This DIY 3D wall sign is a project I did about ten years ago, during our basement finish, and it has been on my list to write down ever since. It is a retro Adidas Trefoil (the old “crown” emblem) built from scrap plywood, leftover drywall and setting compound, about 36 by 18 inches, standing off the wall with a blue LED glow behind it. Nothing about it is expensive or complicated. It turned out better than I expected for something I put together on the fly.
| Build at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Size | About 36 x 18 inches |
| Build-up | Two layers of 3/4″ plywood + 1/2″ drywall, shaped with setting-type joint compound |
| Paint | Leftover white base, then Valspar Enchanted Sea 4008-8A (interior latex, sample size) |
| Mounting | Two 8″ 2×4 blocks with 4″ screws as drop-in pins, lifts off the wall |
| Lighting | Blue LED strip wrapped around the 2×4 bracket behind the sign |
| Time | About a day of actual work, spread around compound and paint drying |
| Cost | Mostly leftovers from the basement finish. New spend was the poster print, a $6–7 paint sample, masking tape and the LED strip |
How This Project Started
The idea for a DIY 3D wall sign came during the basement finish. I was turning part of our basement into a gym for our kids. Drywall was already going up down there, so the question was simple: why not put a 3D emblem on the wall while I am at it.
We wore Adidas all through my teenage years. When I was little I was fixated on the old Trefoil, the crown-like emblem they used before the brand moved to the three-bar logo. It still lives on as their retro emblem, and I still like it more than anything that came after. It is a gym, so a sports emblem made sense, and I had scraps of plywood, drywall and compound sitting around from the basement finish. So I just did it. One of those quick projects.
Step 1: Print a Full-Size Template
Do not draw it by hand. It is not going to work, the curves will never be symmetrical. Print the image at full size.
You can tile a poster print at home from Adobe or similar apps, but I saved the image to a USB flash drive and took it to a local print shop (FedEx Office, the old Kinko’s). Their large-format printers handle posters up to five or six feet. I plugged in the USB, set the size on their screen to about 36 inches wide by 18 inches tall, and printed. The paper they use is heavier than regular printer paper, which is good for this.
I cut out the print and glued it to cardboard so the template stays rigid and is easy to trace.
Step 2: Cut Two Layers of Plywood at Once
I traced the template onto 3/4″ plywood and sandwiched a second piece of 3/4″ plywood underneath. Then I screwed the two together from inside the outline, so after cutting the screws stay hidden inside the shape instead of falling off with the scrap.
A regular jigsaw does the cut. The cleaner you cut, the less compound you deal with later, so take your time. I filed the hard-to-reach spots, mostly the notches at the bottom of the emblem.
At this point you already have a 1-1/2″ thick plywood emblem in your hands. Not enough for the look I wanted, so it gets built up more.
Step 3: Add a Drywall Layer
I traced the plywood shape onto a leftover piece of drywall and cut it with the jigsaw as well (a utility knife would work, but I wanted the edge clean). Then I screwed the drywall to the face of the plywood.
Now it is a sandwich: two layers of 3/4″ plywood with 1/2″ drywall on top, about 2 inches thick. The drywall face takes compound and primer far better than raw plywood does.
Step 4: Build Up and Shape With Setting Compound
For the first coats I use a setting-type compound, USG Sheetrock Easy Sand 45 (Durabond 45 works too, it is just harder to sand). It is a powder you mix with water, and it cures hard instead of drying slowly like premixed mud, so you can build thickness fast. I mixed it on the thick side and filled and built up the sides and the front edge to get the 3D shape going.
No joint tape anywhere on this. No paper tape, no mesh. On a flexible or movable surface, edges and joints need drywall tape under the compound, or they will crack. That is what tape is for: bridging seams that move. Nothing in this sandwich moves. Two layers of structural plywood screwed together, drywall screwed on top, one rigid block. So I skipped the tape and the compound went straight onto the drywall face and the plywood edges.
First sanding is coarse, 80 to 100 grit, because this is shaping, not finishing. The edges and corners need to be formed. Use a block. Not your fingers, or the surface will be wavy and you will leave voids. I like flexible automotive sanding blocks (habit from bodywork on the 911), because you can bend them slightly to follow a curve.
Then 120 to 150 grit, and I finished at 180 before primer.
Leave the back alone. It is plywood, it faces the wall, nobody will ever see it. Only the sides and the front matter.
