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I just finished doing some hand lettering on a truck door. Its been about 5 years since I lettered. Oh My God...does it ever come back. I'm vinyl spoiled. I won't give it up. I lettered about 25 years free hand and I know its in there somewhere. It wasn't a total disaster, I mean it looked OK, but it sure wasn't my best. Maybe I'm asking too much now that I'm older and my hands shake a little. It was fine like I said but it wasn't my best. who am I trying to fool...you or me. If it wasn't my best it wasn't good enough. Thats why I started over. all I'm using is a simple brush script and some one stroke little letters.
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Sometimes when I haven't hand lettering in a while, the night before, I whips out a quill and do a a few strokes. Think of it like when musicians warm up before a gig. Jus gotta warm up.
-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3816 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
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Hi, Funny how you never loose 'it'. The guy who I was an apprentice too would have a really shakey hand as he got older, until he picked up a signwriting brush then as if by magic the shake stopped and the paint flowed !! We are so lucky to have these fabulous skills and that we can make a living pushing paint !!
-------------------- Brian the Brush brian the brush uk Yorkshire, UK www.brianthebrushuk.com Posts: 123 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Sep 2001
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I must be some kind of addict... I honestly don't know how someone who CAN hand letter can stand not doing so for very long. I look forward to jobs that come in the shop that give me an option to hand letter. Often I do that on "quickie" signs, especially ones that can be done on alubond or something else that doesn't need much prep, or on vehicles or boats.
On quite a few jobs I use the plotter to make patterns; this way I can do a fairly complex design that can be re-created as a logo for other uses, but the sign is still hand-lettered. Some years ago I bought a used 30" plotter that couples up with my old 4b - the 4b cuts vynull but the big plotter is exclusively for pounce patterns. This allows me to avoid the tedious work of laying out copy and making patterns by hand, but I still get to do the brushwork.
Brushwork also gives me infinite color options without having to stock a lot of vynull, especially in colors I don't use as much.
-------------------- "A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
Cam Bortz Finest Kind Signs Pondside Iron works 256 S. Broad St. Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379 "Award winning Signs since 1988" Posts: 3051 | From: Pawcatuck,Connecticut USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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People used to ask me how I had such a steady hand. I always told them, it wasn't the hand...it was steady eyes. You got to see it, before you can paint it.
Buddy, you can get back in the groove...just keep making the effort. It's worth something to keep your brush wet.
-------------------- Jeff Ogden 8727 NE 68 Terr. Gainesville FL, 32609 Posts: 2138 | From: 8827 NE 68 Terr Gainesville Fl 32609 | Registered: Aug 2002
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Jeff, You are right about seeing it. I hand letter full time and use very little vinyl. 160,000 windshields later, it really is about seeing or imagining where it is going. Try doing large scale showrrom windows with a 9" roller in script or even a respectable thick thin serif. Whether it is with a tiny quill or a big roller, it is all still about seeing the letters.
I have been experimenting with using one shot lettering with hardener on aluminum panels to do my Kansas landscapes. Using some dry brush techniques and some line work with the quills has become very interesting. Modeling one shot has always been a tricky event, but gradually, I am getting the hang of it.
People ask me how I learned how to hand letter. I tell them it just takes persistence and practise. It amazes me how this has become such a lost art. Sure, vinyl and computers do marvelous and tight work, but a beautiful hand lettered sign still grabs my eyeballs.
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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My arm is killing me after two 8x16 logos on stucco walls...out of shape for the large stuff.
-------------------- Kent Smith Smith Sign Studio P.O.Box 2385, Estes Park, CO 80517-2385 kent@smithsignstudio.com Posts: 1025 | From: Estes Park, CO | Registered: Nov 1998
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warming up for a glass gold job...trimmed a Handover to do thinner outlining...Decor Black...matte centres.... "you never forget how to fall off a bike..."
-------------------- John Lennig / Big Top Sign Arts 5668 Ewart Street, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada bigtopya@hotmail.com 604.451.0006 Posts: 2184 | From: Burnaby, British Columbia,Canada | Registered: Nov 2001
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Did you ever stop to think that as there are less people who can hand letter, the demand will grow and the price should grow with it. Don't give it up. Bill
-------------------- Bill Riedel Riedel Sign Co., Inc. 15 Warren Street Little Ferry, N.J. 07643 billsr@riedelsignco.com Posts: 2953 | From: Little Ferry, New Jersey, USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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Last week Megan and I were up on a plank lettering a stucco wall, and I leaned her way and whispered my thought..."I wonder how much I'd pay them to let me have this much fun?"
I think that is how it should be when we're doing our right livelihood.
-------------------- 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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Like the Doctor says " Use it or loose it" Keep on paintin'!
-------------------- Alan Johnson Alan Johnson Grafix Blairstown, NJ 07825 [URL=http://www.alanjohnsongrafix.com] Posts: 261 | From: Blairstown, NJ | Registered: Dec 2001
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