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 23 matches

by Alex Sheldon
Wed Jul 29, 2020 4:39 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Spatzier
Replies: 18
Views: 178082

Re: Spatzier

Thanks for sharing Alfred! Seeing your posts have been extremely helpful and inspiring and I encourage you to keep sharing your work, which is amazing by the way! I especially like your idea to use a suction lifter as a counter balance and would be interested in seeing more photos of this to see how...
by Alex Sheldon
Fri May 03, 2019 9:30 am
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Easy Water Gilded Pinstripe Jig
Replies: 2
Views: 13248

Re: Easy Water Gilded Pinstripe Jig

Fantastic tip, Andrew! The thought to use clothespins to scratch a pinstripe into gold and skip backing paint is a great show of ingenuity to acheive something that could have easily taken 10x the amount of time if done with books of gold, backing paint and trimming. It looks amazing! On a related n...
by Alex Sheldon
Wed Jan 16, 2019 12:02 am
Forum: Annoucements
Topic: Danny Baronian in the Hospital
Replies: 8
Views: 19260

Re: Danny Baronian in the Hospital

Danny- hope you have a fast recovery
by Alex Sheldon
Wed Jan 16, 2019 12:00 am
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: General Paint Safety
Replies: 3
Views: 14394

Re: General Paint Safety

Hey Jamie- I’m a fellow Michigander and would recommend checking into Ronan Aquacote. It’s a waterbased enamel- it covers like 1shot and works great on wood, plastic, banners and glass. It dries to a high gloss insanely fast and won’t fume up your house. It smells kinda like tempera paint or clay. P...
by Alex Sheldon
Tue Jan 15, 2019 11:11 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Glue chipping acid embossed glass
Replies: 0
Views: 10519

Glue chipping acid embossed glass

I came across a section from a text from 1923 which describes a process of glue chipping areas of plate glass that have been acid embossed. See section 76- half way through the paragraph describes a method of using an asphaltum resist and acid embossing to prepare glass for glue chipping. I was unde...
by Alex Sheldon
Fri Jan 11, 2019 12:23 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Gilded aluminum foil matte effect
Replies: 6
Views: 32224

Re: Gilded aluminum foil matte effect

Here's an example of the metal frame I was describing. I got the idea from seeing old nameplates
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Screen Shot 2019-01-11 at 12.20.01 PM.png (1.68 MiB) Viewed 31163 times
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Screen Shot 2019-01-11 at 12.19.49 PM.png (1.79 MiB) Viewed 31163 times
by Alex Sheldon
Fri Jan 11, 2019 12:14 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Gilded aluminum foil matte effect
Replies: 6
Views: 32224

Re: Gilded aluminum foil matte effect

Thanks Lee - I like your idea of using shellac as a barrier and will be experimenting with this. I did another sign like this using the method as described, but used Alphanamel for the background and experienced some bleeding. Alphanamel feels like 1Shot paint with more extender added. I found it di...
by Alex Sheldon
Wed Jan 09, 2019 1:07 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Glass problem(s)
Replies: 2
Views: 6604

Re: Glass problem(s)

I came across a tip in an older gilders book that recommended wiping the blade of the knife between an empty page in your gilders book. I gave it a try and it works great and is much faster than stopping to clean the knife with alcohol and cotton when encountering this issue. The knife picks up the ...
by Alex Sheldon
Fri Aug 17, 2018 12:50 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: mother of pearl
Replies: 3
Views: 6105

Re: mother of pearl

I've ordered from Morning Calm, and received well packaged and good quality shell. Aqua Blue Maui sells abalone and seem to have a wide variety of abalone with veneers over them to get intense and vibrant colors. I'd be interested to hear if anyone has tried Aqua Blue Maui and see some examples of t...
by Alex Sheldon
Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:47 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: My letters scratch away when i try copper glassgilding
Replies: 11
Views: 10170

Re: My letters scratch away when i try copper glassgilding

Shadazzle has some suspect copy on the side of the product packaging, "leaves a protective coating". I haven't noticed any adhesion or cloudiness from using it, but curious to hear from others who have tried it. Screen Shot 2018-03-22 at 11.31.19 AM.png In my experience with Shadazzle, it ...
by Alex Sheldon
Thu Mar 22, 2018 8:57 am
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: John Hastings III
Replies: 1
Views: 2506

