Gold leaf sign

[Roderick Treece]

Here is the latest Glass sign I just finished.It is 30" x 96" and is the largest I done so far.It is water guilded with 23K gold leaf.

Here is a brief description of my process

1) Clean the glass as if doing water guiding.
2) Paint all the black with one shot paint leaving the negative area open for the gold leaf.
3) Lightly clean the glass again.
4) Water guild the open windows with 23k gold leaf.
5) Burnish the gold.
6) Back up the gold with Yellow ocher .
7) Coat out the background with black.

[DAVE SMITH]

Very Nice work Rod. These signs look great in black and gold.
Dave

[Craig Sjoquist]

even a simple as this is ..the gold looks so good it's uplifting just to see ...nice and consistent

[Dennis Davis]

Rod, that sign looks great. For those of us who aren't in the sign trade, would you recap your steps in creating the sign. Thanks.

Dennis in Boise

[Kent Smith]

Did you use a mask when painting the black or cut in? It looks crisp and I am for using technology whenever possible.

Nice finished product.

[Roderick Treece]

Kent,
Yes I did use a mask for this one.It was a toss up though.I do miss the traditional way sometimes.

Roderick

[Danny Baronian]

Traditional? What's traditional?

If Rawson & Evan's were able to produce work with masks, do you think they'd use them?

In a heartbeat.

Nice work Roderick. By the way.... can anyone discern between whether a mask or screen was used, or who would choose to make a back up screen of that size, for a one off?

From what I've seen Rod, your brushes don't get too cold.

Danny

[Kent Smith]

I agree with Danny and that was my point. As I said, I am all for using technology when you can. Dad was always experimenting with screens and maskants to make the work more profitable so I consider experimenting and inventing ways to make the work easier, tradition. My thought also was to mention that if you pull the mask just as the paint tacks up, the gild will be smoother and not crack on the sharp edges of the paint. You can do a nice single gild matte center using this technique and an additional masking step. Pre cut the centers and apply all, do the bkg, pull the centers at tack time, varnish then pull the outline and gild when the bkg is dry. Note, you will not want to flood too much color over the cut line for the center or it may migrate onto the glass and spoil the crisp center.

[Roderick Treece]

Here's one that had a two step mask.First for the matte center and then for the black background.


Roderick
www.customglasssigns.com

[Ron Berlier]

Roderick, they both look absolutely great All the gold work looks so 'clean' and really pops on the black background.

[Roderick Treece]

Ron,
Thanks,
The Hard part about that piece was when I almost had it finished someone came in and noticed the lower tag line "Attorney at law" was backwords.I pushed my chair back and couldn't believe my eyes.How could I have been working all that time on this thing and not seen that!
I tried to fix just the one line but I ended up having to redo the hole thing.

Roderick

www.customglasssigns.com

[Jerry Berg]

I was using this same technique over 15 years ago, but did'nt tell anyone about my process. I thought the process might be frowned upon, like I was cheating or something. You can save even more time by having the plotter cut your mask (gerber mask), or vinyl that is old and has lost half of it's tack. Apply the mask to the back of the glass, then apply the paint and remove the mask carefuly when partly tacky. I've even used black hp vinyl instead of 1 shot and gilded the open areas with great results. I have a sign done this way over 15 years ago hanging in my garage and the vinyl has'nt shrunk and the sign looks as it did when first done. The black vinyl looks just like black paint.

[Kelly Thorson]

Backwards? Ouch! Now if it had been crooked that would have been fitting, you could have left it like that.
Nice clean pieces, sometimes simplicity comes across far greater than ornamental.

[Ron Berlier]

Ron,
Thanks,
The Hard part about that piece was when I almost had it finished someone came in and noticed the lower tag line "Attorney at law" was backwords.I pushed my chair back and couldn't believe my eyes.How could I have been working all that time on this thing and not seen that!
I tried to fix just the one line but I ended up having to redo the hole thing.

