Painted restaurant sign produced for a plant based eatery near London bridge by specialist sign writer Traditional Signs of London.

A repeat client had taken on another investment, with a premises only a street away from their initial venture, The Kin + Deum restaurant.

The company had outsourced design work for the internal and external look of the venue.

The scope of work for Traditional Signs of London is to produce painted shop signs which are to the precise measurements of the design.

 

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There were a few amendments to the design before production.

Most notably the colour change of the whole facade, which then meant a colour change of the paint to be used. This is usually no issue at all, but in this instance the client, failed to notify before the pay of production. This led to some on site issues, which were overcome but avoidable with better communication & planning.

Once defined artwork was digitally produced using the measurements taken of the fascia, and then produced as a pounce pattern on paper.

 

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The paper pounce pattern is taken to site, where the fascia is re-measured and marked out for the placement of the artwork. Its ensured its laid onto the fascia level,upright and centred.

Once all measured and positioned the pattern/artwork is then reliefed onto the fascia panel the painted shop sign can be ready for the sign writing phase.

 

 

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 Then specialist brushes and paints are used to produce the painted shop sign.

Usually a specialist sign writing enamel is used, which is oil based and has lower viscosity. In this instance due to the clients last minute alterations, they requested that the water based paint the decorators used for the wooden fascia frame, door and windows frames were painted with.

This is not ideal for use with specialist sign writing brushes nor for actual sign writing painting method. However it was the only solution without delaying the project, so much care and time was taken to achieve the same result despite the hindrance.

Using the specialist brushes, and expert skill, the letters are painted one at a time, built up in a series of strokes.

Using a flat oil based sign writing enamel, has a slower dry time, but allows for the dark colour of paint to have only a single coat. The water based paint required at least 2nd coats of sign writing to be applied within the day (a bit of a push during the winter months).

 

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On this project, things were further delayed due to the client changing their mind on the color required for the street number. Initially it was to be a shade of ivory/tan, but the client decided on the spot for it to be gilded with gold leaf.

This meant more materials had to be sourced on the day. This poses an issue with so few suppliers, The delay lasted around an 2 hours. Again this was overcome and Traditional Signs of London graciously carried out the requests and covered the delay without additional fee. This was as it was a repeat client, so leeway was offered.

 

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The greatest of care is taken to paint precise lines even especially when the surface isn’t totally smooth.

On this project it wasn’t too bad, so the letters could be painted at a fair pace, which only a professional sign writer can work at.

Once the materials has arrived, the street numeral was marked out. A specialist glue and paint mixture is then hand painted. This is then allowed to set to a slight tack before the gold leaf is applied.

 

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The excess gold is burnished off and it leaves a nice clean finish to the numbers allowing the gold to do what it does naturally and glimmers and shines brightly when light hits it.

 

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The final piece of the work is to clean of the fascia of any of the marking out produced with the pouncing chalk and the wax pencil. This then leaves a pristine painted restaurant sign, with the sign writing standing out proudly & smartly.

The clients were again pleased with the work produced by Traditional Signs of London and have built up a good relationship for future work.

 

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The Clients have since chosen to paint the framework and surrounding fascade to match the centre colour of the fascia, rather than maintain the dark blue initially chosen, which the main branding was painted using. It does give a lighter overall appearance.

 

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Hand Painted Traditional & Contemporary Sign writing in London

Sign writer: Traditional Signs of London

info@traditionalsignsoflondon.uk