Sizing up

[Site Man]

OLD FORUM POSTS

Posted by cam bortz on July 27, 2003

When it rains it pours. Two weeks before leaving for the meet in Cork, I get two jobs for gilded gemini letter signs, one of them for three signs with a total of 29 eight-inch letters, the other with 17 twelve-inch letters. No complaints - these are great money - so I'm here on a Sunday, having just sized and wiped 10 letters, which will be ready to gild in 5 hours. Yesterday I sized and gilded 21 letters - weekends are great for this because I'm not interrupted.

I use Lefranc twelve-hour size, colored with 1-shot chrome yellow; I wipe the gemini letters with denatured alcohol, then size them, and immediately wipe off as much of it as possible with a clean, dry cloth. This leaves a very thin film of size, which is ready to gild in about six hours. I gild with 23k loose gold, rolled out of the book, and burnish with a super-soft gilding brush. The burnish is incredible - some of you may have seen me do this at letterhead meets - the letters look plated. Like so much of the really neat stuff we do, it's time-consuming, finicky work - but damm, those letters shine! This is a technique I'd like to have talked about with Rick, but somehow I think he knows all about it....

Rick Sacks

Cam, This is a topic I discussed with Rick G many times. There were some problems both of us experienced. Rick was the one that came up with the solution though. The Gemini letters we both gilded were made of cast aluminum. Remember how electrolysis works when water flows across two dissimilar metals. We found that two years later the aluminum was starting to be eaten. Gold and aluminum requires a much thicker insulation barrier between them. That's where Rick decided the answer would be to apply several coats of paint before sizing. Now after all this, you tell me the letters you're gilding are cast plastic!

Robert Beverly

Howdy Cam

Well...funny you should mentioned a weekend of work!...I am sitting here trying to get some funky design issues figured out on a 30' light tower I am building and I took a break to see your post!

Yes...Rick was playing with this when he helped Frank Manning with the quick size. It works pretty well for that too!

At the conclave, we were doing it over the pb resin material and boy it sure confirms the difference in a THIN coat of size as opposed to just brushing it on!

Cork should be a blast!