Local signwriter working for regular client Leviticus Tattoo, only a couple of miles up the road.
They appreciate the work & detail a hand painted sign can give & what a signwriter can produce in terms of bespoke signage with a historical look.
The panels are made from good plywood with beading framework which is glued pinned after being mitred. Wood filler is then used to fill where the pin heads are to seal joins between frame panel.
The next step is to complete the preparation of the panel. This is done by sanding the wood, giving it a coat of oil based wood primer, an undercoat and a topcoat of the chosen colour.
The pink is the oil based wood primer the grey is the oil based underocat covering all of the panel, front and rear.
A design is produced by hand and drawn on paper. This is then relifed onto the panel in chalk. Producing the design can take as much as a day to design depending on how much detail is to be put into the drawing then transfering that onto the panel.
The first layer of signwriting is the added. The body of colour for the pictorial, the outlines in the same colour and the black dropshadow to each of the letters.
The design was coloured in on one of the letters & cut out so it could be seen how it would loom on the panel. This was taped to the wall next to the panel as a guide when applying the size & gold leaf.
The letters completed burnished & dried so the scroll wrok could be drawn & painted as well as extra wording a the top of the panel & the line detail could be painted onto the pictorial.
Some hand drawn lettering was designed using experience and knowledge of vintage victorian lettering used to produce an elaborate design.
The additional wording painted in but still without a drip shadow which defintely helps it tie in to the panel & ‘pop’ a little more.
The scrolls creating the border were designed to match the additional word design so the whole sign is tied in not just in design but in colour too.
A mass of line work procuced with a fine hair brush. The style is very much vintage based on a style often found in print looking like a pictorial used in a book as a diagram to show how the tattooing is & was produced using a tool of a bygone era.
The completed sign in the studio & once delivered to the client with it hung on their premises entrance wall.
Traditional & Contemporary Hand Painted Sign writing in London
Local Signwriter – Traditional Signs of London
info@traditionalsignsoflondon.uk