Crumley Inspired

[khaos]

Here is the sign I made in HDU that was inspired from his Hemingway sign. I went with a less is more idea but without the flourish it looked like a pretty girl with a big forehead you couldn't look away from.

5849

5850

5851

Q1 2008 PRS96 with a lowly Porter Cable
5ips
16k rpm
1/8th in bullnose

Next onto the paint and the 23K guess I have to learn to guild ... [yikes]

[joe]

Congratulations Joe. Good Job.

I like your sign just like it is. As a matter of face I'm making another Hemingway panel and will leave it monotone.

Two suggestions. When gilding letters, the more sidewall the more difficult it is to get a clean looking job. Brush skill comes into play. Second, get some assistance when starting out with gilding. It's very easy once you've got the right materials and know what to look for.

See if there is a local sign shop in your area who has a "Letterhead" member who's willing to assist. Let me know your location and perhaps I can file a fellow gilder in your area.

Joe


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5853

[cbradshaw]

Joe,

Can you explain what is happening in the bottom photo. What is that aparatus?

Also, I am assuming that both of these signs have been primed after machinig, I have never seen white HDU, am I correct or is this a different material?

Thanks,

Carroll

[joe]

Carroll,

After the router finished up the area clearance, I took a small pneumatic sander and sanded down the letters to the desired height.

Yes I could have done this with the CNC but I couldn't visualise the height I wanted. You see, art is like that. There isn't a proper height. It's all up to your taste. I often reverse course if it pleases me.

Carrol you must buy one of the little sanders. They come from Harbor Freight. The're air powered, variable speed, and oscilating. You can do some deliclate smoothing.

How do you feel about my converting the images over to B&W. Reminds me of the old silver screen from my childhood?

Joe Crumley
www.normansignco.com (http://www.normansignco.com)

[dubliner]

Joe, you look like Albert Steptoe :-)

[khaos]

Joe I live in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Basically very South and very East in Virginia.


Do you find the beveled letters are better or worse than the flat topped ones? Or just different?

[joe]

Joe,

Letters that are beveled, give up half their stroke width. On your letters, this would make them less visable. To avoid this trap, on the Hemiway sign, I textured the letters to make the gold flash. Otherwise it would be best to leave them flat. The texturing was don by applying exterior spackle, by dobbing. I call it moooshiing the spackle down on the top of lettrs. It's a messy job and the spackle gets on everything but a wet papertowell cleans up the background. When dry, I come back with the little sander, above, and smooth down some of the rougher parts.

I hope this makes sence.

Neville,
Who's that?
I hope he's really good looking.

Joe Crumley
www.normansignco.com (http://www.normansignco.com)

[khaos]

Thanks Joe. I am ordering the 23K tonight.

Are these still good choices?
www.letterheadsignsupply.com (http://www.letterheadsignsupply.com)
www.seppleaf.com (http://www.seppleaf.com)

Also, I don't know specifically what I need to order from there...

-Joe

[joe]

Joe,

Either of these are good. For you, it might be easier to call Letterhead Sign Supply. Tell them you are just starting out.

I'd suggest you order LaFranc slow size.
A book or two of 23k I like Italian
A book or two of Carnival Gold (This is cheap imitation gold for trial use.)
A machine #3 or $4 quill. Cheepie is good.
Mineral Spirits.
Brush Oil

Joe

[khaos]

Joe I just ordered from letterhead! 2 months later, I know. Paying work got in the way. :o

Looking forward to figuring it out. Also picked up the book "Gold Leaf Techniques", 4th Edition
Revised by Kent Smith.

If anyone is trolling in here the shipping displayed on the www.letterheadsignsupply.com (http://www.letterheadsignsupply.com)
website is estimated based on the cost. When its packed and shipped shipping cost is the actual amount (sans markup)

[joe]

Joe,

You have a beautiy just as she stands. No reason do anything else. I like your border effect better than mine.

Gilding isn't difficult once you get the brush techniques down and are able to determine just the right time to lay the gold.

Here's a little trick to try. Start with a dixie cut and about 1.8" size in the bottom. Load up your bursh and pallet it out on a phone book. Now lay down a half dozen 1" stripes side by side. Make sure the your lay down the same amount of size with each stroke. Use a piece of plex or glass. What we are doing with this experimet is finding out when the size is ready for the gold.

With Slow size you can let it rest for several hours. Lets say you do this in the evening. The first thing the next morning, apply gold to the first stripe. Then do the same each hour to your each test stripes until you've covered all of them. This could take six or eight hours.

What you should see is a difference is sheen. The dryer the size, the brighter the gold. When size feels too dry it's probably just right. You can let it dry too much though.

Good luck,

Joe
www.normansignco.com (http://www.normansignco.com)

[joe]

My post should say 1/8" of size in the bottom of a dixie cup.

[khaos]

Thanks Joe. I will give that a try. You recommended the slow size so I got the LeFranc 12 hour. I also got a book of carnival gold to practice with and get a 'feel' for the process.

-Joe

[gabepari]

5854

I knew it!!! Joe doesn't even have a Shopbot. He's been fooling you guys all along. I think he just buys these signs from China and then sands and paints 'em. What a scam


I envy you guys that can charge good money for signs. I've quoted a few and was laughed at, only to find out that they later spent more somewhere else.

Nice work,

Gabe

[joe]

Gabe,

I love the term "Good Money".

There's a trick to selling these signs. You have to make samples so the customer knows what to expect. I've been harping on this for years. It's the secret for profitable sales.

Woops my shipment from China just arrived, I have to help the delivery fellow get them off the truck.

[khaos]

made a little more progress and I painted the thing. The white is as it will be and the other letters will get the gold leaf after I paint them a gold base.

[joe]

Joe,

My complements.

Would you mind if I add a little criticism and suggested fixes.

Imagine a dark green slab of marble. The lines in stone are not continuious. They come and go, even dissapear. If you drag a feather, dipped in paint, you'll see a more natural look. When I use the airbrush it's to change spot area's. Nothing wrong with what you've done so far but I'd go a little further. Now is you're play time. Keep some paint thinner handy and be willing to make some mistakes. I often use a 2" disposable chip brush. Shorten it up by 1" to make a splater too. Dip in paint, and with your index finger, flip the paint to speckle the suface. If you don't like the look, wipe it off. You've got to get sloppy at this stage. You gotta let go to imitate mother nature.

To finish up I'd mix a topcoat of clear and black together to darken the panel. You could also mix in a little dark green. You'll be getting a little extra transparent depth like the real thing.


Wish we were closer to finsh her up. It would be fun.

Joe Crumley

[khaos]

Great ideas. Thats what I will do. My regret with the piece was I didn't have any reference for the marble. I think I will get some pics to get a good feel for it. It was very fun to do to this point. :)

I alway look for comments and critique. How else will I get better? :eek:

[khaos]

... What you should see is a difference is sheen. The dryer the size, the brighter the gold. When size feels too dry it's probably just right. You can let it dry too much though...

Can you put 'fresh' size over size thats too dry?

[joewino]

Yes. (Did you know that you can't answer with just the word Yes - not enough characters) So.....Yes and yes.

[khaos]

yes. (did you know that you can't answer with just the word yes - not enough characters) so.....yes and yes.

10q & 10q ;)

[Greencarvings]

So what are the names of these fonts?

[khaos]

So I have added the gold. Clear coat to follow. I need to paint the backside to avoid curling. I will make a backer out of some extruded PVC and mount on two 4x4s.

[genek]

Joe: What type of paint do you use,, and what brand.. I am learning to make foam signs, bill palumbo is giving me advise. I like how you paint pops out on your signs.. There is no foam distributors within a 6 hour drive one way from my shop.. So i am learning on the blue foam... But would like to make the look as good as i can. Even the blue foam i have to drive 3.5 hours to get.

[khaos]

So what are the names of these fonts?

I dont recall what I used as the base font for the bracey road. But I converted to vectors connected them and made the extra loops. Palace Script maybe.

The private residences I cant find. I dont have the PC anymore that I designed that on... Sorry.

[joe]

Good going Joe,

What a learning experience. You covered lots of territory with this project.

For those of you who haven't worked with ovals, be sure to give yourself reference marks to allow for each installation. Ovals can be difficult to level up.

Here a couple that go back to back.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e115/jcrumley1/IMG_0265.jpg

[khaos]

Joe: What type of paint do you use,, and what brand.. I am learning to make foam signs, bill palumbo is giving me advise. I like how you paint pops out on your signs.. There is no foam distributors within a 6 hour drive one way from my shop.. So i am learning on the blue foam... But would like to make the look as good as i can. Even the blue foam i have to drive 3.5 hours to get.

I believe that regular sign foam is a bit more resistant to thinning agents than the pinks and blues. (read melting) This is 18 pound foam and I am using House of Kolor (http://www.coastairbrush.com/categories.asp?cat=44) paints over Valspar latex enamel. Mileage may vary for mixing paints like this. Since I am airbrushing the HOK paint I am not likely to have an issue. When I spray the catalyzed klear I may ruin the whole sign. :eek: Experimenting. HOK is acrylic lacquer.

The pop in this piece, I believe, comes from 'enough' negative space. IMHO this allows the contrasting colors to stand out. I have decided that I will be re-doing the gold letters. This is because I want to add some green candy to the clear coat to darken the whole piece. I still want the gold to be as bright as possible so an artistic decision had to be made. More work for me but who can I complain to? lol

[khaos]

So what are the names of these fonts?

Private Residences is Algerian :)
HTH