vintage art deco lighted sign restoration questions regarding paint & process ???

[kos22us]

im sure many of you know a common style of advertising sign in the 30's 40's & even into the 50's was the art deco reverse glass paint lighted sign featuring a metal body often called the "can" usually with chrome strips on or around the rounded sides, this housed the internal light source and the sign was topped off with a glass front that displyed the advertisement ... truly an american past time

im in the process of a restoration, i have the complete sign with glass (missing paint of course) and the image of which i would like to go on the glass, there is very little if any info online as to how these signs were originally made back in the day

i cannot figure out what type of paint to use, i have to use a paint that allows the light to show through, 2ndly im not sure how the paint was applied, i doubt it was by brush because im thinkin when you turned the light on there would be brush strokes through out which would not look good at all while on, to cover the strokes i would think you would have to apply so many coats by the time your done the light would not show through from paint layers being to thick, i thought maybe they screened the paint on with a regular screen, i have other orignal signs like this that are in excellent condition and they have thin coats & no brush strokes

anyone have any info at all on type of paint and or process of applying ???


anything would be very much appreciated, thanks in advance, Jack

the pic included is an original sign im just showing it for the paint & the light passing through, the one im working on would be similiar but much more simple in logo style and with only 2 colors

 

[player]

If by glass you mean plastic, then the paint used is a plastic illuminated sign paint. Lacryl is one brand.

http://www.ppg.com/coatings/matthewspaint/products/Pages/topcoats-lacryl.aspx

 

[kos22us]

If by glass you mean plastic, then the paint used is a plastic illuminated sign paint. Lacryl is one brand.

http://www.ppg.com/coatings/matthewspaint/products/Pages/topcoats-lacryl.aspx

player, when these signs were being made plastic wasnt around yet mostly bakelite during this time, these are glass, however if i ever do anything with plastic i will certainly keep lacryl in mind thanks for the tip

 

[player]

player, when these signs were being made plastic wasnt around yet mostly bakelite during this time, these are glass, however if i ever do anything with plastic i will certainly keep lacryl in mind thanks for the tip

I wonder if the Lacryl would work on glass.

I agree with you about the brush strokes. We always spray painted the illuminated plastic faces. Many thin coats.

Would you consider doing a reverse digital print on clear and then backing it up with white vinyl or do you want to recreate the process as it was done back then?

A lot of the old paints had tons of lead in them. You may not be able to get the same paint anymore.

 

[visual800]

Ive sprayed gripflex before on poly signs and its a PITA if you're not used to it. Print those signs and stick them on sicne the are behind glass no one will know AS LONG AS your typestyle matches up

 

[OldPaint]

are you re-doing this sign for someone who is just interested in it being a look alike or is it for a person when they decide to sell it wants it to be "period correct?"
if its end owner is ok with a look a like i would say print it......BUT...if the owner will ever sell it, its worth way less as a print then if you redo it with paint.

 

[Marlene]

have you checked with Grip Flex type paints to see if this would work? I did a quick search on bing.com and asked for how to paint a lighted glass sign and found some things but not much. if they want it to be totally the same, you'll need to find out how. if they are OK with glass with vinyl on the back that would work as the sruface would look right. you might also be able to apply an enamel receptive clear vinyl to the backside of the glass and paint that. good luck as this looks like a fun project

 

[kos22us]

the guy wants it to be done correctly with paint and quickly shut down any alternative i offered, i have several originals signs in pristine condition in which i opened the backs and was able to examine closely and i've come to the conclusion there is no way they were painted by brush which leaves either sprayed or screened and since its glass i think we can rule out sprayed as it would be a runny mess, so the process has been nailed down as far as im concerned and its now just a matter of type of paint, i guess i will just start trying everything and let trial & error run its course

 

[Billct2]

I would think that they may have been screen printed and/or airbushed.
There are craft store transparent glass paints
http://www.dickblick.com/products/delta-glass-paint/
but for the real deal and maybe some reference materials try these guys
http://letterheadsignsupply.com/index.php?route=common/home

 

[Stanton]

Glass faces were decorated on the second surface with paint
using a cotton cloth stippling bag.
Like inking a Ben Franklin style printing press.
All paint in that era was brewed up in the sign shop using lead paste,
color pigments and oils.
The paint used to stipple onto glass was made very translucent
and applied in several coats to assure even illumination.

 

[OldPaint]

koz22............YOU DO KNOW there are some old timers still working who would better suited to this type of work. you would be further ahead by finding one of them, then experimenting with something you may not be able to do..or you may mess it up and then how do you fix it???? for whatever your gona make on this...........iam sure if it gets messed up..........its gona cost you MORE..........