Traditional Sign Writing & Graining .

This is a sign I painted a few years back that at the time was completed using colours matching the exterior
of the Pub, It has lasted very well but recently a graffiti artist decided to add to it! 
The owner asked could I fix it & give it & a couple of other signs a bit of a face lift, so I thought some oak graining on the background would be more befitting to the surroundings of a traditional Irish bar. The owner wanted to keep the same style of lettering for this one though. Images below showing a start to finish of this Sign, all done by hand ! 

                                          First starting with a thorough sanding & making good

      With the background prep work completed its time to start the graining, I painted it to resemble planks of oak ,.

                     As this will have lettering on it I decided to give it my commercial Oak grain effect.

          Next the tinted over glaze is applied & manipulated with various spalters to enhance each plank.

 

I re-inforced the lines between each plank with a lining brush & straight edge , making them stand out more before adding  some trompe l'oeil work leaving a slightly raised panel look.

     Before painting the signage I gave the background 6 coats of waterbased exterior varnish by Polivine.

          Now for the lettering, at this point though I didnt like the idea of sign writing on top of my graining ha ha!

                                   The graining was done in acrylic & lettering in enamel.

                                           I may add some floral designs to this yet .

 

Another sign board in the making!

Shane Ralph Decorative Painting Course Information

Brochure outlining the type of courses that are
run annually at SWR Decart Studio . 

For further infomation contact Shane at swrdecart@gmail.com

Oak Graining on a flush Door in Acrylics

    Following on from my last post,  here is another flush door I completed in the same style but this time in a oak effect. It change's an otherwise boring flush door into something of a feature & can enhance any area!

The first workings are done fast & almost in a commercial style . The over glaze is what makes & finishes off this door. All done using Proceed acrylic medium. 
 

                                                 

One of the door panels

                                                       

 

                                                                             Base coated

The off set panels are measured out keeping in mind the gap between each & then using a piece of paper or cardboard with the width of the gap marked on the straight edge.

Use this as a guide for marking out the gaps between the panels which
are to be painted with black acrylic satin. 
This is faster then using a ruler.


Tape up each panel as you do them Ive used a warm coloured glaze & wiped out the heart shapes with a piece of cork . For the side grain , burlap & then using a steel comb carefully pull it through the side & heart grain making sure to clean with each use of the comb. This first part is done very quickly, its better if you do so to give a natural flow to your heart grain.

Before cleaning

 After wiping out the heart grain clean off the excess glaze with a rag , do as much of this as time allows.

After cleaning & combing

 Normally I would sketch in some of the shapes with more glaze using a spalter brush but I don't need to with this method as the over glaze does a lot of the work for you.
                               So its basically brush on, soften to stabilise the glaze & begin.

After cleaning & combing

When the first workings are completed the black lines can be painted in by taping the dried work & applying the black. This can be done last of all , but doing them at this point gives you & the client an idea of the finished look .

                          Each panel is then given a over glaze & worked on with various spalter brushes.

               This is where your can put some flair into your work & give the door a more realistic look!

                                                        Here are a few images of the fully glazed door

 

Side view