Memorial Conclave?

[Raymond Chapman]

Anyone care to report on the Memorial Conclave this past weekend?

[Doug Bernhardt]

Hi Ray.....am just trying to get back into the swing and shake off a little of that jet lag. I also was hoping for a few photo's and news via others. All and all was a terrific weekend with a reasonably sized crowd...no fingers or lives were lost but lots of gold layed and many late nights spent. Seems alot of the usual suspects were unable to attend this year due to (of all things at our age) health reasons. From my personal perspective, I brought along a positive of which several copies were made, gilded and backed-up. The Butler t-shirt was outstanding and there was a film made from the original this time, on which everyone spent the bulk of their time. Blows my mind everytime I see so many different and great ideas for what was essentially the same thing. Again I worked along side DaveT (from Fine Gold) and haven't learned that much about laying leaf in 10years.....and all at once. One shot of course was present as were reps from AMAL and Sign Business. Didn't get alot of foto's this year as I was just too darn busy and fergitted...hope y'all forgive....and like me wait for the trade mags!

[Danny Baronian]

How was the Memorial Conclave? Great, thanks to John and Kathi Studden, and for the great design work by David Butler.

There was the meet project, glass to go around, gold in the air (literally), inspiration from those sitting next to you as well as on the walls, entertainment, and a very cool surprise.

Saturday we headed to a local restaurant, where we were seated at a table that appeared to have been used earlier and not cleared.

Half filled glasses of drinks and unused plates of horderves. Someone noticed the meet logo on the glass, and realized it had all been planned out in advance, as Dave Butler had sandblasted the meet logo in a glass for everyone in attendance prior to the meet.

It didn't stop there. When you finished off the contents of the glass, Rick was staring you in the eye from the bottom of the glass. Very impressive.

On the way home, stopping in the town of Arroyo Grande, I caught a Letterhead in the act of drooling over a a candy store window.

Thanks to John and Kathi Studden, David and Susie Butler and to all who helped set up and restore (?) the shop to normal.....if there is such a thing.

[Jeff Lang]

The Memorial Conclave was plenty to take in for a month let alone a weekend. Hats off again to John & Kathi Studden, as I can't say thanks enough.



Danny & Doug covered it very well, the one thing I could add is the awesome acid etched glass piece by Larry White. His effect was very unique & equally impressive. The weekend went just too darn fast!
Jeff

[John Studden]

It was good to see everyone again at the weekend, everything went off smoothly. I learned a few new things, & I'm sure everyone else did!
It's a great feeling to be among so many craftsmen & goldslingers.
There was probably more gold being laid at once than just about anywhere else in the country at that time (especially at midnight).
Many thanks to the Butlers for thier suberb effort (T-shirts & mugs, etc.)
Everyone was glad to see Lola on saturday, she talked a lot with many of the guys. Many thanks also to my Wife Kathi for organising & keeping people fed.............Hope we can do it again next year. John

[Catharine C. Kennedy]

Could whom ever did the "A" in John Lang's post, please post a "how-to"?
Slick stuff!

[Larry White]

(I finally got my computer working again...what a pain...)

I had this sign on display down at the Memorial Conclave. During it's creation, the "I wonder what would happen if..." question arose. So instead of experimenting on this piece, I made the sample letter "A" from the design.
I had noticed in the Cigar Label book, that often times border designs had a series of embossed circles or domes in them as part of the design. I wanted to try to replicate that in glass. On the sample, a vinyl mask was applied with the circles weeded. It was then acid embossed face down for 14 hours (overnight). It was removed from the acid and the perimeter border of the letter was pealed. It was replaced in the acid, face down, for another 6 hours. Upon comletion of the embossing, the dots embossed to about 3/32" deep. The embossing was then gilded and the letter center filled with abalobe pieces which were backed by aluminum leaf. I then applied the outlines and drop shadow.
The same technique was used on the sign except the embossing was done for 6 hours total. I did a face up emboss on the secondary text. The panel was angel gilded (which took 90 minutes!) and backed up. My wife suggested the cream color background which came out quite nice!

[Jerry Berg]

In Larry's Martins Cigar sign, He states "the letter centers are filled with abalone pieces which were backed by aluminum leaf." Are these actual many pieces or is this how it came in the sheet. If it is many little pieces did they all have to be butted up perfectly (which looks very time consuming if not next to impossible). How was this done? It looks great. I gots ta know! Sheet or pieces?

Thanks, Jerry

[Larry White]

Hi Jerry-
They're random pieces. What I have found, that I like to do, is use two different types of sheII, placing them basically at random. They're adhered with varnish. I'll typically do one letter at a time. While the varnish is still wet, I sprinkle some glitter, or mica flakes, or whatever, in the cracks between the sheII. After it all dries, it's backed with comp aluminum leaf. On this one, I put some glass glitter in the cracks and they sparkle at ya when you walk by. It adds an interesting additional dimension. I also painted a transparent inset shade, which gives the feeling that the sheII is recessed in the letter.

[Jerry Berg]

Thanks Larry for the quick response. I really like the way this looks. That inset shade is great, the acid etched boarders too.

So, you basically fit the pieces as close as you could, cutting here and there using various arrangements and then filled the cracks. Looks like you got things to fit pretty close there. Looks like the boarder is 12k, water or oil gilt? Sorry for all the questions, sometimes it's hard to tell from pictures.

Thanks, Jerry

[Doug Bernhardt]

am not sure how this wound up here at the top but was it timely for me. That was such a great weekend and the thought that IF this happens again it would be the first time I was ever in California that Lola wasn't there!! I recall Frank and I out front telling jokes and a walk/bicycle ride on the beaches with Dave and Susie Butler,Tom Siebert and I at dusk!

[Larry White]

Jerry,
Actually, it's Angel Gilded, and very much 23K. Along with acid embossing (with the glass face down) the letter outlines of "CIGAR", I also acid etched (with the glass face up) the letter centers of "MARTINS" and "PIPES-TOBACCOS". When gilded, this acid etched center yields a matte center.



It would have been very time consuming (and pricey) to water gild the embossed letters...but not impossible. Angel Gilding is the only way to go. I employed a hot glue dam around the inscription, so as not to have to gild any more of the glass than neccesary. Gilded the whole thing up in about 90 minutes. The embossed letter outlines (CIGAR) are sloppily backed up, then the back up paint is scraped off the flat surface of the glass, leaving the paint down in the embossed area. The other text is brightlined by hand. The remaining gold on the glass is chemically removed.

The overall photo in the previous post shows the true colors best.

Go on then!

AHO!

[Jerry Berg]

Thanks Larry,

Looks like I'm going to have to order me up an angel gilding kit from Sarah. Been putting it for too long here. Now I know what to put on my Christmas list. Also, I figured you didn't use 12k, it just appeared white in the pic. Silvering would have went well with the color scheme too I think. But hey, what do I know?

Jerry