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Signmaking "301": Abalone and Mother of Pearl

Hand Lettering topics: Sign Making, Design, Fabrication, Letterheads, Sign Books.

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Mike Jackson
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Signmaking "301": Abalone and Mother of Pearl

Post by Mike Jackson »

In another thread, Catharine Kennedy asked about applying Abalone and Mother of Pearl. We have been posting Signmaking 101 threads lately, but this is more advanced. Just for kicks, I labeled it Signmaking 301.

The rest of this post actually comes directly out of the Rick Glawson section of http://www.theletterheads.com That information is available at any time. Hopefully, newcomers to The Hand Lettering Forum know about the rest of the site. Click the link above to visit the site sponsored by the Denver Chapter of the Letterheads.


Here's Rick Glawson's comments:

Rick Glawson's Guide to Laying Abalone
(thanks to Larry White for typing up the instructions)

The shell available in the past was for the most part small, thick, and crudely ground flat on one side. They were randomly placed in letter centers or backgrounds with damar and quick rubbing varnish, then the gaps filled in with various material, the most common being crushed pearl, gold glitter, or diamond dust, also wrinkled or embossed tin foil was widely used, more to fill gaps than for reflection. The shell’s greatest effect is from light reflecting off the face. Light passing or reflected through the shell gives a neutral or lightly opalescent look but does nothing to enhance its iridescence. The availability these days is limited to thick material (approx. 60 thousandths, compared to our 8 to 10 thousandths) for musical instrument inlay when and if you can find it. Hence was our incentive to produce our own supplies and progressively for other sign artists.

To form the shape desired, score the face with an x-acto knife with or without a straight edge, then snap it in half between thumbs and forefingers (with score upwards) to separate. Small pliers may be used for curves and to nibble off narrow edges, much the same as cutting glass or thin plastics. A carbide wheel glasscutter may also be used for curves or for where a knife blade wants to follow the grain of the shell. For tight seamed mosaic, clean up edge lightly with a small fine file. I prefer to entirely finish the work, saving only clear portions for the shell and the final protective coat.

To do a letter fill, with the work laying flat on the bench, mix up some damar and rubbing varnish (as for an embossed center) apply liberally to both sign and pearl face, randomly laying pieces (approx. ½â€￾ square on a 3â€￾ high letter) one at a time and partially covering letter outline with about 1/16â€￾ to 1/8â€￾ gaps between pieces. Lightly press with finger to force out any bubbles, then sprinkle seams with “fillâ€￾ material. Let dry overnight or until pieces are set. Clear coat over the entire job as you normally would and after it sets up use back-up color to clean up any ragged letter outlines. If foil is desired, after pearl is set, re-varnish heavy over the back and press in foil to cover entire inlay. I have normally found foil back up only where the work was to be framed and the rear obscured. Two notes- be sure to let the clear over the pearl completely dry before cutting in with back-up, and prior to setting in shell, check each piece by rotating for optimum iridescence.

For vertical work, let the varnish on both faces flash off so as not to slide when affixed to the glass. Smaller areas without fill such as bullets are better suited for varnish affixing. In vertical work, I successfully use an industrial grade instant “cyanoacrylateâ€￾ glue (an optically clear, no fogging formula which we carry in stock.) This adhesive allows you to fill large areas of center, 25 sq.in. or so per letter without sliding and and tightly fitting them together in a mosaic style without open seams. Runs with this material do not immediately lift surrounding japans and take roughly an hour to evaporate when left open to the air. I lightly wipe runs over the back-up, but not over areas to be inlayed. I set the abalone using a 6â€￾ length of dowelling with a lightly rubbed tip of double sided tape, dry fitting first with each piece, then applying adhesive to to pearl face only, shaking off excess and lightly placing pearl in place only as far as to force out bubbles then separate from dowel. Do not press too hard or air may be sucked back under shell, in which case force bubbles back out and flood glue at edge to draw back into air pockets. Do not attempt to remove piece if it has come in contact with gold, paint, or back-up. When finished back and clean up as before. If down the line, the job must be removed, a sharp razor blade poses no problem. Personal experience will dictate your favorite methods, but I recommend testing a few pieces on plain glass to be sure of inlay procedures. --Rick Glawson--
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
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Larry White
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Adhering abalone..or not...

Post by Larry White »

Lately, I've been following John Studdens lead by adhereing the abalone to a backing board and letting it appear through an open window in the glass. The abalone is just pressed against the glass via the backing. I often surface gild the back of the abalone with some silver leaf for the reflective qualities. If I do have to adhere it, I typically follow Rick's advice, still I like to back it up with a reflective metal.
Image
I built this smalt box for the Rick Glawson commemorative sign. The outer borders were raised up from the smalt surface. The abalone was adhered (double sticky tape) to the border. The glass fit into the box and the abalone border just showed through the clear glass. It's a heck of a lot easier than trying to adhere all that abalone to the glass. The same technique was used on my Wall Jewelry.com sign in an earlier post.
Image
P.S. All the work on this sign was done by hand, in fact most all my work has been done by hand. There are a few Letterhead meet pieces that have been silkscreened and a few computer generated masks for sandblasting, but even then I still do all my bright lines by hand. In doing so, I can still achieve a hand done look with the aid of the computer.
Larry White
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Kelly Thorson
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Post by Kelly Thorson »

I ordered some abalone and shell veneers from this company and was super impressed with the prices and the product. I'll post the web site here and if anyone is interested they can check them out. The sample kit I received had a dozen 2" square pieces in it - big enough for lots of projects, and for $10 (refundable on your first order) you can't really go wrong.
http://www.aquabluemaui.com/aqappl.html
I believe there is no shame in failure. Rather, the shame lies in the loss of all the things that might have been, but for the fear of failure.
Doug Bernhardt
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Post by Doug Bernhardt »

In the last few years I had also been very involved in laying pearl in the methods described above by Rick. On our last conversations about this topic he (as have I) started using frog juice as the adhesive. The damar rubbing varnishes are authentic to the period for sure, and do the job just fine, BUT they DO yellow. In fact, all the antiques I saw at Rick and Lola's were yellowed and some even less so than a few of the more contemporary pieces. This leads me to believe there is more to the stew than is immediately apparent. A couple of years ago I did a job for a candy store near here and a few of the applied jewels had dropped off. These are exterior applied and yet the pearl inlayed pieces are fresh and new looking. This is the frog juice mixture, and was (as so often happens) talking to myself about how to solve the outdoor pieces problem...so my question is, what kind of experince do others have with these UV glues? Might be the answer for me. Just to add to the above, the glass pieces were from a stained glass supply house, and some were not exactly dead flat!...and hence have dropped off with the extremes of a Canadian season or 3!
Danny Baronian
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Post by Danny Baronian »

You might want to try the UV glues. After Mike posted information on the old board, I ordered some glue and a small light. For those that bought a hand light to check the clean side of glass in angle gilding from Rick, the same light can be used to cure the glue.

The shop where I get my beveled glass has several AC light units he uses to glue up glass. The joints were water clear and free of voids.

I've put some jewels on a sample piece that's been outside for 8 months and it seems to hold well. Our California weather is a little warmer and milder than Doug's though.

The glue is usually available through most glass suppliers.
Danny Baronian
Baronian Mfg.
CNC Routing & Fabrication
http://www.baronian.com
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