Adhesive templates
Click photos to enlarge
I can make these templates from any of the more than 100 translations available.
These will stick to bare wood or to wood painted with primer or latex paint, but not to wood that has been treated with something oily, like a deck treatment or a wood preservative.
Along with your templates, I include an extra piece of a template on which you can do a trial run to get the hang of it. On a section of your peace pole, say the part that will be below ground, you can practice this, including the paint, so that you will have practiced the whole process on a section that doesn't matter.
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Each templates comes sandwiched between a piece of white paper and a piece of clear transfer tape as shown in the first photo.
Turn it over and peel off the white paper to expose the adhesive back of the template.
Turn it right side up again and set it in place on your peace pole. While the clear transfer tape still is on it, press it down firmly and smooth it out so that there are no bubbles or wrinkles at the edges of the letters where paint could seep under them.
Peel off the clear transfer tape carefully (see note at the bottom of this page).
The template now is ready for paint.
You might want to put adhesive tape around the template, as shown below, to protect anything that is not supposed to get painted.
After the paint dries (not shown) peel off the template.
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Lay Out
Normally the text starts about three inches from the top of a piece pole. To make them easy to center on the other axis, I
cut a small hole (not shown) at the beginning and end of each translation that
marks how to center it across the width of the pole. Just find the center of the
width of your pole and line it up with those small cutouts at the top and bottom
of the translation.
Note on peeling off transfer tape
The templates stick differently to different kinds of surfaces. If you are using
wood, painted or primed wood works better than bare wood. Hard wood works better
than soft wood. On bare, soft wood it can be tricky to peel the transfer tape
off without lifting the islands out of the middle of letters like the lowercase
"a." To allow for this, peel the clear transfer tape off slowly and carefully
while watching for any part of the template that tries to lift off. If something
does lift up, stop peeling the transfer tape for a moment and hold down the
errant piece of the template with a fingernail or X-acto knife. Then resume
peeling the tape off. This tape is designed to peel off without too much
difficulty so that it can be used as a temporary template. It is not suppose to
have too strong of an adhesion, but it does have to have some. Use the test
patch to see how it works on your surface.