The Making of a Wall Dog

I recently volunteered to paint a wall sign for a local teen music venue and today was the day to make good on my promise. So I dug out these OLD brushes and cleaned two of them. These brushes are called "fitches" and some of them are probably 30 years old. I can't tell you who they really belong to, because in a sign shop no one really owns the fitches; they just belong to the shop. (Now quills are a different story; NOBODY shares their quills. In fact I used to put a dab of pink paint on the end of mine so none of the men would want to use them.) I can't remember the last time I even painted a wall sign - that's what it's called when you paint letters directly on someone's building - but it had to be a long long, time ago, because those brushes were filthy.

Next I made a paper pattern and perforated it. In the old days we would have hand drawn the letters on the paper, but I used the computerized plotter.

Then bright and early Teen2 and I got to the jobsite and hauled our stuff up onto the canopy of the building. Working on a canopy is pure luxury - you have a wide stable work area and you can drip paint and no one knows! We taped the pattern up on the first side, pounced it, and got to painting by 8:00am. My helper looks happy, doesn't she?

The making of a "Wall Dog" typically starts with the helper doing the heavy lifting and filling in behind the journeymanwoman. Teen2 is good with a brush and caught right on to the painting, but she's a little nervous about moving the ladders around up there. But here it is 8:15 and she's still happy!

We were really hot even though it was only 9:30 when we finished the East side. Thank goodness the other sign faced North.

On the second side we decided to work from right to left; it doesn't make any difference when you have an exact pattern, so here she is finishing up the last letter at 11:20 and she still looks happy! I guess my little "Wall Puppy" could turn into a "Wall Dog" someday; I'd be so proud.

Here's the finished product. Not exactly the font I would have chosen, but the customer is always right, even when the sign is donated.

Grain Painting

We get some interesting jobs at work.... Like this grain painting on antique automobile parts. The owner is restoring the vehicle and the original parts were grain painted but worn, so he came to us to get them redone. Grain painting is not something we ordinarily do, but this man is an old and loyal customer so we are willing to try just about anything for him.

First we photographed all the parts and got color matches for the background and glazing. Then we sandblasted the parts, primed them and painted them this ochre color. Here is the glove box door.

I don't have any fancy graining brushes so I cut V shaped chunks out of a throw away brush to make one. Then I mixed equal parts faux painting glaze and a very dark brown color. Here is the "graining" brush loaded with glaze.

Step one is to apply the glaze in slow steady strips across the piece. If the lines are a little wiggly it doesn't matter, but the thickness of the paint should be consistent.

Notice how the curved window frames are even more wiggly because it's harder to do irregular shapes. But seriously, it won't matter.

Step Two is to drag a soft dry brush across the grain. This is where consistent application of paint in the first step really shows its importance. If you applied too much, it just makes a big smear, if you applied too little, it won't pull out the horizontal marks.

This is how you want it to look.

Step three is to stipple the wettest areas with a stiff dry brush. Stipple means to tap the surface with the tip of the brush. Above is a window frame and below is the glove box door after stippling.

Step four is to drag the soft dry brush back over the wettest areas with the grain this time.

I repeated those four steps again and again as I worked my way around the six window frames, the dash, and the glove box door. And then I repeated them again and again and again for the second coat.

This is how it finally looked. So don't be intimidated by grain painting. It just takes some faux painting glaze, a few simple tools, and lots of patience.

Installing Signs

Times are tough all over and here Amongst The Oak it's no different. We are having a difficult time making ends meet at work, so guess who is installing signs again? You guessed it; the Lord of the Manor and I. Just like the old days when we first started our business.

Saturday we installed two sets of metal letters at the local university. The previous week we had cut the letters out of 3/8" thick aluminum on our CNC router. Holes were drilled and tapped in the back for the studs. Then the letters received a clear coat of polyurethane paint and a hanging pattern was made.

Early Saturday morning we lugged all our tools and the letters across the lawn and got set up. The first sign was about 12' to the bottom. We used extension ladders on this job, but sometimes we use scaffolding. First we taped the pattern onto the wall. The pattern shows the outline of each letters and the location of the stud holes. Next the Lord of the Manor drilled all the holes with a masonry bit whilst I put in the studs and spacers.

The studs are 2" pieces of threaded rod and the spacers are 1/4" thick plastic that we also cut on the router.

