Original Dead Men

[Larry White]

Well...looks like we were at it again, truth be told.

Shut up! My Dead Man meet is over! Oh, I ain't askin' this time. I'm tellin', and if somebody don't like it, I'm prepared to do those signs in a version of my own. Now, you must be done with some of those signs by now... so post up a picture for us to see!

That first picture was shy one Dead Man....

aaAHh...

I otta be home pickin' cotton...

[Tony Segale]

who ya travelin' with?

[Mike Jackson]

Hi Larry,
Nice group! Okay, here's your chance! (to balance out my photo posts) You guys can post back and forth ALL YOU WANT about Dead Man here in this thread. Post your photos, add links to other Dead Man sites, banter away, and generally have fun. Larry and the rest can fill "the uninformed" on the movie and all its finer points. There were probably a few signs painted for the movie set, too!

Mike Jackson :co-site administrator

[Larry White]

Ahh, Mike, what fun is that? ...we liked you better as the controller...

[Tony Segale]

yeah, I always post alone

[Larry White]

It was a pretty day for making things right...

I'm almost certain they'll be overly confident in their techniques.
Especially if the glass is right out there in front of them.
It's not like we'll have any advantage. But if they're right there with us,
then they won't have as much as they might have otherwise.
I don't figure all of them to be gilders.
Only two or three like David Butler will have done much of it.
I'll be looking to him. The others will be vinyl men. Probably burned out.
Maybe ex-hand letterers. The rest will be enthusiasts.
They won't want to gild their panel in front of us.
It'll happen fast once I start Angel Gilding.
So just keep your project moving forward.
And they'll either chip or etch. Maybe even depth carve.
It don't matter which. You just start right in on your glass with that edge scalloper.
When you've done scalloping, drill it, weed your mask,
and make a run for that cabinet where we blast the glass.
I'll be trying to do the same if I can... Right.
Sounds like you got it all worked out.... Yeah.
Except the part where our glass doesn't get broken.

Best acid emboss these while we got the chance.... Yeah.

I'm thinking about getting out of the ... sign business.
You never said nothing except nag me and Dickinson about getting ourselves out.

.....Well, maybe my own words struck a chord.

[Tony Segale]

best get your mind set on what needs to be done here....

I ain't look over my gildin' the rest of my days

[Tony Segale]

you know,
a few years back...
a free-gild outfit came thru

one night, the glue pot boiled over,
acid burned thru the glass,
and one of the boys' mahl stick snapped causin
him to fall off his stool head first into the floor...

yer mans' sing kit and gold are in the supply room...
take him with you when you leave tonite,
and come sunrise, you pack up yer sign trucks
and get yer free-gildin arses movin
and keep em movin
til yer out of Machine!

[Larry White]

The beveled glass stuck in the booth
has tended not to chip. Glue that's
applied alike tends to chip alike. Now
your glue chipped glass has lain
along time looking up at the sun.
Some believe we should have used the
asphaltum method, but I believe, that
if level, the glue chips consistant.

[Tony Segale]

I just had a very strange dream.
You and I were gilding together on the glass,
through very thin vinyl.
There was a huge white piece of vinyl.
Everything was white.
But we weren't holding our tips.
We were able to lay the gold
across the surface of the vinyl
with squeegies.

[Larry White]

Big thanks to Pat Mackle for creating the photoresist used to create our commemorative piece. The photoresist stencil was applied to a 6" diameter of 1/8" thick glass, then sandblasted. After we removed the stencil, we wrapped it in a length of ladder chain and added another piece of chain to hang it by. They came out really nice.... quite the little treasure for Dead Man fans! Thanks again Pat... you rock!

[Larry White]

Using some art work created by Russ McMullen, Doug Philips created this nice sandcarved and surface etched piece. Doug made the frame, and it had been sitting around for awhile... now it's been put to good use.

[Larry White]

[Larry White]

...well we had a few folks come out to Machine for a bit o' glass fun. But from the looks of this post, they didn't make it back. The end of the line can be a tough place Jenko, I been there a lot.

This day some art was presented to mine hand,
and it inspired me, and I decided what techniques to employ on thee,
and I will chip and gild this glass this day, and create
another fine gold sign to hold as a treasure henceforth.

Sally, thanks for participating in the want to create some art for the meet program. I really enjoyed executing your design. Here's how it came out...



...and a detail...



Minor Description...
Shaped glass with scalloped edges, chipped and silvered background. HERBS had depth carved outline finished in mica powder, fine inline, brown and green. Letter tops 18K surface gild. Bottoms, surface gild verigated green copper leaf. Rouge gold water gild center stripe. Green tint and white mica powder on the center herb. Letters outlined in black. AROMATIC and GARLIC, depth carved, airbrushed gradation of asphltum glaze, gold mica powder.

Where's yours?

...I still like Jenko & Blake better...

-WB

[Tony Segale]

well,
I guess I'll take a pic of mine,
and send it to someone who knows how to post these pics in here.
I know I should learn, but seein's I'm all up to you know what, it's best to keep my mouth shut.

