The Hand Lettering Forum

Well Vance....thanx for the good words but all to say this "IS" the new way. I guess it settles into..... are we manufacturers of other peoples designs or do we work on our own ideas? I for one wasn't ready to hand my favourite part of my business over to often less than competent craftspeople regar...

Not sure if others are noticing this but I did see a post on Facebook some time ago and the author was annoyed to find the client was looking for something other than what he was used to doing. I too had seen this and in the last few years had been asked to make a sign with supplied artwork that I d...

Sounds like you have the answer. If you've seen a good video and are "inspired" try it out....although I'd practice a little on something else before taking on the real thing

Hi Ren....this is not a good idea. With 1-shot I expect you will want a hard dry (varnished?) surface. I would definitely take a small sample and try anything you're thinking of using first. I have done exterior wood finishing many hundreds of times and wouldn't dream of doing this. Firstly the wax ...

Hi again Stephane....it goes without saying that there's no "mix and matching" the acrylics and your 1 shot right?

Well Vance...it's time for a photo of that!!

I've never used the urethanes before but have heard only great things about them. It looks like something that would be a good test case

Hi again Robert. Last time I did a truck was quite a few years ago and they were just fine then. I've since seen many of the guys doing these sort of jobs at Letterheads events and they're still using those and the new urethane paints. What I'm "not" sure of if there's any prep for the truck to do i...

Welcome aboard Stephane. I'm thinking you'll want somewhere between thick cream and stirred yogurt. The reasons will become apparent immediately if you are using lettering brushes. I'm assuming you are using lettering enamels and are thinning with an appropriate solvent

Hi Tyler....the dots are Mother of Pearl, the edge is actually bevelled glass. The part I was most curious about was what is the actual time required for the embossing to cure so you can get the bright water gild after? We know a year works ;=)

Thats a wonderful project to have. I've seen illustrations like this on some antique glass pieces from France a few years ago and from the back they were on some sort of paper or canvas that I'd not seen before. I've done this quite a number of times on canvas and used the 3 varnish method to apply ...

Was at a small heads meet at Phil Ghi's in March and made an interesting discovery. I had used embossing damar before and had usually left it over night to flash off and then gild with water. It so happened that there was a year between this process this time and instead of getting the usual semi gl...

I've tinted the west system often and for what you want to do wouldn't hesitate to add more colour if necessary. However....hold fast is the right product for this and in Canada you can get it at Canadian Signcrafters in Bayfield Ontario

Mikey....just keep doing what you're doing. I can see there's a huge following and just when I thought nobody was reading our stuff.... ;=)

Yes....Noel Weber showed me using course steel wool. Put on 23k and right under it your 12k steel wool thru the centre and 16k. Easy peasy and looks sweet!

Another great trip thru the past Mike...is that Bob Behounek (sp?) in the second photo with Ray Chapman and Mike Stevens looking over his shoulder?

Kevin....Is that silver or white gold? If silver how did you adjust your water size? She really shines BTW ;=)

Hey Mr. Betz....how did you do the project. Hand carved...CNC? Looks good and clean and am sure you've got a happy customer.

I'm a real sucker for the "Packard" wall and the glass piece at the bank (probably all done by hand) but makes me wish I'd taken photos all those years ago of the great work I saw everywhere. I saw an amazing half in and half out wall at a youth hostel in Los Angeles some 15 or so years ago.Was an o...

Hey guys...not April fools joke. I'll still be around and an extra pair of hands when and if anyone needs them. I've been looking forward to spending more time at the other passions (oil painting and the like) but I've been an 8 days a week guy for a little too long. Promise to try and organize my p...

Mike...Have been having a great tour thru all the old photos. A lot of kids before grey hair settled in !

Lately I've been sorting out my computer and old photographs and stumbled on a few photos from the days before I was doing all the wood signs and was concentrating on show-cards. I don't know how far back and what other folks remember of what got them started in this craft of ours but for the sake o...

Thats a tough one...I think there's 2 solutions and none are all that easy. I'd try switching to some of the new urethane paints I've been seeing the pin strippers use or try sealing the project first with some sort of sealant like fibroseal that was recommended to me by Rick Glawson some years ago ...

Never heard of that tool either...anyone have a clue? Wonder what it's used to wipe out?

Just to add to all the good advice...you can add "as much water as you like" but you have to wait till it all evaporates so using as directed resolves that. I also have the light table set up and although doing glass isn't all that common in my shop any more it IS terrific at getting things dry. I o...

I wouldn't worry about Hi-temp vs Lo-Temp reducer as far as quality goes. They are all brewed with with our use intended.

Just a few asides to everything that has been said. ! 1st it seems that you're not getting the gold properly burnished after your water gilds. 2nd the use of the gilders tip is "NOT" a science that you can write about. It boils down to experience. My first experiments using written instructions were...

Does it match the sample? Not sure water size will have made any difference but wonder how well the "crinkles" will hold up to a cleaning.

All of those thinners are pretty great. I used turpentine for years and even old fashion paint thinner (from the hardware store) but a few years ago I was at a Letterheads meet and a discussion of the various merits of each I'm now a big fan of the thinners from one shot. Permanent paint films etc a...

Thanx for the kind words...High praise from a high place. Your contributions (your work and articles about others...like the Pritchard's) in SC for all those years were one of the things that kept me wanting to try new things. In the early 70's all I was interested in doing were sho-cards but that's...