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Old 24th Jun 2017, 9:33 pm   #1
ianm
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Default Screen printing on glass

I'm posting this enquiry here, as it almost certainly has relevance to techniques deployed in re-creating glass dials for vintage radio sets.

I have recently acquired a large old outdoor clock, which spent its life bolted to the front of a Southampton furniture shop, starting from the early 1950s. I'll write about the clock itself in another thread later. Attached is a picture of one of the sign written glass inserts, which is damaged beyond repair. As can be seen, it is painted entirely from the back on plain glass, rather than the front.

I'd be interested to know what my options might be in terms of re-creating this. Not sure that I necessarily wish to tackle it myself, but would be interested to know if there are any specialists out there who might take this on and if so, whether there are any recommendations.

Many thanks.
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Old 24th Jun 2017, 9:41 pm   #2
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

I know someone who does this and it's not as hard as it looks. They use a vinyl cutter machine to cut a mask directly from a computer designed template, stick the whole thing down on the rear of the glass, pull the negative portion off, spray it black and leave it to dry, then remove the rest of the mask then spray it white. They use standard PlastiKote paints for it.

If you can find a local sign and display company they can probably handle this easily enough. At the very worst they can sort out the masks for you.

Screen printing it only makes sense for large volumes of things being made.
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Old 24th Jun 2017, 10:40 pm   #3
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

I agree.

There are companies who'll sell you vinyl wording to your spec (including mirror image if need be) fairly cheaply on eBay.

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Old 24th Jun 2017, 11:50 pm   #4
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

Some years ago I needed some flashed opal glass to make a diffuser for use in copying my old rollfilm negatives. The glazier did have some, but it was horrendously expensive. Spray painting white as per #2 sounds more of a practical proposition if absolute uniformity is not essential.
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Old 25th Jun 2017, 8:15 am   #5
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

I have recently applied complex logo signs to our shop windows using computer cut vinyl.

If you ask one of the companies who do this, there's many advertising on the internet, you could get the lettering reverse-cut in black, put it in place, then put a sheet of white over the back. It would take about 30 minutes.
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Old 25th Jun 2017, 9:13 am   #6
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

If you want to do it cheaply just print it on paper, preferably photographic paper, and sandwich it between two pieces of glass

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Old 29th Jun 2017, 11:11 am   #7
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

Thank you, all, for these handy tips. Think I'll approach one of the local sign companies in the first instance and see what they say. Thanks again.
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Old 29th Jun 2017, 12:44 pm   #8
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

And do search for "vinyl lettering" on eBay too, e.g. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Custom-Vin...MAAOSwjVVVmN2Z
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Old 29th Jun 2017, 1:24 pm   #9
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

I would do a laser print onto transparency and then attach that to the cleaned glass.
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Old 3rd Jul 2017, 12:16 pm   #10
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

Looking into this a little more, there would appear to be a caveat when it comes to the various companies who sell vinyl wording to a customer's spec. What I've found is that the style of lettering has to be chosen from a list of fonts, but I haven't so far found a decent match for the font of the original signage.
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Old 3rd Jul 2017, 1:40 pm   #11
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

Ian, do you need to restore its shape as well ?
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Old 3rd Jul 2017, 1:45 pm   #12
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

If you want to find a font that is a match or close match to yours, you can use a 'font finder' site such as 'What the Font'. You just upload your image and it searches for a font that's either an exact or close match: https://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

But of course that's not much use if the vinyl letter firms will only use their own font bank. There are several fonts that come to mind which are 'sans serif' as yours needs to be, which are fairly standard in programs such as MS Word. To my eyes, ones that look a reasonable match, which I'd have thought would be in the vinyl letter makers' offerings, are: Basic Sans SF, Basic Sans Heavy SF, Calibri (Bold).

A bit hard to tell without the 'G' of 'FURNISHINGS' because the most distinctive letters of fonts in terms of style, tend to be R, S, and G.

Anyway, good luck in your quest Ian.
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Old 3rd Jul 2017, 1:47 pm   #13
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

Hi JacKam_,

Indeed, yes. I want to try and replicate the original as closely as I can. Incidentally, I have an undamaged pane with the same wording from the other side of the clock as a reference.
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Old 3rd Jul 2017, 2:06 pm   #14
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

Hi David,

Thank you for suggesting this interesting line of enquiry. I have visited the website, but the outcome was rather as you predicted, which is that the R, S and G were too challenging when looking for a match. So I didn't get very close, I'm afraid.

For info, I've attached an image of the signage from the 'good' side of the clock. As you can see, I do at least have an excellent reference to work from.
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Old 3rd Jul 2017, 2:21 pm   #15
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

When painted and installed you may try to use a hot air blower + sponge to get required shape.
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Old 3rd Jul 2017, 2:29 pm   #16
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

As you have an original a photographic process would reproduce it. Try a local art course, they do screen printing using such methods.
 
Old 4th Jul 2017, 8:20 pm   #17
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

There's no need to stick to 'standard' fonts - vinyl lettering can be produced from your own artwork.
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Old 6th Jul 2017, 1:15 am   #18
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Default Re: Screen printing on glass

It reminds me of the font used by London Underground.
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