stade also used clear transfer tape to create a prismatic set of brand-new letters installed onto the gable side of the building. Once everything had thoroughly dried, Stade used a straight edge to check across the blocking at various directions and sanded any high spots on the blocking. He then applied Gorilla Glue to these filler pieces. Positioning the other panel over top of the first assembly, he placed clamps and nearly every heavy tool in his shop on top of the panels to bond them. (Note: Stade later sanded off any excess glue that had expanded out around the edges.) For the border, Stade added another layer of HDU in specific areas for extra dimension. He attached these finished pieces to the panel with a minimum amount of urethane adhesive, clamped them, and, once set up, whittled them down with a knife and chisels. He then sanded to give these areas a radius edge. Next Stade mounted the completed sign panel up on a customized, temporary stanchion support frame. Stade sprayed Behr latex paints using a four-stage HVLP Sherwin-Williams® spray unit onto both sides of the sign panel. He made sure to mix the latex paints to arrive at the right color blends—dark blue to light blue for a “misty” lake sur46
The HDU anchors were later spray-painted black and attached to the posts by using stud-mounts and pressing them firmly into pre-drilled holes that had been filled with siliconeadhesive.
Sign Builder Illustrated // February 2014
face effect. Stade applied the darker blues first and then went back over in spots with lighter shades. After letting the entire sign panel dry (“fortunately latex paint is quick drying,” he says), Stade also used latex paint to hand-paint the border outlines and flourishes their intended colors. Stade carved the basic shapes of all three sets of letters (“West Cove,” “Lounge,” and “Food • Spirits • Lodging”) out of fifteen-pound HDU on his CNC router. He applied contact cement to the HDU and bonded them to the Alupanel. However Stade used a chisel and knife to hand-modify the bigger “West Cove” letters and give them a stressed appearance. He then primed and painted the basic colors in two shades of blue. As soon as he applied the dark blue paint, he took a wet paper towel and wiped this paint across the letters. For the “Lounge” letters, Stade applied 23k gold leaf size to their surfaces, gilded, and later hand-brushed their outlines with latex paint. (Note: This outline work was done on all of the sign’s lettering.) After painting, Stade cut out and placed Gerbermask onto the face of the sign to signshop.com