Jeepneys are a popular mode of transport in The Philippines, and last year I profiled the decorative work that adorns them. This includes a wonderful documentary film by Esy Casey.
Today I found this video about a sign painter that produces the destination and other functional/directional signage for the Jeepneys. It shows the painter at work, including his tools, materials, and techniques.
My eldest's latest adventures in letters is this self-initiated piece using aquabeads. They're now mounted onto this hand-bound booklet as a gift for her friend, Ona.
If this inspires you for your next creation, then there's more about the environmental disaster that are aquabeads at https://aquabeadsart.com.
New at bl.ag online, 'Bringing a Gilded Victorian Transom Window Back to Life'.
Visit https://bl.ag/transom to learn from @ajsignsdorset about the techniques used to create the original sign, and the work he's done to make it just like new again.
“What really drives me crazy is if you go to a truck show and you see a 1950s restored Bedford or something like that, and it’s got computer cut lettering on it!” — Philip Smyth
'How Comies Were Made' is a visual history of the techniques and processes used to bring artist’s hand to the printed page over the last 130+ years of the medium.
Check out the videos and preview images from the book on the kickstarter page above, and back the project to get a copy when it ships in the autumn.
On 2 March, at BLAG Meet (https://bl.ag/meet), Dr Amy Goodwin shares her research into the fairground painters, past and present.
This visual talk will include some of the works the Fairground Heritage Trust have in their collection — including, lettering which manipulates spatial depth and signs influenced by the cartoon industry — and discuss the impact the past has had on the fairground painters of today.
It's all offered free of charge to broaden access, but for those that can, a suggested $10 contribution to the running costs is appreciated: https://bl.ag/tip.
Please #Boost to help reach more people that might like to indulge in these adventures in sign painting.
Realised I should probably do these as a BLAG Meet-themed thread, so reposting link here about Dr Amy Goodwin's talk about the fairground painters: https://typo.social/@blag/111940125408455717
This will include new material from Fred Fowle that has been received by the Fairground Heritage Trust; which offers an excuse to share this wonderful BBC segment about him.
I've just finished working with Alice Mazzilli on her next 'Interowriting' column for BLAG, the fifth in her 'adventures in writing' series.
Alice will also be delivering a session at Saturday's BLAG Meet (https://bl.ag/meet), exploring the theme of handwriting, and its contemporary relevance in the ‘digital era’.
And you can join her while she writes; just have lined paper and your favourite writing instrument to hand.
New at bl.ag online: 'Meet Earl Phillips: Cleveland's Greatest Living Sign Painter', with a biopic about the proprietor of Cleveland's U-Need-A-Sign Co.
With thanks to John Skrtic.for sharing the photos and producing the film, and to Michael Bierut for the instagram post a few weeks back reminding me of it all.
Pictured is Earl in 2018, outside the shop where he plied his trade from 1960.
Does anyone have a nice landscape photo of some lead type, in a drawer or set for printing, that I could use in an article at bl.ag about lead-based paints?
My email is sam@bl.ag, or I can download from a reply on here if Mastodon doesn't compress things too much...
Yes, it is. Also a lot of usable stuff can be found in places like Wikipedia's “Wikimedia”, The US Library of Congress have vast collections as do NASA for space images. Most are free to use if given attribution, but the topics are a bit narrow :)