Welcome to The Hand Lettering Forum!
This is an interactive Bulletin Board on the topics of Sign making, design, fabrication, History, old Books and of coarse Letterheads, Keepers of the craft. The Hand Lettering Forum features links to resources, sign art history, techniques, and artists profiles. Learn more about Letterheads at https://theletterheads.com. Below you'll see Mchat has been added as a live communication portal for trial, and the Main forum Links are listed below.

Search found 68 matches

by cam bortz
Mon Aug 23, 2004 9:14 am
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: It's becoming obsolete - paint? No! Vinyl!
Replies: 4
Views: 4051

I've always used HP vinyl, currently Avery or Gerber 220. It's not so much that weeding is difficult per se, it's that I simply don't like doing it. My post is more about how I'd rather spend my time at work, in terms of what I find satisfying and enjoyable, as opposed to tedious and annoying. We've...
by cam bortz
Thu Aug 19, 2004 2:05 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: It's becoming obsolete - paint? No! Vinyl!
Replies: 4
Views: 4051

It's becoming obsolete - paint? No! Vinyl!

At least in my world. More specifically, cutting vinyl lettering. I haven't cut much of anything in over a month, as part of an experiment in how much weeding (which I hate like a toothache) I can avoid having to do. To oversimplify, it's like this: If the copy is large enough to paint, I paint it. ...
by cam bortz
Wed Jul 28, 2004 6:25 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Signmaking 101: Mahl Sticks
Replies: 15
Views: 13963

My own favorite stick is a 3/8" dowel, with a rubber end such as you put on a chair leg. The end is wrapped with cloth bicycle-handlebar tape. The edge of the end plug is such that it can be hung onto the top edge of a signboard, handy for using the stick to guide straight pinstripe lines on th...
by cam bortz
Wed Jul 14, 2004 11:08 am
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: AKA: Handlettering
Replies: 21
Views: 17653

It occurs to me that technology in this industry replaces tasks which a few people could do because they enjoyed them, with tedious, mind-numbing work that anyone can do, bu no one enjoys - or am I missing the folks who write about the rapturous joys of weeding? Vinyl is to me a technical substitute...
by cam bortz
Mon Jun 28, 2004 5:24 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: AKA: Handlettering
Replies: 21
Views: 17653

Like other hand crafts, hand lettering will die out in general use, and continue to be learned and used by a few specialists, who will find a market for it. That's economic reality; supply and demand does and will continue to dictate value. I am eternally thankful that I entered this trade at a time...
by cam bortz
Fri Jun 11, 2004 2:01 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: 3 Questions on Gilding plastic letters
Replies: 4
Views: 5179

Order your letters in white. Don't prime the letters; they are fine as they are. Wipe them down with alcohol to clear off any dust and grease. If they have mounting studs, screw them in now so you have can handle the letters without fingerprints Size them with Lefranc 12-hour tinted with chrome yell...
by cam bortz
Wed May 26, 2004 10:53 am
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Strange days indeed
Replies: 5
Views: 4358

Actually, I'm just going to keep them here and hang them on a wall. Maybe if they are still here in a year or two I'll sell them on Ebay or something. I'm not sure how long property can be left before its considered abandoned, but at this point I'm merely amused by the whole thing - after all, they ...
by cam bortz
Tue May 25, 2004 8:15 am
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Strange days indeed
Replies: 5
Views: 4358

Strange days indeed

I wish I had money to play with like this... Back in September a client came to us recommended by a friend. She was building a bar/restaurant in a town in Ontario, Canada, and ordered two dimensional signs. Sign one is a carved, gilded DF hanging sign, with a custom bracket, 3'x4', the copy is "...