1/8” thick sheet of plywood, slightly larger than I intended the art piece to be. (48"x 24") I used cedar boards because they are lightweight.
Once I figured out the board layout, I used gorilla glue and clamped the cedar onto the plywood with heavy objects. Because I have limited heavy objects laying around, I do a few rows at a time. It’s important that the cedar boards aren’t longer than the plywood they are glued to.
After all the boards are attached and the glue is fully dry, I run it through the table saw and shave off each edge. The edge of the plywood backing will run smoothly along the guide rail, giving you a clean and straight cut each time you rotate the piece.
Next, I painted the background using Glidden Paint’s “Team Colors” in Alabama crimson. (Found at Home Depot.) When the paint was dry, I laid out my pine 1x3’s to measure and mark for the frame.
I chose a wraparound box frame, to give myself room for error. (I cut them a hair longer than my mark, and then sanded off any overhang after they were attached.)
Once the 4 frame boards were cut, I set them aside. To give the frame some added stability, I used a Kreg Jig to ready 4 small pieces of scrap 1x3’s to be attached to the backside of the cedar/plywood background.
Next, I glued/nailed the scraps to the rear of the cedar/plywood background, keeping the edges flush by holding a separate piece of scrap wood against it as I nailed.
Flipping the background back over, I laid it flat with the front facing up. I slid some spacer blocks underneath it before attaching the frame with my AirStrike. Doing so creates a lip around the frame in the back, which means it will hang flat against the wall like a box frame should. When I lined up all the edges of the frame around the cedar/plywood background, I glued and clamped them in place, nailing each side.
Nailing the frame on from each side secured it so I could turn it back over and reinforce the frame with Kreg screws.
With the background and frame complete, I moved onto the logo. After creating the stencil, I traced the design onto some leftover 1/8” plywood to help guide me on the next part: gluing and clamping small scraps.
Over the course of an afternoon, I used glue and small heavy objects until I covered my traced design. Once the last piece was in place and the glue was dry, I retraced it on top. Next, I drilled some holes in corners and key places along the shape. I did this to give myself little markers on the backside of the plywood…
The hole marks on the back act as a guide to trace the backwards logo on the backside. (Tracing the design on both sides helps if/when you need to flip over the piece while cutting.)
Using my RYOBI cordless jigsaw, I started cutting out the design. I adjusted the speed a few times as I worked on it, depending on how much of a curve I needed to cut.
When I was finished cutting , I used my Corner Cat sander to sand off my trace lines and smooth all the edges.
After I painted the logo white, I secured it to the crimson background and called it a day. Of course I had to go back and create another team art piece… (I am a neutral party in all this.) ;)
