July 17, 2020

They don’t make them like they used to. That something of a problem when you need to replace a forty year old sign. Vertiworks to the rescue…

The Green Yard Cafe is a regular and very happy client of Bridport based Vertiworks. Colin Crabb and the Vertiworks team have been looking after the popular watering hole’s needs for quite a while now. One of the latest jobs to come along though was a little challenging, an existing projecting sign was on its last legs and needed replacing. Replacing with something that looked identical…

The existing sign was a hand-crafted reminder that signmaking once upon a time wasn’t a computer driven industry with wide format printers at its disposal or sign system components at the other end of the phone. It comprised a beautifully wrought bracket which was still in good shape, hanging on to a hand-made and hand lettered panel that wasn’t. The panel had to go.

Removing the old panel was a fairly straightforward undertaking - it was rotten. The Vertiworks team then meticulously photographed the hand painted lettering for reference and consigned the retired sign to its place of rest.

A new panel was needed and quality hardwood was the chosen material to make it from. Vertiworks knows a thing or too about getting the detail right and the finished panel is a great facsimile of the one it needed to replace. The panel was finished in a modern and very durable paint but looks for all the world like something that’s seen a few summers.

Having got the panel spot on, the lettering was the next thing to get attention. No digital font exists that could be used to generate the lettering needed and so the photographic reference was imported into Illustrator and traced so as to create a vector file reflecting all the subtlety of the hand rendered originals. A blush of a green gradient was applied and the result admired on the screen of the design computer. Another detail delivered.

Metamark MD5 was then invited to the party and was used to print the digitised lettering, with Matching MetaGuard Laminate applied. It was then contour cut and pre-spaced. It looked totally in character and passed the closest scrutiny. Once applied to the outgassed panel, the lettering settled to its role and the sign could have been said to have been restored. The materials are all new, but the original maker’s fingerprints are all over the sign thanks to the lengths that Vertiworks has gone too.

The result is stunning and it looks like an old sign that’s had a bit of a tidy up. Just what the client wanted. Its a work that’s all about details reduced to practice. Next time it needs replacing, the data will be on file, and the job just a little easier.