Saturday... time to clean the kit

[Arlo Kalon 2.0]

During my last heyday of sign painting in the early 80's I used to spend time on Saturday cleaning out my sign kit from the previous weeks work... oiling brushes, etc.. This is a kit I got at an estate sale a few years back. The painter who owned it died in the early 70's. I picked this up for $200. My wife was furious with me until I inventoried the brushes at nearly $2,000 worth. There was every size grey quill imaginable up to jumbos, and several small to large grey truck flats. There were more cutters and fitches than I could use for the rest of my life. I tore off the ripped black leatherette covering, revealing nice stained wood. These are a few pics of striping and lettering I did on it. The "Junior's Farm" lettering is from something my brother who worked with me always used to say at quitting time - "it's time to go down to Jumior's Farm" - meaning a bar. It's from Paul McCartnet's song Take Me Down To Junior's Farm.

I decided to get the kit out today and relive my Saturday routine by cleaning and oiling all the brushes as I plan to try and do as much sign PAINTING as I can now. Working on the brushes brought back a flood of great memories. I look forward to being in the zone again where ya have a brush in hand and hours go by without you noticing them. Only sign painters can relate to this, but I know there are a lot of you here. How about some pics of your kit?

I took the pic of the kit closed up to show the rubber step on top of it. I can stand on this to letter windows or sit on it for truck doors. Can't wait to see what it's gonna be like to try and promote sign painting again to customers. In the early 80's after I got my Signmaker 4, I remember having to talk til I was blue in the face to convince customers to try vinyl lettering. I'm betting it will be worse than that now trying to sell them on hand lettering.

 

[round man]

hey,...that looks like mine except sumbody did squiggley stuff all oper it,....damn fine gerstner sign kit my fine sir

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

Nice sign kit likes that you can sit or stand on it and anything made of good wood and craftsmanship is enjoyable just to see like your pinstriping nice
I just bought a new signkit well a older steal box that will well hold up to abuse of bouncing around in truck and rain resisted for $20.... now to start cleaning and sanding to repainting

My old signkit was a plastic fishing box .but since I'm restarting again with a better attitude about hand lettering a new signkit was in order lol

 

[Arlo Kalon 2.0]

Wow Craig... that's an awesome box. I hear ya on the new attitude about sign painting. I've read numerous times there is a renaissance going on in sign painting, but I haven't seen it around here. Still get the occasional big wall job though. I think those of us who can paint but got into vinyl early on just let our customers forget about hand lettering. I find nothing about creating vinyl signs to be enjoyable or fulfilling at all. Compared to hand lettering, it's mind numbing. With what the major franchises are getting for vinyl signs now, I think painted signs could be quite profitable. Plus, I think enough customers have experienced failures with cheap vinyl jobs that the benefits of painted signs might really appeal to them. At least that's what I'm hoping for.

 

[surf city]

Very cool Dave.

 

[artsnletters]

what a killer find! WOW! God knows that like most everything these days, they don't make 'em like they used to, including brushes. Nice work on the box.
Tim

Ps heres my old box...i seriously doubt i could stand on mine though...

 

[OldPaint]

craig i gave away a box just like that to my sister in law. the lower corners of the top trays.........all got holes at the bottom!!!! would have to line em with alum foil to store oiled brushes. i got a bigger one from SCOTTY'S back inthe 80's. has a top take out tray, with a lower pull out drawe. in the bottom i can put cans of paint, sticks, and pallette plates and the whole box is just the right hiegth to sit on)))))))
i also got an older sign guys paint kit, plenty of brushes(langnickles)and a one of a kind 3 inch HARRISON FITCH.

 

[3dsignco]

Nice Kit Arlo.. I just bought a new Kit to retire the old POS Home Depot Box I had. I'm not ready to sell Hand Painted Signs.. YET. But I do do a lot of Gold on Glass work so this is what I primarily bought mine for. Looking forward to going to Danville to learn more about wall doggin also.

Couldn't pass it up at $99 at Harbor Freight

 

[Arlo Kalon 2.0]

Nice Kit Arlo.. I just bought a new Kit to retire the old POS Home Depot Box I had. I'm not ready to sell Hand Painted Signs.. YET. But I do do a lot of Gold on Glass work so this is what I primarily bought mine for. Looking forward to going to Danville to learn more about wall doggin also.

Couldn't pass it up at $99 at Harbor Freight

That looks great for a gold leaf kit. I adapted the carrying case from a K-11 Cutawl once as a gold kit. Wish I still had it although there isn't much call for window gilding in Texas with all the tinted windows.

 

[SignosaurusRex]

Nice find!

 

[artsnletters]

Nice Kit Arlo.. I just bought a new Kit to retire the old POS Home Depot Box I had. I'm not ready to sell Hand Painted Signs.. YET. But I do do a lot of Gold on Glass work so this is what I primarily bought mine for. Looking forward to going to Danville to learn more about wall doggin also.

Couldn't pass it up at $99 at Harbor Freight

is that a standard thing at Harbor Freight? Meaning available at all of them? I 'll have to look at my local one and see...I want one! That is way cool....
Tim

 

[threads1]

I just looked at this box @Harbor and it's on sale for $69.99. I getting one myself. Way cool.

 

[signage]

Here's a link if anyone else is looking.

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

Arlo.. you might be right about Hand Lettering being re-looked at as a trade and a means of advertising and a art form since lately been seeing alot more of the younger start pinstriping and a interest in learning lettering, also since vinyl does not hold up as well as lettering paint after clear coated, yes seasoned business people are starting want more hand lettering, besides the rich look of a hand crafted advertisement presents a very stunning image.

