Large wood sign construction technique

I am thinking about making a large wooden sign. I am just getting started on the process and wanted to see if anyone knew of any good websites that described what I am thinking about.

Essentially, I would like to create a wooden sign in the shape of the state I live in (Washington State). I am thinking that I would want to hang the sign via maybe 3" of heavy chain. The support for the sign would be 4x4 wood posts (two horizontally, one on each side of the hanging sign plus one horizontal beam).

The sign support is simple enough, I can design that using engineering software. The design of the hanging part of sign (outline of Washington State) is more tricky. I am not sure if I need a big heavy slab of wood, or if I would build a laminate stack of wood, gluing and screwing several pieces of wood together. Any ideas on this?

I would most appreciate any websites that describe how to do this.

Thanks!

I made a sign from white oak for a neighbor. Glued up a panel as I did not have a wide enough piece of wood, using titebond 3, then made templates for the letters and routered them into the wood. That was some time back, and it is still hanging in there. I painted the letters, then used my ROS to clean it up, no finish otherwise, it is weathered grey now with white letters.

You might consider using a PVC sheet for your sign material unless your design is set on using wood. If it has to be wood you might consider using cypress or cedar made from two panels with the planks overlapping the seams to offset the grain curve, it would help keep the panel from cupping. Even so wood has a fairly limited life span in exterior service unless you maintain it on a regular schedule.

I made some very large cedar panel signs but they were painted white and they still look great after 15 years but they have to be repainted every five years.

Corian signs like the one below will last 50 years with no maintenance (except the paint) even on waterfront property.

You didn't say "how big" ......
Vertical grain Western Red Cedar will last, laminates well, & generally doesn't warp. Vertical grain has nothing to "reverse", but any rift grains in the mix need to offset each other.
I've always been told to not use boards over 6"wide, but I've never had any issues with wider boards. However if a sign or panel is over 36" tall, I go to 3" thick material
4x4s might look spindly on a big sign. Perhaps larger posts might be in order. And, if you use chains to hang, weld the links solid, otherwise it will flop around in crosswinds & damage itself.

The large wooden signs I have done, mostly sandblasted, were cedar, with clear 2x6 edge ripped, then glued up with biscuits to form a solid substrate. For large flat lettered signs I have also done 1/2” MDO nailed on both sides of 2x2s but that won’t work for your shape.