DIY Star Wars Marquee Wall Art Tutorial

Make this DIY Star Wars Marquee sign for a fraction of the cost of purchasing it.

DIY Star Wars Marquee Wall Art Sign

I love Star Wars, and I love making things. Combine the two and we have this homemade Star Wars Marquee sign! Follow along for steps on how to make one for yourself, or the Star Wars fan in your life!

Star Wars Marquee Sign with lights off

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If you like this DIY, check out my tutorial on how to make a Star Wars TIE Fighter bookshelf!

Build a Star Wars TIE Fighter Bookshelf

Or this tutorial on how to make a BB-8 push toy!

BB-8 Push Toy in action!

Inspiration for this DIY comes from Pottery Barn Kids. I was browsing their catalog and spotted this beauty!

Pottery Barn Kids Star Wars Marquee Sign | Source

Unfortunately, the price tag on the sign is $300 and thus way out of my price range.

I made my version of the sign over the course of a weekend, and I was able to make my version for a tenth of the price!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase an item via one of these links, I’ll receive a small commission at no added cost to you. This helps keep the content on the site free and I appreciate the support!

What You Will Need

The following items are some of the tools and supplies I gathered to create the Star Wars marquee:

Tools

Circular Saw
Brad Nailer
Silhouette (for creating the Star Wars stencil)
Drill (equipped with a 3/4 inch wood spade bit)
Staple Gun
Parallel clamps
Sander
Ruler
Pencil

Supplies

String Globe Lights (I purchased them here!)
2 – 6″ long cedar fence picket* (~ $2.50 each)
2 – 8″ long 1×2 furring strips (~ $1.25 each)
Black Spray paint
ECOS Paints Woodshield Stain (Golden Oak)
ECOS Paints Woodshield Varnish (Satin)
Contact Paper (for Silhouette stencil)
Wood glue

*Version 2 of the sign I made use of some scrap 1×6 whitewood boards. The first version of the marquee sign, I used cedar fence pickets that have been sitting in my garage for a few months. They were nice and dry. Unfortunately, while I was in the home stretch for finishing this project my son managed to destroy the sign. I visited my local hardware store to purchase some more cedar fence pickets, but the boards in their stock were very damp.

*You could save a few steps and use a piece of plywood or MDF (33″ x 22″). I glued up boards to create a wood panel because I wanted to make use of lumber from my scrap wood pile.

How to Make a Star Wars Marquee

Step 1: Cut the fence pickets in half and create a panel from the four boards.

If you are not using cedar picket fences, cut 4 – 36 inches long 1×6 pieces.

Cedar pickets cut in half

Otherwise, cut each cedar fence picket in half. Edge glue the boards together. Wait for the glue to dry before moving onto the next step.

Edge glue joints with the Damstom 38″ panel clamp

Gluing up the boards for version two

Step 2: Trim the edges of the wood panel.

Panel with uneven ends

Trim about an inch off the ends of the panel to create a straight edge. The length of the panel should be about 33″ inches long.

Using the Rockwell Versa Cut saw (with track guide) to trim up the boards

Step 3: Cut the furring strips and attach strips to each side of the wood panel.

Make 4 cuts from the 1×2 furring strips. Each piece will cover a side of the wood panel. Attach the pieces to the panel with a brad nailer and wood glue.

I recommend that you cut the trim to size. My measurements were:

33 inches (2x)
23.5 inches (2x)

The trim measured and cut

Trim attached to the four sides of the panel

Step 4: Sand the surface of the panel.

I recently witness the ill effects of not wearing a mask while sanding (it wasn’t pretty). Wear a dust mask and sand the panel until the surface is smooth. Clear the panel of sawdust before starting the next step.

I used my belt sander for the rough sanding and followed up with my orbital sander.

Sanding the surface of the panel with a Ryobi Belt Sander

Step 5: Stain the surface of the wood panel.

Stain the top surface of the wood panel. I used ECOS Paints Woodshield in Golden Oak. You will want to pick a color that contrasts well with your second color.

Staining wood with ECOS Paints Woodshield – Golden Oak

Step 6: Create a Star Wars stencil.

Creating the Star Wars stencil with the Silhouette Studio Editor

I created a Star Wars stencil with my Silhouette. I imported an image of the Star Wars logo into Silhouette Studio editor and used the trace tool to capture the outline. I used Contact paper to create the stencil. I followed the Shanty sister’s tutorial on creating a stencil with contact paper to get the perfect cut setting on my Silhouette.

You can download the Silhouette cut file I created here!

Star Wars logo stencil from Contact paper

Step 7: Attach the Star Wars logo stencil and spray paint the sign.

I carefully transferred each letter to the board, and applied a couple of coats of black spray paint.

Spray painting the sign black

Step 8: Seal the Star Wars sign with varnish.

Next, I applied two coats of ECOS Paints Woodshield Satin Varnish.

The sign is pretty large and a little heavy.

Varnish applied and dried

Step 9: Drill holes for the globe light sockets.

Before drilling holes for the globe light sockets, take care and plan where to position each hole. The lights I purchased came with 25 sockets. I planned for each letter to have 3 bulbs.

I equipped my drill with a 3/4″ wood spade drill bit and drilled 24 holes. (Heh, I missed one.)

Drilling 3/4″ holes

Step 10: Install the string globe lights.

Push each socket into the holes and secure the wire with a staple gun. Take great care during this step and avoid stapling the wire.

Secured the lights with a staple gun

Flip over the sign and install the light bulbs.

Screwed in the globe lights

Attach hardware to hang the sign or lean on a wall.