Step 5: Prime and Paint the White Base
Once I was happy with the shape, it got a couple of coats of PVA drywall primer. That is the end of the build. Everything after this is finish.
For the base coat I used whatever white I had left over. Brand does not matter, it just has to be white, because the white becomes the stripes. Two coats with a foam roller on the face and a brush on the sides and tight spots.
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Step 6: The Masking Tape Stripe Trick
This is the fun part. The white stripes are just white paint protected by tape while everything else turns blue. The trick is getting them straight and evenly spaced without measuring every line.
I used two widths: 2″ masking tape for the stripes and 3/4″ masking tape as a spacer.
- Lay the first 2″ tape where the top stripe goes. That is a white stripe.
- Lay a 3/4″ tape tight against it. This is only a spacer.
- Lay the next 2″ tape tight against the spacer. It lands parallel and at exactly the right gap.
- Repeat: 2″, 3/4″, 2″, 3/4″, 2″.
- Pull all the 3/4″ spacers out. What is left is 2″ tape with an even 3/4″ gap between each one, and those gaps become the blue lines.
Other tape widths work just as well. That is simply what I had, and on a sign about 36 x 18 inches the proportions came out right. Be creative with it.
Press the tape edges down hard so the blue does not bleed under. I did get some bleeding, mostly on the sides. On the sides I ran the stripes at an angle to push the 3D look, and the edge is where tape lifts most easily, so burnish it there twice.
Step 7: Paint It Classic Blue
I went through a lot of paint chips looking for something close to the old classic Adidas blue. The one I settled on is Valspar Enchanted Sea, color code 4008-8A, interior latex. It is not an official brand color, just the closest my eye could find.
I bought it as a half-pint (8 oz) sample at Lowe’s for about six or seven dollars (Base 4, Tinter A, if you want to give them the full label). Ask for Valspar Enchanted Sea 4008-8A. A sample may not be enough for a sign this size if you are generous with it, but you are only painting the front and the sides.
Two coats of blue over everything, tape included. Then I let it set up a little, not too long, and pulled the tape back on itself at about a 45-degree angle. Pull while the paint is still slightly soft and the edge breaks clean. Wait until it is fully hard and the tape can lift the paint with it.
Tape off, and it is classic blue with crisp white stripes. A 3D emblem you made yourself, from scrap.
Step 8: Mount the 3D Wall Sign With a Lift-Off Cleat
I did not want to screw it flat to the wall. I wanted it standing off a bit for depth, and maybe room for light behind it. I had not decided on the lighting yet, and I had a whole basement to finish, so I improvised something quick.
Two 8-inch blocks of 2×4. One block is screwed to the wall where the sign should sit. The other block is screwed to the back of the emblem.
Two 4-inch screws as pins. On the emblem block, I drove two 4″ screws down through the block from top to bottom, so about 1 to 1-1/2 inches of each screw sticks out of the bottom. Those exposed tips are the anchors.
Mark and drill. I held the emblem up exactly where I wanted it, marked where the two screw tips touched the wall block, took it down and drilled holes slightly larger than the screws into the wall block. Those are the guide holes.
The emblem block now sits on top of the wall block, with the two screws dropping into the holes. Gravity holds it, the pins keep it from shifting. To take it down, lift it straight up and the screws come out of the holes. Fast, easy, and it still stands off the wall.
Step 9: Add a Blue LED Strip Behind It
At the end I wrapped a blue LED strip light around the 2×4 bracket behind the emblem for ambient light. Blue and white on the face, a soft blue glow on the wall behind it. That part is optional, the sign works fine without it.
With the lift-off mount, removing it is two moves: lift it up, unplug the lights. If you want more on LED work, the deck LED build and the patio cafe lights on a cable go deeper into strips, drivers and runs.
The Finished DIY 3D Wall Sign
It went right in the middle of the main wall, and it became the symbol of the basement gym. Of everything down there, it is the piece people ask about.
It has been about ten years since I finished it. Nothing has shrunk and nothing has cracked, not even along the edges where compound meets plywood, with no tape underneath. It looks exactly the way it did the day it went up.
The same DIY 3D wall sign method works for anything: a team crest, your house number, your initials, a logo you drew yourself. Print it, cut it from plywood, sandwich it with drywall, build it up with compound, sand, prime and paint. A day or so of work.
