posted
I just did my first official gold-leaf-on-glass job and I couldn't have done it without my Letterhead friends.
Surface gold has never been a problem, but glass gold always scared the heck out of me. When you watch people like Noel Weber, Griz, Daddy Finegold, David Smith, Terry Colley, Billy and John (this list could go on and on) lay gold, you realize just what a special talent it is.
I've never aspired to be a gilder, but when I got a chance to re-do a window that had been broken by a couple of drunks who decided to duke it out one night in front of a restaurant with 8" gold leaf letters, my ego said GO FOR IT. The sensible portion of my brain hadn't gotten to work yet, but the "earn while you learn" program has always been compelling.
Once the price was arrived at, (another scary problem) I feverishly read all the pertinent chapters in Kent Smith's book and mentally went over all the knowledge I had soaked in through many Letterhead meet seminars and demos - at that point, I realized I was hopelessly up the creek and decided to call Billy Pickett, a talented Letterhead who graciously offered to present the glass gold seminar at our Dixie Meet in 2006. Billy went over the basics and gave me some great tips (after giving me grief for missing his seminar) but his pep talk was most reassuring.
I worked from 9:30 am until 10 that evening, no breaks, and got the gold and the backing on the window. The next day, I cleaned the excess gold and added the 2 color shadow as well as another smaller line of copy - this was also a very long 11 hour day. At one point, in the afternoon of the first day when I began considering scraping the whole thing off and running away, a small sparrow with grayish feathers landed on the window sill outside and gave me a weird look while cocking his head from side to side. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I think he was saying (in an Australian accent), "Quit your worries, mate, and just get on with it. By the way, have you heard the one about....." OK, maybe the turp fumes were starting to get to me.
The owner of the restaurant wanted the whole graphic covered with a clear, so I tried finding the Chromatic product Kent Smith recommends in the book. That search took me to Ron Percell, who gave me a suitable, and easily obtainable, alternative. Another person I'd like to mention here is Urban Billmeier, owner of W&B Gold Leaf in Chicago and a Letterville merchant. He sent everything at the last minute so I'd have a little practice time over the weekend before I showed up at the restaurant to pretend I knew what I was doing. He's a wonderful guy and sells the finest gold I've ever used.
Thanks to Billy, John, Urban and Ron for their help and encouragement - I couldn't have done it without you......
-------------------- www.signcreations.net Sonny Franks Lilburn, GA 770-923-9933 Posts: 4115 | From: Lilburn, GA USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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great story... need help with the pics? let me know if you do...
By the way, don't feel too bad about missing Billy's seminar in Dixie... it was awesome, & inspirational... very informative... well prepared, well executed, and well... well done..
but if I had to gild glass today... I don't remember a thing about that seminar
I do remember having way too much fun in dixie though!
posted
I saw that billy seminar too. I got the books and i got the gold.. and i did a few..
He did a good job.
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5274 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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Sonny, you just made my day (wiping a little tear away). Thats exactly what Dad would have said, I don't know how many times he said that to me. Great to see someone putting into practise what they have learned at a meet. Please post some photos for us.
-------------------- Paul Jordan Jordan Signs http://jordansigns.com.au paul@jordansigns.com.au Australia "We don't stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing" George Bernard Shaw, I think. Posts: 166 | From: Caringbah, N.S.W., Australia | Registered: Nov 1999
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Ooh yes, pictures please. How fabulous to get the opportunity to fling some gold around. It sounds like you had a lot of fun figuring it all out and getting it done. Good for you.
I too have heard "Aussie John" say just that sort of thing! I miss him too. Looking forward to flinging some gold around myself soon at the Australian meet.
-------------------- Anne McDonald 17 Karnak Crescent Russley Christchurch 8042 New Zealand
"I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure" Posts: 877 | From: Christchurch | Registered: Sep 2006
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...Thank You Sonny! You were definitely jumping into the 'deep end' w. 8" letters for your first glass gold job! I'm glad you pulled it off. See, it's wasn't so hard, was it? ...Now youze a GILDER!!! ...go do another one.
posted
as an interesting aside, I found some 'gold' on ebay a few months ago. It was loose leaf stuff, the same size as our standard stuff. The advert said it was 24 ct. The price was $36 for 100 leaves- too good to be true???
I figured I'd confirm with the seller that it really was 24 ct- she said yes, her mum's partner is a Russian & he uses it to gild religious icons etc etc.
So I bid on it, and got it.
It looks like gold. It behaves like gold. I figured I'd test it in a bit of ferric chloride which is an etching solution, so I poured a bit into a chinese food dish (after eating the food first, of course), dropped a bit of real gold in as a 'control', and it sat there. I poked it under, and it sat there. I dropped a bit of this ebay gold in and it vanished in about three seconds! I tried a bit more- poof- dissolved instantly like icing sugar. I got some more real gold, just to make sure it didn't and it sat there, untainted. I took a bit of silver leaf, and it slowly dissolved, but this ebay stuff vanished like a spark in a bonfire. Goodness knows what it was made of.
I contacted the seller & told her how unimpressed I was, but that I'd decided to keep the stuff for some kids' projects as it was cheap enough, but that she ought to be more careful with false advertising like that, saying it was real 24 ct stuff. She did offer me an apologetic refund though.
It'll be interesting to try it on glass sometime, & see how it holds up.
Well done, Mr Dodecahedron!
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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One day just before Christmas several years back, I received a package from some other planet in my mailbox. It was a gift of one of John Jordan's gold brushes. I had been trying to imitate the process that he did with a shoe brush I purchased at Salvation Army with some success. I fondly contemplate our times together every time I use it.
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6716 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Sonny, the next lesson will be doing 14K matte macaroni centers, burnished 23K outlines and split blended shades, LOL. Great job dude!!
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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