Super fine letters NOT made of vinyl..

[fine point]

Hi all.
I am a newbie, so please go easy on me.

I went to a Brooklyn Museum of Art today and saw texts on the walls look like cut vinyl but with much finer lines.

They had CAD cut vinyls for exhibition titles and bigger letters but for smaller letters, they used this unknown (to me) medium.

-They look like directly printed on the walls
-Some of the lines are less than 1mm wide.
-Extremely clean
-It's flat to touch but not painted (some letters were peeled and tunneled).

Does anyone know what I am talking about?

Thanks!

 

[James Burke]

Thermal kiss cutting can do some pretty darn fine letters.

JB

 

[Moze]

Screen printed on-site maybe...

 

[fine point]

Thanks JB,
Thermal Kiss Cutting still uses vinyls, right?
The texts at the museum didn't feel like any vinyls I know of... Also Die cut seems over kill for small info texts for date of art work and such.

FP

 

[Mosh]

Sign magic....that is what I tell my customers.

 

[fine point]

Hi Moze
I thought of screen printing too, but some of the letters were peeled like vinyls.
I touched it and it felt so light as if it were made of paper. I have no clue.

 

[SignosaurusRex]

I thought about screen print as well but you mentioned 'tunneling and peeling'...If it is black, it may possibly be Dry Transfer Type. I know some places still actually have & sell it,.... and some shops around (including myself) still have some and use it for specialty projects.

I checked...and sure enough is still available......http://www.pcbsupplies.com/servlet/the-614/Dry-Transfer-Lettering/Detail
If you do a little further searching you may find other brands and smaller sizes available. Typically old stock can be very brittle and have little to no adhesive quality left rendering it useless.

 

[signage]

What about waterslide?

 

[fine point]

Dry Transfer looks like what it could be.... But it will be pretty hard to make a whole paragraph with them, won't it? Unless there is a way to "Print" a paragraph of dry transfer letters.

I don't think it was a waterslide as for that the text didn't have the distinct sheen around the letters.

I will see if I can get some info from the museum staff....

 

[SignosaurusRex]

Dry Transfer looks like what it could be.... But it will be pretty hard to make a whole paragraph with them, won't it? Unless there is a way to "Print" a paragraph of dry transfer letters.

I don't think it was a waterslide as for that the text didn't have the distinct sheen around the letters.

I will see if I can get some info from the museum staff....

Not real hard if you know how to properly and proficiently use it. For a paragraph...depending on length, it could be very time consuming.

 

[Bly]

Remember when Letraset transfers were bleeding edge?

This post is fairly pointless without pics..

 

[John Butto]

Letraset was how I learned to draw and ink letters for ad houses. Those sheets were too expensive so I had to ink everything with speedball pens, rapidograph pen and the ink holder thing that came with the compass. The only thing that was expensive was hot and cold press boards.

 

[SignosaurusRex]

Letraset was how I learned to draw and ink letters for ad houses. Those sheets were too expensive so I had to ink everything with speedball pens, rapidograph pen and the ink holder thing that came with the compass. The only thing that was expensive was hot and cold press boards.

LOL, beginning to show your age there?
I had (and still do) that ink holder thingamabober (Ruling Pen), but I bought the Rapidograph to compass attachment. So much less work...and cleanup too.

 

[sinetist]

Might have been made with this process ...

http://www.pulsarprofx.com/decalpro/

 

[fine point]

Remember when Letraset transfers were bleeding edge?

This post is fairly pointless without pics..

They didn't let me take pictures. Not unusual for museums...

 

[Pat Whatley]

The museum here uses is simply a laser print on 3-M matte clear decals. The decal practically disappears when it's mounted. They print rectangles, mount them, and unless you get the light at just the right angle you can't tell it's there. I use them all the time for putting sponsor logos on PVC display signs, customers would swear they were printed directly to the PVC. http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/242245/3M-Clear-Inkjet-Full-Sheet-Labels/

 

[brush1]

Im positive it is Letraset.
You can buy it now to.

 

[Pat Whatley]

Remember when Letraset transfers were bleeding edge?

I remember when the art supply store I was working for had me throw THOUSANDS of sheets of the stuff in the dumpster, along with hundreds of the storage/display cabinets because computer typesetting had killed the market.

 

[fine point]

So... Don't mean to bump up the old thread, but I got to talk to an exhibition coordinator at the museum and he told me "Transfer letters that Installer rubbed on the walls".
I believe he was talking about letraset. Is this still widely practiced in sign industry?
From previous replies, it's a thing of past..

FP

 

[SignosaurusRex]

It is definitely a thing of the past but from time to time, albeit very rare, dry transfer is what is needed to fit requirements.