☜ Sign Writing for Beginners ☞

I've always loved lettering, when I was a teenager I used to fill pages with 'bubble' lettering and draw letters with shadows and reflections. It was my way of doodling. A friend's father who was an artist said I had a real talent for it and I was secretly thrilled. I used to covet other people's handwriting  and I was a seasoned signature practiser. All of which, I thought, would make me a perfect candidate for a sign writing course. I had no idea how beautiful and difficult it would be and I am now completely hooked.

I dream of signs; I spot hand painted signs everywhere and now I am aware of how much skill and thought goes into them I spend quality time looking at them. That person peering upwards, giving herself neck ache? Probably me. Reverence where reverence is due, I say.

Day 1 of my sign writing course and I'm full of thrill and nervousness. The excitement compounded by the signs I see everywhere, all beautifully executed.

I love fairground horses~gallopers. These were all being repainted.

 

 

 

Tools of the trade ~ 

Half the reason I love crafts of any kind is for the tools and the materials.

The stick like a giant ear bud is for steadying your hand, a Maul stick 

and the paint shelves are a feast of drips and splash..

It occurs to me that I may be in over my head. The other participants are professional tattooists, sign makers, illustrators, designers and a genuine Punch and Judy puppet maker and performer. Our tutor Joby Carter is a wonderfully natural and talented 'letterist' demonstrating in a few sweeps of a brush how he has his 'eye in'. 

We are set to copy Roman alphabets onto exercise paper like children. 

The place is quiet apart from a few sighs.

The sighs turn into grunts and then the real swearing starts.

It's not as easy as you think.

I finish mine and feel as though I nailed it when Joby points out that my serifs are too short, my O's too narrow, my thins are not thick enough and then I see, really see, just how easily things can drift.

Then we have to draft out words and letters with pencil and ruler.

Hours of it. Hours of breath holding, sighing, tea making, biscuit eating, grimacing and swearing.

I thought this looked totally brilliant. Once upon a time. 

But now I can see just how bad it is. 

I'm posting it here as a reminder to myself that I'm capable of vast areas of improvement if I apply myself to something diligently and faithfully for a week.

I spent a couple of days on thrashing around with a pencil.

 

 

I like Es Rs and Ws. I am not keen on Os and Cs.

Being shown how to really sign paint is enlightening. It's a real skill...watching a master at work is fascinating and educational. We go for tours of the yard, the course is set in a winter yard for a fairground and all of the rides and vehicles get repainted here... all very thrilling.

Then we get to start with real paint and brushes, but it's baby steps for everyone. Painting lines and circles, rubbing it all off with white spirit and beginning again. Hours and hours of silence and concentration. And swearing.  

 

I got admonished for my brush handling skills. 

"Sign writing isn't colouring in." 

"It's not a fucking watercolour"

"You aren't holding anything correctly"

"Sit up straight"

I progressed slightly.

I swore a lot.

So did everyone else.

The smell of paint and white spirit all washed down with tea and chats. The chats were small though, everyone was studying hard.

 

 

 

I was fairly pleased with my first whole painted word KINGDOM but it was full of mistakes.

I loved doing it. I felt entirely at home and in my element.

Always a good thing.

 

I was a bit disappointed every time I spent hours on a word and then had to scrub it all off and start again. But it was good for me.

Practice Practice Practice

Where have I heard that before?

Then it was the last day and we had to make a completed sign, well, we didn't have to, I was desperate to take one home though, so I stayed up half the night planning and plotting my words. I had spent so long wondering which word was going to be The Word I Would Paint. It took a week to come up with something and then I got the lightbulb idea. 

The phrase just fell into my head. 

As though it was whispered into my ear.

A typical sign phrase.

But with a lovely double meaning.

Encompassing freedom and bookbinding and with it's original practical purpose.

 Ta daaah!

Out of Bounds.

Geddit?

It still needs varnishing and tweaking and it's full of mistakes but I love it as it is my first born and I will not part with it, not even to Rumpelstiltskin.

Lady Sign Writer For Hire

I thought Out of Bounds would make a splendid Book Bindery name. 

So I announce that I shall call my new studio / business venture 

Out of Bounds 

and you heard it here first. 

More on that soon.

But someone has the flipping domain name and isn't using it but wants £800 for it.

Errrrrrr. I will pass.

Right......

⚛ The Greatest Show on Earth ⚛

I am running in circles and squealing at my decision to take a sign painting course....
A fairground art sign writing extravaganza.

HOW DELICIOUS AND

I've been drawing and doodling lots of letter forms lately and whilst living in London I see some very splendid signs and handwritten notices. I have always been drawn towards 3D and shadow work in letterforms and when I was a teenager 3,000 years ago it was all I did when I had a piece of paper and a pen. I didn't know about typography or fonts then. Only album covers. 

As part of my commitment to learn something new every year (last year was doing my maths GCSE which I passed ..YAY but it wasn't very exciting, it was very useful when I had to work out how many materials to buy for my new workshop-more on that soon) this year, I have chosen to go on this sign writing course. Quite simply, I want to paint signs. I want to know what kinds of paints to use and how to use one of those sticks with a ball on the end for support. There must be a lifetime of learning to absorb. I am sure I will be full of terminology and lung damage from inhaling paint fumes after my week of study. Of course, I am not going to be an expert after a week but I have got some of the skillz needed surely? The course is taught by a very skilled traditional fairground painter and that is the style we will learn. In a working fairground yard with real life examples all around us. Can you imagine? What a thrill.

Here is a circus inspired picture  I made last year. I only had a box of cheap child's paints but I really got into using them, the pastels seduced me and I ended up raiding the local toy shop for a lifetime's supply.

The colours inspire me, I might see if I can make a pastel coloured circus style sign...lead myself away from the traditional style. I guess it will depend on the materials available.

I've been pinning HERE onto a circus/fairground board for inspiration...feel free to send me any via pinterest. 

I'm already worried about Ms and Os and Ss. I've stopped obsessing about building materials and I'm back on track thinking about Words. 

Delicious words, letters and swirls.

I can't wait. It's not until November so I have ages to decide which word I should paint first? 

Any ideas? 

What word or short phrase would you paint?

❍oo·hulahula

One of my birthday presents.

I love useful presents.

My daughter bought me a weighted hula hoop.

I'm loving it. 10 minutes a day for a flat tummy apparently.

I took a while to master it and I can now keep it afloat for 5 minutes. 

I would like to teach Twiggy to jump through it 

so we can be a bizarre circus act,

but she runs a mile when I put it on as does anyone within 3 metres.

So with my yoga, swimming and dog walking I'm mostly knackered.

It's enough to make anyone reach for a cigarette and a bottle of gin.

**photo by Meg B**