My next thing to do on my new sign kit is also find some thin aluminum to make a cover for the side that has none and add two trays for more brushes to sit in, the trays with small boxes I'm not sure what to do yet some I'll keep but un-known how many I'll cut up and remove yet.

 

[Arlo Kalon 2.0]

Arlo.. you might be right about Hand Lettering being re-looked at as a trade and a means of advertising and a art form since lately been seeing alot more of the younger start pinstriping and a interest in learning lettering, also since vinyl does not hold up as well as lettering paint after clear coated, yes seasoned business people are starting want more hand lettering, besides the rich look of a hand crafted advertisement presents a very stunning image.

My next thing to do on my new sign kit is also find some thin aluminum to make a cover for the side that has none and add two trays for more brushes to sit in, the trays with small boxes I'm not sure what to do yet some I'll keep but un-known how many I'll cut up and remove yet.

When I was a pinstriper at a major motorcycle manufacturer we were constantly being bugged by guys wanting to learn to pinstripe... only one out of the dozen or so we tried made it into production work. I WISH a young person would want me to teach them to hand letter... computers came along before I ever got the chance. I think hand lettering went into a two decade drought since the early 80's and the Gerber Signmakers. This was largely with the cooperation of sign painters who switched to vinyl early on. Sort of like being the Painter Who Fell From Grace With The Brush (for anyone old enough to know what I'm referencing here).

I would add that a hand lettered sign only has a "rich look" depending on the degree of ability of the sign painter. I personally always feel WAAAY more motivated to be creative with a hand painted sign than sitting at a computer banging out vinyl layouts. I was fortunate enough to have been trained by 3 or 4 top notch lettering artists. A guy named Dock Wootten made the biggest lasting impression on me... mostly for the effort he put into color combinations. He also was the one who stressed that I learn to make vertical strokes slightly concaved because as he said "the round human eyeball will make it appear straight". And he was right - my concaved strokes looked much more pleasing than when I chased a line drawn with a ruler. Little nuances like that are what gives hand lettering its appeal to fellow human beings. I have yet to see any computer generated signs that didn't overall have an inherent sterility to them (with the notable exception of when SteveC's SignFonts are used - which for the most part began as hand lettered fonts). I'm so excited I'm going to go out to the shop and do some Beginner practicing of lettering alphabets today - just HAVE to have a brush in my hand before this day is over!

 

[ddubia]

I haven't lettered or striped much of anything over the past 10 years. I agree that the fulfillment one gets from hand lettering just isn't there when knocking out vinyl signs.

Four years ago when I started working at my current job the owner took me around to meet some of our vendors. Upon finding out I'm an old sign painter nearly all of them made the remark "You guys are a dying breed".

Good to see the "dying breed" ain't dead yet.

 

[Arlo Kalon 2.0]

I haven't lettered or striped much of anything over the past 10 years. I agree that the fulfillment one gets from hand lettering just isn't there when knocking out vinyl signs.

Four years ago when I started working at my current job the owner took me around to meet some of our vendors. Upon finding out I'm an old sign painter nearly all of them made the remark "You guys are a dying breed".

Good to see the "dying breed" ain't dead yet.

I've wondered a time or two if artists thought they were a dying breed with the advent of photography. You can take a landscape photo of a scene and have a good artist paint the same thing. The artist's work appeals to a deeper aspect in humanity than the photo.

Many people never had a concept of there being someone who created signs with brush in hand before computers came along. My wife, who is a teacher, was once asked by her colleagues what I did for a living. She said "he paints signs". One of them added "but what does he do for a LIVING?". I remember once being on a sign painting road trip with one of the first master painters I trained with. We stopped into a bar and a guy asked us who we were/what we did. My friend said "we're sign painters". The guy asked increduously "and you make a living doing THAT?"

The dying breed part is kind of a funny thought. As long as there is anybody who wants to paint signs, painted signs will exist. I really don't think a customer would care if I sold them a 4x8 and hand lettered it (as long as it was a tight, well executed job). I can't see them saying to me "I'm not paying for this. I specifically wanted vinyl letters". Trucks would be a different story. I can only think of a few customers I've had for years who would still agree to painting lettering on their trucks. That would only be because they keep them until they fall apart completely. Several trucks in one fleet have badly deteriorated, cracked vinyl on them. I was asked to redo a few of them and after I quoted what I wanted for cleaning off the old vinyl they decided to keep living with the old lettering. A repaint would be a simple matter in that case and lots cheaper.

Anybody got any other selling points for promoting hand lettering again?

 

[artsnletters]

i have the downside to lettering and striping trucks "old school"...I truly hate the longevity (or lack of) as well as the opacity of One-Shot Maroon, Dark Brown, Purple, some Reds and a few more i'm sure i'm missing. I've lettered and striped trucks to have them chalk and fade less than 4 years later. Boats are not so much a problem as most i do end up under a cover or in a garage. Shame that the formula has had to change so much. I also wish i had the foresight (more like the money) to stockpile the leaded One-Shot as some of my local stripers/letterers did. The old stuff worked so much better.
Tim

 

[Arlo Kalon 2.0]

iI also wish i had the foresight (more like the money) to stockpile the leaded One-Shot as some of my local stripers/letterers did. The old stuff worked so much better.
Tim

I hear ya on the re-formulation of the paint. A local supplied decided to stop carrying 1 Shot a year or two back. They offered me $3,000 of the leaded formulation for $300. I didn't have it because it was right after a surgery and I wasn't able to work for months. It would have been nearly a lifetime inventory for me. Always kicked myself for not having just used a credit card. Never have a chance like that again.

 

[OldPaint]

HOUSE OF COLOR.............is what most pinstripers are now using. heres a good link.
http://inflite.tripod.com/