Signs of Gold Embellishes St. Mark’s Church

The priests at St. Mark, a Roman Catholic parish in upstate New York, wanted to make a statement to parishioners with a stately, but not gaudy, freestanding sign. Francis Lestingi, proprietor of Signs of Gold (Williamsville, NY), and his son, Stephen, fashioned the sign’s substrate with a saber saw to create its shape, and a handheld router to develop its edge profile. After having applied three coats of Jay Cooke’s water-based primer, they then applied two topcoats with T.J. Ronan bulletin colors, and applied a third layer of custom-mixed, 1Shot lettering enamel.

After having designed stencils with tracing paper on an HP laser printer, Francis created stencils on the signface to prepare for handcarving the signface with chisels and gouges. They shaped the likeness of St. Mark by methodically carving a thick HDU panel and creating its form with a series of chisels. After having coated the saintly figure similarly to the panel, and applying Lefranc Charbonnel slow size, the Lestingis provided a divine aura with 23.75k goldleaf.

To support the sign, they formed and painted 6 x 6-in., 10-ft.-tall, Southern yellow pine posts, which are inserted 3 ft. deep into the turf and cemented into place with 120 lbs. of ready-mixed, quick-forming concrete.