Step by Step in the creation of an exquisite Sign ( if I do say so myself ! )

Today, after 24 hours of drying time for the 3rd finish coat on certain areas of board, I applied the gold lettering on the surface and masked over specific areas around the lettering. This will give the gold lettering it's own gloss background. Then I applied the third coat of black to the whole sign, even over the masked letters. I added spar varnish and kerosene to this black gloss Benjamin Moore paint to increase it's stickiness and drying time. I removed the masking Then I poured One gallon of dry crushed black glass to the entire surface as shown in the photograph. I will let this dry for 30 hours before standing the sign on it's edge to shake off all the excess. This technique is called 'Smaltz' and was first used in the early 1900's to create a spectacular effect of sparkling black unlike any sign you've likely ever seen. My Dad taught me this which was rarely used mostly because of the cost in material and it is very labour intensive. It has not been used much since the advent of computer generated lettering in the 70's, mostly because a computer cannot, and I will bet cannot ever, reproduce this effect. I don't even know if it is available anymore; I've used almost all my supply that my Dad gave me 25 years ago. I last used it for the letters with a slightly different approach on the Museum-On-The-Boyne sign which can be seen on the institutional signs page of my website.
Enough said . . . . wait till Monday's post to see the final results.