Better Letters - BLAG Magazine: Adventures in Sign Painting Craft, Community & Culture

Places

Glorious Gilding Samples at the American Sign Museum

A show of mastery on reverse glass gilded panels from the American Sign Museum’s collections.

Films

Words with Meaning: The Personal Panels of Luis Benz

Santiago Carrasquilla and Danaé Gosset share the work painted by Luis Benz while filming his biopic.

Man sat on a stool painting a sign advertising "Money Fever, Divas Edition, at Spicy Thursdays HQ."

People

When ‘Hand-Painted Jamaica’ Met Bug Art Sav

Tracey Thorne profiles Bug Art Sav, a Jamaican sign painter keeping the island’s traditions alive.

New Books and December Deliveries from the BLAG Shop

I’ve got some new titles in the BLAG Shop (see below), including the American Sign Museum book that starts shipping this week. For December deliveries, orders must be placed by 27 November with the exception of the UK which has until 11 December. New Books Doyle David Butler’s

Mural with block and shade lettering for 'Me Aul Flower' set within an array of pale pink flowers.

People

Chain Letter: Meghan McDermott

The Dublin mural by Vanessa Power that inspired Meghan McDermott to become a sign painter.

Films

When Better Letters Met Brian Walker

Short film celebrating the late Brian Walker's life and work as a signwriter in Hackney, London.

Wide-angle photo of a museum gallery space filled with brightly coloured neon signs.

Places

Bring Back Tucson's Sign Museum After Its Devastating Fire

Fundraising for the Ignite Sign Art Museum in Tucson, Arizona, which has lost hundreds of exhibits.

Hooded sign painter on a ladder working on a fascia sign on a busy road.

Projects

Renegade Writing: London’s Faux Fascias

This Is My Costume speaks to BLAG about its decade-long initiative refashioning abandoned shops.

Books

A Sneak Peek Inside the American Sign Museum Book

Celebrating 25 years of the American Sign Museum through the lens of its most important exhibits.

Field Notes

Field Notes from BLAG: October 2025

Lettering the weather, Hong Kong ghost signs, the New York Sign Museum, and more from the field.

Books

Mobile Masterpieces: South Asia's Dazzling ‘Trucks and Tuks’

A new book documents the diverse decorations found on working vehicles from Bangladesh to Sri Lanka.

Series of five illustrations showing hand-position and technique for working with a mahl stick while painting lettering and lines.

Learning

The Mike Stevens Journal, Volume 1, Number 5

Mastering Layout's Mike Stevens riffing on brush technique, letter formation, and mahl sticks.

Woman standing in front of a hand-drawn and lettered blackboard advertising a variety of colourful cocktails.

Learning

Watch Cheryl McLean's Blackboard Art Seminar from LH50

Blackboard art tips, tricks, and techniques shared in a pre-recorded session for Letterheads 50.

Events

The Letterheads Go Large at the 1982 Oklahoma Bash

43 years later, host Mike Jackson reflects on a meet that redefined what a Letterheads could be.

View from the side of a woman working with a mahl stick and fine brush to paint lettering on the back of a piece of glass.

People

The Pre-Vinylettes Podcast and More Burds on the Brush

Bonus content from Meredith Kasabian's BLAG 07 feature on women, trans, and nonbinary sign painters.

Books

Bonus Books and Links from BLAG 07

The first instalment of the digital companion to BLAG 07, the Letterheads special.

Two magazines with masthead IOAFS placed on top of a folded poster which has been removed to reveal the cover on one copy of the magazine.

BLAG

What's Inside Issue 07 of BLAG, the Letterheads Special?

BLAG's first special issue applies an IOAFS twist to its worldwide adventures in sign painting.

View from the side of a woman painting a man's face on a mural with reference to a picture of him taped to the wall beside her.

Events

Letterheads 50: 28 Days Later

A historic event at the American Sign Museum through the lens of photographer Natalie Grilli.