Roderick

www.customglasssigns.com

Hey Roderick, you should have gone ahead and finshed the first sign for the customer. Aren't most attorney's backwards anyway?

[Robert Schwieger]

Simply beautiful work and an inspiration for those of us in the field. As an independent artist who does not have access to computer cut masks I have recently noticed differing approaches to the "Black" used in postings. I have enjoyed success with screenprinting and gilding (on glass) and find that it eliminates the edge or ridge encountered with some masks. For hand cut masks the additional step of using steel wool after the black dries also works well. Having said this, I am curious about the different mixes of black. I've seen one-shot, one-shot plus japan black, also hardener added to mixes and the reliable Finegold black, thinned and brushed or screenprinted and others. I have tried variations of all of these and I have made notes and am content with the outcomes but I am curious as to the success (or failures) of others who have far more experience with the available materials.
I also agree that "tradition" is what we make it. Someone (a printmaker) said that "The Wright Brothers didn't invent the 747".
Keep up the great postings. They are a delight to behold and truly and motivator for all of us. Thank you.

Bob

[Roderick Treece]

Bob,
So far the best paint I use over a mask is One-Shot.If I have more than two signs to do I would screen them.



Roderick

[erik winkler]

Mister kciredoR,

Did you appleid the One Shot with a brush or with an airbrush?
Or is it better to do it with a roller?
And is the paint straight out of the can or did you mixed it with Terpentine/Naphta?
I can't find any brushlines in the photo...

Thanks,
kirE

[Lars Wacherhausen]

Mister kciredoR,

Did you appleid the One Shot with a brush or with an airbrush?
Or is it better to do it with a roller?
And is the paint straight out of the can or did you mixed it with Terpentine/Naphta?
I can't find any brushlines in the photo...

Thanks,
kirE

Old topic but I would like to know that too?

[Ingrid Mager]

Are we using "Paint Mask" here, sign vinyl, or some other kind of masking I am not familiar with?
Thanks,
Inga

[BruceJackson]

As this has been revived with a few unanswered questions, I'll add my opinion for the benefit of kirE, sraL and agnI.

First, the mask. I use a sign mask vinyl. It is a fairly hard vinyl (that is not too flexible) and has a low tack. I have tried regular (cast) vinyl, but it is too difficult to peel off the glass and tears, which is really frustrating. The masking vinyl comes away in one piece.

Second, the paint. I prefer regular enamel paint (like one-shot) because it is slow enough to allow time to settle. I peel the vinyl off straight after painting. This helps reduce the hard edge problem. There's nothing worse, in my opinion, that having the gold fail along a raised edge. Looks awful.

You can use this to your advantage. For example, if using a mask just for a black outline. Peel out the centers (which will be gilded) straightaway, but leave the outer part of the mask in place until the paint is past it's tack-time. This raised edge will assist in preventing gold from conforming and sticking around the outside of the outline.

I thin the paint to brushing consistency and prefer to paint with a short hair brush because it is less likely to skip over the vinyl edge. Don't over-thin the paint, because this can accentuate the edge and also may not cover adequately. You can use a roller or spray, but then it is much messier when peeling out the vinyl. There's no clean, unpainted areas of the mask that can be grabbed.

After peeling out the mask, you will need to do some minor trimming. Any areas where the paint seeped under, smudges, smears or fine hair lines that occurred when the mask was peeled out.

Also, before gilding, check that there aren't any holes or missed areas, especially in some of the corners of letters.

I do use masking sometimes, because it gives a very accurate letter, but often I find painting the background with a sign brush doesn't necessarily take all that much longer. Make your choice according the the needs of the job.

[erik winkler]

Mister ecurB,

This was an old post indeed, I have found different ways in doing it my self and it looks like it is years and years ago that I asked this. I too use the signmask, but am allways afraid to use it because of the low tack.

Kire,
Still a little tired from the Oktoberfest.