Window sign writing & gilding in Marylebone for a well known family of Designers, who now specialise in houseware, most notably, kitchenware.
They chose to have vinyl signs on the hanging sign, produced by another sign company, but required the skills of a traditional sign writer for the window signs, which the other company didn’t offer.
The difficulty was being able to match the sign writing to the curvature of the window with the lettering. Obviously as a well known family of design, the look was vitally important it was to the exact millimetre.
The design was then made into a ‘mask’ template, rather than sketched on site. this gives a much more precise & consistant outline.
It may be possible to get lines this neat by hand but would be very time consuming compared to using a mask. Its also a way of getting the first stage produced with a near on guarentee of no error. With the outlines drying faster & more evenly it allows a much better gold leaf application, with the size to be applied by brush to the centres of the letters.
The size is applied using a sign writer brush & with the application being with as few strokes as possible. This gives a better finish to the gold leaf being applied.
When window sign writing by gilding its important to allow the gold to set so the back up & burnish isnt done until the following day. This prevents any seeping of the back up paint into the gold.
Usually the gold is backed up with paint black in colour for the best opacity, but on this occasion the client wished for the reverse of the lettering to also be gold. So the back up was done with a gold paint.
With the lights on the Gold paint does make a difference & stands out. This is not the only client at the moment wanting it like this. With so much vinyl signage, its common to see the back of lettering the same colour as the front, but its not how actual gold is produced on window sign writing. But its what clients expect to see having seen so much vinyl signs on windows.
The client was pleased with the completed result & liked the slightly mottled appearance the matte finish gilding gives the window sign writing, rather than the mirror finish which he considered ‘too pub looking’.
He’s a highly regarded designer so he must know what he wants & is looking for in terms of quality, which is what real gold gives you over more cost effective vinyl signage.
Traditional Hand Painted Signwriting in London
Signwriter: Traditional Signs of London
info@traditionalsignsoflondon.uk