Doug Bernhardt of Bernhardt Sign Co. (Ottawa, ON, Canada) did some research when creating this indoor sign for Trinity Irish Pub in New Jersey. “I’ll drag out all sorts of reference material, inspirational books…antique carvings and turn-of-the-century millwork,” he said.
Even though the client, BarNone Designs, provided the logo, Bernhardt still tinkered. “Rarely will the existing logo work for this application, because it’s drawn with menus and printed matter as the primary purpose, so I re-arranged as necessary.”
He refined the original sketches as full-size patterns with pencil and charcoal. He was trained as a showcard writer and still enjoys working by hand. Bernhardt and his shopmates made templates for the raised letters and used a bushing guide to hand-rout around “The Trinity” in the solid basswood.
The moldings were cut with the router and glued to the wood at various levels to create more “eye appeal,” Bernhardt said.
After weeks of carving, the shop applied an ebony oil finish, wiped it off immediately and added a mahogany finish, both by Sikkens. They added an interior-quality Sikkens overcoat and, once dry, painted designated areas with a 1Shot mixed red. They used steel wool to reveal high points and applied another semi-gloss overcoat over a rubbed-in “antiqued” area.
Lastly, 23k goldleaf was dropped on a very slow, mixed gold size. Bernhardt prefers to mix 12-hour size with a 24-hour size to preclude the “patchiness” so often seen with 12-hour size straight from the can.