Window Signs- A Great Way to Get Attention

January 16, 2018 By Mark Hackley

SEVERAL TYPES OF WINDOW LETTERING MATERIALS

Window Signs- A Great Way to Get Attention! I’ve been lettering things that don’t move, and even a few things that do move, since I was a teenager. Glass windows are just one of the many surfaces that are prime real estate for signs.

There are many ways to letter a window. Most people now days use vinyl graphics, but back when I learned how to paint signs, we did it with real paint! Whether you decide to have someone use cut vinyl or paint for your window lettering, choose a reputable sign shop that has experienced sign technicians capable of designing the best sign for your space, which includes sizing it correctly, and specifying the best material options. Here are a few material options you could use: 23 K gold leaf (usually shaded and backed with black or a dark color paint); high performance opaque vinyl can be used, but it won’t allow any light from inside the doorway to penetrate the lettering colors, so be careful how you design the sign with opaque graphics since they could end up darker than you want; Translucent vinyl is a great choice to allow the color to shine through if there is good lighting in the room accommodating the doorway or window where the sign is installed; Specialty vinyls that appear to look like etched glass make nice choices as well, especially for professional office windows and doors.

Whatever you choose, consider Augusta Sign Company for the project!!

WHITE’S USUALLY THE BEST READ

More than likely, white lettering will be the best color for window letters. Since glass windows reflect their surroundings and tend to cast a dark background color or mixture of reflected colors that white lettering usually penetrates through the best, you can’t go wrong by choosing white lettering for window and glass door lettering; but or course you can make them any color you like.

Another thing that’s helpful for sign readability is outlining colors in white to help them pop out at you against the backdrop of a clear glass surface. Pretty much every business posts their hours of operation on the front door. Well, if it’s a glass door, chances are the letters are white in color. It’s just the standard for windows. And it’s so much easier now days using cut vinyl for the lettering versus having to layout and hand-letter all those words and then double-coat them!! Much easier today!

GOLD LEAF ON GLASS LOOKS SHARP

23 K Gold Leaf reflects the sunlight and stands out over any other type of window lettering. There is a high cost for this type of lettering however, so be prepared for sticker shock when you get the estimate from your local sign company. The reason the cost is so high is the material is truly solid gold. It’s just pounded down to a thin sheet and applied to the window or door and then varnished. Modern day materials once again can make the process easier using real gold that is embedded in a vinyl sheet that can be cut on the computer just like regular vinyl graphics. I used this type of gold leaf product for a sign I did for a local law firm in Staunton, Virginia, and it really looks great!

SUBTLETY MAY BE YOUR BAG

Gold leaf letters and white letters can really stand out, but sometimes you may want a more subtle look. This is the time you will want to consider etched letters. Ask your sign shop about “Etchmark” brand or similar vinyl sheeting in which you can cut your logos and letters, apply to the glass, and it looks like it was etched right in the glass.

I recently lettered an entry door at Eastern Mennonite University where I suggested Etchmark vinyl for the graphics. It looks very nice and it’s not that much more expensive than regular vinyl. I noticed that it is also available in colors which could make some really cool entry ways.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO IT ALL AT ONCE

Last spring I lettered the main window for a local pizza shop. The pizza shop had several storefront windows, but the owner was just starting, so to save start up money he only ordered the main entry window glass to be lettered with his main brand. Then as he got settled in the business for a while, he called again to add another full glass window of bullet points listing all the many menu items available to passersby.

When you order signs, just like ordering food at a fine Italian restaurant, it’s good to know you don’t need to order everything all at once!

PROMOTING SPECIAL EVENTS

Entry doors and windows are great places to announce things like business anniversaries, or special seasonal deals. I lettered the glass door for a local printer who was celebrating 70 years in business! It’s a great thing to have all your walk-in customers see as they enter your space. 70 years is a long time and it must make them feel just a little proud of you as they come in to see you.

Another thing I used to do all the time was temporary window messages for a local car dealer. Every month or so, they would post a big, bright, colorful message across their entire storefront, all hand-painted in poster paint that was easily scraped off and replaced every month. Temporary window signs are great ways to keep people in touch with your business, especially if you’re located on a busy thoroughfare.

