Painted entrance signs produced a for Private dual language School by Traditional Signs of London.
The client had a visual to work to & gave measurements of the panels.
This is the most ideal system for Traditional Signs of London to work to.
This way it’s already know what the client requires & no design work is required.
There is a revision available & offered should it be deemed the artwork can be improved upon to the benefit of the client.
The revisions & alterations can be the placement of the lettering, it’s size or scale for the panel its to be housed within or an alteration to the typeface if so wished.
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The building name was to be written in black paint onto the masonry panel above the door, whilst the school name was to be written on the black panel in gold leaf.
The black panel being well covered in several layers of paint and being what used to be a transom window. A larger than usual transom window as the entrance is double doored.
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The painted entrance signs are produced by using a measured template, which is drawn out on paper. This is then taken to site, measured precisely into place, before being reliefed onto the masonry panel.
A specialist sign writing brush is then used to produce the lettering, produced on letter at a time.
The typeface chosen by the client was similar to Times New Roman but had had slight alterations. It was a bit of a challenge to produce this typeface, as its not natural to how you paint a letter, so the typeface must be a digitally altered ‘font’ with unique curves & flicks to some of the letters.
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To complete the masonry section to the painted entrance signs, the marking out charcoal is cleaned off.
As the writing is painted in an oil based paint its able to have a wet wipe or soft wet sponge used to clear away any residue dust & pencil marks, such as the centre lines.
With the first colour completed, it was onto the much more involved school name sign. There was more letters to write, but the process for this differs as its surface gilded.
The layout is produced in the same way as the masonry sign, in that it’s another paper template, with the lettering drawn in pencil & measured to scale.
This is also taken to site & reliefed onto the surface, but as a it’s a black surface, chalk is used instead of charcoal.
A dusting of powder is then patted across all the lettering area. This is to prevent the gold leaves sticking to anywhere other than the painted letters.
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The letters are then painted using a specialist brush and also a specialist glue, which is mixed with a close gold colour of paint. This is so the letters can be seen, but also to use as a background for the gold to be more opaque.
The gold sheets are genuine gold 23ct but are pressed so thin, that a support of paint colour just assists, but isn’t essential.
Depending on dry time of the glue/paint mix, it can be that all of the letters are produced before the gold is applied Or if there is a lot of letters such as in this instance, then some of the lettering is painted and the gold is applied, before more of the letters are painted & gold is applied to them also, and so on.
The dry time of the ‘size’ (paint/glue mix) can vary dependant on the weather, as well as how fast the letters are painted or even the size of each letter painted.
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Unfortunately on this project I was pushed for time & wasn’t able to take process shots of the gold leaf application.
The leaves are pressed onto the painted letter, allowing the gold to stick to just the letters. The excess is generally remaining on the application paper. This process is repeated until all letters are covered. Once all lettering is complete, a burnishing brush is used to dust of any gold residue & just ensuring a consistant application of the gold.
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 painted entrance 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