Painting Letters

[daniel]

Hey Guys, I have some questions... I need to know what I should do to paint some V carved letters and have them look good.

This is what I have so far.. I stained a nice peice of cherry, after that I applied some masking, Then I v-carved it. I plan to seal the whole thing with poly-eurothane in the end. I would like to paint the letters Gold.

So my questions are: (1) Should I put poly-eurothane in the letters first, before I paint them?
(2) Is there a special paint that I should use that will get along with the poly-eurothane?
(3) Is the Gold lettering paint that Looks good, or should I use a different color?

[matt_r]

Hi Daniel,
Here is what has worked for me when I have done this type of sign (and I'm by no means a pro at this).
1) Clear coat your wood with poly and let it dry prior to applying the sign cutting mask.

2) Apply mask, and cut lettering.

3) Sand v-carved lettering if needed - you might have fuzzies or chatter. Careful not to lift your mask.

4)With mask still on, apply poly to lettering. Let dry. This forms a seal with the initial coat you applied.

5)Apply paint. I like 1 shot brass for gold lettering. Something about that 1 Shot - the Brass color comes out looking like gold, and vice versa. 1 Shot is oil based, so if you don't want to mess with that, go could go with acrylic craft paint. Deltacraft's Ceramcoat has a "Gleams" gold that is pretty good stuff. And its available at most craft stores.

6) Finally, allow paint to dry. I know that some will lightly said around the letters on the mask to break the seal of the paint from the mask. Usually I don't have much problem with this. If you have used 1 Shot, you're done. If you've used an acryllic, you might want to go with one more coat of poly.

Thats it.

Just my .02

-Matt

[stickman]

I do like mat does. alonf the same steps, I use DEFT spray lacquer instead of poly.

My final step is to lightly buff the surface of the sign with a very fine scotch bright pad after I have peel off the mask, I then go back and spray another two coats of lacquer. The buffing takes the slight edge the paint mask leaves behind and the extra coat of lacquer unifies the finish over the sign.

Just my .02 cents plus .05 of a penny.

Jay

[boxbuilder]

Can someone tell me what the masking product is called. I was told that it is called low tack vinyl and that it was fairly inexpensive. But when I do a search for LTV all I get is stuff that cost $176 a roll. Maybe thats inexpensive to some but not so much for me. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for just one little project.

Thanks for the help in advance.

[billp]

Scott,This is from the "CNC resource list"which is now posted on the NEW Shopbot web page. I think I paid about $30 for a 30'by 15"roll...
For getting clean edges on V carved letters/shapes – Avery A1828-S-C
Sold by www.harborsales.net (http://www.harborsales.net),
OR to find a distributor- www.signage.averygraphics.com (http://www.signage.averygraphics.com)

[boxbuilder]

Thanks Bill...I haven't seen that link on the new website yet but I haven't had much time to explore. I'll take a look at it now.

[matt_r]

I'll second Bill's recommendation on the Avery Sign Mask. I get it from my local sign materials supplier, and I can buy it by the yard. Also I like Jay's recommend on the Deft. Good stuff. I also think the buffing is a good idea too.

[mikejohn]

Scott
I get good results with what we over here call "sticky backed plastic".
An 18" (450m) wide roll, 49' (15m) long costs $20.
We had to learn how to use it. Paint has to be well dry before sticking it down, but we only use one of these plastic scraper things (don't know what they are called) to flatten it.
We had enormous problems when it was -20ºC outside, and penguins were coming in to warm themselves around a totally inadequate fire.
Since then we have made certain the temperature is above 10ºC. We have also found that gently heating the plastic before stripping it off (just standing out in direct sunlight for 10 minutes is plenty, no blow-torch stuff!!) makes it come off very easy. And we get real crisp edges.
For some reason patterned plastic has also caused us small problems, but since going to plain colours it works a treat, for me. I believe others have had different experiences though.

..............Mike