Posted by David A. McDonald on April 02, 2003
Mike JacksonWith regard to the sand smaltz that was offered at Esoteric sign supply--Rick carried the "broadcast medium" architectural aggregate from Estes. After perusing the web site that Mike posted earier it became clear to me.
Also--I don't believe Rick was selling Black beauty as the "Esoteric black fine" smaltz. A while back Rick gave Robin and I about 150lbs. of a dark charcoal black smaltz. He said that he didn't have any use for it and thought we could find something to put it to use on (it's still sitting here). He said that the color wasn't of the quality that he wanted to offer at Esoteric. After reading some of the posts here I'm led to believe that it's black beauty?
Also--Danny Baronian is on the right track with "frit" also called reduction frit and a cheaper variety that's not as compatable(regarding kiln work--glass art). A couple weeks ago we had Bullseye glass in Oregon send us some samples of there frit. We were disappointed with the result--to irregular in size. We will have to check with the "crloo" outfit in the bay area where Danny mentioned.
Kent SmithHi Dave,
Thanks for taking time to post, and also time to help research this product. I sit here in the boonies of Wyoming trying to help, but realize many of the products Rick bought were purchased right there in LA. Most of us just called Rick up on the phone and placed the orders without ever quizzing him of the source. We also just "assumed" Rick had spent all the hours of research and testing before he sold anything. I remember him saying one time that he had found a good supplier of smaltz in any color he wanted, but they needed to sell a couple of tons of it at a time. From there, I have to conclude he kept looking for other sources.
Back to the Clifford Estes Company--the person I talked to originally told me they DID repackage Black Beauty for their black smaltz, they don't sell any materials they call smaltz. As you saw, they sell a bunch of other products, and without that person knowing what smaltz is or what the sign industry does with it, he probably wouldn't have known to suggest one of the other products they sell.
Between the "frit" and other architectural grade aggregate, I'd say we are on the right track(s).
There is also a possibility that Black Beauty will still work, sometimes. They have dozens of plants all over the country. Since the stuff is just crushed "slag", I'd bet there is a difference from batch to batch, plant to plant and year to year based on what contaminants end up in the slag. I am also not so sure that the problem with some grayed signs isn't with the adhesive medium turning gray. Somewhere, in one of my old signs books, I read a section on repainting grayed out smaltz signs, so the problem might have been slightly inherent in the process. As I said before, I don't recall any of our black smaltz signs turning off color, but I have seen it several times in the signs done by the people that now own our shop. Failure in product or process?
I'd appreciate any help we can get on tracking down a good replacement color smaltz source!
Thanks again,
Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson - 1922 Ashmun Kelly comments on smaltsI had not found my records on source for osmalto in colors before we left for Vegas ISA. I will look some more when we get home as I helped Rick find the colors once before. I don't rmember the company, but it was quite obscure. The black beauty is what Estes has sold forever and I have never had the smalt itself fade. Afterall the reason for using smalt in the first place was for a fade-free background as much as the sparkle and texture. PPG originally had the cobalt, borium and sodium crystals which had a particle size about that of double the size of sugar. We still have some original cobalt, which is what we used as the basis for the search some years ago. Mike, you said it right, we let Rick do the research and rewarded him by buying from him, not trying to find out where he got things. I am sure there are records of his purchases which whoever ends up with Esoteric will be able to use. I was looking at an old Esoteric catalogue and it is amazing the number of products he had which we all would have to buy in huge quantities to replace. They truely are esoteric in nature and I sincerely hope the company will stay in tact so we will have this special source. I am doing some followup tomorrow and Sunday so I will let everyone know any news if there is some.
The scan above came from a 1922 book by Ashmun Kelly called "The Expert Sign Painter". I sent Rick my book a long time ago to see if he could find anything in it that would help him rediscover the Angel Gild process. He made copies of it and sold it through Esoteric Sign Supply for quite a few years. It is an absolutely AWSOME book, with absolutely NO photos or illustrations!
Anyway, I highlighted his remarks from 1922 in light yellow. I had remembered reading it a long time ago and was able to find it easily this afternoon. If you want to view the FULL (183k) section, click on the link below.
ALSO, while I was digging around today, I found a book by AP Boyce printed in Boston in 1878. He describes the process of a "sanded" background. He was referring to a white or gold letter on a dark background, but he never used the word smalts or smaltz.
Ashmun Kelly's complete comments from 1922
http://www.theletterheads.com/glawson/r ... malts.html
Mike Jackson
Denver Chapter of the Letterheads