Piggy Pork bbq sign DIY
- By Joan
- June 7, 2015
- 23 Comments
About a year ago my sister hands me this yoke and says, “What can you do with this?” My first thought…that would make a fantastic hanging light. Two matching lights hanging from both ends. You can see that can’t you…or is it just me? I still think it’s a great idea with only one small problem. I never could find two matching shades for both ends unless I bought them brand new.
And that is why this yoke is sitting next to my kitchen sink a year later. It is waiting for me to come up with fantastic idea number 2 for it’s future life. I figure if it’s sitting in my kitchen and I have to work around it every day it will force me to come up with something. I did try googling “upcycled yoke”, and do you know what I found?
That’s right, lights hanging from both ends. I knew it was a good idea.
Note: I’ve been corrected…apparently this is not a yoke but a Single Tree. Well who knew? I’ve never heard of a Single Tree.
In the picture above, the idea is slowly evolving. With these old fence boards, I think it would make a great sign. So now both the yoke and fence boards are sitting next to the sink. I tried the fence boards both horizontally and vertically but nothing was coming to me. Painting directly on these boards was out of the question, you probably can’t tell, but they have deep rivets. We’ll call it character.
It was starting to get in the way, dishes started to pile up. If my hubby was going to load the dishwasher, he would always put the dishes there before sticking them in the dishwasher right below. He has a system ya know. I’ve messed up his system.
Inspiration finally came with these fine little critters. After googling vintage signs, I narrowed it down to BBQ signs.
Found a great piggy shape over at Fynes Designs. If you prefer a chicken or a cow, it’s there too. They actually have the butcher cut lines for the animals but I just wanted the overall pig shape. Imported the picture over to Publisher where I could blow up the graphic to my sign size of 36″ x 17″. Publisher allowed me to stretch the pig horizontally to fill up the space. You can see above, how much space my pig has to fill.
Once the piggy is stretched the Publisher file prints out on 12 sheets of paper.
Printed out the pig and taped him back together.
Cut out the piggy. Right now I just needed the outline.
My newly cut out piggy was placed over pallet wood. Held him still while I traced his outline onto the wood. 
Cut out the pig mostly with a tabletop scroll saw though a handheld jigsaw would also work. 
Not attached yet, just checking out the fit.
The fence board backing was attached with 3 pieces of pallet wood. I used tons of 1 inch finishing nails because it’s so easy with the nailer but they could also be screwed together, hand nailed, construction adhesive…whatever works for you. If you don’t have old fencing, aged pallet wood works just as well.
Back to the piggy…stained the fresh cut edges so they didn’t look quite so brand new.
Whole piggy was painted piggy pink. Without a suitable pink, I used a combination of white, red and brown. 
Back in Publisher, I printed out my sign graphics. “BBQ” was an Algerian font with a font size of 550. “Delicious” used Freehand 521 BT, a script font. Delicious gets it’s slanted look from “Word Art” in Publisher. By using word art, the shape is pulled to any size desired, it doesn’t matter the size of the font. 
If you’re a regular reader than you can skip over this step because I once again used my very high tech method of graphics transfer. Scribble on the back of the lettering you want transferred in pencil. Tape the lettering in place then follow the outline with a pen. The scribbled pencil acts as carbon paper to transfer the outline to the sign.
Once the lettering has been transferred, start painting.
Before attaching to the backing, the piggy pink pallet wood was given once last sanding…a little on top for that aged look and a little on the edges. Applied a clear wax to the top with little touches of the darker wax on the edges and over any surface that looked too new from the sanding. Piggy was finally ready to be attached to the backing. Used a combination of finishing nails and construction adhesive (Liquid Nails). 
Piggy was done but I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do to attach the sign to the yoke. I envisioned either a carabiner type hook or a twisted wire. Decided to visit the local Goodwill since it wasn’t out of my way, to see if anything was going to hit me. Imagine my surprise to find these S shaped hooks. 12 for $2.00. Can you guess what they were? I’ll tell you at the end. They were a little too shiny for my rusty yoke and old fence wood so they got the spraypaint/sprinkle on cinnamon treatment. Instant rust.
OK, did you guess the hooks are actually shower curtain hooks. Best part…I have enough to do 5 more signs. Later, right now I’m hungry for Delicious Pork BBQ. 🙂
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Dang, wish I had seen this over the weekend. I just made a sign to hang on our fence above our BBQ but I’m liking yours much much better Joan. Pinning this in case I get the motivation to redo my sign – thanks for the inspiration!
That is a beautiful sign… so creative. Just in case you don’t know, you can get your printer to just print the outlines of words and it can save you a lot of ink. I wrote a blog post about it here, it might help you: http://followyourheartwoodworking.blogspot.ca/2013/05/how-to-save-ink-when-printing-large.html
That is an awesome trick for anyone who uses Word. I tried to find the same option in Publisher, what I usually use, and couldn’t find that option. Maybe I’ll just have to print out all my signs in Word. Great tip
🙂
I just visited from the Vintage Inspiration Party, and I’m in love with your piggy! I shared a sign that I made, too, and as I looked over your post, I realized that we both use the same “technique” for transferring drawings. It works, and we can always find a pencil, right? Great post!
Judypimperl.blogspot.com
I’ve been thinking for years that I should buy some carbon paper, but every time a project comes along, I have no carbon paper, but I do have a pencil.
Super fun project! Thanks for sharing at the VIP party!
I’ve got one of those yokes too…never knew it was a singletree. I’ve always hung it on the wall, but it really didn’t do anything for the room, just looked big and clunky. When I saw your sign, I knew right then that is what needs to happen with my yoke. The BBQ sign is spot on for this gal who loves to BBQ, and cook low ‘n slow on the smoker!
Thanks for sharing this fabulous project!!!
Love this idea. Such a cute sign!
This turned out so cute! Thanks for linking up!
That’s just too oinkin’ cute! I have an old yoke sitting in my entryway that I refuse to move anywhere else, because I know eventually I’ll get sick of moving it around and do something with it. And you know what – my first thought was hanging lights too, but I don’t have matching ones either, and don’t really need one, so my second thought was also a sign. Great minds think alike, but you actually did it, instead of just thinking about it! Thanks for sharing it at the Vintage Inspiration Party. I’m giving you a shout-out on FB tomorrow here – https://www.facebook.com/KnickofTime
Thanks so much for the shout out Angie. After a year I was finally able to give my sister back her yoke and she hands me 2 more to do something with. I think I have more signs in my future.
OMG – this is INCREDIBLE!!! I’m seriously so impressed and inspired! I come from a family of BBQ lovers, so this may just be added to the list of my homemade Christmas presents!
This sign is so cool, and it looks great!! I love BBQ!
Navy Wifey Peters @ The Submarine Sunday Link Party
I’ve got a yoke, got a pig, and got some barn wood. I’ve also pinned it, and featuring it tomorrow at the Vintage Inspiration Party.
Wow Joan, that is one stinking cute sign! Featured you at Be Inspired this morning. Thanks so much for sharing!
Love this sign and the great tutorial! Shared on Facebook and pinning today. Enjoy the rest of your week.
Thank you so much for sharing Jenna. Some day I’ll get my own facebook account… apparently it’s rather popular :).
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What a great piece. You nailed it.
So creative you are! I love it! Pinning for sure and thanks for sharing.
Love everything about this one! Such vintage inspired loveliness, looks just like vintage barn wood … Superb! Gotta share the love on this….
I love this sign. What a great idea. Thanks for linking up on the #HomeMattersParty this week. Hope you will come back next week to link up again.