new sign with an old look

[tulsagraphics]

Hey folks!

My customer has a very old sign (one of their original signs from about 25 years ago)... recently had to pull it down due to rotting. It's a 4ft x 6ft double-sided plywood face with hand-painted artwork (top only bracket mount -- swings over their sidewalk).

All their other signage has been updated over the years (nice, modern look), but they want this sign to retain it's old/worn appearance.

How would you go about making a new sign like this-- hopefully with better materials for durability? I was thinking maybe some routed HDU panels to recreate the plywood texture and using stencils for painting the letters. However, this type of project is -- for the most part -- outside my wheelhouse. I suppose another option could be recreating it using the exact same materials, then seal it like crazy and just keep replacing the panel as needed (?) In any case, if we go with HDU then I would need to locate someone that can produce it for us. Thoughts / suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Billct2]

Cool sign, I'd love to reproduce this.
I build it as originally made. That must have been some cheap plywood though.
I 'd probably use better plywood for the background and age it a bit. Same for the frame, maybe pressure treated & stained. And
I'd cap it to keep water off the top edge. Then I'd hand letter it. With a good pattern taken off the original
even someone with minimal skills could probably do that. One change I'd make it to set it up with hangers, not screw eyes.
If they want it to last longer they should wash and wax it a few times a year

 

[JBurton]

If I had a choice, I'd make it from some heavily frosted acrylic in a signcomp extrusion, and mount painted aluminum letters to each side, use a blue light to give it a bit of a glow after dark.
But I'll bet they'd love this just like Bill said, original. Just add a metal frame and through bolt lifting eye bolts and shackle it up.

 

[Bobby H]

Where is the finished sign going to be displayed? Inside the restaurant/bar or outdoors? If it's going to be mounted indoors and visible to patrons fairly up close I would use a wood panel and maybe even go so far as to seal the wood and hand paint the graphics on it. If the panel is going to be viewed outside HDU or other materials can be used. Graphics can be digital printed (and contour cut if necessary).

 

[tulsagraphics]

Cool sign, I'd love to reproduce this.
I build it as originally made. That must have been some cheap plywood though.
I 'd probably use better plywood for the background and age it a bit. Same for the frame, maybe pressure treated & stained. And
I'd cap it to keep water off the top edge. Then I'd hand letter it. With a good pattern taken off the original
even someone with minimal skills could probably do that. One change I'd make it to set it up with hangers, not screw eyes.
If they want it to last longer they should wash and wax it a few times a year

Thanks for the info. Yeah... this sign was made super cheap. 2x4 frame w/ 2 sheets of 3/8" plywood on each side, hand painted and trimmed out. These days they spend a pretty good chunk on very nice signs / graphics... but this is one of their only originals.
I wonder how one could age plywood... maybe a high powered pressure washer w/ one of those spinning nozzle tips? and a stain? If so, I'm thinking I could make a stencil of the logo (they rebuilt it in vector format) out of sandblast masking to protect the face during the pressure wash -- then a reverse mask for the actual hand painting -- then seal it like crazy. Hmmm...

 

[tulsagraphics]

If I had a choice, I'd make it from some heavily frosted acrylic in a signcomp extrusion, and mount painted aluminum letters to each side, use a blue light to give it a bit of a glow after dark.
But I'll bet they'd love this just like Bill said, original. Just add a metal frame and through bolt lifting eye bolts and shackle it up.

Oh yeah, that'd be fun. I wish I had the creative freedom to go that route.

 

[tulsagraphics]

Where is the finished sign going to be displayed? Inside the restaurant/bar or outdoors? If it's going to be mounted indoors and visible to patrons fairly up close I would use a wood panel and maybe even go so far as to seal the wood and hand paint the graphics on it. If the panel is going to be viewed outside HDU or other materials can be used. Graphics can be digital printed (and contour cut if necessary).

It's staying outside, over the sidewalk near their front door. I would like to explore the HDU option if it's not too crazy expensive (maybe a 2.5" square tubing frame w/ a sheet of HDU attached to each side), but I imagine recreating the plywood texture could be a bit challenging. (no idea, just guessing -- probably a lot of machine time)

 

[damonCA21]

Because of it being so old and obviously hand made for them way back, possibly by the original owner, I would be tempted to try and conserve the original. Stabilise the wood, varnish the front, maybe even install a clear acrylic panel over the original artwork etc...

If the outer frame is too far gone then you could replace this and make a new one for the original artwork panel to be installed on.

 

[jochwat]

I would suggest they keep the original sign untouched and kept on display inside, and make a new version of the sign for outdoor use in the same way as all of their other updated signage.

 

[jfiscus]

If the replacement sign is going to be hanging 5-10 ft away... You can use a nice "real" camera (not a cell phone) and take a good straight-on shot. Then touch it up as necessary in Photoshop and reprint it and affix it to aluminum (or whatever substrate) and use a nice matte (or maybe even a textured) laminate. They can keep the original and put it indoors somewhere nice.

 

[tulsagraphics]

If the replacement sign is going to be hanging 5-10 ft away... You can use a nice "real" camera (not a cell phone) and take a good straight-on shot. Then touch it up as necessary in Photoshop and reprint it and affix it to aluminum (or whatever substrate) and use a nice matte (or maybe even a textured) laminate. They can keep the original and put it indoors somewhere nice.

Yep yep. I have considered that.