# What's the best way to paint a window sign? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 3, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-paint-a-window-sign/443819 "2008-04-03T17:03:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-paint-a-window-sign/443819/21 "2008-04-04T17:40:55Z")
[QUOTE=Earl Snake-Hips Tucker] Psst! Zsofia. . . does your guy do infrared? [/QUOTE] I asked and he said “Well, you need…” and I fell asleep and wrote some of my memoirs and organized my sock drawer. I’m pretty sure it came out to “yes”, though. They expect to open around the first of May, depending on how things go. Don’t suppose you have a picture, **Slithy Tove**? It’s really odd how little information there is on this whole subject - I guess it’s outdated enough that nobody does it but not yet outdated enough that there’s a hobby fetish? [This](http://www.typedu.org/dynamic/blog/signpainter) is practically the only thing I’ve found at all - it’s not even a how-to, but it’s pretty interesting. It’s this master signpainter redoing/restoring? an old window sign (on the outside, actually) - he pricks a paper pattern and then pounces it with baby powder. I may try doing that. He makes it look extremely easy, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-paint-a-window-sign/443819/22 "2008-04-04T19:41:55Z")
I have found a local source for lettering enamel (evidently the best thing for the job) and assuming the weather doesn’t suck ass I think I may be called upon to paint tomorrow. I’ll let you guys know how it goes. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2008, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-paint-a-window-sign/443819/23 "2008-04-04T23:40:56Z")
[QUOTE=Slithy Tove] This thread reminds me of the old movies where they show sign painters putting new names on glass office windows. In the painters’ hands are always dowel sticks with little balls on the end. The function of which always eluded me. [/QUOTE] You can’t rest your hand or any part of your arm (to steady it) on the bit you’re painting, because it’s covered in wet paint. Holding the dowel in your non-painting hand, you press the soft end against a convenient dry area and hold it rigid, diagonally across the work - then you steady your painting hand against the dowel somewhere along its length. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-paint-a-window-sign/443819/24 "2008-04-05T12:06:35Z")
That is one neat logo. Um, I’ve reconsidered the solvent-to-ditch-the-reflective-coating-on-the-window idea, since I don’t actually know what the coating is; a botched job that way would suck… **Zsofia,** if you’re not confident in your calligraphy skills, why not try asking at a nearby college with a graphic arts program? You’d be surprised at how much talent is hiding out in such places. And they’re willing to work cheap, or for free, just for the experience (my Mom did this once, when she got a wild hair in her and decided to get an MFA). Folks like you make the world go 'round. Keep it up! ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-paint-a-window-sign/443819/25 "2008-04-05T16:09:59Z")
It is raining buckets. (Also catsandratsandelephants.) Project postponed - and I was really starting to look forward to the challenge! Instead, he said, “Great! You can help me find all the leaks!” Yeah, great, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-paint-a-window-sign/443819/26 "2008-04-05T19:27:04Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Instead, he said, “Great! You can help me find all the leaks!” Yeah, great, thanks. [/QUOTE] That master’s degree just gets handier and handier, doesn’t it? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-paint-a-window-sign/443819/27 "2008-04-06T15:59:07Z")
You don’t know the half of it. I’ve also volunteered to raze whatever’s living in the bathroom and sow the fields with salt. I guess there at least my library _experience_ will come into play - the part of public library work where you learn to ignore smells. (I’m serious - the bathroom smells to _me_. Which means it really, really must reek.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-paint-a-window-sign/443819.md?page=1)