Here are the letters ready to be taken up the ladder. You know who took all the letters up the ladder, right? I can carry three or four letters at a time up the ladder, but with my hands full, I have to use my forearms to hold on. Doesn't really seem safe, does it? And the second set was even higher, so it took even more steps to get to the top. By the time we were done I was really tired of those ladders!

Anyway, I carried them all up, and the Lord of the Manor applied the silicone adhesive and pounded them into place.

So here we are all finished. I bet you've always wondered how these things were done, so now you know; little old ladies and tired old men do this on Saturday mornings when no one is looking. But you know what? It's good to know we still got it!

Gold Leaf Boat Name

Today I had a fun little job out at the marina. An old Century runabout needed a gold leaf name, and since I'm the only one at our shop who even owns lettering brushes, it was my job. When I arrived the transom was all prepared: several coats of varnish, perfectly sanded for the final coat.

First I pounced my pattern. That means I took a little duster box full of powder and rubbed it over my perforated pattern. The chalk goes through the little holes and leaves a faint line for me to follow with my brush.

Then I painted on the Gold Size. Gold Size is basically a varnish that doesn't skin over as it dries. Then it was lunch time so I ran home for a sandwich and came back just in time to lay the gold. The size has to tack up a bit before the gold is applied. Below is the waiting size.

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After lunch I pressed the gold into the tacky size being careful not to press the paper or my fingers into the size. For a job like this we use patent gold; gold that has a carrier sheet. For a gold leaf job on a window or door we use glass gold which has no carrier sheet. Talk about magic! Everyone is always amazed when they see that done, but we haven't done a gold leaf window in ages, so I guess the magic is gone.

As the gold is applied, it leaves ragged edges and overlaps, but that will go away when I burnish it.

Burnishing is nothing more than rubbing over the gold in one direction to get rid of the overlaps and ragged edges. If the customer had wanted engine turning, I would have made a little wad of cotton and twirled it around in circles over and over to create a pattern of swirls.

So with the gold all prepared, I put the pattern back on, pounce it again. See the guidelines?

Now I paint on the shadow and outline....

And Voila! it's done.

On Monday the painter will apply the final coat of varnish and the name will be protected forever. Or until they find some more rot and it needs a new plank. Ah, the joys of owning a wooden boat.

Il est faux

I've been busy lately trying to do all the things I'm supposed to do, plus get Teen1 ready for graduation and her trip to England, plus get a party organized for Sunday, plus work... and I'm afraid blogging has taken a back seat. And will continue to for the next week or so. Sorry. How about if I show you what I do at work?

We make signs and part of our job is to show the customers how beautiful the proposed sign will look. So first I go out to their location and take a photo of the storefront.

Then using PhotoShop I add the proposed sign to the photo. Notice those black triangles in the corners? I put those on the artwork in my vector based program before I imported it to PhotoShop. They help with size and perspective. Above you see how it looks before adjusting for perspective. Below I have started the process by rotating it a little...



and now I have adjusted the perspective using Transform>Distort. I simply adjusted the corners to match the lines on the building while holding down the Control key.



Now all I have to do is erase the triangles and we can see how the sign will look.



But I like to make my photo mock-ups to look more realistic, so I have added the edge of the letters and a shadow too. On the shadow layer I decreased the opacity so any building details would still show; like that crack you see below.

So below is the finished photo. Looks pretty real, doesn't it? But il est faux! Nonetheless, it sold the job, so I'm happy.

Actually, I added the dimensions on the finished photo too because the customer has to get landlord approval and they will want to know not only what the sign will look like, but the size of it.

So anyway, that's what I do at work. And now that I've told you all my secrets so you could do this too, do you want a job?

Work

The Americans with Disabilities Act has changed our industry quite a bit. Lots and lots of our customers have Braille and raised letters on all their signs. First we cut and paint the blank signs. Then we apply a thin plastic for the letters and route them out quickly before the adhesive gets to aggressive. Last we pull off the excess plastic leaving the raised letters. Our CNC router is invaluable for this type of sign as it cuts the letters and drills the holes for the rasters. Lastly we press the rasters into the holes and clean up the sign.




Here's a stack that I helped with the other day. We have a little tool that sucks the rasters up and holds them until you press them into the holes. It takes quite a bit of pressure to seat them, so my arm was sore by the end of the day, but we got them done. And now Kaiser Permanente is happy, happy, happy with their signs.

We put in about 4000 rasters that day. Who wants to help next time?