CONVERTING EMPTY WINDOWS INTO WAYFINDING KIOSKS

I once helped a university customer take a vacant room near the entrance to a hall and converted it into a wayfinding sign for students and visitors. I used translucent vinyl for the top palladian window and an opaque ACM metal sign for the big map below double-back taped to the glass. It looked really nice and became an important functional component of the college wayfinding system.

Whatever your need for window signs, contact Mark Hackley, owner of Augusta Sign Company for your next project. 540-943-9818.

How to Finish a Sandblasted Sign

January 11, 2018 By Mark Hackley

How To Finish a Sandblasted Sign

“How to finish a sandblasted sign?” is a question people may ask after seeing a sign of this type at a local business. In the early 1990’s I attended a hand-carved sign workshop taught by master sign carver, Jay Cooke. Lessons learned from that instructive workshop are still used in my sign-making and sign-finishing practices today.

I am the owner of Augusta Sign Company located near Middlebrook, Virginia. In this blog I will try to explain the steps in finishing a sandblasted cedar sign. These same steps could apply to the finishing of similar products which might include carved wood signs and also routed wood signs, both of which I sell here in Virginia to a variety of companies, organizations, and individuals. These signs are frequently used as the primary identification signs for medical offices, parks and recreation sites, museums, resorts, theme parks, city entrances, churches, professional offices, bed and breakfasts, retail stores, and subdivision entrances, just to name a few.

Before the finishing process begins, you must start with quality wood. Consider choosing mahogany, redwood or cedar for your sign panel, as all three choices are great for resisting rot and insects. They also hold paints and stains well, and they can all be finished natural and look great over long periods of time with regular maintenance.

Once you have the sign panel glued up and blasted, carved or routed, here’s what you need to do to preserve the wood and make an attractive, eye-catching sign:

Mix up your own homemade oil stain by adding 30% of oil-based exterior enamel paint (I use One-Shot or Ronan brands) with Penetrol.
Apply the homemade Penetrol solid-color oil stain to the raw wood surface. Allow it to soak overnight. Apply a second coat in 24 hours if the first coat is well dry.
Using 100% enamel, paint the lettering.
Second coat lettering if necessary’ and allow to dry at least 24 hours.

That’s all there is to it. Of course, you want to use quality brushes that don’t lose their hairs in your paint work! No clear coat finish is required, but you can expect to have to repaint the sign every 5-10 years. With proper maintenance the sign will look great all the time and last a life time.

COST OF WOOD SIGNS

When you consider the cost of a wood sign remember to calculate the annual cost over a long period. Here’s an example: Say a finished plywood sign costs you $34 a square foot and lasts 5-10 years and then it needs to be replaced. Based on a 20 SF sign, this sign would have an annual cost of $68-$136 a year. Now say a sandblasted cedar sign costs $150 a square foot. A 20 SF cedar sign with a 50 year lifespan would have an annual cost of $110 a year when figuring on the initial cost and $500 every 10 years for repainting. Not only is the pricing in the same ballpark as the plywood sign, but the three dimensional elements achieved by using carved wood far exceeds the value of a plywood sign.

Next time you need a sign, consider a sandblasted wood sign!

Mark Hackley is owner of Augusta Sign Company, the best place for wood signs in the Shenandoah Valley!

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Thankful for Sign Talents

Thankful for Sign Talents

November 25, 2017 By Mark Hackley

Thankful for Sign Talents

Budding Artist

I’m very thankful for sign talents that have been with me for over fifty years. It was the fall of 1976. Jimmy Carter had just become our new President. I was a freshman at Spencerville Junior Academy, a Christian school in Montgomery County, Maryland. Our principal, Maynard Yeary, contracted me to paint our school mascot, a bee, on the band’s bass drum. All through my school days, in fact, from day one, I had been the resident artist and go-to guy for calligraphy, posters, illustrations, or charts. It actually all started before school.

