How to Apply Heat Transfer Vinyl on Wood for DIY Wood Signs

Learn how to apply heat transfer vinyl on wood with this video tutorial! HTV (or Iron On Vinyl) makes it so easy to make beautiful DIY wood signs with your Silhouette or Cricut. This post may contain affiliate links, which allow me to earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Psst – If you are new to working with vinyl, check out my Vinyl 101: Beginner’s Guide to Cutting Vinyl.

I have an exciting little announcement to share today! My friend Colleen of Lemon Thistle and I have teamed up for a new video series that we are calling Silhouette vs. Cricut! The idea is that we will take on a challenge of a new type of material or themed project or cutting technique, and then we will both make something using our respective cutting machines!

I’m Team Silhouette, of course, and Colleen is a Cricut Girl, so together we can demonstrate the different steps or tricks you need to use for each machine. Plus, you get to see our individual takes on the material, project, or theme. Sounds fun, right?

Well, I’m excited about it! And to kick things off, this week we are talking about Heat Transfer Vinyl on… wait for it… WOOD. That’s right. Wood.

Here’s the thing. If you have ever tried making a DIY wood sign by applying an adhesive vinyl decal to a piece of wood, you may have experienced some frustration. Sometimes the wood’s texture can make it really difficult to get the vinyl to actually stick to the wood.

So, can you use HTV on wood?

YES! You can absolutely used heat transfer vinyl on wood. Not only can you use HTV on wood, but I actually prefer it to adhesive vinyl in many cases. Here’s why:

• Heat Transfer Vinyl is not as glossy as most permanent adhesive vinyl, and the more matte finish looks closer to paint and less like a sticker.
• It sticks! As I already mentioned, sometimes adhesive vinyl on wood can be a struggle.
• More color and style options! If you have a favorite glitter HTV, you can use that for your sign instead of trying to find a similar color in adhesive vinyl.
• HTV (especially smooth HTV like Siser Easyweed) is really thin and flexible, so it looks almost like paint on the wood. You can see how the iron on vinyl almost melts into the wood in the photo below.

Have I convinced you yet that heat transfer vinyl on wood is something worth trying? Let’s make some super simple, super cute DIY wood signs!

How to Apply Heat Transfer Vinyl on Wood

The process of applying heat transfer vinyl on wood is very similar to the process used to apply heat transfer vinyl to a t-shirt or other fabric project, so if you have ever worked with HTV, then you are going to rock this project.

My Silhouette vs. Cricut video below will walk you through the steps of applying iron on vinyl to wood and will show you my experiments with applying HTV to painted and stained surfaces (spoiler alert – it works!) and working with specialty iron on vinyls like shiny holographic. (Psst – If you want to see all of the videos in our new Silhouette vs. Cricut video series, then be sure to subscribe to my youtube channel.)

Supplies Used in this Project:

• Unfinished Wood Signs or Canvases – I used some similar to these
• Unfinished Wood Box (I got mine at target)
• Hand Lettered SVG Cut Files – I’m using designs from my new So Fontsy Shop!
• Silhouette Cameo
• Silhouette Studio Designer Edition (You need Designer Edition or higher to open SVG files)
• Smooth Heat Transfer Vinyl (I used Siser Easyweed)
• Metallic Heat Transfer Vinyl
• Holographic Heat Transfer Vinyl
• Weeding Tool
• Iron or Cricut Easy Press
• Ironing Pad

So what do you think? Are you ready to try heat transfer vinyl on wood? Or have you already given it a try? Tell me all about it!

Until next time, Happy Making!

Check out more vinyl projects here: