Well, Sarah, here's what I did once. 1.) I sand carved a logo into a glass panel. Then I used some of the transparant inks that Rick sold, mixed them with a bit of varnish and airbrushed an even consistancy onto the glass. If you have a larger area, you could spray it with an HVLP. Rolling it on pro...

I never had the benefit of going through an apprenticeship but in the early 70's when I was learning to paint signs there was a gentleman who helped me with the basics of lettering, gave me my first quill (used) and would always give me advice on layout, letter spacing and critique my feeble attempt...

Bruce, Sounds like my kind of fun! Hopefully it will go smoothly enough that the inevitable problems don't throw a kink in the joy of the work. I look forward to checking in periodically to hear how it's progressing. I've never worked for Disney but from the little I know I think you're probably qui...

Larry, It looks beautiful, as always. Really nice color scheme and shadow on "Brewing Company". When I was out at John's during Gilt By Association, I saw this cool old glue-chipped Chapman & Smith piece. The mirroring was tarnished and it was set in an antique wooden box-type frame. S...

Donny, Go to the top of the page and click on "Search". Then type "smith's cream" in the keyword. There are a number of posts that will be displayed that have mention of using Smith's Cream which you may find to be helpful. One of them is a thread I began called Signmaking 101: S...

Rick, Sorry that my explanation was as clear as mud. Like I said, I’m trying to figure this out myself. If I understand correctly, putting a dark panel on the glass does increase your chance of breakage. However, if your dark panel does not cover the entire width of the glass and there is a gap on...

Rick,
I’m not sure how much I can help in answering your question since I’m wrestling with a similar situation.
Here are some factors to consider, from my limited understanding:
1. A dark panel is going to absorb a lot of heat. If the panel goes from edge to edge, have it stop about ½â€￾ from each side. That will decrease your chances of breakage considerably. (I have a storefront with a bank of south-facing 48â€￾ wide windows. Each window has light-colored copy contained within a BLACK 15â€￾ high band across the bottom of the glass. The graphics are all vinyl, applied to the 4th surface, i.e. on the inside surface of double-paned glass. I cropped the black band about ½â€￾ from each side and have had no problems.)
2. An insulated unit like you describe should actually help since the double pane will insulate the inside window somewhat from the outside temperature.
3. If the glass is tempered, it is much less likely to break from temperature variations within the pane.

In a sense, this is the blind leading the blind. I’m going to piggyback (hijack?) your post with a question of my own.
I have a south-facing glass transom that I’ll be doing some work on. It will have glue chipping, gold leaf, burgundy drop shadows and a burgundy band across the bottom of the glass. I’m concerned, not only with breakage, but also with colors fading. I’m considering doing an insulated unit with tempered glass on the inside to insure against breakage (after I chip it) and either Low-E glass or laminated glass on the outside. I hear that laminated glass actually cuts UV light considerably because of the resin core.
If anyone has any advice regarding this and regarding Ricks situation, we would appreciate it.
Rick, I hope I didn’t smother your question with my verbose response. I was about to start a thread to get any thoughts on my job and saw yours with a similar concern so I chimed in here.
Dan

Raymond, I've done glue chipping and frosting prior to tempering. There is always the chance that it will blow up during the tempering process, especially since the chipping will weaken the glass somewhat. You just need to be aware of the risk and, like Danny suggested, either do two pieces or allow...

Jeff & Mike, Thanks to both of you for your great suggestions. Mike - one of the windows is a large transom. I may be doing some glue chipping on it so we are looking at doing that as a panel in my shop and having a glass shop install it. But for the other ones, Jeffs suggestion sounds like a go...

Technical question here. I have a job coming up in January that involves doing some storefront window painting and gilding for a few windows in Telluride, Colorado. It's a high-mountain resort town and gets pretty cold there. I've had experience on a few occasions to do window gilding in the dead of...

Several years ago I was painting a truck and it had a "fancy logo" designed by one of the people in the organization. It really was pretty nice, except that the "Y" was backwards. I just had to do it as it was designed. If you have done any calligraphy and have held a calligraphy...

Hey, Mike. I think your observations about what burns a memory onto our minds is accurate. However what I interpret Mark to be saying is not that hand lettering is the only thing about which one might be passionate, but that – this being the Handlettering Forum – it is something about which we c...

The only place I have used the mica powders is on glass. I apply it in a similar fashion to what is described above, using One Shot fast size. No need for the egg white wash since you are working in reverse on glass. Instead of a gilder's mop, I just use a foam brush and it applies it quite nicely. ...

Danacolors Smiths Cream D406 works well for blending colors when painting a pictorial, a mural or just doing some decorative painting. I use this formula Bill Hueg wrote down for me and I've found that it always works. BLENDING CREAM (1 Quart): Mix equal portions of Boiled Lindseed Oil (1/2 pt.) Smi...

I'll go ahead and start that new thread and see what we can come up with.

Jeff, Your experience refreshes my repressed memories. In '98 I was working on a window sign for Cache LaPoudre Rifleworks. It was a project where I screen printed the black line art on the windows and then applied the gold leaf, pearl, pictorial etc. Decided since I had the screen I'd buy a nice bi...

Thanks for the info, Larry. I think I'll try some chipping on some tempered glass just to see how it does. I realize I've taken your post in a different direction from where you started but here is one last thought: In my limited experience I haven't had any problems with tempered glass going throug...

That is really beautiful, Larry. The blue split shade really sets off the silver lettering nicely. It's hard to tell from the photo but I'll bet the brown mottled background also works well with the blue shadow and the green border. Love to see it in person. I may be voicing my ignorance here but I ...

DEFINITIONS: It occurs to me that, in order to avoid confusion, I should define our terms here. Definition #1: A Mahl Stick - A stick used by artists and sign painters as a rest for the hand while working. Definition #2 AMAL Shtick - Witty, tounge-in-cheek, huckster-style text used for announcements...

Harold Asmus, the gentleman who taught me how to letter, used a mahl stick that tapered and had a cork at the end, similar to Steven Parrish's stick described by Mike. Of course, I think the layers of paint drips added considerably to the weight of the instrument. A few years ago, after he died, his...

Mark, Not wanting to be a Luddite or to "rage against the machine" I've been an advocate for recogonizing and using technology where appropriate. Having said that some of your points are a needed reminder for me amidst the cacophony of pressures and allurements to rely on all the latest te...

Mark, What a great post. You've made the leap from learning how to send an email to starting a post! This is something I think about all the time. Yesterday while I was hanging a sign a bloke from England saw me and stopped to have a chat. Graham was traditionally trained as a signwriter in 1957, ev...

I usually apply my latex paints with a HVLP. I do need to thin it with some water and some floetrol or airbrush additive but it dries quickly and with 2 or 3 coats it turns out very smooth. Danny Baronian suggested sanding between coats when you roll. If I do need to sand, either with rolling or spr...

Hey Larry, I'm curious about the purpose of these samples. Are you doing a whole bunch of the same thing to be able to give to potential clients or do you plan to do differnt kinds of treatments on each 8" square one you've finished chipping them? Or is it experimentation for your own purposes?...