hand painted signage: busch lager

[Mike Brown]

…[wolf whistle]…

Tell us a bit about it then ‘ar Steve. Some insight into how the effects are achieved. Not that many of us have ‘the gear’ to do it and so perhaps a general chit-chat overview of the proceedure?

cheers mate – old-looking and beautiful! – the sign that is, not you 😕

more soon

[Pete Witney]

Steve -Beautiful!!!-On a whim I bought some chipping glue but on reading the technical notes that went with it chickened out,As Mike says would be interested to see how You went about it.

[Steve Broughton]

Right start with 6mm plate glass, the scallop effects are done with a tool that nibbles bits of glass out, then the design is cut in vinyl in reverse, stuck on the glass leaving the background exposed protecting the lettering and outlines, the glass is then sandblasted to give the frosted effect, then a special glue is applied, left to harden and then the glass is placed in a chipping cabinet where it is gently heated over a period of time, the heat causes the glue to expand taking “chips” of glass with it giving the effect you see here, then the text is airbrushed with black then red to give a fade.
Next comes the fun bit 😆 the glass is then gilded with loose leaf gold, the same stuff you had a go with at Letterheads Mike,
gold is applied with water size, this is a solution of water and special gilding gelatine, the glass is kept wet and the gold applied with a wide soft brush called a “gilders tip”.
The glass was gilded 3 times after each application it is gently heated with a heat gun to dry the size, as the size dries the gold changes from fairly flat to a brilliant mirror finish, lastly the reverse is painted with gold 1-Shot to protect the gold and hide any small places that were mised by the gilding.
Phew!! Paul will now probably ring to say that I’ve got it all wrong so be prepared for some alterations 😆

[Henry Andrews]

Steve

Blinding stuff.

I didn’t realize you could heat the gold. That must quicken the job. I’ve been leaving them overnight between applications, duh. Lovely airbrush effect too. I’ve been dying to have a go at glue chipping. Where do you get the glue? Can you only do it on interior stuff? It must weaken the glass. I’m only asking ’cause I’ve had a couple of gold jobs recently, but the work is outside, either on facias or windows.

Anyway, absolutely cracking work.

[Robert Lambie]

would mister stevie “b” please take a bow….
lovely work mate… looks great… wish we had a step by step… ide love to see how this kind of thing is done. i saqw a bit at one of the sign shows but didnt stand about long to actualy take anything in…

great work 😉

[brian the brush]

Great job Steve, loose leaf glass gilding is really the dogs bo*****s.
Blaster, I use a hair dryer and can double gild a job and then also back it up all in one day, the trick is to be very carefull not to dry the water size too quick or you might crack the glass, as for the glue chip, the longer you leave the glue on the glass the greater the size of the effect. I have done this type of work on glass that has gone outside and stood up great to the weather, it’s all in the backing up of the job after the gilding.

Brian.

[Pete Witney]

Steve,great, it’s all becoming clear.My technical notes tell you to paint on asphaltam varnish before laying the vinyl ,then after blasting remove the vinyl leaving the varnish as a mask,maybe Brian or Paul can shed some light on that?Also I understand you only need a very lightg blasting,could you achieve the same effect by sanding/abrading?And heating the gold,makes on site glass gilding sound viable.

[Steve Broughton]

Hey wez me piccie gone 🙁

[Joe McNamara]

REAL nice job steve.
Pics often disappear after a few days………….rob?
joe

[Martin Pearson]

Wheres Steves picture gone Robert ?
I have logged on a couple of times now to have a look at this job, especially after some of the comments people have made but to my dissapointment it still isnt here.

[Steve Broughton]

Try again

[Steve Broughton]

!?!

[Steve Broughton]

BUMP!!!!!!!

[Martin Pearson]

Well it took long enough but it was worth waiting to see. Great job Steve, I know you said you didnt do most of it but all the same it is a cracking sign and one I would be proud to display in my lobby.

[Fat Bob]

Hi Steve

I can see this one and its a Stormer of a sign…Its times like this I know Iwill only be mediocre man for the rest of my life. But I am a Git for Details and I Know you dont want praise all your life or it gets boring.(and your head gets so it wont fit in your hat)

So I have to say… and I now the answers going to be its only in my workshop
Could you take those horrible Brass things off the Back board and put some concealed fixings on it (I dont mean the corners..the ones holding it to the wall) Then What can I say perfection (Allegedly). 😆

Luv …FB

[Steve Broughton]

Ah well you can’t please all the people all trhe time, how do I do concealed fixings then smart arse 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