Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Early sign process

This is just a simple question, hopefully has a simple answer!

I was studying an early Texaco sign I have hanging on the wall. It is a tin painted sign from probably the early 20’s. I was curious what the process was in creating this sign? Obviously it is not hand painted but machinery and technology was not nearly as sophisticated as it is today, yet these early signs seem so much better than that of their plastic cousins!

Does anyone have any information or links to information on what the process was in creating these early signs?

Thanks All!

Believe it or not but Silk Screening has been around for a long , long time, the art work was all done by hand instead of photo images. go to the web under Silk Screening, or old art, look around, hope it helps,

Thank you for the reply, the reason I was asking was because I recently traced, digitally a Tydol sign. In the software I was using I could expand this image to an size without an pixelation, creating a perfect copy. I love this sign but cannot afford an origianl so thought it would be neat to see what I could create and how. Attached is a copy of the .gif image at 8x11 hand traced, but also printed out a 30" round as well.

hey BIG picture! NICE!!!!!!

A lot of signs in the 20s were screen process printed,even the fired enamel signs and faces had the colored frit (or glaze) applied by the screen method. Another process that was used extensivly was stenciling. Stencils were made out of brass and could get quite complex. Coupled with spray paint technology (the spray painting process has been around since the middle ages using mouth sprayers) results could be fantastic.

You can also put that image on a disc and take it to office depot and they can put that image on a large vinyl as big as you want it.

blakestar,
What software are you using?
Jack Sim

Thanks everyone for detailing the process in which they make signs in the early days. I wish my printer would print on tin!!!!!! I am having way to much fun doing this! Below is a very rare sign copy I put together this afternoon. This is an 8x11, put can scale this to any size desireable. Anyone have any requests?

Hi Jack, my true job, sadly enough, is a software engineer. I wrote an image program a few years ago to deal with some requests a client had. I never thought I would use it again but I think I may have found a better use for it!!

The software runs on a SGI Solaris Workstation so it is not your typical OfficeDepot software unfortunately!

blakestar101:

If you get a copy of Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, you can 'draw' any logo/sign you desire. Then you can color/shade/etc. to your hearts content.

Once the art is finished, you can have any graphics output house in your area make vinyl 'decals' any size you need. Silkscreen places can also use the electronic art to create seperations for screen printing. They could then silkscreen on galvanized or plastic as long as you provide the 'blanks'.

Later . . .

Jim