Brewing Up Some Artistic Signs For The 3 Brewers Restaurants

It’s A Beautiful Day In The 3 Brewers Neighbourhood

The 3 Brewers, also known as Les 3 Brasseurs, are Canadian microbrewerey restaurants. Each location is unique and has a dedicated beer for the neighbourhood that the restaurant is situated in.  When they had a need for individual brand representation at each establishment, they came to The Sign Depot for a variety of custom artistic signs.

Artistic Signs As Demonstrative Drawings

While infographics are often used online, this demonstrative drawing serves as an step by step infographic of the brewing process perfected by The 3 Brewers.

As you can see from the image above, the graphics were hand drawn by the expert signmakers here at The Sign Depot.  After completion the drawing was placed into a custom fabricated metal frame and cnc cut HDU replica bolt heads were affixed to the piece. The distress finish completed the vintage look of the artistic sign.

Custom Crafted Beer Deserves Custom Made Signs

As mentioned earlier in this post, each location of The 3 Brewers has a one of kind beer created for that restaurant.  Naturally they wanted these specialty beers highlighted in each locale.  That is when a custom sign shop can play a very important role.  The signmakers crafted custom pieces for display and replication for each indivdual location.  Below are just a few of the charcoal art pieces that were created for The 3 Brewers.

Raise A Glass To Those Who Value Custom Craftsmanship

While The 3 Brewers are Brewmasters, The Sign Depot has a lot in common with them.

We both

• Hand craft our products
• Create high quality items
• Take pride in our trade

We raise a glass to all those who take pride in their work and say CHEERS to all those that value custom craftsmanship!

Do you think these traits are important as well? Let us know in the comments what the word craftsmanship means to you!

Gold Leaf And Custom Artistic Sign Making

Go For The Gold

One of the custom sign making techniques that we get a lot of inquiries about is the application of gold leaf.  There is no substitute for the shine achieved by 23K gold leaf.  It is multiple step process which requires a lot of expertise in order to properly apply the gold leaf to a sign or artistic sculpture.  The best example of well known gold leaf application recognized worldwide would be the Queen’s Flotilla.  To learn more, you can read our post Fit For A Queen, to see how The Royal Barge was sculpted using many of the same techniques that we use right here in The Sign Depot Workshop.

See The Sign Making Steps

1. First Gold Size Oil is applied.  Gold size is an adhesive that is applied to the surface of where you want the gold leaf to be.
2. Next the sheets of Gold Leaf are separated to ensure even application.
3. The Gold Leaf is applied with a specialty brush
4. The last step is letting it set.  In order to ensure the longevity of the finish, you must make sure the Gold Size Oil and Gold Leaf are completely dry before moving the sign.

Below you can see a quick recap of how we apply gold leaf to our custom signs.  It adds quite an artistic touch to the finishing process.

Custom Sign Making Techniques

Curious about other custom sign making techniques?  We have a fix for that!  Be sure to RSVP to the upcoming Sign Depot Demo Day by clicking the image below.  There you will get a behind the scenes look at what goes on in our sign manufacturing workshop.  Peter Moir and the staff of The Sign Depot will be on hand to answer any questions and you’ll be amongst some of the top marketers in the business industry.

Artistic Signs Of Intelligent Life

Maryse Maynard Exhibit – Signs Of Intelligent Life

The City Of Kitchener Rotunda Gallery is featuring an exhibit called Signs Of Intelligent Life.  Of course with the words signs in the name it peaked some interest.  The exhibit was artistic mix medium show.  It displayed printing press racks as shadow boxes influenced by famous sayings and quotes.  It was an artistic sign showing a visual of the how the words influenced artist Maryse Maynard.  You can read more about the artist and the ideas behind Signs Of Intelligent Life on her artist statement post.

 

 

Artistic Ideas

The words in these art pieces were displayed using scrabble pieces, clay tiles and what looked like routered wood letters.  Below are two pieces that show how the phrases were created with Scrabble letter tiles.

