Nautical Entrance Sign: Handmade HDU Sign for Herald Harbor

Handmade nautical theme entrance sign

If you love nautical signs, then look no further. We love making marine theme signs for communities. As the photos below show, a maritime theme sign adds that unmistakable Annapolis character to your community entrance. Here is another eye-catching nautical theme entrance sign made by Designs & Signs, LLC for Herald Harbor. The custom design of the new sign is very similar to the old sign, which we removed after a car struck it by accident. We used marine pilings for the posts and wrapped them with decorative rope to mimic the look of real dock lines. A friend of ours, a marine builder by trade, capped the posts with copper sheets.

Materials and finish

We chose HDU (high-density urethane) for this project. A faux woodgrain texture gives the background the look of weathered wood. In contrast, the letters pop and shimmer with 23 karat gold leaf. Next, we stain the posts and paint the entire sign with primer and Sherwin-Williams paint before applying the gold leaf.

We fabricated a custom frame for the back of this sign. The sign is very big, and this rigid, hidden frame helps keep the posts in place and supports the sign’s weight.

About Herald Harbor

Herald Harbor is a community on the Severn River in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Its name comes from the Washington Herald, a Washington, DC newspaper that promoted its subscriptions by giving away small plots of land for summer homes. Washingtonians were always looking for local beach resorts in the summer, and Herald Harbor served this purpose.