Shop Talk

I’m writing this article mostly to the young signmakers out there, and maybe even those who are part-time or retired, as there seems to be a shortage of signmakers who can do a basic wall job. When I was younger and worked by myself a lot, I loved doing these jobs. But employing several people and running a busy commercial sign shop has meant that I have a very hard time being out of the shop long enough to do much of this work anymore, and I really don’t see that much of it being done.

This is mostly because there are few sign people around anymore with the skills to do them. At least that’s my belief, as there surely is still a market for this very cost effective means of advertising. And wall jobs are often exempt from permit requirements and are less legally limited than other forms of signwork.

I’m sure if I had the time to do them, a little sales effort on my part would produce a lot of good work to do. But, that may have to wait a while for me. However, the difficulty level in doing this type of work isn’t really all that high, and the work is fun, so I hope to illustrate some basics here and maybe encourage some of my readers to not overlook this viable business opportunity.

BLOWING THINGS UP
Nowadays, when I start most any job I will work up a layout on my design computer. This was the case with the Nipper Appliance job shown in most of these photos. Having that done, how does one get that design blown up and on the wall? For me, I often just draw it there in regular No. 2 pencil. I use pencil because it won’t wash off with rain, won’t bleed or stain, and doesn’t really show up from any distance.

The larger letters were painted first, and the white lettering was roughed in before a red reverse panel would be painted around it.
A lettering Fitch is used to cut around the white letters accurately. But to show me how to draw the layout, I make a simple grid and overlay it on the wall design. Working from a center point, which will be a point of reference on the wall itself, I number the foot marks from zero up, going in four directions, center to left, center to right, center upward, and from center down. This new image, complete with numbered grid, is saved and printed. The print will be my simple reference on site.

Once on the job, I start from the center and use a two-foot and a four-foot plastic level for drawing straight edges, and sketch everything out in pencil. It’s kind of like working a puzzle, and I find doing the layout this way an enjoyable exercise. Of course, if there are logos or more complicated elements incorporated in the layout, as was the case here with the Whirlpool logo, I make pounce patterns for that part.

Pounce patterns are merely paper drawings, nowadays usually drawn with a plotter, and perforated using a pounce wheel (a metal pencil-like tool with a small rolling spur that punches holes in the paper as one traces over the drawing), or an Electro-Pounce machine. An Electro-Pounce is an electronic pencil, which is insulated but with a charged metal tip, and is used to trace over and pounce a pattern which has been set over a metal covered table which has been grounded with the machine’s ground cable. This electric pencil makes perforating a pattern fast and easy.

Hansee’s neat little chalk box, with a terry cloth covered cushion and cavity for filling it with charcoal dust or chalk powder, has replaced the old pounce bags of yesterday as far as I’m concerned. To make a dark image always use charcoal powder (not colored chalk which may stain a wall), and for light images white chalk powder is fine.

THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE
The tools of the trade are of course Fitch brushes of different sizes (a 1'' Fitch, flat or angled is very common), as well as a 1 1/2'' to 2'' cutter brush and a small roller for filling in larger areas.

We normally use lettering enamels, but may also use bulletin enamels on wall jobs. We usually keep Ronan bulletins, and 1-Shot and/or Chromatic lettering paints.

After getting the image on the wall, the larger parts are cut in with a brush or even filled in with a roller. The white lettering which would go in a reverse panel in this job, was roughed in and allowed to dry. Later the red reverse panel and the blue rectangles behind the logo in the upper right area were painted in.

The pounce pattern was then used to make the Whirlpool image, and it was lettered and outlined. Nothing is really perfect on a wall job, but from a distance everything looks fine. A white shadow was added to the largest letters for contrast, which cleaned up the edges of the lettering, as well as some pencil lines.

Also, the tremendous effort it would take to paint with no runs is forfeited, and at the last any runs or drips are merely painted with a color that is made up to match the wall. (I usually use block out white as my base for this color, since it will have a flat finish.)

As I mentioned, pounce patterns are a handy way to apply very accurate images of either artwork or letters. The job we recently did at White Oak High School (WOHS), was all laid out with patterns. Mike Rector did most of this job for me, and used patterns for the oilwell logos and even all the lettering.

However, there are times when a simple overhead projector is the fastest way to get an image on a wall job. A wall job we did for a small branch bank over in Gladewater was entirely laid out at night with a projector. The job was low to the ground, and easy to set up a projector on that site and trace everything, including their strange type font from a projected image. When possible, this is faster than free hand drawing or patterns.

For some wall jobs, the easiest way to transfer the layout to the wall is to show up at night and cast a transparency of the layout on the wall using an overhead projector.

Lastly, the large circular logo I painted long ago on a gigantic oil tank was hand drawn, again using a layout with grid overlay, but to make the concentric lines of the logo a simple string compass was made from a little aluminum, an eyebolt and string.

The lettering was drawn in its correct place working from my grid drawing and using a level for horizontal and vertical lines. This whole process took about an afternoon, and the painting took a day and a half or so. That was some years ago, and someone may have retouched it since then, I don’t know, but it still looks good and I remember that job as being a lot of fun once I got used to the height.

Wall jobs are enjoyable work, and I still believe that if the truth was known, there is a lot of opportunity out there to do jobs like these. This isn’t rocket science, just good clean fun, so I hope some of our readers out there get busy and take advantage of what may well be an unmet demand for this viable segment of our business.