The Hand Lettering Forum

Good solid advice....plywood of some sort is certainly preferred and probably the least expensive. If you intend to use solid wood you should be ready for a large learning curve and the accompanying frustrations. MDF is to be avoided at all cost

When cleaning the glass (I also think that's the problem) some of the best guys I know also clean and rinse (distilled) about three times. Also be sure to not let anything ahead of you dry once you start the process

Hi Dan and Mike, I had wanted to see this for quite a while so thanx for the link. I was disappointed at a certain level and as Mr. Oatis eluded to some time ago, that they had almost finished filming when they discovered there is actually an industry full of professionals working at this rather tha...

And just an addition....Rick Glawson mentioned the same process as Pat for getting an even layer and frost. Looks very much like the English Mirrors from a century or so ago which of course beats sandblasting by a mile. An oily fingerprint can ruin a blasted finish

Perfect solution to a problem....I actually own one of Glawson and Evans' scribbers which looks very much like a carpenters scribe with a wood dowel instead of the carpenters sharp metal one. The one I have was used on the PT Copperpots pieces he did for Universal Studios...not bragging but just ack...

John...there is an excellent book on this by a _ Bruno Schweig called "Mirrors" It gets into the science and has been used by all our suppliers and mentors for working out the formulae and processes. It can be expensive so you need to decide on your commitment. I've seen it listed from several hundr...

I should add that depending on experience a good cleaning of your gilders tip and a re-charge might also be in order

I've only had that problem once with silver leaf....the books were pretty old when I got them and I just abandoned them as white gold is/was my primary choice. Does the rouge look unusual in anyway? I'd be tempted to put them in the fridge overnight and see if that dehumidifies sufficiently.

Vance....I switched to a Mac a few years ago and be aware...there's a learning curve. I'm used to it now but there were a few times I was tempted to use a hammer!

Definitely too much size...just a nice whisper thin coat is what you want.

Good Luck old man....best wishes from the cold white north.

Just an aside....Damar is a traditional artist's painting medium and is usually mixed with linseed oil while doing oil paintings. It's also used as a finishing varnish BUT it does yellow and will eventually cure to a tough hard yellow film. Years ago while at Fine Gold's Conclave the honourable Mr. ...

This is such a great topic to introduce and I hope it goes deep. That someone is producing (or even trying) a quality product for our industry gives me hope. There has been guilds and standards organizations for artists colours and paints for many years. If you buy a tube of watercolour or oil paint...

Just a quick addition....the gelatine capsules are probably not the best idea. You can get the diamond wedges from a bakery supplier or if you're in Canada Canadian Signcrafters. In the states Ron and Kristi Purcell are a best guess.

The technical questions this post opens up is huge beyond belief. I've been doing a lot of research the past year into paints and the research into them that's available.I'll do my best in the near future to summarize some of what I've discovered about our "treasured" and sacred cows.

It's been a while for me but has anyone had trouble ordering Mother of Pearl as of late? A friend of mine thats a luthier informed me there is none available anymore for "green" reasons I think he mentioned. I'd like to hear anything more about this

All the advice re; safety is well worth regarding. All that said there are remarkable results available with mixed techniques....for instance acid etching chipped areas etc. This could easily be one of these techniques but the image as mentioned is far to difficult to make out. Good luck at working ...

For what it's worth I concur with Dan and Rich. It "may" be possible to water gild with copper but I'm sure the level of expertise required is considerable and the time much the same. I asked the late great Rick Glawson about this very subject 25 or 30 years ago and is advice was the same as above. ...

Is a hand drawn type for sure...so no "font" unless someone has translated one....especially judging by the age. French (probably Paris) late 1900's for a Bakery. Thats the translation. If you have to build this there's certainly enough info there to make a complete typeface if you'd care to take th...

Hi Jacob, I'm not sure if this is the answer you're looking for but if you have access to a projector (there are quite a few on the market) you should be able to trace your design to anything you like as far as size goes. I have an old Artograph from many years ago but they also make them to accept ...

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 ;=)