We had been meaning to make something like this for a long time and with a few rainy days at home we finally got around to doing it. There’s plenty of typography letters for sale in trendy home decoration stores and the like but why buy something factory-made when you can do something DIY. Make something unique yourself and be reminded of the good memories of making them every time you spot them in the hallway.

We originally started looking through fonts on our computer but quickly realised that they’d be pretty hard to duplicate into 3D letters. So we drew large blocky letters ourselves on scrap cardboard and cut out two copies of each. We cut strips of the cardboard and taped it between each copy of the letter to give it depth. We weren’t too fussed about the neatness of edges as the paper mache in the next step would hopefully cover any messy edges.

For the paper mache, we diluted wood glue with some water, soaked strips of newspaper in it and wrapped them around each of the letters. It was a bit hard to get curves looking smooth and to get the paper neatly inside the holes of the ampersand. We only did a few layers, enough to cover up any gaps.

We applied a few coats of leftover house paint and then left for a few days to contemplate how we would decorate the letters. We had a few ideas but in the end we just went for a simple option of outlining each edge in black marker pen. Maybe next time we may buy some old books from a boot sale and use the yellowing pages as the paper mache for a different effect.

It just so happened that it coincided with our first wedding anniversary and the traditional gift for the first year is paper. So maybe next year there’ll be something to do with cotton. We’ve had an idea for quite some time but just have to find the right materials for it to come together. Got a year to think that one up.