Light up signs in a vintage style!
It wouldn’t look greta to mix up eras when trying to create a vintage style, so the clients sourced an old pub lamp & asked if I could add signwriting to the glass panels. The panels were removed & the exterior of the lamp polished up to gleam in brass again.
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The light up signs original panels were covered in a vinyl film, which had the pub name still on them, so this was removed off each panel. Not the easiest of jobs due to how long the vinyl had been stuck & the tack still holding it on to the glass. Once removed on all the panels, the next step is to measure the cntre points to make sure the designs will fit & also look ok in the tapered glass sections.
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The design which had been produced on the computer by vectorisation is then printed onto paper. The drawing is then placed on the glass & the design is drwn on the reverse with a mark out pencil. Its slightly difficult to se due to the frosting on the glas, but holding the glass up to a light source such as a window works ok. Once the design has been drawn onto the glass, the next stage is to then paint on the lettering using ‘size’ which is like a clear varnish. This has to then get to a stage of being slightly tacky. 23ct gold is then applied by laying leaves of pressed gold onto the glass over the writing & pressing the gold onto the ‘size.
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At this point the work looks messy, but once the gold & ‘size’ has set, the excess gold is ‘burnished’ off, which is produced using a very soft brush & a wet, soft cloth.
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With the 23ct gold all neat, the next step is drop shadowing the lettering. This is again marked out first on the underneath of the glass so it can be seen on the topside. The paint is the brushed on using a specialist signwriter’s brush.
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The process is then repeated on the other glass panels. Very much a slower process in producing light up signs, but bespoke & decorative isn’t a fast process.
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The next stage is to ensure the writing looks good even with light shining as well as in daylight. As can be seen, knowledge of this comes from doing many residential fanlights. To make the writing opaque, the reverse side of the glass is painted over where the lettering is using the same colour of paint as the drop shadow. this is preferred to black, as black would notice should any of the ‘back up’ painting overlap the lines on the front side of the glass.
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The ‘back up’ painting making all the lettering opaque completed the work apart from flipping the light up signs panels back over & adding some final fine outlines & scrolls with a specialist signwriting liner brush
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The panels were returned to the client who pieced back together the lamp & had it wired & hung above the entrance to their shop. In both daylight & in the dark its done its job of being light up signs as well as being a lovely decorative piece.
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Traditional & Contemporary Hand Painted Sign Writing in London
Sign Writer Traditional Signs of London
https://traditionalsignsoflondon.uk/contact/
info@traditionalsignsoflondon.uk