Lettering & Sign Carving Workbook: 10 Skill-Building Projects for Carving and Painting Custom Signs

by Betty Padden

Overview

A contemporary look at a nostalgic craft with updated techniques and a fresh variety of styles for carving and painting a variety of signs for the home, summer cottage or basement bar.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781565234529
Publisher:	Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/01/2011
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Betty Padden has been a professional wood carver for more than 35 years. She is the author of three books—Lettering & Sign Carving Workbook, Carving & Painting Christmas Ornaments, and Carving and Painting Noah's Ark—and is a regular contributor to Woodcarving Illustrated magazine. Betty and her husband, Bob, own the Wooden Apple Signmakers in Auburn, Mass., providing custom carved signs for both residential customers and commercial clients like the Walt Disney Company and Anheuser-Busch. Betty and Bob have offered classes on the fine art of wood carving to students in their studio since 1979.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part I: Getting Started
*Letter carving basics
*Basic painting
*Tools and safety
*Sign shape templates
*Font template
*Additional designs and banners
*Resources for paint, chisels
Part II: Projects
*Project 1: Circa board
*Project 2: Welcome Sign
*Project 3: House sign with a cap and molding
*Project 4: Child's room sign
*Project 5: House sign with claddah and raised banner/elements
*Project 6: Banner and beer stein
*Project 7: House sign with raised duck and cattails
*Project 8: Camp sign
*Project 9: Beach house sign with raised lighthouse
*Project 10: Interior Christmas carving

Editorial Reviews

There are 10 projects in this marvelous book that will help even the professional sign carver improve his/her skills. Author Padden is a very skilled and highly innovative carver and her book shows it. She takes you through her carvings from the first cut in raw wood through to every intricate detail including the final painting. The Paddy's Pub sign is just one example of the author's ingenuity but take a look at the detail in the Irish Claddagh Sign embellished with gold leaf. Even the seemingly simple Welcome sign is a work of art. It is amazing how she envisions such simple signs like a cabin nameplate. Amazing! This is one very talented lady and she deserves thanks for sharing it with us.

'The signs are there for this being a great project and technique guide, and one which will be a great addition to any carving bookshelf.'

A book from woodcarver and professional sign maker Betty Padden leads the reader from simple to complex projects in basic letter-carving and painting, using premade blanks, creating lettering on the computer, gilding and aged painting. Projects included in the Lettering & Sign Carving Workbook (Fox Chapel Publishing; ISBN 978-1-56523-452-9) range from welcome and house signs to an Irish claddagh and an indoor Christmas scene sign. The book is priced at $19.95.

From the Publisher