Gilding/Gold Leaf Signwriting/Sign Painting Lesson - Realtime hand lettering on 1940s Bus. 24 Carat

. Signwriting/Sign Painting lesson/demonstration in realtime by JohnBoy.
. 1940s public transport bus
. Northern Ireland Transport livery
. Gilded, freestyle, extended Roman letter
NO! mahl stick...NO! masking tape...NO! pounce pattern...NO! tracings...No! templates...NO! computers...NO! synthetic brushes...NO! water based paint
...just Real Signwriting with a Real Signwriter
Title track: VIAJERO written & performed by JohnBoy Gray
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[@ericashmusic8889]

Lovely job, Thankyou for sharing with us,- lots of gold tips in there.

[@paulhumberstone4843]

excellent work

[@marcarturi2137]

I learned a lot and subscribed! Thank you.

[@benpezzer]

Great video As a novice them numbers & how they are built up using the minimum of strokes were very interesting to watch 👍

[@Retrosigns1]

Beautiful job!

[@tonjansenartstudio310]

Beautiful Job !!

[@JohnBoy-Signwriter]

Thanks

[@lindaolson8565]

Amazing work!! I was wondering how you keep the gold leaf from sticking where it doesn't belong? Would you use baby powder??

[@JohnBoy-Signwriter]

Thanks. French chalk works best as a resist, but baby powder can certainly be used in an emergency, although it may not work quite as well. Ordinary white chalk can also be used by crushing a few sticks into powder in an applicator made from a piece of muslin or mutton cloth (stockingette) tied into a pouch.

[@BuildNStuff86]

So you just used the paint as size instead of a transparent size? It seems like a really good way of doing it. Are there any drawbacks to this method? Why doesn’t everybody do it this way? Great work, I love the way you just snap some lines and go for it. It’s so obvious that you confident in your skills.

[@JohnBoy-Signwriter]

The only difference between enamel paint and actual gold size is that (after application) the paint will continue to dry at a steady rate until all the solvents have evaporated from it, whereas the size will begin to dry at a similar rate until it reaches a certain point, where it will effectively stop drying for an approximate period as specified on the tin eg. 1 hour/ 8 hours/24 hours etc. When using enamel as a size, therefore, it requires constant monitoring so as not to lose your gilding window. The enamel method was traditionally used for vehicles due to the fact that they needed to be out and on the road as quickly as possible. The oil size method would invariably add several days to this period of potential vehicular inactivity and the varnishing process could potentially prevent it from ever fully drying.

[@MarkMcCluney]

I'm interested to know if you ever came across McCluney Signs who, I understand, had their company in Holywood. I'm not related but it would be interesting to know something about the company. Thanks for sharing your skills and experience.

[@JohnBoy-Signwriter]

I served my time with "T. McCluney & Sons". They were originally based in Waring Street, Belfast, but by the time I had started my apprenticeship, Tommy McCluney was long gone and the company was working out of Ballyclare. Interestingly, it was a Holywood signwriter that first introduced me to the trade, via one of the first Youth Training Programmes, way back in 1982...his name was Fred McCracken.

[@MarkMcCluney]

@@JohnBoy-Signwriter Thank you, that's already some accurate information. I have an idea that my granda might have known Tommy, perhaps by the coincidence of names, and the family lived in Hollywood then; perhaps that's where the confusion arose. I heard all this from my Dad who was a terrific story teller but didn't regard details as important! Thanks again.