Tools, tips, and resources for sign painting and lettering

View of a hand holding a glass panel with shiny gold leaf and black lettering on top that, in reverse, reads 'Gold'.

Learning

A Basic Guide to Gilding Tools, Materials, and Terminology

Breaking down the jargon around gold and metal leaf, gilding tools, and lots more golden nuggets.

Detail of poster showing Porky Pig, arms outstretched, wearing a heavy-duty mask with black smoke in the background.

Learning

Filtering the Fumes: Air Purifier Advice

Reduce the risks of exposure to VOCs in enamel paints when working in poorly ventilated spaces.

Close cropped photo of a hand resting on a mahl stick painting a bouquet of roses on a rectangular panel.

Learning

Roses Are Red: A Narrowboat Tradition with Ginny Barlow

Video demonstration of painting roses in the narrowboat style, including comments on their history.

Illustration showing a sign painter being ground up by the cogs and mechanics of a machine labelled as instagram features.

Learning

Marketing Without Social Media: Advice for Your Creative Business

The problems with marketing creative businesses on social media, and alternatives to set you free.

Lower two-thirds of bifurcated letters 'RO' with scrolls in their centres and gilded and outlined in black.

Projects

Bringing a Gilded Victorian Transom Window Back to Life

Andy at AJ Signs in Dorset gives a new lease of life to a beautiful piece of Victorian glasswork.

Repetitive pattern of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal strokes of black paint on white.

Learning

Intro to Foundational Sign Painting Strokes: The Gothic Alphabet

Building the Gothic (Block) alphabet with tips on brush technique, materials, and practise strokes.

Hand-lettered and illustrated advertisement showing three tins of paint (blue, red, yellow) pouring from above the text.

Learning

Why Lead Paint Makes Signs Last: A Toxic Legacy

An account of the enduring (and highly toxic) legacy of lead paint on signs, and sign painters.

View from behind a woman's head as she paints black thick and thin lettering onto a white background.

People

Getting Into It: Sign Painters' Stories Around the World

Six sign painters tell the stories of their paths into the trade, and offer their advice to others.

Man painting a brightly coloured sign that says 'Pinball' and has an illustration of the ball and flippers.

Learning

Tools of the Trade: Flying Squirrels Working Nine Two Five

Studio Sign Co.'s Nick Lee tries out the Flying Squirrel Brush Co.'s 925 series on paper and MDO.

Decorative glass panel with gold, silver and green paint. It reads "Gretsch 125 year anniversary, 1883–2008".

Projects

Reverse Glass Gilding Processes in an Informative Video Overview

Pat Minervini on the techniques used to create his decorative gilded glass piece for Gretsch Guitar.

Close-up of a hand picking up a tiny tin of paint made to scale for a larger diorama.

Events

Watch the Free Recordings from BLAG Meet: Inside Issue 03

Signs, sign painting, and more in these free event recordings from BLAG Meet: Inside Issue 03.

Magazine spread with mixture of text and illustration, photographed on a bright yellow surface.

Learning

Copyright and Licensing: A Brief Guide for Sign Painters

Practical guidance for sign painters to protect copyright and earn licensing income from their work.

Hand-painted sign board with a host of ornamentation and decoration around the lettering.

Learning

Enjoy a Free Fileteado Porteño Lesson from Gustavo Ferrari

Start learning the Fileteado Porteño artform via the new online course from Gustavo Ferrari.

Line illustration of a group watching a man paint a board with a roller.

Learning

How to Prepare MDO Plywood for Sign Painting

Step-by-step guide to tools, materials and techniques to prepare MDO Plywood for exterior signs.

Drone photo of a large sign painted on a sloping roof with the city of Chicago in the background.

Events

The Sky's the Limit: A Chat with Right Way Signs

Recording of Right Way Signs' BLAG Chat about their niche of massive hand-painted roof signs.

Hand resting on a mahl stick while holding a brush and painting letters in black.

Learning

Where Can I Learn the Craft of Sign Painting?

Overview of workshops, courses, apprenticeships, and places to learn the craft of sign painting.

Two women at a table with easels in front of them.

Events

On the Brush with Barbara Enright and Carla Hackett

Recording of Barbara Enright and Carla Hackett's BLAG Chat and brush lettering demonstration.

Learning

The Apprentice: Colossal Style

Inside Colossal Media's apprentice program, learning to paint large-scale mural advertising signs.