Re: John Hastings III

That's sad to hear of the passing of John Hastings. After listening to this talk, it's clear that John had a vast understanding of the business and deep respect for the tradition of gold beating. I was lucky enough to get a copy from Andrew and the book is worth it alone for the republishing of the ...
by Alex Sheldon
Fri Mar 09, 2018 12:04 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Waterbased enamels
Replies: 2
Views: 3155

Re: Waterbased enamels

Bob, Aquacoat is not formulated for glass. For glass backgrounds, try Ronan japan colors, 1shot art and poster color, or 1 shot enamels. In use of gilding, search the forum for "back up paint" or "backing up". The aforementioned are not tough enough to take a scrubbing during sur...
by Alex Sheldon
Fri Mar 09, 2018 10:43 am
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Razor blade holders
Replies: 2
Views: 2886

Re: Razor blade holders

I'm assuming you are looking for that Grifhold razor holder mentioned in LeBlanc's book that holds full razroblades that is no longer available. Tim Tyler is selling his own version of these old Grifhold holders... and they are really nice. Aluminum construction and they hold blades without any modi...
by Alex Sheldon
Tue Feb 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Gilded aluminum foil matte effect
Replies: 6
Views: 32224

Re: Gilded aluminum foil matte effect

Interesting application. Is the damar varnish the heavier damar or the picture finish damar? The picture varnish seems too thin for this process. Thank you. Bob. 00488-3104-2ww-m.jpg Here's the dammar I used from Blick. It's Windsor & Newton and sets up pretty fast with the majority of the varn...
by Alex Sheldon
Fri Feb 23, 2018 4:35 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Glass problem(s)
Replies: 2
Views: 6604

Re: Glass problem(s)

Have you tried adding a couple drops of detergent to your size to help the beading issue? I keep a little bottle of detergent in my kit for this purpose. I have a 2oz travel size squeeze bottle that I picked up from Walgreens that is filled with clear dishwashing detergent (Dawn free and clear). As ...
by Alex Sheldon
Tue Feb 20, 2018 1:52 pm
Forum: Hand Lettering Gallery
Topic: Signs In Movies
Replies: 23
Views: 49604

Re: Signs In Movies

There was some nice signs and a little sign painter scene in the Guillermo del Toro film, "The Shape of Water" (which was great by the way). Does anyone know who worked on them?
by Alex Sheldon
Tue Feb 20, 2018 1:52 pm
Forum: Hand Lettering Gallery
Topic: Signs In Movies
Replies: 23
Views: 19141

Re: Signs In Movies

There was some nice signs and a little sign painter scene in the Guillermo del Toro film, "The Shape of Water" (which was great by the way). Does anyone know who worked on them?
by Alex Sheldon
Fri Feb 09, 2018 2:34 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Blabbermouth me, or just a polite host?
Replies: 18
Views: 18987

Re: Blabbermouth me, or just a polite host?

Mike, The wealth of knowledge and talent you have shared and enabled here is phenomenal. I’m so thankful of you and Danny keeping this going and aren’t hesitant to share. I’ve been lurking on this site for years and finally posted a thread to contribute this week. Seriously, thank you for everything...
by Alex Sheldon
Thu Feb 08, 2018 12:52 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Gilded aluminum foil matte effect
Replies: 6
Views: 32224

Gilded aluminum foil matte effect

Aluminum foil can be used to protect gilds and used to add an interesting, fast and cost-efficient matte depth effect to your reverse glass work. This method is briefly outlined in Kent Smith’s addendum to Gold Leaf Techniques and recommended to me by a fellow Detroit-based letterhead, Mark Casey. T...
by Alex Sheldon
Sat Jul 16, 2016 3:21 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Window Sign Writing Paints
Replies: 4
Views: 4470

Re: Window Sign Writing Paints

I've only tried 1shot and Japan colors on glass. I've read that it's always better to use quality paints as there are finer pigments that lend to better coverage, color, and longevity of how long the sign will last. That being said, I've never tried cheaper interior or exterior house paints availabl...
by Alex Sheldon
Fri Jul 15, 2016 1:18 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Glass gilding easel and shop setup
Replies: 4
Views: 6075

Re: Glass gilding easel and shop setup

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...
by Alex Sheldon
Thu Jun 23, 2016 6:12 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Glass gilding easel and shop setup
Replies: 4
Views: 6075

Re: Glass gilding easel and shop setup

@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 a...
by Alex Sheldon
Tue Jun 21, 2016 1:02 pm
Forum: The Hand Lettering Forum
Topic: Glass gilding easel and shop setup
Replies: 4
Views: 6075

Glass gilding easel and shop setup

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...