Sign Writing for Cheats!!

 

 

 

 

The Cat's Whiskers (before touching up!)

 

 

Hi! Well we never intended to do any sign writing at this stage but we sort of got carried away!

The picture above is the results of our efforts - The process used has left a couple of blemishes that we have to touch up (note the line to the left of the W in whiskers) - so how do we do it -well.....

First you need a computer and printer or a large piece of paper and an artistic flair! - the idea is to first find a font you like (a font is a style of lettering eg The Cat's Whiskers is shown in Comic Sans font or you could use Creepy font - whatever takes your fancy. Next find a program that lets you print things in any scale (I use Sierra Print Artist or Card Artist). This lets you print the letters the actual size of your sign writing. Unless you have a very large printer you will end up with a jigsaw of 9 or more sheets of paper to stick together giving you a full size print of your required lettering.

Next: present your artwork to the side of the boat and work out where it will end up. You have to cover the artwork area with strips of masking tape. Once you have done this, tape the artwork firmly over the masking tape then with a very sharp craft knife (Screwfix) cut the letters out, cutting through the masking tape as well.  Then peel away the masking tape where you have to paint. Paint the exposed areas with your required colours. With TCW we used a font with a 'shadow' effect - we painted the main letter cream and the shadow in red. The process is shown below in pictures.

 

The print out taped over the masking tape

'whiskers' cut out of the masking - ready for paint

Painting 'The Cats'

The finished sign

 

Once you have painted the letters (we used two coats - the second applied as soon as the first was 'tacky') peel the masking tape off - Do not leave it overnight or you will be very sorry as you try to get it off!!

The cats face was done in exactly the same way

Time taken was half a day for the lettering and about three hours for the face - it may not be 'professional' sign writing but we think it stands pretty close examination!

The coach lines for those who are wondering are done with two strips of masking tape 1.25" apart, then paint in between with cream paint.