How to Make a DIY Rope Name Sign

If you are looking for a creative, rustic name sign, or how to make fun word art decor, check out how I made my DIY rope name sign for my daughter’s nursery.

After finding out I was pregnant, my husband and I quickly nailed down a boy name and a girl name for when we found our baby’s gender. We had already decided on a ranch/farm themed nursery, so I started looking up ideas for decor. I came across a few different ideas using rope in decor pieces and knew I wanted to incorporate rope in the baby’s name sign.

We found out we are having a girl around 20 weeks and I started on this little project right away. It has been super fun planning out her nursery, so I was excited to know that we were having a girl to start calling her by name, Charlotte Rae, or Charlie for short.  

So, how do you make a DIY rope name sign? I did some research and took bits and pieces of things I learned for my method.

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Step One: Gather Supplies

To make a DIY rope name sign, you will need:

• Rope of your choice (I went for a fairly thick rope of 1/2 inch)
• Craft glue
• Cornstarch
• Cardboard (big enough for your entire name/word to fit on)
• Parchment paper
• Sewing pins
• Hot glue
• Paint brush
• Permanent marker
• Paper plate
• Scissors

Step Two: Decide what you want your name/word sign to say

Step Three: Prep

Start out by writing the name/word you will be using for your DIY rope name sign. You will want to write it in cursive, or something close to cursive to ensure the letters are connected and have enough touch points to be strong enough to hold its shape. I wrote our “Charlie Rae” a few times editing how I wanted it to look before finalizing it.

Once you are happy with your design, secure a piece of parchment paper on the cardboard. I ended up using a cardboard box flipped upside down which worked perfectly so I didn’t have to worry about the sewing pins ruining my counter tops when it came to that step. Once your parchment is secure, use the permanent marker to write out your name/word to about the size you want your sign to be.

Next, prepare the glue mixture. Pour about one cup of glue, a few tablespoons of water, and ¼ cup of cornstarch on a paper plate (for easy clean up), and mix, mix, mix! Make sure to mix until your concoction is smooth and runny adding small amounts of water until you reach the desired texture.

Step Four: Start “Writing”

Now for the fun part! Take the start of your rope and start tracing your name/word on the parchment paper. Use sewing pins along the way to secure the rope into the desired letters you want. Once you hit an intersection (for me it was from the “C” to “h”), cut the rope where the rope overlaps, and hot glue the ends of the rope where needed. Continue this process of tracing, pinning, cutting and hot gluing until your name/word is complete.

Step 5: Glue

The next step in making a DIY rope name sign is to drench your name/word in the glue/cornstarch mixture. I used a thick paint brush for this step. This part is easy. Simple “paint” over your entire name/word with the glue mixture. Make sure to cover the sides and top completely, then let your sign dry all the way.

Once it has dried, pull out all the pins. Your letters should hold their shape at this point, but you will want to flip  your sign over and repeat the gluing process on the back, then let it dry completely again.

Step 6: Final Touches

You are almost done! Now that your DIY rope name sign is dry, take sharp scissors and trim up any crazy rope fibers and any excess dried glue off the edges of the letters. This may be a little tedious, but trust me, it is worth it! This step will make the final product look much cleaner. At this point, if you feel like any of the joints that you hot glued together seem flimsy, add more hot glue to the back of the sign to make the joints even stronger.

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That is it! I love how my “Charlie Rae” turned out and can’t wait to pick the perfect spot to hang it once we start decorating our baby girl’s nursery walls. Now it’s up to you to hang and style your DIY rope name sign.