When I was just two years old, still in diapers, Mom said I would pull soup cans from the cupboard, and copy the letters. One of these early “Mark Hackley” drawings has even been preserved in a book of memories that she assembled and made sure I kept safe into posterity! I skipped Kindergarten and on my very first day in First Grade, I won the handwriting contest, my work displayed on the wall from the start. Then soon after, I won the best drawing of our school building, and so on up through Junior High (now Middle School) where I was the artist for the school newspaper and yearbook. So it only made sense that by the time I reached High School it was appropriate that I be hired to paint the bass drum, which was a pretty challenging task for a guy used to pencil or pen and ink as a medium. I remember researching the proper paint to use for plastic surfaces. I wish I had a picture of the drum, but I don’t; But I do remember it was a success. The first of many successful sign projects!

Applied Arts

From there, I went on to paint huge mural-type backdrops for the senior play, letter certificates for student awards, design and make campaign posters for school government candidates, and the list goes on and on. After high school, I had a scholarship to attend Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, but declined to take a position as a sign apprentice instead with the US Navy in Bethesda, Maryland.

There I learned how to paint various freestyle letters by hand under the tutelage of experienced sign painter, Herb Root. I learned the basics of industrial painting and sign painting but did not feel like a master as of this point. When I transferred to Andrews Air Force Base in 1982, it was here that I became proficient in the trade and after about three years, I felt like I could take on any job with ease. and speed. I lettered the entryway of the air terminal used by our President and Congressmen, lettered water towers, helipads, interior and exterior wayfinding signs, safety billboards, airport taxiways, insignias, vehicles, you name it!

It was after these early years of training, I felt confident enough to start my own sign business. My Uncle Ellsworth Hackley (A.K.A. Boo-Boo) was the entrepreneurial example in my family who I emulated starting out. Soon I had a part-time business where I developed a good sense of limitations for my talents- certain jobs I was good at and certain ones I was not.

In 1990, I went full-time into the sign biz. Looking back after all those years, I am extremely thankful for the God-given talent of art and design. That talent has enabled me to be self-sufficient. It has enabled me to help people and organizations needing to get noticed and be profitable by increasing revenues; It has helped me realize and share this great gift, a gift that leaves a lasting impression everywhere I go. I’m forever passing signs all over the place that I put into service decades ago! It’s humbling to see all the work I was blessed with the ability to complete.

This Thanksgiving has allowed me time to reflect on my talent and those who have purchased it or benefited from it in some way. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!

Mark Hackley owns Augusta Sign Company of Staunton, VA.

1619 Middlebrook Road, Staunton, VA 24401 540-943-9818

mark@augustasigncompany.com

Augusta Sign Company Now True to its Name

September 28, 2017 By Mark Hackley

Augusta Sign Company Now True to its Name

STAUNTON, VIRGINIA Mark Hackley, owner of Augusta Sign Company formerly of Waynesboro, Virginia has moved his sign shop to Augusta County, Virginia, near Staunton. So Augusta Sign Company is now true to its name!

PART-TIME BEGINNINGS

Augusta Sign Company began in Laurel, Maryland in the early 1980’s. Mark Hackley learned to paint signs as an apprentice signpainter at the National Naval Medical Center (now called Walter Reed National Military Medical Center) in Bethesda in 1980 and became a journeyman signpainter at Andrews Air Force Base (now called Joint Base Andrews) in Prince Georges County, Maryland. Mark first began contracting signage with his colleague Allen Gray around 1983. He then formed Kullman Signs with a friend, also on a part-time basis, around 1985. By 1987 Mark had formed Western Signs and Graphics and took out his first newspaper ad in the Laurel Leader. By 1988, Mark was married and he moved his business, still called Western Signs and Graphics, to Waynesboro, Virginia. He worked from home on a part time basis while working for Keeney and Company Architects of Charlottesville for about a year but before long, Mark began renting space above the former Doll Hospital on Wayne Avenue in Waynesboro later in 1988.

FROM ARCHITECTURE TO ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

In April, 1990, Mark resigned as a draftsman and began a full-time sign company! He changed the name to Tree Street Signs and Graphics and moved his business to Charlotte Avenue, where he remained for one full year. The business began to grow and Mark soon expanded to a larger facility in Crimora, Virginia, where he rented industrial space from Gary and Linda Scrogham of Scrogham Enterprises.

