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Sandblasted sign re-do!

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11K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  sras 
#1 ·
A very unusual restoration!

So here's the setup:

Call from some friends - can you help us out? What's the project? Take this sign:



"We no longer live on a mountain ("peak"), but still love the sign. Can you erase the "A" in Peak, and make it an "E" instead"?



"Sure" i replied.

How to do it? Make a copy of an existing "E" and replicate it in a plaster type material. Here's the casting material I used. Basically, it's a two part putty that cures to a fairly hard rubber mold.



Take equal parts of putty, and mix it thoroughly, quickly apply to a good E; it's nice I had one right next to the letter to erase, since there would be continuity of the background



Applying it to the good letter:



Wait 30 minutes, gently peel off. No residue, and didn't pick up any wood:



Here's the mold. Looks perfect:



The porcelain/bisque material is called Permastone. Basically, it's a powder, and you add enough water to make a thick cream. Set's in about 30 minutes.



Poured into the mold:



NEXT: Removing the old "A" and fitting in the new "E"
 
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#2 ·
This is so cool! I always loved playing with "Silly Putty" and this reminds me of that. So- how did you attach the new E to the sign?
 
#3 ·
Part 2: Installing new letter and refinish

Here is the new letter. I purposefully did some bleed over in the casting to catch the unique backing, and hopefully enable a better blending:



Now to get rid of the old "A", using my Dremel with a router base:



After fitting in the new "E", I am working in the color to match, as seen in this series of photos:



Problem was, I was never going to get an exact match on either the background (dark brown) or the the lettering (a pale yellow). So, I ended up just stainging the whole background, and repainting the letters and border with a close match outdoor paint. The results look pretty darn good!



Here's the sign the way it was…..

 
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