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Glass gilding easel and shop setup

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

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Alex Sheldon
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2016 6:49 am
Location: Detroit, MI
Contact:

Glass gilding easel and shop setup

Post by Alex Sheldon »

I'm just getting started with basic reverse glass work and need some help with getting an easel setup specifically to do glass work.

I have a small sign painting shop setup in my garage that I've been self-teaching in for the last few years. My sign easel is setup for electro-pouncing: A steel sheet mounted to birch ply that's held upright by 2x4's with steel pegs so it's not really ideal for glass work.

I'm looking for the following:
1. Photos of your gilding workstations along with any benefits or considerations that were given to how it's setup
2. How your work area or easel changes to accommodate small or large pieces
3. How someone could make a similar setup
4. Any resources/books/sites that cover the subject of glass working easels

I haven't seen anything posted or written on the subject and would really appreciate any direction on a proper setup.
Larry White
Posts: 1213
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 4:18 am

Re: Glass gilding easel and shop setup

Post by Larry White »

Check out the easels in use at the Esoteric Gold Company.
Esoteric Gold Co. FB page
The glass is put into a slotted wood frame with a bolt and wing nut
sticking out at the mid point of the side pieces. These bolts
fit into a "U" channel in the metal upright support pieces. The
metal support pieces are also adjustable up and down, and
are mounted to the table top. With this configuration the piece
can be worked on vertically, horizontally, or at any angle. It can
also be easily spun around to view the face of the glass. Four
screws hold the wood frame together and the top two screws
can easily be removed to pull the glass panel out if need be. Its
a pretty slick set-up! Perhaps the Esoteric Gold Company is
considering the manufacture and sale of this easel.
Contact Dean or John.
EGCeasel.jpg
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Larry White
That's enough for now... it's gettin' late
Town Of Machine
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Alex Sheldon
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2016 6:49 am
Location: Detroit, MI
Contact:

Re: Glass gilding easel and shop setup

Post by Alex Sheldon »

@Larry
This is extremely helpful to see a setup like this. Thanks for taking the time to post a reply; feel free to email or shoot me a personal message for a free font license of your choice from my foundry https://www.myfonts.com/foundry/Match_and_Kerosene/ if you're into anything. A lot of them are based on sign painting/prismatic lettering effects.

The ability to tilt the work piece seems very valuable. This seems like it could lend itself to making new wooden frames to accept larger pieces within reasonable size. It would be great to exaggerate one side of the wooden frame to allow for a sturdy resting surface for a mahl stick.

I'm going to reach out to them and see if they have any more info on how to get or build one of these.

Thanks!
BruceJackson
Posts: 251
Joined: Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:28 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: Glass gilding easel and shop setup

Post by BruceJackson »

Here's my easel...Double-sided of course because you need to see both sides...The top and bottom bars are fully adjustable for height, so it can take a panel up to around 1.8 metres...they are open channelled, so the width is unlimited...the limit is on how heavy or awkward you want a long sheet of glass to be.
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Alex Sheldon
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2016 6:49 am
Location: Detroit, MI
Contact:

Re: Glass gilding easel and shop setup

Post by Alex Sheldon »

BruceJackson wrote:Here's my easel...Double-sided of course because you need to see both sides...The top and bottom bars are fully adjustable for height, so it can take a panel up to around 1.8 metres...they are open channelled, so the width is unlimited...the limit is on how heavy or awkward you want a long sheet of glass to be.
Thanks for sharing your work station, Bruce!

Your setup looks simple in design, easy and cheap to make, and versatile.

The glass piece you are working on seems long and heavy. What is the base/width like to make sure you're easel doesn't topple over when working with glass this big?

Is the top most bar is used for stability or is this dado/routed channel at a different size to swap as a "bar" for varying widths of glass?

Do the bars and clamps adjust on the vertical slats through drilled holes or are these also channels that cut through the entire piece of wood to allow a way of tightening bars down at any position up and down the slats?
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