It was at this point when Mark upgraded his business from a sole proprietorship to a corporation. This is the same corporation operating today as Augusta Sign Company. Although the business was sold to Tedsan, Inc. in 2000, Mark kept his contracting license and corporation going on a part-time basis as he worked for various organizations in sales and marketing. In July, 2015, Mark re-started his business from his home on Magnolia Avenue in Waynesboro. Once again he grew the business back as though it had never taken a break! He added a detached shop building later that year and worked from that location until September 1 of this year, when he moved to a larger shop between Middlebrook and Staunton on Middlebrook Road.

BROAD SERVICE AREA

Augusta Signs serves customers throughout Virginia. Earlier this month Mark installed signage for a law firm in Richmond, Virginia and next month he will be working on branding condominiums in Alexandria, Virginia. Even though he will take on regional projects, most of his jobs are derived from customers in Augusta County.

The company specializes in custom wood signage, both new and refurbished. Anyone interested in having Mark come out for a survey for a new or existing sign, may contact him at mark@augustasigncompany.com.

Options for Renovating/Rehabbing Wood Signs

July 31, 2017 By Mark Hackley

Options for Renovating/Rehabbing Wood Signs

GOLD OR NO GOLD

What are options for renovating/rehabbing wood signs? Well, if they have gold leaf, the options are to either save and restore the gilding or repaint with paint only. This customer saved thousands of dollars in cost of gold by repainting the sign with only paint materials.

I received an e-mail in response to a sporadic newsletter I send to customers and prospects requesting an estimate on rehabilitating a wood sign for a local bed and breakfast establishment. The owners of the B&B needed an old sign repainted. The sign needing attention was built in the 1990’s. It was well-built from quality exterior marine grade plywood that was framed with hardwood and mounted to solid wood posts. I remember reading a news article about the sign fabricator, Frank Hawkins, who used to operate a sign business in Fairfield, Virginia near Lexington. Frank was from New England somewhere, maybe Vermont, where signs are well-built and maintained. When I first started in my own sign business back in 1990, I attended a sign carving class in Stowe, Vermont, taught by expert carver, Jay Cooke. I remember thinking that I could share some of the craft I learned with businesses in Virginia, perhaps improving the aesthetics of our area with nice signage. From 1990-2000 when I owned and operated Tree Street Signs in Crimora, I believe I was able to do just that!

GO STEELERS!

Getting back to my story about the B&B sign rehab project: The old sign was framed plywood, hand-painted with gold leaf letters and accent borders. The paint was chalking, fading and peeling a little after 25 years of service, and the gold leaf on the south side was pretty bad. The north side was salvageable, but the side with most sun exposure needed to be replaced. The client was most interested in making the sign background brighter, several times stating they thought the colors of the old sign were just too drab. They wanted a white background with a black and gold color scheme. (Later on I found out they were originally from Pittsburgh, so the Pittsburgh Steelers’ black and gold color scheme was in the back of their mind in this decision.) They weren’t worried about losing the gold leaf as long as the renovated sign popped so people could read it well.

OLD-TIME SIGNPAINTING TECHNIQUES

I’m posting a few pictures of the sign renovation process. First, I made a pattern from the old sign, which had a very neat design. I sanded and bleached the whole sign, both sides. Then I filled in any big problem areas with an epoxy filler. After that, I primed both sides with oil-based Zinsser Primer, and finished with One-Shot Bulletin Enamels. I pounced the pattern with chalk to use as a guideline for the re-lettering process. I used two coats of primer, two coats of white bulletin enamel and then two coats of black and gold enamel lettering. I and my helper, Marshall, installed the sign back onto its 6X6 wood posts after sanding and painting them in the field with Sherwin Williams white latex enamel house and trim paint. Since they were previously painted, the latex house paint will work well on the posts giving them a flexible finish to last a good long while.

The customers were pleased with the work. I recommended washing and waxing the sign every 6 months or so (Fall and Spring). I hope it helps get more attention than the old sign which was severely faded.

Mark Hackley owns Augusta Sign Company, Waynesboro, VA

540-943-9818