Studio Practice: Foiling

with the initial research of sign lettering and the process of which is traditionally used, it was clear that the oldest form of sign lettering was using gold leaf. With this technique gold leaf is 'dusted' using the paintbrush in order to create the sign, with it being a highly skilled process. With the early research into sign painters in Leeds and linking to kirkgate market, it was found that Brian the brush worked on the m&s penny bazar stall in the market, with using gold leaf to highlight the heritage of M&S. With the process being a hard craft to master and learn, I experimented with hand processed methods of replicating the gold leaf. The first method of foiling of which I experimented with was using double sided adhesive. With using double sided adhesive all you have to do is cut out the desired shape that you are wanting to use and then peel and then stick the foil on and then peel off. The results of this method was a slick looking finish, however the problems that occurred was how to cut out the title that I needed to foil, of which was specific lettering. So in order to try and combat this problem I used the laser cutter to cut out the title onto the adhesive, which meant that this method could be used on the specfic design. When peeling the layer of adhesive off it was apparent that the letterforms were just too delicate and thin in order to peel both sides off cleanly and well, With the Kirkgate market too thin that the letterforms just broke when popping out of the adhesive. This leads onto the next experiment of using a glue pen, of which helps to connect to the handmade element more effectively. With this method I tried by just using it to hand letter words and the title to see what the outcome was like. I also used the stencil from popping out the letters and just filled in the shape of the 'Kirkgate market' to see wether it would work. The outcome was that using it to hand letter was jus too thin for the glue to stick down properly and would take a while to master, and filling in the title semi worked, however the glue got underneath the material so wasn't replicant to the stencil. This method seemed suitable if wanting to add embellishments or small design features in an easier way. The last method was your traditional method of using a laminator. This method was tried last to try and get the more professional finish of which was lacking in the other methods. I printed off test versions of the bellybands to test how big the text was in relation of the publication size to try and get the size desired. Once this was chosen the black text was printed onto the black stock in the laser printer and then foiled. The first trial didn't work out because the 'Kirkgate market' was too thin in order for the foil to stick, so in consequence this text was made bold. The finish of the foil was less 'thick' as the adhesive but however was more professional with all the letterforms foiling properly, equalling a good finish. The limitations of this method is that I couldn't use the cardstock as it wouldn't print, so therefore tried the thick paper stock for the box, however it wasn't sturdy enough, so the idea of having a box was abandoned.