Help me make this sign look better!

The mail carriers and other deliver people can never find my parents front porch. Packages get left most everywhere. My dad asked for me to wood burn a sign for his birthday, with a tree on the side and an arrow.

I drew the arrow and letter and they all matched stylistically...but then when I drew the tree, I made it too detailed (that's how I draw...), and I fear it draws attention away from the arrow and the two styles match.

I can't really undo anything, but I'm wondering if there's a way to make the arrow and tree match better.

It keeps uploading upside down. I'm posting it twice in case one of them is right side up!

I think the sign looks great the way it is, but if you want to connect the tree to the font you could try treating one (or more) of the tails on your lettering or arrow the same way you drew the branches on your tree. Just take care that they look branchy and not feathery.

I don't think the tree takes away from the rest of the sign.  It's absolutely gorgeous and will draw the attention of any delivery person who dares come within 80 feet of it!

If you wanted the arrow to be a bit more obvious, could you just fill in the first gap of the arrow head, the one between the outermost bit of the arrow and the next one in?  Kinda like this:

I agree with Mike Jay, add weight to the arrow, so it balances the tree better.
It's LOVELY WORK!!! :D Looks excellent!
Just add a bit of something to the arrowhead.
I like your tree :)

Perhaps a lite shade of color on the arrow? Water color to keep it subtle but a little more pronounced?

First I will say that it is lovely!  But you did ask for ideas... so here goes. To me, the arrow looks as if a wind is blowing it, but the tree looks as if it is totally calm. Since the arrow is "sending" the delivery man in a direction, the "wind" feeling seems appropriate and a good thing. Is there any way you could add that same sense of movement to the tree?

Okay, I was just searching the forum on the technique for making the woodburnt signs, and found this thread.  That's a wonderful sign, and I'd love to do something similar. Do you might lettting me know the process that you used?  Did you do it freehand? Did you sketch it onto the board, and cut it out?  That kind of thing.  My only knowledge of this process is that the image is cut into the wood, the entire face of the wood is burnt slightly, and then the face is planed.  Beyond that, I know nothing.

Creighton Samuels wrote:Okay, I was just searching the forum on the technique for making the woodburnt signs, and found this thread.  That's a wonderful sign, and I'd love to do something similar. Do you might lettting me know the process that you used?  Did you do it freehand? Did you sketch it onto the board, and cut it out?  That kind of thing.  My only knowledge of this process is that the image is cut into the wood, the entire face of the wood is burnt slightly, and then the face is planed.  Beyond that, I know nothing.

I actually have never tried it that way. I have a cheap wood-burning kit (I'm rather wishing I had a hotter one, because the one I have takes a long time to burn the wood dark, and I'm just not that patient!). I sketch out the design with pencil, and then "draw" over it REALLY SLOWLY with the woodburning pen. As I draw, it burns the wood. The denser the wood, the longer it takes to burn it. Man, that oak took a LONG time to burn!

I'm still trying to figure out how to get the sign to stay burnt-looking. The black keeps fading. My dad lacquered the one I made him pictured above, and it faded a LOT. We're all really bummed! Some signed I sealed with a mix of beeswax and coconut oil, these not only faded in the sun, but also got mildew. The one finished with linseed/flaxseed oil is holding up the best, but it's also fading. They seem to fade the most in the sun. The one I made and placed in the shade and that was lacquered is holding up the best of them all.

The Make a Sign badge bit has a lot of different examples of woodburning techniques. Some used a solderer, another a fresnel lense, and Ashley did one of hers with a...butane torch? I think for something detailed like mine, you'd need a woodburning pen. Tgis is the one I bought: amazon link to woodburner (I found mine in my local craft store). It does work, and it's a good choice if you're not sure whether or not you like woodburning. If you find you like it, you can always upgrade later to a better/hotter one.

This sign is very cool, creative, personal. It's hand made with care and it shows. He's gonna love it, and the delivery people will too.  I do like the suggestion of darkening the arrow.  You've made a fine sign!  Now think about how to protect it and show it off.

I have some design techniques/opinions I've picked up over the years when making signs.  Next time you're planning one, hit me up! I always love talking art and design with other makers.

looks nice to me.... but one thing i enjoy is using light shades of stain on raw wood ( like i would use water color on paper)

I thought it was beautiful as-is but am curious to know what you ended up doing? Is there an 'after' photo?