Once it was printed, I cut my two 48″ long sections apart (remember I had to print 2 of these?), then, I removed the marks with a picker tool. However, if you decide to use the vinyl sticker for your marks instead of painting, you’d want to use whatever color vinyl you want your lines and numbers to be. Since I was going to be painting, I didn’t care what color I used for this. I used black Cricut Smart Vinyl because that’s what I had plenty of. The Cricut Joy is designed to cut small things, so my design with the numbers was too wide to fit on one cut, so I actually cut my marks out first, then cut my numbers out separately and pieced them together on the board. My ruler was 6 ½ foot long, but the Cricut Joy would only cut a design up to 48” long. And the small marks should be centered every 1 ½″ between those. The medium sized marks should be centered every 3″ between them. The large marks should be centered every 12″. You can size these however you think looks best to fit the size board you are working with. NOTE: I simply made rectangles here for these ruler marks–a larger one for the foot markers, slightly smaller ones for the ¼ foot markers, and slightly smaller for the ⅛ foot markers. The Cricut Design Space software allowed me to perfectly space all the lines with the ruler on the sides so they’re accurate. I’m not good with any of the above, so for this, I used my Cricut Joy machine to cut a vinyl stencil. You can cut out your own stencils from paper or vinyl, purchase premade stencils, or, if you’re good at freehand, you can simply hand paint the lines and numbers. Step 3: Cut and Apply Life Size Ruler Stencilįor the stencil, there are a ton of options. If you want to stain or paint the board, it’s best to go ahead and do that before painting/applying vinyl.Īllow finish to cure at least 24 hours before applying a sticky vinyl to it. I could have waited and polyed after the fact, but I thought sealing it before would help prevent bleed through and allow for a more even paint job. So, to prep the wood, I gave it a few coats of poly beforehand. RELATED: How to apply edge banding to plywood Step 2: Pre-Finish the Giant Ruler Boardįor the ruler marks, I was going to use a stencil and paint them on. I cut this with a miter saw, but any saw that can cut wood would work fine for this.īecause I was using ¾″ plywood, I edge banded the sides, but if you’re using a solid board or you don’t mind seeing the edges, this step is totally optional. You can make yours any size you want, but I chose to make mine about 78″ long (which is 6 ½ feet). Step 1: Cut Ruler Board to Lengthįirst, I cut my board to the length I wanted my ruler to be. I felt that paint may be a little “longer lasting.” But honestly, either method would probably be fine for this. My concern with using the actual vinyl stickers was that with excessive handling, over time, they might peel off. However, if you want to, you can do the opposite and remove everything from the vinyl stencil EXCEPT the lines and numbers and actually just stick these vinyl pieces on instead of painting. I used a Cricut Joy machine to cut a vinyl stencil, removed the line marks and numbers, and transferred this “blank” to the board so that I could paint these on. You can make this however tall you want, but I made mine about 78” or 6 ½ feet long. I used a strip of ¾” plywood that was about 7” wide. Some Notes About this Life Size Ruler Project: Ruler Sizeįor this project, all you need is a single board…it can be scrap plywood a 1×6, 1×8, whatever.

Transfer tape (to transfer the vinyl to the board).Vinyl for cutting stencil (I used Cricut Smart Vinyl with my Cricut Joy Machine).or a scrap strip of ¾″ plywood however long you want your ruler to be

Picture of a life size ruler