Laurel & Hardy sign No. 2

For those of you who read my blog regularly you will remember back in February this year I did a bit of sign writing for my mate Malcolm Luckie. Malcolm lives in Germany and he has a Laurel & Hardy memorabilia collection, he asked if I could make a couple of signs for his collection, of course I said I would. The first sign was his idea, an 8 foot long sign with the Laurel & Hardy names on it with a couple of bowler hats. (If you missed the blog entry about the first sign, check out my blog archive on the left of this page from February).
Malcolm sent me a picture for the second sign that he wanted me to reproduce. It was a lot smaller than the first and had some colour in it, unfortunately the picture Malcolm sent me wasn't very big or very clear so I couldn't see too much detail or work out the proportions very well. I didn't want to try and produce an exact copy due to copyrights so this was going to be my own interpretation of that sign. 

This is the photo of the sign Malcolm sent me,
It's hard to see any real detail and it's difficult
to work out any proportions, so I'll just have
improvise and hopefully it'll turn out OK.

I had some 6mm ply left over from the first
sign, so I decided the sign was going to be
43" long x 23" high. The first job was to cut the
board to size.

Once the board was cut, it was sanded down
prior to the priming. After 2 coats of primer
with plenty of sanding down in-between coats
the board was ready for the undercoat.
(the bolster on the board was to stop the wind
blowing the board off the workmate before it
had dried)
 

After the board had dried, I applied a brilliant
white coat of undercoat. However once this had
dried it showed all the imperfections still in the
board.

You can see how the undercoat highlights all
the imperfections. Time to get the filler out
and make good all those imperfections.

Once the filler had dried overnight, the board
was sanded down yet again before another
coat of undercoat.

Once the undercoat had dried, time to give the
board a coat of gloss. Looking at the photo
Malcolm sent me the background colour was
an off white, so I mixed up a 'one off' colour
using white enamel, with a drizzle of yellow,
and a few drops of red. The enamel should
not only be hard wearing but also help the
colour stay vibrant for longer.
 

Once the base coat was painted I left it to dry
for 2 days. In the mean time I started to think
about the wording and the positioning. Here
you can see my scribble on what goes where.

After the enamel had completely dried the
first job was to mark out the border. Again
looking at the photo Malcolm sent me, it
dawned on me that there were no straight lines
anywhere in the sign. The quickest and easiest
way to draw a straight line is to hold the pencil
between your fingers, then rest your little finger
and ring finger on the edge of the board and
simply run your hand down the edge of the board.
After a little practice you will get a nice straight
line.

Once the border was drawn, it's time to apply
the red enamel.

Here the border has had one coat of red, but it
will need a second coat.

Second coat of red enamel on the border,
what a difference a second coat makes.

The sign is starting to take shape, and looks
bright and colourful.

Again I left the sign for 2 days to ensure the
enamel was completely dry. Now it's time to
start drawing out letters for the wording with
constant referral to my scribbled notes.

The size and spacing of the lettering is so
important. I was taught to sign write many
years ago, and this is how. The gap on 'X'
should be the same distance for 'Y' and 'Z'.
You will notice I have made the lettering
uneven so the letters will be at differing
heights.

It is actually quite hard to use a pencil on
enamel paint, maybe I should have used my
Stabilo pencil that will write on any surface.

I like to get the whole design laid out on the
board before I start painting. Other sign
writers paint as they go.

The different fonts on the photo Malcolm sent
me I didn't recognise, so it was a good time to
practise my free hand writing. I like this sort
of work as it lets me express my ideas.

The wording was exactly as the photo, although
the font's were different, making this as the
other sign is, totally unique.

Time to start painting. You can see the different
height and width of the main letters. This was
actually harder to create than wording of all
the same size and width.

The top line complete. The different height and
widths of the lettering really stands out now.

I did the same type of lettering for the second
line.

The third line was more traditional lettering, all
being the same size and width.

The quotation at the bottom of the sign was fun
to paint, and was purposely made to look like it
was free hand.

The finished sign with the oak leaves and acorn
design. I decided not to add more acorn designs
as per the original as I thought it may look a little
bit to 'Christmassy' with the colour choices.
 

Both Laurel & Hardy signs finished for the
memorabilia collection in Germany.


So that was my commission for the Laurel
& Hardy signs. They took a lot of time and
thought but overall I have enjoyed producing
these signs.