Painting Lettering

[dehrlich]

I'm wondering about what you all do when you paint raised text. Do you paint just the top of the letters, or down to the surface? I have been, on most projects, just paint the top of the letters with one of those flat sponge things. I'm doing a sign now that the customer whats the whole letter painted and it is taking a while. Not only is there a lot more surface to paint, but for someone with not the most steady hands in the world anymore it can be a challenge to make it neat. If anyone has an easy way to do this please share. Thanks!

[mtylerfl]

I usually just paint the tops of letters, but saw a recent post (can't recall if it was here or another forum) that showed the sides of raised letters painted, too. In the example he/she showed, it did look really nice. It can be a bit of a tedious process, though.

If the entire sign is going to be painted, you could paint the whole sign the color of the letters first. Then paint the recessed background color after-the-fact, leaving the lettering tops and sides alone. Might be easier/faster using that approach.

[dehrlich]

That is true, but if the whole sign isn't getting painted... I actually think on the particular sign I'm doing now it looks worse with the whole letter done, but what the customer wants the customer wants. And if she doesn't like it when it's done, I guess she will have to pay me to carve it again. I know that in the future I'm going to charge more for doing a "complete" paint job on the letters.

[zan29]

I use paint pens or markers and it works great!

[Digitalwoodshop]

I put my sign paint in Ketchup bottles.. less waste.... Then for most letter painting like White V Centerline Text on a Brown painted backghround..... I load up a 1/2 inch in diameter plastic syringe with no needle. I stick it in the ketchup hole, invert bottle and suck up some paint. I use the syringe to place the paint in the letters and move it around. I suck out the excess....

Works for me...

AL

[aokweld101]

I just done a sign with raised letters and its kinda like how am I going to attack it, I taped off the letters and carved the tape from the letters for the raised part and then sprayed painted it and it did'nt turn out so well, it bleed past the tape I think the next time I'll tape it then paint it with a small bush I know it will turn out better cause I don't have a steady hand either .

[mtylerfl]

Raised lettering on a sign can look very nice without the sides of the letters painted. Raised lettering does not need to be raised too high from the background...anywhere from 1/16" to 1/8" is usually plenty. Beginners often make their Carve Regions far too deep and end up with much more of the sides of the letters exposed. Sometimes, we DO want "super-standout" of lettering, but that's not as often. Should have a good reason for doing that in the first place.


Here's some photos of simple raised letter signs I made for my brother-in-law. The lettering is raised only about 0.1" from the background. Only the flat tops of the letters are painted in the contrasting color (white, in this case). Fast and easy painting with a smooth roller and they came out great. The signs are posted at a camp in Maine and are exposed to very severe weather and climate changes, so I used exterior primer and paints for this job.

[jmoriearty]

I have honestly never painted raised lettering, but to be honest, I've only had a CW for a week or so. I have been doing my letters with a router for years which is kind of sad seeing as almost half of my business is signs! I am curious to how everyone does their painting in centerline text, which is essentially what I have always done with my hand routed signs. My process has been, if the stain is a lighter color, I paint the letters with spray paint and then run the sign through the planer once and finish sand before staining and finishing. If it's a darker stain with lighter lettering, where the stain could throw the color of the letters off (like a sign with a dark walnut stain and gold lettering), I finish the board completely, including clear coat, then route it, then apply paint with a brush and wipe off the excess with a cloth. Of course, you can always find better methods and I'm always interested in new thoughts!

[dehrlich]

I have honestly never painted raised lettering, but to be honest, I've only had a CW for a week or so. I have been doing my letters with a router for years which is kind of sad seeing as almost half of my business is signs! I am curious to how everyone does their painting in centerline text, which is essentially what I have always done with my hand routed signs. My process has been, if the stain is a lighter color, I paint the letters with spray paint and then run the sign through the planer once and finish sand before staining and finishing. If it's a darker stain with lighter lettering, where the stain could throw the color of the letters off (like a sign with a dark walnut stain and gold lettering), I finish the board completely, including clear coat, then route it, then apply paint with a brush and wipe off the excess with a cloth. Of course, you can always find better methods and I'm always interested in new thoughts!

For centerline lettering I generally do the carve on bare wood, spray on a coat of shellac in the area of the lettering so the paint does not get into the grain (even on closed grain woods it will get in sometimes). Once the paint is I follow with another coat of shellac, then sand the surface down to bare wood leaving finished letters. You can then stain the rest of the sign and the stain should not bother the paint in the lettering since it's sealed top and bottom. Has always worked for me.

[DickB]

Others have posted about using spray stencil ink for centerline text, it does not bleed. I did a sign with it and it turned out great. I just used a sander on the surface.