I’ve browsed around looking for ways to sign my projects. Most results tend toward a name plaque you add or a branding iron. I’ve seen Nakashima’s method and it looks like he used a sharpie. This is how I’d like to do it. However, my finishes blur the ink. A pencil won’t blur but it can be faint, especially on darker woods.
Am I using the wrong pen? Or the wrong finish?
For you guys that use a sharpie, or equivalent, how do you manage to keep the signature from blurring?
Replies
You could have a couple of issues. Could be the type of wood or it could be the finish. Practice on some scrap. First sign a piece of wood and don't finish it. If it gets blurry, you know its the porosity of the wood. In which case you should apply 1 coat of finish, sign the piece and then finish finishing. If it's not the wood, then your finish may be dissolving the ink. I will assume you are letting the ink dry really well before finishing over it. The remedy might have to be signing the piece after all the finishing is done.
Go to your artists supply store or craft store and get some markers that use india ink. When dry, it is less susceptable to running or smudging by various finishes. It's been a while but, I think I remember that either shellac, lacquer, or poly works great to seal it. Usually I don't use it on bare wood as it will tend to wick. Seal the wood first. Experiment before marking the final project.
I use a burning pen to date and sign my work. The type of burning pen decoy carvers use for texturing carvings work well. The cheap little chisel shaped pen from the big box doesn't work very well.
You could have a rubber stamp made of your signature if you were planning on doing this multiple times e.g., the ink is typically dye based and dries quickly. Then practice over finishing on scrap pieces.
What purpose does signing one's projects serve? One purpose might be as advertising. Another might be "for posterity" but few of our names are likely to become famous or otherwise of interest to those viewing our pieces after we begin to rot and die. It only seems to matter to those still extant if the piece is worth money because of our fame. (Or infamy). :-)
Perhaps the most subtle way to sign a wooden piece is with a carved motif? A well-known example is that of Robert Thompson - the Mouse Man of Kilburn, Yorkshire. He carved a small wooden mouse somewhere unobtrusive on every piece made in his workshop. That workshop is still producing the same designs, using the same methods - although Robert is long dead now. His family still own & run the workshop in Kilburn, though, with all pieces still having the mouse applied as the final task.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Thompson_(designer)
https://www.robertthompsons.co.uk/
3D motif carving is a whole task in itself , or would be for some of us. If I carved a small creature on mine, it would look more like a gremlin than, say, a collie dog!
Still, the carving could be more simple - an incised motif of some simple kind achievable with half a dozen strokes of a V-gouge.
Personally I don't sign my stuff. I can't find a reason for wanting to.
Lataxe
Good question. My first thought is that Nakashima and Malouf signed theirs - why can't I? (And I'm not saying that I'm qualified to sweep up their sawdust.) Also, in some way I think/hope my pieces will survive long past the time I'm gone and someone will look at the signature and wonder who this guy was.
I've only signed a few of my pieces and they were all designed and built for family members. About a year ago my niece had a baby and she asked me to build a bookshelf for her nursery. I inscribed, signed, and dated it on the underside so that, assuming the piece remains in the family, she'll know who made it for her. It becomes provenance for a family heirloom.
The type of burning pen decoy carvers use for texturing carvings work well. The cheap little chisel shaped pen from the big box doesn't work very well.
When my company purchased a vendor company, I inherited their labs (whoooeee, some really sophisticated stuff). I checked in a few times as my folks worked through everything - it appeared that they operated like government - spend everything in the budget before fiscal year's end, or lose it next year. You would never believe the quantities of supplies; some we donated to schools (one item was a scanning electron microscope that cost $1/4 million) and much was just trashed.
The one item I retrieved form the trash was several boxes, out of 100, containing 25 brass lab drawer labels per box. I had them engraved "Hand crafted by ......." Why anyone would buy 100 boxes of 25 is beyond me; maybe that's why they were unprofitable. Just had to tell the story. Love my labels.
That said, I also sign some items with Micron pens from Hobby Lobby. The tips are 0.25 mm which is really fine and they are archival ink, so its there to stay.
I have always signed everything. I use a heavy carpenters pencil which indents the wood. Then topcoat over.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled