Learn the art of signwriting!

A new client last year gave us the opportunity to do some gilding for an art gallery in St James Square, London. Recently we have also hand painted some large yellow suns in Marylebone and Notting Hill in memory of a famous café owner. Then we were asked to work at Sally Clarke’s in Kensington. This is a coffee shop, selling all hand made food and pastries and they have a restaurant over the road. This month is 40 years since the shop was set up and they are opening a café on the corner. We were asked to water gild lettering and lines on 4 windows with 2 sets of lettering – Clarke’s Corner Café. Removal of existing gold leaf and back painted glass, although sad enabled the new designs for the windows to be started. Lots of glass cleaning and scraping, both sides of course so no errors are made assuming a blemish is on the outside, then it isn’t! We used a different approach with these designs as the coachline was at its longest 1700mm. We applied removable vinyl lines and lettering to the glass and then painted over this in gloss paint. While it was drying, within 30 mins we removed the vinyl leaving clear glass. The next day, when all dry, we degreased the clear glass again and started gilding the clear lines. Carefully cutting each loose leaf into 4 we could then carefully lift these onto the glass that we have just dripped the gold size onto. Bearing in mind, each gold leaf cut into 4 lengths covered approximately 320mm. This is a process that just cant be rushed as even the slightest breath can blow the gold leaf off the gilding pad or even if someone opens a door! Normally this process would involve gilding straight onto the glass then signwriting the letters and detail over the back, cleaning off the surrounding gold then back paint over all this. Some people are against using modern technology with old processes, but I truly believe that if it achieves the end result and a better result then why not. Gilding these lines was a real task, knowing that the next day we had to gild them again to cover any gaps. It does play with your head a bit as its such a long process where in some cases you can’t see the end. However, when done again and you walk outside and see the solid gold finish, it gives so much satisfaction especially when the public ask and comment how beautiful it all is. The 3rd day was finishing off the lines and then gilding the letters, twice of course. 4th and final day was to burnish all the gold, checking for any gaps. It was handy getting to site at 630am in the dark so with the lights on inside it made it easier to spot any. We then marked these with tape and gilded. Turning up the heating in the shop allowed the gold to dry quick. Final job was to mask up all round and then repaint all over each design in gloss black, laying off vertically so no runs. Water gilding is a slow process that can’t be rushed, it can be painful when gilding with gaps and gold blowing in the slightest breeze, but when finished gives so much pleasure to myself seeing the end result that will be there for years to come. Satisfactions is guaranteed. 😊

Having the opportunity to work with Pret doing all the signwriting for their Southern outlets, we soon realised how they loved signwriting on painted brick. These projects involve smaller 100mm letters up to 200mm letters painted onto brickwork. We use our paper pounce that is an outline of the letters with holes and use a pounce pad that is filled with charcoal or chalk that we rub over the drawing and it transfers the outline for us to follow. Now, these bricks aren’t real, they are brick slips, fibreglass and in some cases very distressed. They are not like old painted brick that becomes smooth with paint over the years. Using a brush over the brick gives a very rough outline of where and how the letter is formed and then we use a very small, and in some cases a tired old 3mm long brush to then fill in and push the paint into the gaps. This can take time. Lots of these Pret jobs are refurbishments so they are open during the day and we work at night and so you have to finish what you started, there is no chance of leaving half a message! One particular message, 5 lines of letters took me 5 hours to signwrite, total commitment to the job in hand, the trick is to focus and relax. Something not that easy with sciatica but a conversation with my wife, taking my mind off pain helped immensely. Signwriting is a very intimate thing – as it's just you, a brush and a wall, and the world carries on behind you as it does on these jobs with people doing other works or installing signs. At the end of the night, you can look back and admire what you have achieved and soak up all the nice comments you received while signwriting. Then, there is the 6½ hour brick. This is exactly the same message, same size, colour and 5 lines of text, the only difference is the brick. On this wall the brick is very open and porous and therefore when signwriting, the outline of the letter only puts a small amount of paint down which means more filling in with the old tired brush! I was there all night on this and so it didn’t matter. However, one thing worth remembering when pricing this type of work is that not all bricks are the same and if you are not able to see the brick type then allow for the worst case scenario, I teach this to my students all the time. The smaller lettering, normally in blue, with a red star can take 2-3 hours. The other week when on a Pret job I was told I have ‘patience of a saint’ and I agree. 😊