Posted by Mike Jackson on August 28, 2003
There was a question about Stazon paint being used as a gold leaf back up earlier on this BB. In one of the later replies, Kent mentioned it was a substitute once King Cole black was discontinued, and that Art Sarti introduced it in his revised edition of Le Blanc's Gold Leaf Techniques. The other day, I was digging around in the gold leaf sign kit looking for some new brushes when I saw my first old Gold Leaf Techniques book still tucked in one of the kit drawers. This was a pre-Sarti 2nd Edition from 1973. LeBlanc says his favorite mixture was Japan color and rubbing varnish, but HE mentions Sta-Zon on page 47, saying it to be "quite amazing where an extremely rapid-drying backing paint is needed for those small rush jobs."
Somehow, the use of Sta-Zon overshadowed his preferred backup over the years. I bought my little can of the stuff and tried to use it for years. Thinking back however, I am not so certain my local sign supply carried Japan colors and rubbing varnishes, so I might not have thought I had a choice.
On a sentimental note, I must have taken the LeBlanc book in my sign kit to Forgan, Oklahoma back in 1984. Charles Kuralt did a feature segment of his CBS on the Road on old Steven Parrish on Feb. 10th there that year. Steven and Mark Dupere, along with the producer, camera man, and sound man all signed the inside of the cover.
Take care,
Mike Jackson
D. Bernhardt
Hi Mikey... must have missed that sta-zon(sp?) question earlier. A friend of mine was using it years ago...quite a few actually and last time i saw one of his gold jobs the black had turned to a sort of patchy charcoal grey...he also complained of it being brittle during clean-up. This is all a long time ago...20 or so years and my excuses stop there...might be a seniors moment.
Kent Smith
Ray knew Art and although I don't know the source, I suspect that he experimented with Sta-Zon because of someone suggesting it. I don't think he used it often or for long enough to see it deteriorate. You will note that the section on pages 43 and 44 of the Sarti edition have a more extensive reccomendation and on page 31 of the 3rd edition, I tried to downplay its use. In the 4th edition on page 33, I have completely removed Stazon as a suggested backup. You cannot imagine how many people I have heard from who have had failures with Stazon and blame me for keeping it in the 3rd, even though I don't suggest using it. I think the seracol dries about as fast and is certainly more workable.
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