Saturday 7 July 2012

hand painted window numbers ftw

 8:30

I volunteered to show up a few hours early to work the other day to let a painter in. I got there at 8:30, book in hand, ready to unlock the door and then sit back and read with my coffee in hand until I had to start opening the shop.

What I didn't expect was how totally awesome and interesting the process was going to be. You see, the painter in question, Chris Dobell, was hired to hand-paint the shop windows, you know, old timey hardware store style. And man, you would not believe how much work it is for them to do that kind of thing.

Chris was super nice and let me ask a thousand questions and take a thousand pictures. 


 8:45 Chris leaves to find a ladder

 9:00 peeling off the old vinyl with a razor blade

9:15 sitting at my usual post, watching

9:45 the drawing goes up

10:00 the drawing is taped in place after painstaking measurements

10:30 paint is mixed, the painting begins

 10:45 ...more painting

11:30 more painting

11:45 mixing up some kind of glue or something??

12:30 after applying the glue, sticking thin sheets of copper leaf to the window

12:45 copper! 

1:00 copper! 

1:15 the big copper reveal ... we wouldn't leave him alone until he showed us

 Later...


2:30? I honestly don't know. I got distracted because Cody was tattooing someone's palm. 
And he took his grills out and set them on the counter. 
You don't see that every day.



And then someone left three packs of smokes and some juice on a chair.
 

More measuring and marking and taping.


Ta daaa! The finished product. Awesome!! 



And that's just the street address...I can't wait to see what else he has in store for us.