Nº 01
The Barber Est. 2014
Location · Greenpoint, NY
Date · March 2024
Medium · 23k Gold-Leaf on Glass
Est. 1998 · Brooklyn, N.Y.
+1 (718) 555 · 0814
Gold-Leaf Window Lettering · Hand-Painted Fascia · One-Stroke Brushwork
— A Sign Painter's Portfolio —
Augustus Whitley
& Sons · Sign Co.
Scroll
✦Gold Leaf
✶One-Stroke
✦Hairline Scripts
✶Show-Card Red
✦Fascia Boards
✶Japan Colors
✦Sable Quills
✶23k Burnished
Chapter I.
A Manifesto
The machine cannot tremble. It cannot hesitate at the descending stroke nor weigh the catch-light upon a freshly gilded letter at six in the morning. Our craft begins where the printer's plate ends — in sable, size, and breath.
For twenty-seven years I have lettered windows, fascia, truck bodies and barber poles by hand. Every job is laid out in pencil, pounced through carbon, sized with slow oil, and gilded with a book of twenty-three carat. There are no shortcuts and there is no software. There is only the brush — and the painter standing behind it.
The Letterheads taught us to share the trade openly: every flourish, every quill, every recipe of Japan color. This portfolio is offered in that spirit — thirty signs, thirty stories, and the slow, deliberate hand that made them.
A. Whitley
Master Sign Painter
Local 23 · Brooklyn
Local 23 · Brooklyn
— Chapter II. The Works —
Thirty
Hand-Lettered
Signs.
Drag, scroll, or wheel. Each plate documents a single commission — concept sketch to burnished gold leaf. Hover any plate to reveal the underlying drawing.
01 / 30Begin →
Nº 02
Hartigan's Pole
Bushwick, NY · 2023
Enamel on Steel
Nº 03
Cain & Co. Haulage
Red Hook, NY · 2024
1-Shot on Steel Cab Door
Nº 04
The Night Owl
East Village, NY · 2022
Reverse Gild, Mat & Burnish
Nº 05
Marlowe's Coffee
Park Slope, NY · 2023
Gilded Window Script
Nº 06
Sign Painting Studio
Williamsburg, NY · 2024
Fascia · Pine, Primed & Lettered
Plate Index · 07 — 30
Twenty-four
more plates
Apothecaries, taverns, tattoo parlors, butcher shops, gymnasiums, and one very stubborn lighthouse. The catalogue continues below.
- 07 · Hart's Apothecary'22
- 08 · Sully's Tavern'22
- 09 · Lutz Butchery'23
- 10 · Iron Anchor Gym'23
- 11 · DeLuca Cigars'23
- 12 · Mott St. Bakery'23
- 13 · Red Hook Tattoo'24
- 14 · Halsey Mfg.'24
- 15 · Pier 11 Oysters'24
- 16 · Conklin Hardware'24
- … +14 more→ view all
Chapter III. — Anatomy of a Sign
From pencil to burnish.
Case Study · Plate Nº 01 — The Barber, Greenpoint. Four stages, photographed on the morning of the install.
Stage I · Pencil
Full-size cartoon at scale. Pencil on butcher paper. Six revisions.
Stage II · Pounce
Carbon transfer pounced through perforations onto glass.
↑ 1-Shot Bulletin Red · #200
Stage III · Size
Slow gold-size brushed in. Tested with knuckle at 90 minutes.
23k · Manetti book
Stage IV · Burnish
23k leaf laid, swept, double-gilded, matted & burnished.
SKETCH · 03·14·2024
EXECUTION · 03·22·2024
Chapter IV. — The Bench
Tools of the Trade
Every implement chosen, broken in, and re-shaped by hand. The brush remembers the painter.
№ I — SABLES
Sable Quills
Mack · series 179 · sizes 00–6
№ II
Show-Card Red
№ III
Books of
23 carat
23 carat
25 leaves · 3⅜″ × 3⅜″ · Florence
№ IV
Striping Quills
№ V
Japan Colors
№ VI
"Mahl Stick"
36″ oak · leather tip
№ VII — PENCILS
Layout Pencils
General's Layout · 555 · HB
Chapter V.
Commission a Sign.
— Augustus
Estimates returned within 5 business days · Brooklyn workshop · Travel by arrangement.
Intake Form · Form Nº A-23
Tell me about the sign you have in mind.
All commissions are quoted individually. The more detail you provide, the closer my estimate.