One note: I built this for my own wall. Brand logos are trademarks, so a sign like this is a personal piece, not something to make and sell.
Good luck with your project and enjoy it.
Common Questions About DIY 3D Wall Signs
Mine is two layers of 3/4-inch plywood with a 1/2-inch drywall layer screwed on top, shaped with setting-type joint compound, primed with PVA drywall primer and painted with interior latex. Almost all of it was leftover material from our basement finish.
About 2 inches before compound: 3/4 + 3/4 inch of plywood plus 1/2 inch of drywall. The compound adds a little on the face and edges, and the 2×4 mounting blocks stand it further off the wall.
Not in my case. I skipped paper and mesh tape because the screwed plywood and drywall sandwich is rigid, so there is no movement to crack the compound. About ten years later, nothing has shrunk or cracked.
Use two tape widths. Lay 2-inch masking tape for each white stripe with a 3/4-inch tape as a spacer between them, then pull the spacers out before painting. Every gap ends up exactly 3/4 inch, with no measuring.
I used Valspar Enchanted Sea, color code 4008-8A, interior latex, from Lowe’s. It is not an official brand color, just the closest match I found by eye. A half-pint sample costs about six or seven dollars.
Screw an 8-inch 2×4 block to the wall and another to the back of the sign. Drive two 4-inch screws down through the sign block so 1 to 1-1/2 inches stick out the bottom, then drill matching guide holes in the wall block. The sign drops onto the pins and lifts straight off.
Yes. I wrapped a blue LED strip around the 2×4 bracket behind the emblem. Because the sign stands off the wall, the light washes the wall behind it instead of shining at you. With the lift-off mount you just lift the sign and unplug the strip to remove it.
About a day of actual work. Setting compound cures fast, so most of the waiting is sanding between coats and letting primer and paint dry.
I would not. Brand logos are trademarks, and mine was made as a personal piece for my own wall. If you want to sell signs, use your own designs.
More builds on Homeject: the Projects section and the calculators index for planning your own.
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- How I Hung 6-Inch LED Cafe Lights Across My 55-Foot Patio — ambient lighting, outdoor version
- How I Converted a Wrecked 1982 Porsche 911 Into a 993 Turbo-Look — where the block-sanding habit comes from
Tools & Materials
- 3/4″ plywood, two pieces (scrap)
- 1/2″ drywall (leftover)
- Large-format poster print of the design (print shop, from a USB flash drive)
- Cardboard and glue for the template backing
- Jigsaw, file, drill
- Wood screws, plus two 4″ screws for the mounting pins
- USG Sheetrock Easy Sand 45 lightweight setting-type joint compound, 18 lb (Home Depot), or Durabond 45
- Sandpaper: 80, 100, 120, 150 and 180 grit
- Flexible automotive sanding blocks
- PVA drywall primer
- Leftover white interior paint (any brand) for the base
- Valspar Enchanted Sea 4008-8A, interior latex, half-pint (8 oz) sample, Base 4 / Tinter A (Lowe’s, about $6–7)
- 2″ and 3/4″ masking tape
- Foam roller and brush
- 2×4 lumber, two 8″ blocks
- Blue LED strip light
⚠️ Disclaimer
The content on HOMEJECT is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only. The projects, ideas, methods, tools, materials, and techniques shown reflect my personal experiences and opinions based on my own DIY projects.
This content is not intended to serve as professional construction, engineering, architectural, electrical, plumbing, structural, safety, legal, or code-compliance advice. It should not be considered a step-by-step guide or instruction manual for any project.
Every property, structure, situation, skill level, and local building code is different. Before attempting any project, consult qualified professionals when appropriate and verify all applicable codes, permits, regulations, and safety requirements in your area.
By using information found on this website, you acknowledge that any actions you take are at your own risk. HOMEJECT and its owner assume no responsibility or liability for any injury, damage, loss, or issues that may result from the use of information presented on this site.
Disclosure: HOMEJECT is an independent DIY project journal and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by adidas, Valspar, Lowe’s, USG, The Home Depot, or any other brand mentioned. The adidas name and Trefoil logo are trademarks of adidas AG, shown here only to describe a one-off personal piece made for my own home; it is not for sale. Other product names are trademarks of their respective owners, used for identification and descriptive purposes only (nominative fair use). This post contains no affiliate links.
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