BLAG

The BLAG 05 Digital Companion

Bonus content from the adventures in sign painting in Issue 05 of BLAG (Better Letters Magazine).

Better Letters

• 15 min read
Detail of a painted panel showing a match igniting a pink liquid with lettering over the top that reads "Fuel to the fire".
Detail from 'Dapper Diesel' by Joe Coleman in BLAG 05.

As with previous issues, here is a deep dive into material that we couldn't squeeze into the pages of BLAG 05.

As well as the pretty pictures, you'll also find videos, useful links, further reading, and PDF downloads.

I've set it up to follow the page order of the magazine, so that it serves as a digital companion to the print publication. Be sure to read to the end where you'll find the another five gilding samples from Mark Oatis' box.

Ghost Sign Corner

Here are some more of the screenprints that Nayab Ahmed created for her ghost signs-inspired psychography project.

Screenprints from the final non-bound book documenting ghost signs along Stoke Newington High Street.

The Pring & Rose one featured in the magazine is among various others for historic London sign painting firms. And the multilayered palimpsest for Cakebread Robey was given the light capsules treatment by Craig Winslow in 2016.

You can learn the stories of the individual ghost signs on the Stoke Newington Ghostsigns Tour (preview here), and in the book, Ghost Signs: A London Story.

Shop Talk

In Jenna Homen's profile of Derek McDonald, he talks about his job in the sign shop at Disneyland, California. Here's a bit more about the shop in a variety of media, and in other locations.