 

 

Out Of The Box Thinking

The use of printing press tile boxes reminded me of the TYPEFACE film we presented last year at the Princess Cinema and how the skill of Wood Type printing could have been lost if it had not been for a Museum trying to keep it alive.  Through the movie you learned how new artists are choosing to use wood type printing in new pieces, and in the case of this exhibit the item that holds the wood type letters was re-purposed into an artistic piece.

This brought me back to The Sign Depot workspace where Peter has an antique typeface holder displayed in his office.  Every time I look there is an addition of items no longer available nowadays.  Separately they look like items from days gone by, but together they look like a collection. It is almost as if these items are being re-purposed to make a brand new art piece right here in our workspace. 

 

Looking at it now I wonder what phrase Maryse Maynard would choose for this display?  Many come to mind for me, but I think the one that stands out is

Everything Old Is New Again 

 

How The Sign Depot Artistic Sign Makers Get Inspired At An Art Gallery

Paradigms of Perception

 

 

 

 It’s amazing what you can find in your own back yard just by looking a little bit harder.

Here at The Sign Depot we believe in investing in our Company Culture and work hard to have a harmonious environment for our artistic staff.  We always look for ways to inspire their craft while supporting the community we are situated in.  We find that the mix of inspiration and giving back sparks creativity. Friday we took a look at the newest art gallery exhibit at Jennifer Gough‘s Mindseye Studio in Kitchener. PARADIGMS OF PERCEPTION It definately made us look deeper. It may be difficult to see here but many of the pieces were created through the use of texture, light & shadows & even QR codes! Only in Kitchener Waterloo can art & tech blend together seamlessly. Did I mention that Jennifer is also raising funds for the CNIB with this show?  We were supporting Arts and Culture, Company Culture and Community Charity all in this one trip to a gallery. That’s why we are so glad she invited us to come on board as sponsors.  Creating & collaborating are things we know very well.  We provided the sign banner shown above and created vinyl graphics to post the artists’ names by their artistic pieces in the show, and made sure to make a donation to the CNIB as well.  Make sure to support your local arts community and visit a local art gallery. Keep culture alive where you live.  Find ways to be creative and use your talents to help others in your community, especially when it comes to charitable efforts.  We had a great time and it made for great conversations back at The Sign Depot workspace.  It was great to experience the art studio show with my co-workers and see everyone’s take on the pieces displayed. If nothing else, I hope you know Seeing Is Believing

Artistic Signs Late Nights and Blue Collar Mornings @ The Sign Depot

Artistic Signs Start With Artists

Next week is the February Long Weekend. Since it’s been too cold to do anything outside we decided to host something indoors. Our first Art Show is happening on Saturday Feb 19th from 6:30pm to 11:30pm here at 51 Borden Ave S. Kitchener. All details can be found at this link OR click the pic at the bottom of this post to see an enlarged version.

OR follow the hashtag on twitter #sdART Some fantastic artists make Kitchener Waterloo their home and we hope this region will support all that they do enrich the artistic culture here.

They are many ways the community can get involved to support local artistic talent.  Attending a local art show is just one of the ways our artistic sign makers find inspiration for the unique sign work that they do.  Finding different ways to sculpt signs, produce stand out memorable landmarks and experiment with finishing techniques such as distressed rust finishes or gold leaf guilding are just some of the artistic ways they create custom signs.

As you can see some of these artistic sign techniques have crossed over into the art world and are now being used to create artistic pieces for the masses.  You are never sure how your work can influence others, but in this case sign work inspired a full scale art show.

 Sign Up To See The Art

See what The Sign Depot looks like after dark.  It may just surprize you.  We want our custom signs to be part of the artistic landscape of our community.  Come by and see what you would like to see more of when it comes to artistic signs.  We appreciate your input and look forward to hosting you in our Sign Depot workshop. Perhaps you will see a piece that speaks to you.