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Chalkboard lettering is hand lettering done in chalk on a chalkboard, the kind you see on cafe menus, wedding signs and kitchen walls. This tutorial follows Carter Sams as she makes a home sweet home chalkboard from a blank board. She uses ordinary white chalk and a ruler, and the lettering style is faux calligraphy: plain cursive with the downstrokes drawn thicker. Most of what makes chalk art look professional is planning and cleanup, not a steady hand.
Plain chalk is cheap, forgiving and erases cleanly, which is why Carter uses it here. A pencil sharpener turns a stick into a point for fine lines. Liquid chalk markers give brighter, crisper lines, but they can stain a porous board and do not smudge off with a finger. Test a marker on a corner first, or save it for a sign that stays up. Chalk pencils sit in between and hold a point well for small details.
Season a new chalkboard before you letter on it. Rub the side of a chalk stick over the whole surface, then wipe it off with a dry cloth. Without this step, your first design can leave a ghost image that never fully erases. A lightly dusty board also makes erasing small mistakes cleaner.
Carter calls guidelines tedious, and they are, but they are the difference between a sign that looks homemade and one that looks hand lettered by a pro. On her board each row is four inches tall with an inch of space between rows, measured out from the center of the board. Mark where each word starts and ends too, so the words sit centered.
Real calligraphy pens get thicker when you press on the way down. Chalk cannot do that, so you fake it. Write the word in thin cursive, then add a second line beside every stroke that moves toward the bottom of the board and fill the gap. Keep all the thick strokes the same width. On a small letter, add the extra line on the outside so the letter does not shrink.
Practice the stroke on paper first with faux calligraphy with any pen, or brush up your cursive. When you want more style, try bounce lettering or brush pen calligraphy.
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Letter a chalkboard sign like a pro with plain chalk and a ruler. An easy project: about 1 hour 15 minutes. You need 7 things, including white chalk, chalkboard and pencil sharpener. The 10 steps start with sharpen the Chalk for Chalkboard Lettering, make a Fine Chalk Eraser From a Paper Towel, sketch Chalkboard Lettering Layouts on Paper First, draw the Center Line on the Chalkboard With a Ruler and draw Chalk Guidelines for Each Row of Lettering.
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A blunt stick of chalk makes fat, fuzzy lines. Run your chalk through an ordinary pencil sharpener until it has a clean point, the way Carter does here. The point lets you draw thin guidelines and crisp letter edges. Sharpen again whenever the tip wears flat. Keep the shavings over a trash can, because chalk dust gets everywhere.
Use a sharpener you do not need for pencils. Chalk dust dulls the blade.
Gather your erasers before you start. Cotton swabs are good for cleaning up small mistakes inside a letter. For even finer details, wrap a small piece of paper towel around anything pointy, like a toothpick or a bobby pin. Leave a tail of towel hanging so it stays on while you erase. A full paper towel handles big areas, and a damp one clears heavy dust.
Keep a dry towel under your hand so you do not smudge finished letters.
Before any chalk touches the board, sketch a few small layouts on paper. Carter tries the words in a circle, inside a house shape and stacked in rows. Sketching lets you test ideas, check the spacing and pick a direction before you commit. Choose the layout you like best and keep the sketch next to you while you work.
Draw the sketch in the same shape as your board, wide or tall.
Find the center of your board and split it in half both ways. Use a long metal ruler and sharpened chalk to draw a light vertical line down the middle and a horizontal one across it. Everything else on the board is measured out from these two lines. That is what keeps your finished lettering centered instead of drifting to one side.
Press lightly. Guidelines have to erase completely at the end.
Now draw the rows. Carter's board has three rows, each four inches tall, with one inch of space between them. Her middle row sits two inches above and two inches below the center line. Rule every line with the ruler. Then mark where each word should start and stop. Go over the whole board with a light layer of chalk to hide fingerprints.
Jot which letters fall on each side of the center line at the top of the board.
Do the lettering before any decoration, so the words stay large and easy to read. Write each word in plain cursive, leaving a little extra space between letters for a light, airy look. Line the bottoms and tops of the letters up with your guidelines. Keep the height, width, spacing and slant the same from letter to letter.
Write the same letter the same way each time. Consistency reads as skill.
This is the faux calligraphy part. Find every stroke where the chalk moved toward the bottom of the board. Draw a second line beside it and fill in the gap so it looks thick. Keep all the thick strokes the same width. On small letters, add the line on the outside. Where two letters sit far apart, thicken the outer edge to close the gap.
Clean up wobbly edges with a cotton swab as you go.
With the words done, add a design that frames them. Carter draws two long curved stems, one on each side, for eucalyptus sprigs. Make them start and stop at about the same height and sit the same distance from the words and the edges of the board. She eyeballs this part instead of measuring. Keep the design simple so it supports the words.
Draw both stems at once, one in each hand, to help them match.
Pull up a reference photo of the plant you are drawing. Carter keeps hers on her phone and looks at the photo more than at her drawing. Add small rounded leaves along each stem, copying the shapes, sizes and angles you see. Work from the bottom of the stem up so your hand does not rub the leaves you already drew.
Not sure you can draw it? A reference photo makes a big difference.
Now the final touch-ups. Erase every guideline completely, including the center lines and word marks. Wipe off fingerprints and smudges with a dry paper towel or a cotton swab. Then go back over any letter that got rubbed, so the lettering looks exactly how you want it. Step back across the room to check it before you call it done.
Photograph the board in daylight from straight on so the chalk does not glare.
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How to Do Faux Calligraphy
10 steps · about 12 minutes
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How to Do Chalkboard Lettering (Faux Calligraphy With Chalk)
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