By signcraft
Posted on Monday, June 6th, 2022
Most of the time you probably make sure that a sign’s message has plenty of impact. But not every sign needs to shout—sometimes a very subtle, understated look is more appropriate. Make that very, very subtle—like the look of bronze on bronze or gray steel on gray steel. Jim Lago [Healdsburg Signs, Healdsburg, California] often puts these effects to work to create high style, tasteful graphics for the wineries and related businesses in his area. (Be sure to check out Sign design ideas from California’s wine country for more of Jim’s work!)
His materials of choice for these projects include copper and steel with patina finishes, and HDU board with faux finishes. The intent is to create a very conservative, unpretentious look that is a pleasure to see. It’s ideal for prestige businesses and subdivisions that want to state their name in an artful, dignified way. No shouting, please…
“This is an all-copper sign with different levels of patina,” says Jim. “The satin finish copper letters are mounted on a copper background and framed with natural redwood. Copper is a lot of fun to work with. It gives such a unique look.”
“This sign is another all copper sign. The letters are satin finish copper on a copper background with a patina finish, and the RY logo is an even darker patina. Once we get the look we want with the patina, it all gets clear coated to keep it that way. I really like that copper look.”
“This one is two layers of cold-rolled steel with patina. The back layer uses a black patina, and the front layer is a sanded finish. The KJ crest at the top is a black patina, and everything is clear coated. It was all cut with a plasma jet, though nowadays we use water jet cutting because it gives a cleaner result.”
“This is a sister sign to Mayacama. It is on a stone mounting across the entry to mark the entrance to a different, but related, subdivision.”
“We made this sign twice. The first was all copper, but it was stolen. We had a rash of metal thefts here—they were even stealing copper wire from homes. So the second one was made from HDU and faux finished. We can simulate the copper patina pretty well. Sometimes a customer wants something like convex lettering but wants a bronze finish. We can’t do that in real bronze so we use HDU board and faux finish by putting a base coat of bronze paint and using 1 Shot Metallic Gold over that, then rub much of that off.”