Old method of advertising on screen doors

[Patrick Mackle]

As a very young lad I recall seeing a specific method of advertising that appeared on the screen doors of coffee shops and liquor stores.
The screen cloth on these doors were usually quite old with most of the holes obscured with growing rust deposits appearing much like brown flocking. It would tear easily with your fingers and as each wire strand would break it would emit a report of smoke-like rusty dust floating against the sunlight. I recall my mother saying "leave that alone" numerous times.
Anyway, these old screen doors would have the usual enameled advertisement push bar, but sometimes an area of the screen would be embellished with a sort of method by which colored sand was adhered to display a soft drink product. Specifically I recall Seven Up soda appearing in this multicolored sand method.
Does anyone else recall seeing this or know more about it. It is a very simple technique. Does anyone still take interest in reviving it like we did in glue chipping and Angel gilding.
I would like to make a couple of reproductions just to relive looking at something that I strongly remember as a child.
Does anyone else remember?
Pat

[Larry White]

Leave that alone stupid white man...

...quit daydreaming and get back to work Mr. Olafson...

...sure, we could do some of those.... someday...

-WB

[Kent Smith]

Sure do remember screen doors on the neighborhood grocery stores printed with soft drink and bread ads. Dad printed some when I was little as I remember watching but not participating. He screen printed onto the screen cloth "Rainbow, That Good Bread" using a clean sheet of the Denver Post under each one and hung them on wires along the shop ceiling to dry. I don't know how anyone else did them and I only remember this being done a time or two. I am sure it evolved over time and materials changed. I suspect that instead of sand, it was a built-up heavy deposit of ink and unless they used expensive brass wire cloth, I am sure it would rust behind the paint.

[William Holohan]

There was a thread about this subject some time in the past. Dont know if it was here or on another board. Got me interested. Tried several things on aluminum screening. The closest I got to anything that was even mildly acceptable was to try it the following way. This after about 7-8 absolute failures.

1 inch foam rubber pad as a base.
Saran wrap over that.
Small (18" x 18") framed aluminum screen. Placed
on top of Saran wrap and cushion. Weighted at corners.
Mask of calandered vinyl.
it took 2 coats of "block filler" paint to fill voids in screen.
After drying, masked again with vinyl. Just three letters.
Airbrushed on color over white block filler.
Passable result, but far from perfect.
The Saran wrap pulled off easily leaving a semi gloss surgace on the back.

Don't know if silk screening would work. No way to try it here.

[Patrick Mackle]

I didn't think that I imagined this technique, and I think you guys brought it into the ballpark.
It may not have been colored sand, but the texture of the build up that appeared gritty, possibly age.
I was just a pup and did not have the visual skills that I eventually acquired.
Pat

[Mike Jackson]

Pat,
I can remember seeing the old screen doors, too. I don't recall any of them having any texture at all. I am just guessing many were just screen printed directly onto cheap wire mesh which eventually turned brown and rusted. If so, some of the gritty sand may have really just been rust.

I can remember them printed with Rainbow Bread logos, along with a metal push/pull bar on each side.

EDIT: I did a search and found that photo. It must have had some sort of flocking to make it solid, otherwise the lettering would have been slightly transparent.

Mike Jackson

[Patrick Mackle]

Great to see a photo Mike, thanks.
As I recall the image material completely blocked the holes in the screen. I'd be curious to see what the image area looks like on the backside, that would probably be a good clue of how these were made.
Pat

[James Warwick]

If you snoop, you will find classes available...

http://baltimore.about.com/gi/dynamic/o ... reens.org/

[Kent Smith]

Shows you how my memory is fading, Rainbo, no "W" and is good bread, not that. It was Powerine, That Good Gas as I see on my wall. I doubt flocking was added after print but there may have been something in the ink. Having said that, Wonrow ink, which is all Dad used, had a very heavy body enamel which was used on textures and uneven surfaces. It would take a day or two to dry but it might have been heavy enough to span the gaps of screen material. I am sure it would break away over time with a lot of door slamming. Part of the charm of a wood framed screen door was that it slammed with a unique sound, with a heavy spring to keep it tight so the flies would not get in. Anyway, I suspect the dust Pat remembers is part ink and part rust.

Thanks for the photo Mike, that really brings back memories both of the old shop and of the only bread my Mom would buy.

[Robert Schwieger]

I too was fascinated by the logos on screen doors that I noticed when growing up. Rainbo bread was the most popular. I had no idea how these were produced but as a college student I tried versions of this in screenprinting classes in the 60's.

I recall seeing serigraphs (screenprints) on paper produced in the 50's and 60's by the Los Angeles or California Printmakers. The heavy textures were actual textures not illusions. Some success was achieved with experimental materials including (new) Lucite acrylic paints and many traditional enamels "thickened" with corn starch. These paints were squeegeed through stencils made of mat board sealed with shellac. They worked well in depositing a thick layer of paint to the substrate. The stencils could be altered by more or less posterboard for different thicknesses. Sometimes the paint was simply squeegeed without using the fabric (organdy, crenoline, or silk) and simply using the matboard as a stencil. Either way worked OK. It seems that this matboard idea could be easily carried out for the logos and reused up to a point or cleaned and stored. Contemporary modeling paste (acrylic) would seem to be a natural for this process today.

This method would seem feasible by stenciling directly to the wire screen with wax paper (before Saran, etc) underneath the screen to assist with the filling of the mesh, assisting the "Gel" step and also helping with separating the stenciled paint from the printing table.

This may all be "pie in the sky" but would be of interest to those of us who are curious about a process long vanished from the sign world.

Bob