Maria Hines, the award-winning executive chef and owner of the Golden Beetle, a Seattle Mediterranean-cuisine restaurant that synthesizes the flavors of Turkey, Greece, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt – while using organic, local ingredients – wanted a simple, classy neon sign to help the establishment’s curb appeal. The name stems from a Moroccan spice blend that includes more than 30 ingredients; Hines’ block print inspired the design.
Western Neon (Seattle) fabricated the 3 ft. 11 in. x 5-ft., double-sided, projecting sign, whose main structure comprises 0.090-in.-thick aluminum decorated with Matthews acrylic-polyurethane black paint. Clear-gold, 10mm-diameter, exposed neon illuminates the letters, while the logo features opaque-white and opaque-gold, metallic vinyl, and an airbrushed, Tuscan-gold backdrop layer that’s painted with acrylic-polyurethane paint. CL45, 12mm, white neon yields a warm glow against such rich background colors. Due to the sign’s minimal raceway space, the neon is powered by Allanson 12,035V PowRPaks. The solid-state transformers also decrease the total wattage consumption versus what an electromagnetic transformer would require. Installers used Westrim 200 secondary glass housigns, and wired the components with Tecnolux GTO cable.
The shop designed the sign using CorelDRAW X7 software and Adobe Illustrator, and assembled the frame from 2 x 2 aluminum tube and ½-in.-thick, routed aluminum from material from Coast Aluminum. Coast Aluminum also furnished the cabinet’s components – 0.063-in. aluminum returns and 0.040-in. aluminum faces. Western Neon bonded metal layers together using Lord Adhesives’ 403 epoxy, and assembled the sign components using a Saw Stop table saw, a DeWalt mitre saw, a Porter Cable handheld router, a Miller Electric 350P MIG welder, an Ingersoll Rand random-orbital sander and a Bosch angle grinder. The shop mounted the transformer and electrical wiring within the cabinet using 2-in.-sq. tubes and a ¼-in., black-painted mount plate.