Year: 2012

East End shop fronts exhibition profiled on Spitalfields Life

Photo: Alan Dein Interview with Alan Dein and more preview images of this exhibition on the Spitalfiends Life blog.

21 May 2012

The price of Coke in America remained unchanged for over 70 years

Photo: MOLLYBLOCK The 5c price shown in the picture above only helps to place this sign in the 1886-1959 bracket.  This research attempts to explain why this happened, with the resulting difficulty of using price as a dating tool for Coca-Cola ghostsigns in the USA.

19 May 2012

An opportunity to grab a brush or spray can and contribute to the restoration of a Brixton mural

My friends at the London Mural Preservation Society have successfully obtained lottery funding to restore the Brixton Windmill Mural.  The fun part is that members of the public can get involved this weekend (19th and 20th), next weekend (26th) and the Tuesday and Thursday (22nd and 24th) in between.  Find out more, including additonal work […]

18 May 2012

Photographic exhibition of East End shop fronts opens today

I’m gutted I won’t be able to visit this exhibition (pdf flyer below) of Alan Dein‘s late 1980s images of shop fronts in Tower Hamlets. If anyone writes a review then let me know and I’ll link to it here. (Hat tip to Lorna at History Workshop Online for the discovery.) Download exhibition poster.

17 May 2012

Hand painted McDonald’s signs, a first for me

Photo: Kasey Smith Everyone is familiar with hand painted signs for Coca-cola but these are new to me.  Some more pictures and an interesting commentary over on the Perception Filter blog.

15 May 2012

Australian ghostsigns profiled in this 2008 Stephen Banham article

Photo: Stephen Banham (Makes me want some Monty Leisurewear!) Full article here mainly focused on the hide and seek nature of many ghostsigns, including this line which echoes mine and Sebastian Groes’ urging against nostalgia: Instead of feeling mournful about the demise or entombing of these letterforms, perhaps we should embrace the dynamics of the ever-changing […]

14 May 2012

New book charting hand painted advertising on walls in the Netherlands

Writing on the Wall (my article about them here) are publishing a book which I’m very excited about.  Details on the pdf below for those who read Dutch, otherwise try Google Translate with a copy and paste of the text for an approximate translation.  It is priced at 29.95euros and order enquiries should be sent […]

13 May 2012

Melbourne’s signage in beautiful book form

Characters by Stephen Banham looks to be one of the must have new books on signage and public lettering.  It is high on my want list after reading this review sent to me by Geraldine of Birmingham Graphic DNA and this review picked up by Faythe of The Sign Painter Movie.  There is an accompanying […]

12 May 2012

Farewell and RIP to the Hammersmith Palais

[Update, November 2020: This sign is still visible, and the demolition works appear to have only affected the building immediately behind this wall.] Thursday, 10th May 2012 marked the final destruction of the once proud Hammersmith Palais, home to this underground-platform-long ghostsign. Dances were once twice daily but the evidence of this now only remains […]

11 May 2012

London Remembers searching for clues about mystery girl painted onto wall in Belsize Park (@LondonRemembers)

Click here for more information and to add any leads to the case.  (London Remembers’ homepage is here.)

11 May 2012

Guided tour of hand painted advertising on walls in Utrecht, 11th May

It may be too late to book but for those in the Utrecht area this (pdf flyer) looks to be an informative tour of the city’s historic wall advertising.  (Organised by Writing on the Wall.)

10 May 2012

Two signs from The Hague sent to me by Martin Percival

Martin kindly sent me these that he took in The Hague. They are restoration jobs, details of the black and white one here [Link expired] and more on another organisation working on preservation in the Netherlands here.

9 May 2012

Rain reveals Mazawattee Tea ghostsign at Sydenham station (via @DrMatthewSweet)

Photo: Dr Matthew Sweet Evidence of the weather revealing what might otherwise be hidden.  I’m sure I’ve seen a Mazawattee Tea sign elsewhere, perhaps with an illustration of some sort, any leads welcome in the comments…

6 May 2012

‘Sky as Signage’: an atmospheric #instagram photo from @ihazrabies

Photo: Kasey Smith Makes me wonder what once filled that space…  Found on the perception filter blog.

4 May 2012

Stella Artois vs Newcastle Brown Ale

Nice fun poking in New York (via Sell Sell).  In Stella’s defence they did do one of the more impressive pieces of modern hand painted work in that city.  That said, chalice does seem a little poncy and I’ll stick to calling a glass a glass.

1 May 2012

Avatar restaurant’s painted gates in Kerala, India

Photo: Nihaal Faizal These gates in India are less than inviting but the Signsighted blog where I found it asks the valid question of what they serve at the restaurant…

30 Apr 2012

A lesser known rival to Pepsi and Coke in Amsterdam (via @FadingAd)

Photo: Frank Jump I like this sign from the Fading Ad blog, looks like it may have been repainted, perhaps by these guys.

29 Apr 2012

Great Middlesbrough ghostsigns

Photo: Caroline Derry Some great discoveries over on Caroline’s blog.

28 Apr 2012

Weathering in Idaho leads to reveal of c.100 year old ghostsign

Photo: Roger Plothow This treasure has just been uncovered, more background on Roger’s blog [Link since expired].  It’s an interesting case of the weather working to ‘save’ a sign rather than eroding it.

27 Apr 2012

Will Bristol Ban Outdoor Advertising?

This article highlights a petition to ban outdoor advertising in Bristol which, if successful, would mean it joins Auckland and Sao Paolo among others.  This Howard Gossage article offers perhaps one of the most compelling critiques of the outdoor format

26 Apr 2012

Short film about Syracuse’s ‘Love Letter’

Via the Noon-Gun blog I came across this short film by Signpainter Movie directors Faythe Levine and Sam Macon.  It is part of the ‘Love Letter for You’ project, using large scale signpainting for artistic expression and community development. Reminds me of the Ferodo bridges in the UK, albeit much more colourful and not selling brake […]

25 Apr 2012

Uncertain future for the ‘Polo Tower’ in Morcombe (via @willsh)

I’d never seen this unique piece of hand painted advertising until I came across the picture and dim appraisal of the town on John’s blog.  I’m pretty sure it must be hand painted but correct me if I’m wrong.  Regardless, a bizarre contractual situation has ensured its survival to this day, despite the closure of […]

22 Apr 2012

Lost Type breaks new ground in linking type designers to buyers

This initiative is innovative to say the least.  If you’re feeling tight you can pay nothing, but if you do pay (what you want) for your font download then you can rest assured that every cent is going directly to the designer responsible.  Great find by the No Relavance blog, it’s also worth checking out […]

21 Apr 2012

Dr Ken Jones’ mosaic technique for ghostsigns photography

Dr Ken Jones is a former NASA imaging expert whose work in the 1970s included digitally photographing the surface of Mars. This required the use of image ‘mosaics’, a technique which he is now applying to the more terrestrial subject of ghostsigns.Dr Jones’ work starts from a fairly simple concept of what he wants from the […]

18 Apr 2012