hello from jon, very amateur signwriter-ish

[Nicola McIntosh]

hi jon!! welcome aboard!! 😀

you’ll be clicking your heels after a few days on here, your confidence in doing sign work will grow!! we are a right friendly bunch!! 😛 😛

Nik

[John Singh]

Hi Jon

We all started somewhere

Don’t give up… keep plodding on

Welcome aboard :welcome:

John

[Robert Lambie]

doesnt matter if you cant even sign your name mate.. we dont mind.. just ask away. if we can help you get a reply.. that simple 😉

thank you for taking the time to say hello to us all… we dont get out much you see (puppy-eyes)

:welcome:

[Carrie Brown]

Hi Jon and welcome :welcome:

We all started somewhere …. and Im sure you will get lots of help from here, just don’t be shy to ask anything no matter how trivial you think it might be!!!

Carrie & Steve 😀

[Martin Pearson]

Hi Jon, welcome to the best site around for signmakers, as you can see from the response to your email we are a freindly bunch who dont mind helping out a fellow signmaker if we can. As John says we all had to start somewhere. If you want to learn how to do things then it is best you ask and get some help from some of the experts that use these boards no matter how silly you think the questions are.

[Jill Marie Welsh]

Hi Jon.
That’s how I started back in about 1980….by 1985 I was painting all kinds of signs and I’m still here!
I would say to get yourself some good brushes (someone here can tell you where, as I’m from across the pond) get some good paint such as 1-Shot Lettering enamel, get “Mastering Layout”, a book by the late great Mike Stevens, and you will be off to a good start.
Being “arty” I am sure that you posess a natural eye for color and balance.
Now go and paint your hotdogs! Sounds like a fun job to me.
Love…Jill :dance2:

[J. Hulme]

Wow, Jillbeans with new hair, you look better in every updated piccy!

[sidecar_jon]

well thanks for the replys… currently I’m waiting for some gold shadows to dry on the board…and Ive discovered quite comprehensively that i cant paint a straight line!… with me i paint the letter, touch up the back ground..paint the letter again etc etc…and not having good paint dint help a bit lol… after extensive searching i found one supplier who emailed me that their supplier Had stooped making the stuff…sigh..the net ah, i thought it was about easy updateing of web sites… oh and it looks like i may have a comosion for a pickled mermaid (inclueding some easy signage ie lable….maybe in that horror of horrors…gold lief)

[brian the brush]

Hi John,
Welcome from a traditional signwriter based in Yorkshire.
I can understand your problem at trying to buy signwriters supplies, as the years go by it gets harder to find local suppliers, I am lucky that there are some in my area.You could try ringing painting and decorating suppliers, perhaps they might be able to aquire paint for you ???
PRACTICE, PRACTICE and even more PRACTICE is the only way to learn this trade, there are no shortcuts, get a good quality Sable signwriting brush and PRACTICE, PRACTICE , PRACTICE ! ! !

Brian.
http://www.brian-the-brush.com

[John Singh]

Jon:

Like Brian says Practise makes perfect

One supplier of brushes and one shot enamel paint is Handovers in Leeds Place, North London 020 7272 9624

They’ll send you a catologue

Ask for the product catologue and also the cost list

Some signwriters start of practising with numbers 3 & 5 chisel writers in sable or sable/ox. After a while you will develop your preference.

Keep a bit of petroleum jelly to keep the brushes in shape and supple

Some signwriters work directly from a dipper , others from a pallette board with dipper and mahl stick

I practised years ago on a piece of Melamine. The reason: You can simply wipe out your work (if its still wet) with white spirits and start again.

