This past year, I tried something new. Making paper ghost signs for buildings on my model railroad. It worked better than I expected.

One sign in particular stood out. The one for a wooden gravel tipple.

I started by creating it with DALL-E. Then I printed it on paper. Brushed on matte medium to seal it. That’s when the real trick came in: sanding the back. I sanded it down until almost all the paper was gone. What was left? A thin skin of ink and matte medium. Fragile but flexible.

I cut it out and slapped it onto the structure with Mod Podge. Pressed it into every crack and bump with a dull X-acto blade. The paper hugged the surface like paint. Dried up, it disappeared into the texture.

It looks like it had been there for fifty years. Not just a decal. A ghost sign, baked into the wall.

Here is a short 2 minute video of my process.