Wow - I'm sorry to hear that and even sorrier that I didn't know he was alive for the past decade or so. Mark Oatis said that he didn't know where John was and i didn't know any way of contacting him; so dammit. // I met John at the first Denver big meet (maybe 1980? I'm loose about dates) when one ...

1) Watergild: are you watergilding over the paint or over clear glass? Applying paint (outlines, panels...) with a vinyl stencil and a roller/brush/spray is fine - as you say, pull the stencil before the paint dries so the edges "heal" a bit. Once dry you can surface gild on the painted ar...

That looks great! Now that people are locked down to avoid Covid19 maybe you will have more "free time" to work on it and post pictures?

Hello Ashley, Can you post a photo of the afflicted gild? From your description you let 1Shot Fast Size dry for 24 hours before watergilding and backing up over it. That does seem like it should be enough to let volatiles escape. Ditto for your friend - if he was able to steel wool the size it was w...

...and if you order, maybe ask them nicely if they are 'sustainable'. A lot of ocean resources are being used up; I don't know if collecting shells can be done slowly enough to leave the population stable AND make money. On the other hand, the beaches in New Zealand were just littered with lovely Pa...

How old is this job? I notice that the black shading looks quite deteriorated, which usually takes awhile. And the black seems to be breaking up & down, which makes me think of condensation running down the windows. By comparison, the leaf is mostly solid (except for ‘croissant’) with big chips ...

Yup. There is always grousing about how things were better in the ‘good old days’, but I think that with the change to machine beating instead of hand beating the character of gold leaf rally has changed. Or maybe the good is as good or better than before, but the bad is worse. Last year I was invol...

Damar is a so-called "spirit varnish", which I take to mean that it dries by evaporation but does not cure. So it can be re-dissolved by the same solvent (turpentine, maybe other materials?) - old-time lacquer was the same, and shellac. You can get damar all the way from crystals to a thic...

Wow! Good catch, Kevin. Different price for "Bound" or "In Parts" - that probably explains the dark pages every now and then; that would be the end of a section. I wonder if one bought it by subscription and had the parts delivered by the Royal Mail? this is gonna be some interes...

(oops, this shows how often I don't check the Forum): Congratulations Doug! "an extra pair of hands"... I hope there are folk in Ottawa who realize what a help you would be, and that helps you keep one toe in the water. On the upside - this may give you more time to travel, and maybe we'll...

Lacquer thin'r will pull Wunda out of a brush, sorta. Getting the brush into soapy water after you're done is a big help, but that will make a squirrel hair brush swell up. I knew some truck letterers who had dedicated brushes for Wunda size. So detergent water rinse; then lacquer thinner; then bar ...

(maybe no one is answering because no one has tried it?) (nah, I've seen lots of brass leaf window signs that were done with WundaSize) I have not done any glass work with Wunda - are there any other water-based sizes out there? I know someone who did, doing outlines then laying brass leaf into Wund...

Hi Emma, If you go looking for "asphaltum" you'll find a lot of varying information. Since it is a natural substance (some sort of petrochemical 'tar') that makes sense, still it is irritating if you're trying to be consistent. But for block-out screen printing you can buy a quart of "...

"Yes, I'm using mainly 1Shot enamel and sometime acrylic paint." WARNING: do not use the same brush in both kinds of paint! Second Warning: be careful what kind of brush you use with water-based paints, like acrylics. The squirrel hairs used in the old standard signpainter brushes will swe...

Blessing on you, Andrew. Now if we had someone who speaks good French and would talk to LeFranc & B. maybe we'd find out what their stuff is made of... Tung oil for the quick size - "Well I never!" - as my grandmother would say. It is not an uncommon material, but i have never used it ...

Hey Janice, is that Portland, Oregon or Portland, Maine? If you are in Oregon send me an email at LBL@Integra.net and i'll put you on the list of local-sign-folk-who-have-intermittent-meetings. If you're in Maine you're on your own (although my niece lived there for a while and said the people were ...

I had the same after about 6 months. The damar/res'ngel mix was embossed and then forgotten. When I remembered it I did a white gold water gild and it was like mirror on ripple glass. The gold was pretty shiny on both sides.

"It's The Water"

Any clearcoat that can take 2 years outdoors in Montreal is of interest. But a clear coat over wood has always felt like a layer waiting to break down or de-laminate. This is just from the being clear: sunlight will go through the whole film (and if metal is under the clear, sunlight will bounce off...

EXCELLENT! If it only gets dark for a couple of hours each night, there may needs be a 'clean-up squad' to pick up signpainters who have fallen over and can't get up...

EXCELLENT! If it only gets dark for a couple of hours each night, there may needs be a 'clean-up squad' to pick up signpainters who have fallen over and can't get up...

Pretty hot stuff there. The border looks quite interesting - any good pix of it?

If you silkscreen in your basement, how do you exhaust the fumes? Enquiring minds want to know...

Hard to be sure from the photo, but I don't see a gap in the middle. It does look as if it is outdoors, so (with all due deference to Mr. Bernhardt who is a brilliant woodworker) I would look at a metal panel. A sheetmetal shop can often make up a custom size and shape for a reasonable price, and th...

So, to recap for those of us whose memories can't manage 6 posts up: 1) Cut the glass, drill the glass, nip the glass 1a) Lettering with fumed acid etch, spray silver, shell infill, mirror borders.... (you know, the usual stuff) 2) Opaque black background cut in, leaving "shades" still cle...

Hmm. It makes sense that Spanjer might make furniture - they show elaborate A-boards and some cabinets for signs - but I don't remember seeing anything like chairs or tables in their old catalogs. Of course those were Sign Catalogs, so there may well have been a different division with its own catal...

Umm, is it bare metal now? Steel or aluminum? On bare metal you do want to get rid of any rust or grease and then prime it with the right primer for the metal - a galvanizing primer for steel, an aluminum primer or prep-coat for aluminum. Then you can coat with whatever kind of paint you like - 1Sho...

Coming in late here, but it looks like all went well - so you'll be pumped up for the next round. Go go go... My first and best suggestion is to get a copy of "Gold Leaf Techniques for Sign Painters" by Ray LeBlanc, edited by Kent Smith. Read every word. It really is the bible for this par...

I've never had my elbow hurting, but there is that muscle down the side of the spine that a friend called "the truck lettering muscle". Too much continuous lettering and that will flare up big-time. One other thought is about posture - are you keeping mostly balanced when you're working? I...

Hi Regina, and welcome to the Signpainter Appreciation Network. How strange to have one of the greats be your father(!)
Your story makes one wonder if there is something genetic about the craft, sort of like the Bach children becoming musicians.
Please keep painting and posting...

Looks good!