Heck, if I learn how to post the pics, maybe I can post some of the fine things I learned after
attendin' a couple of Big George's computer workshops, and their finished pieces as well.

Jenko & Blake it is then.

[Larry White]

You won't think it's so funny, when you're all shot to hill and doyin'...


...gilding without a tip is ... significant...

...the idea is stupid...

...a gold leaf sign can never be sold in this blizzard of vinyl.

-

[Russ McMullin]

I see you've collected some more sign man's vinyl

[Larry White]

Frank Maesen encouraged me to do a toned acid demonstration at the Dead Man meet, so I thought it would be interesting to do a portion of the Great Seal of The United States. The toned acid glass is very interesting in that it changes from positive to negative depending on how the light hits it either from the front or the back. I have it hanging in a window and at some points during the day, you can't see the image at all. This photo was taken in the negative mode, as what appears to be dark is really the portion of the white etch, and what appears light is the most toned portion of the etch. This picture was taken on a foggy morning, but if the sun were to hit it, the tones would reverse. I actually wanted to get a picture of it that way, but it was foggy on both Saturday and Sunday mornings (and I'm on the road prior to sun up on the weekdays). I'll try again this weekend and post that photo too. This piece was executed in four tones, plus the white etch and the clear glass, created a 6 tone image. Executing these pieces is not stress free, as Frank can attest. It was fun never the less, but really only fun because it came out nice. If it hadn't have came out, it wouldn't have been any fun.

Hey don't be messin' with acid unless you know what you're doing.



This is the "positive" version when the sun hits it.

[Patrick Mackle]

Nice work Larry, as clean and neat as any that I've come to expect from your hand.
Light plays many tricks where etched or frosted glass is involved. Between light transmission or reflection the etched tones on the glass can turn from art positive to art negative just from a simple head tilt or a light or dark colored backdrop. Mirror silvering embossed glass is another story altogether, the whitest embossed frost will become a dark mat gray when it is silvered.
Pat

[Larry White]

How true that is Pat.

In fact, on this one, knowing I was going to solution gild it, I had to figure what I wanted to be light and dark on the gild, then reverse that to do the toned etching. The toned etching gets even a little more complicated when you throw in solution gilding as what you want to end up seeing is all reversed in the etching! The light portions of this gilded image are actually the deepest toned portion of the etching, and the darkest portions of the gilding is what is deposited over the "white acid" portions of the etching. With all ornamental glass work, it's good to define your destination first, so you know how to get there!

-Mr. Black

[Larry White]

Sally, you are a funny one. You're actually gonna try to convince me that the difference between you makin' a nice gold leaf sign and slappin' some vinyl, is my talkin'? You best take stock in yourself son. Huh? I mean, you were someone's son once weren't ya? Your poor ole father. I don't know if you've been told this before, but a, jeez, your glue pot is a bit low on temperature...ain't it. I remember the finest etch textures, glass all nice and sparkly, glue chip letter centers, funny, I just think about Dead Man. Well, that's me...that's me. Angel gilding, rib roast waitin' for ya. Chemical Lounge can be fun Sally, I remember lots of 'em. Ya just the smell of some familiar acid, the sound of the glue chippin' off the glass...and some fresh silver solution...

[Larry White]

...those who get rid of their old fence boards, and those that scrounge them. Perhaps you remember the 6ft concrete cube that was out in the yard...well, now it's a building. Try kickin' that door down! ...and there's room to take a little nappy in the attic! ahhhh...I'm easily entertained with some old boards and some drywall screws! Now get Out!

Oh, and my son Steven And I came down on Saturday and built the water tank....

-William Blake

[Tony Segale]

yeah,
a fella like you needs an audience....

[Patrick Mackle]

Blake,
Just tell 'um that you poured the foundation too thick!
On first glance I had thought that you took that Machine sign to the hotel in Cerro Gordo, until I recognized the block wall.
There's room on the side for a ghost sign and skulls too!
Twill

[Tony Segale]

do you only know how to play?

or do you know how to work, too?

[Larry White]

Sally...
...you don't sell the dream of a lifetime... William Blake wants his town...

...speakin' of Letterhead meets...I noticed the Dead Men gang are already behind those hills, and before you know it, they're gonna be here!

...Listen, Harmonica, a town, built around a Letterhead meet... we could make hundreds of thousands of signs. Hey, more than that, thousands of thousands!

HEY! What in the heck are you standing around for!?!

...What are you supposed to do?

BUILD A TOWN!...IDIOTS!

[Tony Segale]

so you can count, all the way up to thousands and thousands

if you hear a strange sound, duck

a fella like you needs to go out in style

you'll be written up in all the history books

leave that wood alone, stupid white man

[Larry White]

Easy Sally, easy...

Ya gotta learn not to push things...

Taking it easy is the first thing a business man should do.

I got an idea Mr. Dickinson can teach you a lot more.

[Tony Segale]

why don't we bring my history up to date...

October 16, 1896,

Nobody

[Larry White]

Improvement makes straight roads, but crooked roads without improvement are roads of genius.