Gold leaf on glass versus vinyl gold products

[Robert Schwieger]

As a Steve Parrish era artist I would appreciate any input which supports the fact that genuine gold leaf on glass is superior to the vinyl gold products. My portfolio of glass examples and work shown on this site do a fine job but frequently clients can only see price. Thanks for any assistance in making the case for gold on glass. Bob

[Roderick Treece]

Robert,
As far as I am concerned there is no substitute for gold leaf on glass. If there were, water gilding on glass would be truly a lost art only done for/by sign artists for their own collections and at sign meets. I don't sell alot of gold leaf glass windows locally but I always try to see if they are interested in it. I never give up trying. It will all depend on were you do business if they appreciate it. For instance if you were in New York City or San Francisco you might have a better chance of selling a job. Where I live it is very hard to sell it for what it's worth.
If clients only see the price that's ok if they buy, but when you know they won't pay that much it's better to move on to the cheaper products.

Heres a photo of one I did years ago for a jewelery store where I live. I traded jewelery for my wife for it .It was the only gold window in town then he moved.

Best of luck to you and don't ever give up trying to sell the real thing!!!

Roderick

[Kent Smith]

Big surprise that I prefer the real thing. Having said that, there certainly is a place for more "common" work for the "common client". That makes the real gold sign that much more effective. I always say, don't try to sell gold itself to your clients, make it a part of your design, price fairly and they will have you do the work. Make gold a material of choce for effectiveness, durability and long term economy, not a material for an upcharge. This is true even in small town America where I live and in a depressed economy.

Case in point, I just finished phase 5 of lettering our new van with leaf of course. I have received more comments from customers in the last month than I have in many years. One in particular said, "wow, that looks great, glad to see you are still around and come by so we can do the same to my trucks". Turns out many have thought I got old and retired, just driving the old van around for fun I guess and now they are aware of us again. The gold though is what is really attracting the attention, just as we all know it will.

[Roderick Treece]

Let's see a photo of the van ! I have long contimplated lettering mine. Maybe this will inspire me.

Roderick

[Kent Smith]

I edited and here is a phase 5 photo (did not realize the first one was not edited yet)...still have outlines, some shades, etc. to do. As a used van it came with the wrinkle which is due for repair later this summer.

[Mark Summers]

I think everybody should buy some Signgold glass
version just so you can show the customer the
difference. Because I think Signgold (probably)
has the closest thing to to real gold, but what
I saw was not very impressive at all.

So Kent, did you clearcoat the van job? What did you
use?

Mark

[Robert Schwieger]

Mark, Thank you for your input regarding the gold leaf versus vinyl gold. Could you elaborate on what you felt was NOT so impressive about the vinyl/ Appreciate your views. Bob

[Mark Summers]

When you look at the Signgold brochure with their
gold versions and the glass reverse cut gold it
does lead you to believe that it wouldn't look half
bad. When you apply it to glass you see another
story. It just doesn't look very much like real gold.
If you run you finger across the back it also it will
leave a permanent impression on the front-side.
Thought I would spend the $100. for the glass gold
gold on the per chance it would be a way to go but
after I did the sample and brought it to the customer
I told him I really wouldn't sell him this stuff, it just
wasn't a very passable look. I did not press the issue.
Just wont' sell the glass Signgold again. Real gold
is the way to go.

Mark

[Kent Smith]

I think the issue with the SignGold glass is that you always have the adhesive in the way. Their first surface products however have been a way to get the bright color out there for economy and actually sell more real leaf projects.

Mark, no I have not cleared anything but the main name and date yet. I used some stock of Overcoat clear I have just to eliminate issues of tarnish. Unlike my customers, I am able to keep the van inside and baby the leaf and maintain it for a unique appearance. I would not suggest using 18K and 16K for a customer but I like the impact it is having with customers. I will probably be working on this one periodically until it dies.

[Roderick Treece]

So I finally got around to lettering my own van and just finished the gilding. I got to thinking about why I would use gold versus vinyl and one big reason is you have no control over where the turning will be placed when it get's cut out of a roll of material.
I have to admit that when I do see a gold job on anything I always walk up close to check it out . I think from far away they look similar but when I get up close and see it's vinyl I just shake my head in disappointment.
I'm gonna let it all dry a day and then it's two coats of frog juice with harder in it. I already did a sample for the out lines. I'm starting off with black outlines then when it's almost lost it's tack I will dust them with pearlesent powers .Green, blue, red and purple the a black drop shadow.
The other reason is golds easy to spell.

Roderick
www.customglasssigns.com

[Mark Summers]

What you are show there is the engine swirl top applied. My reference
was to the reversed applied glass gold. The more I look at the SG
glass stuff the more I'm turned off to it.

Mark

[Mike Jackson]

I'm sure SignGold has its place in the world, but we don't use much of it either. Maybe it is a quick way to get some gold on a surface and for some, it might be the only way to get gold on a surface.

It seems sooooooo wasteful to me. With glass or patent gold, you generally only put the leaf where it needs to go, but with SignGold, you are buying an entire sheet of material and may only actually apply around 25% of it to the surface. Much of the rest goes to the trash. Imagine how much scrap would go to the trash in Roderick's truck layout above. You might gang up some additional words in the unused spaces, but I doubt that really happens much.

This is a case of labor being lower using the product, but materials maybe a lot higher. On some jobs, maybe the proportions go the other direction.

Those are just my thoughts.

Mike Jackson

[Roderick Treece]

I just finished the gold leaf signs for my van and I wish it would look better in the photos. It came out great and I am taking down to our local 3rd Thursday hot rod car show in downtown Encinitas tonight. It's been awhile scenes I lettered a vehicle and I gotta say the old way is very time consuming . I really love hand lettering but at times I thought to myself, I know why people use vinyl these days. I don't think most people would pay enough to have it down by hand.But let's hope there are still some out there.

Roderick
www.customglasssigns.com

[Brian the Brush UK]

Hi Guys,
I've never really seen any reason why I should use signgold, there is no comparison between that product and goldleaf on either surface gilding or glass gilding, I've always seen it as a poor substitute to be used by folks who can't do the job properly !!!

Brian The Brush
http://www.brianthebrushuk.com

[Roderick Treece]

Just got back from the hot rod show and snapped a few photos of the van with the new sign. I think the next car show I go to I'll have something to work on while I'm there. It might get more attention.

Roderick