Street numbers in gold are most commonly found on the entrance window above the front door, whether this be a fanlight (arched) or transom (rectangle) type. Both residential & commercial buildings can have gold street numbers. The style can vary in terms of either a mirror (reflective) finish or a matte (non reflective) finish. They can also be with or without outlines & cast shadows. Then there’s the typeface, which can be traditional or contemporary.
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This project was in West London and the clients property had a period featured fanlight, much like 10 Downing Street, which was made up of many sections of glass divided by ironwork in an ornate style. This design had a small round window in the centre, which is where the desired street number in gold was to be produced.
The fanlight hadn’t been cleaned in what appeared to be decades. To be able to apply real gold to a window, the window must be surgically clean. If there is dirt residue, condensation or any other blemishes the gold won’t stick as desired. this meant for this project a lengthy cleaning process had to occur. Specialist materials are required for this as well as a large dollop of elbow grease!
The client chose to have a hand drawn design & changed their minds on site from the pre drawn design/s. They preferred the idea of a script style italic numbers. The window was measured & the numbers produced on paper first. Then the darawings placed in the window appature, to show how the numbers would look on the glass. Once the client was happy with the design, it was refifed onto the exterior side of the glass & painted in specialist fast dry paint on the interior side of the glass.
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With the outlines painted & dried, the window is again cleaned to ensure there is no grease or dirt on the window. This is cleaned off with a soft rag before the gold leaf gilding is porduced. A ‘water size’ is mixed up & used to cover the numbers, which allows for the 23ct gold to be delicately laid over the numbers. Once the gold is laid it has to be allowed to dry to the glass. This process can be easier in finer weather as the drying can be quicker, than in poor weather. Its much preferred if in colder weather that the property is in a lived in/renovated state, so the heating inside the property can keep the temperature of the atmoshere up & allow the drying process. With this project the property was in renovation & really had the street numbers in gold produced too soon.
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The cold & damp within the atmosphere of the property prevents the gold from drying, so the only option is to add heaters of some form. Luckily the other tradesmen at the property had a genrator, long extension, & a heater. I also took a hairdryer to site. This was the only way to get the gold to dry to the window. Its essential it dries evenly & completely as there are other layers to add over the gold to complete the process.
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The gold dries slowly but consistantly if able to dry. Its ensured that every area of the numbers are covered with gold so often, like in this case, there is an excess outside the numbers. This is no problem as the excess is wiped off the window before completion.
With the gold fully dry on the glass it is trapped there by painting a thick covering of black paint over the gold on the interior side of the glass. This assists in no light getting through the gold as well as protecting the gold from condensation & window cleaning.
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The paint has to dry & harden. The excess gold is then wiped from the glass.
The final part of the process is to cover the numbers with a clear varnish. This is painted on with brush & covers the numbers completely, leaving a slight overlap, which looks like an outline in a clear jelly. This is produced to give more protection from condensation & window cleaning to give the signs a lot more longevity. So the process is long & not cost efficient compared to stickers but its bespoke, quality & very durable if produced well
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Hand Painted Traditional & Contemporary Sign writing in London
Sign writer: Traditional Signs of London