Brick wall painted signs are historical or contemporary. They are a good source of trade for a sign writer as vinyl & other forms of signage can’t be applied to a brick wall. Of course neon & acrylic 3d signs can be mounted to a wall, but to have an authentic possibly rustic look, then painted it needs to be.

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The project was for repeat clients, who had previously had Traditional Signs produce a large array of signage to decorate their premises, which is located in an alleyway. As such it requires drawing attention to be seen & also requires looking appealing. With the assistance of a whole host of signage it now does as intended. This project was just to add something else & also for decorative asthetics.

The brick wall painted signs had the position of just below the clients wood carved signs which Traditional Signs produced.

The area of brick work was measured & agreed with the clients. Then the task of designing the signage is required. To do this it starts with a sketch or two. Then once deciding which is preferred, its then made digital. This is so a paper artwork can be made & used to relief the design onto the wall. This process can take several days, as designs aren’t made quickly despite the laymen thinking this. Designs are created bit by bit & wording moved around to suit, along with typefaces & colours altered.

Its often overlooked just how much time & effort goes into design & this is why a signwriter has to charge for this, just as much as the on site painting. Both are a skilled ability.

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The brick work painted signs are created on site by firstly measuring out & painting in the area on the wall with a background base colour. In this instance a matching burgundy ‘coachline’ border is painted around the area to match the clients existing colour palette.

the artwork is produced on paper to scale, along with centre lines & other measurements. This assists in ensuring the artwork is positioned correctly, upright & straight . The artwork is then reliefed to the wall using charcoal powder. Every line of the lettering has small pin pricks & when ‘pounced’ the powder goes through the holes & applies to the wall allowing for the artwork to be seen on the wall.

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Due to the project being produced at the height of winter, it meant that the weather hindered in several ways. Firstly that the wind whipping through the alleyway made the ‘template’ artwork difficult to apply without coming away from the wall. It also made seeing the ‘pounced’ image hard to see. The flow of people walking through the alleyway also meant a regualr stop & start to allow room for people with prams/buggies etc. So to combat this the pattern was laid onto the wall & the brick wall painted signs were created section by section.

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Due to being mid winter the daylight & shortened timeframe meant the work on site was spread over a few days, along with the design work & prep work also taking a day. Its appreciated that clients have no concerns when it comes to quality over costs, as this kind of project can’t be produced in a day & does require a lot of skill & experience to produce, which doesn’t come for the lower end of the budget scale.

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With daylight fading & working under a swan neck lamp light, the outline was applied to the main company name lettering. This was one stroked with a ideal sized brush as much as possible, to keep a consistant thickness (line weight). The cast shadow colour was actually re-mixed & gone back over as it gave the look of a pale blue & grey was preferred, so this was painted as swiftly but neatly as possible. The remaining work was to paint all the smaller detailed lettering & embelishments, to create the authentic victorian look.

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Due to the difficulty with the weather & visually seeing the artwork, as explained, a print out of the artwork design was used as a guide. the smaller lettering was difficult to produce given the texture of the wall & being able to see the guide lines due to shadows of the brick crevises etc. So this proved a quite slow process, but presision & a neat professional look is always important.

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The embelishments painted in a yellow ochre colour was the final brushworks to complete the brick wall painted signs on the project. The clients were so happy with the result & have added a few ornaments to surround the artwork since to enhance the look. The only really hindrance was the work being produced in such freezing windy weather, but as is the nature of the sign writing trade, these projects come when they do, you can’t pick & choose ideal weather, certainly in January!

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The project definitely had produced what was within the brief, which was to use their branding but give a vintage look despite this. The clients were so pleased with the work, they now use the wall as a backdrop to show of their own merchandise on social media!

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Hand Painted Traditional & Contemporary Sign writing in London

Sign writer: Traditional Signs of London

info@traditionalsignsoflondon.uk