Don’t forget you can use low tack tape and place at the bottom of letters. This will give you a clean edge but watch for the O’s G’s and S’s and others that need to descend slightly below the base line

You have a long length to the hair on the brush. This is no accident as you need to use the full length in a full stroke. This prevents that jerky edge look you might be dealing with at the moment. Now of course this doesn’t come easy :banghead: but with practise as Brian the Brush says you’ll see what we mean

enjoy it – it great fun :thumbsup:

John

[sidecar_jon]

yes indeed wobbly edges are just one of my problems!.. i must admit to covering them up with…gulp…black felt tip pen! (ok ive said it now) i Just got a long brush and ive found it a good resevoir for lines, tho had to handle. Ive been masking out with “frisk” film, as used by airbrushers everywhere, but as i said the paint creeps and 4″ high “Cornish Ice Cream” is a nightmare when its cut out and all sticky, trying to transfer that to the board…well harry our four year old may have aquired some new words im afraid…stil it has a certain “rustic” / “folk art” charm..i hope.

[AaSk4Stickers]

Hi Jon

I’m a bit tardy, but greetings from Shropshire.

I’ve found that the older I get, the wobblier my edges get (:)

Cheers

Alan

[Paul Goodwin]

Welcome Jon

[Jill Marie Welsh]

Jon you might want to invest in an overhead projector too.
Draw your logo etc. on the transparency with a Sharpie marker
then project it onto your substrate, then trace with charcoal or a Stabilo pencil.
Or draw your logo etc. onto a sheet of paper to make a pattern, then trace over it with a pounce wheel, sand the perforations on the back lightly with sandpaper, then pound chalk or graphite powder thru the pattern.
Or simply trace the pattern in reverse by taping it to a big window and going over the lines on the back with a Stabilo. Dampen your substrate with a fine mist of water or a swipe with a wet rag, then place the pattern over it and rub it down to transfer the markings.
You will get better in time! Either make your own mahl stick with a dowel rod with a taped end or buy one, that should help steady your hand and avoid the wobblies.
Have fun.
Love…Jill

[Paul Rollason]

Hi Jon

Welcome to the boards

We may to have to demand a Cornish flag under our picture at this rate.

I’ll e-mail you one Rob

Paul R(mackerelbus Design)

[sidecar_jon]

Cross of St Piran…well if the scots go thier own , why not…. seems there is not answer to the wobly line but practice…i can see why the vynal people rule the roost signwise.

[Paul Rollason]

Where abouts in Cornwall aree from bird

[sidecar_jon]

Tiz Penryn me andsom..up the borough!

[John Singh]

Thought you had a flag for Cornwall???

Isn’t it the shape of a pastie

Nah come to think of it, it was a cider vat :drink4:

John

I’m a cider drinker, I drinks it all a the time

[Lee Attewell]

How doo Jon,

Must have missed this hello…Hello Welcome to the site

Lee

[sidecar_jon]

Cornish flag is black with a white cross…. cider is more “upcountry” like Zomerzet… pasties are great if you get a good one… and as the rugby chant goes Oggy Oggy Oggy..(pastie pastie paste)

[Paul Rollason]

Hi Jon

We are just down the road in falmouth

Paul R(Mackerelbus Design)

[sidecar_jon]

Paul Rollason….ah but your a pro!… im strictly a dabbler… i bet u have seen a sign ive done and shaken you head sadly lol (i only have done signs for one guy)

[Paul Rollason]

quote sidecar_jon:

Paul Rollason….ah but your a pro!… i

Hardly!

I’ve only been signmaking since January this year

I am but a lowly novice

Paul R(Mackerelbus Design)

[sidecar_jon]

ever bought and ice cream or hot dog off a guy in Truro… id did those..itll make u cringe lol… stil the new one im still strugeling with is better..i hope anyway… my best, some flying tea mugs (with real gold leaf wings) ended up on his house wall as the tea selling dint go well.

[Steve Smith]

Hi Jon and welcome, from one end of the country to t’other.
Can I ask why you have “sidecar” in your name, are you another 3 wheeler? :bike;

[sidecar_jon]

sadly not anymore…23 years on bikes and 10 of them with sidecars.The last one a BMWR80 with watsonian palma. Had to go as our son Harry couldnt travel easily in the chair, cos im a house husband. Couldnt lock a tiny baby on his own in there..So we purchased a micro car (like a moden bubble car idea) And me and harry jet (slowly) round in that..one day ill have another outfit tho…and buld it myself in some frenkenstien’s workshop in the garden (shoudl our flat ever sell that is lol)