Gold leaf sign writing produced for an artisan bakery in Wandsworth by Traditional Signs of London.
The client had a a premises with a lovely vintage sign, many of the purists & historians would wish was preserved.
However the client had given the whole premises a makeover & had the fascia fillered, sanded & repainted for their own branding to be added.
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The brief was to produce a modern look but with a vintage feel, using the colours the client wished for.
Their branding was a thick set san serif typeface, which they planned to keep on the windows.
This meant there was a little movement on altering the typeface to suit the fascia sign writing.
A pair of options were designed & shown to the client. They really liked the layout & said it hit the brief exactly.
There is a revision available & the client took up on, which was to have the lettering in the slightly thicker set & instead of a gold leaf cast shadow, it was to be the main word in gold leaf with the cast shadow in black.
This was the clients choice & so this was what was produced.
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The artwork is then produced on paper & made into a pounce pattern.
This is measured to the given measurements of the shopfront fascia panel.
The artwork is then taken to site & positioned by marking out centre and other guide lines on the fascia. The artwork, with pre prepared centre lines & other markings is them aligned with those on the fascia.
Once aligned & ensured all is level, the artwork is reliefed onto the panel.
The markings are visable enough to paint to. The gold leaf sign writing is then started. A mix of specialist glue & paint is applied stroke by skroke with a specialist quill sign writer brush.
Once all the letters are written in the gold size, the leaves are applied.
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Gold leaf sign writing is produced laying the gold sheet by sheet, covering each letter, then burnishing off any excess gold.
To prevent any gold laying on the fascia, powder is added prior to painting with the gold size.
Once all the letters are covered & burnished the gold leaf sign writing is completed. The next stage is to apply the cast shadow.
This is marked out as a guide & then painted letter by letter.
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Painting the cast shadow is a faster process than gold leaf sign writing, as it is just using the correct size of specialist brush and getting nice consistant strokes creating a good even coverage with the paint.
A sign writer has knowlegde & expertise in this, which helps in creating the shadow reasonably quickly, especially if the colour is opaque in one coverage.
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Once all the letters have a cast shadow, the main wording is completed.
The next stage is to sign write the subtext.
This is measured & marked out using the artwork pre designed & taken to site. Its reliefed onto the fascia, once aligned precisely where is required.
Professional experience & skill goes into creating the painted lettering, using a specialist quill brush. It can be produced quite swiftly when experienced, especially if a dark colour on a pale surface, as then it only requires a single coat coverage.
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It’s then a wiping over with a damp soft sponge or cloth to remove any markings made with chalk or wax pencil.
This completes the work required to create the gold leaf sign writing and fascia signs for this client.
Its was precise to their requirements so naturally they were pleased with the results.
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Hand Painted Traditional & Contemporary Sign writing in London
Sign writer: Traditional Signs of London
info@traditionalsignsoflondon.uk