Billboard advertising (Nov 1897)

THE BILLBOARD Signs $ Sign Painters No kind of a bristle brush should be washed in lye water, such as sal soda and Babbefs potash It makes but litUe dif- ference how weak it is, it has a tendency to soften the bristle. Bristles placed in sal soda water will burn in a few days. Answers to Correspondents. Win. D—The PainterV Magazine sajs: There axe a number of methods practiced in laying gold leaf. Some workmen pre- 1 B nd some another. The ~p method to which you re- fer has been practically suspended for a number of years. The turpentine method, employed at one time somewhat exten- sively in the ornamenting of furniture, consists in cutting the book at the bind- ing. Then with a small sponge wet with OUT-DOOR ADVERTISING IN UNO- LAND. 'becomes crooked, place it on a warm sur- face and stroke it with your hand until it becomes straight. Brushes should always be hung suspended in the liquid. Stand- ing them on end IS what makes the hair crooked- There never was. nor never will be. a brush made of camel's hair. back of the paper as ... ,« book. The volatile liquid goes through the paper, causing the leaf 10 adhere. The turpentine evaporates very quickly. sheet's of leaf i preparation. Again, tie books of gold leaf are cut into strips a trifle wider than the stripe to be gilded. Many old-lime painters are firmly welded to the belief that ent- ting and using the leaf from the strips — ! -I way of hand- The Western Fainter says: To pre- -tve paper signs in damppla.es, where a formation of mold takes place in the paper nnder the varnish, the following has been rccommcLdcd; Paste the signs on with mncilage containing salicylic acid, allowing the solution—i part gum, 3 parts water - to soak in or dry on the back of tbe sign, then, apply more and fix the signs with it. The labeled vessels are warmed either in the oven or by pouriug in warm water, so that the signs are really dry—not only air dry. In varnishing, The principal is aj cheap, says an exchange, is because there are so n of the price of the same is about 50 per less than linseed oil. Other fish oil, whale, cod or seal oils are used with a comparatively small quantity of linseed oil, the smell board and rob it carefnlly with a small cake of beeswax. This waxed side of the paper is then laid upon the gold and smoothed out nicely. The gold sticks so tenaciously to the paper that it can now fairly be handled with impunity. Each page of leaf, or, rather, as many pages as are needed for the work in hand are treated In this way. The pagea of leaf are next cut into strips to correspond to tbe idth of the stripe, after which the strips a be rapidly applied to the work. "flers, however, the find favor at the - present time. They are accounted too slow. Ikying leaf directly from the book is now generally practiced, especially by those having much gilding to do. It re- quires a little practice to acquire pro- ficiency in laying leaf from the book di- red, but from experience in a shop where a change from the old way of laying leaf to the comparatively recent one here ad- vised was recently made, and the writer cheerfully subscribes to the economical virtues of the laying-from-tie-book method. Formerly it was the practice in railroad car shops, where a great of leafing was anm " leaf and apply in lishmeuts it is now almost practice to apply the leaf i. book. Why was the change inaugurated ? Because there was money to be saved thereby. For this reason our correspond- ent ts counseled to begin laying his leaf from the book. Hold the book flat in the left hand. Turn over the top leaf a bit wider than the stripe, making a clean, smooth fold, holding the overlapped pa- per down 011 one side with the left thumb the right one performing the same office at the other extremity of the fold. The fingers afford support to the underside of the book, as it is carried to the surface )le operation occumea but a jiffy Although we, as a nation, are far and away ahead of all other countries ill the matter of newspaper and magazine adver- tising, — than those of 1 not deny the fact that when "it comes to out-door advertising the "old country" easily takes the lead. Every known form of out-door advertising that is practiced here is in vogue across the water, but very many mediums of publicity are used in Europe that are not indulged in here. Every available inch of space on the walls of the big railroad terminals in Lon- don is crowded with display signs and posters, advertising all manner of goods, impossible to pick out the usual sign, bearing the name of the place, from a hast of similar boards announcing "Keen's Mustard," "Colman's Starch," "Reckitt'sBliie," -Pears- Soap,''■'Bom," ■■Eleclropoise,""Cadbury's Cocoa," and a thousand other articles bidding for pub- licity, just imagine the whole of the in- terier of tbe Grand Central depot covered with painted and glass signs advertising almost every known product of this coun- 1 idea of what a great English advertisers do not use large fence signs in the rural districts adjoin- ing railroads as we do, but every station of any importance on all lines it literally covered with every hind of advertising signs. This shows that our English cous- ins believe rather in concertrati 11 g than in scattering their advertising efforts. Wher- ever crowds congregate, there you will find a multitude of signs and posters. Where crowds are not likely to be, you will look in vain for attempts at pub- licity. The river steamboats also add to their revenue by letting out advertising spaces, on which signs are hung or painted; and, in fact, whichever way you turn in the British metropolis you are confronted with the fact that out-door display adver- tising is much more liberally indulged in there than in our own cities.— Printer? PARETIC ADVERTISING. The sign painter has done everything in his power to deface every bit of land- ■.,.m.,- .,,,,1 a~- - - ■ - - -■ street cars and omnibuses, but use all the outside space on such vehicles to such an extent as to puizle a stranger as to where the car is going. The destination isal- wajs painted on the aide of tram ears and omnibuses, but a countryman could not tell whether the conveyance was going to Battersea or "Beecham's Pills,"' to Bays- water or to "Herbaline." It must be try- Mars or the sun a subject ft lism. "Hole," the personal friend of many newspaper men, is said to have moments of frenzy because he cannot ap- ply a paint brush to a comet. Sijjn painters are all right under cer- tain restrictions, and their efforts at ad- vertising have growr. so grotesque in their hidcousness that many are willing 10 for- give them because of the fun of the very " f of their undertakings. V " " vast field, challenging -,..„.„n of every sort of genius, the poet, the painter, the artist, contributing to the work of celebrity through pub- L'nfortunately, in the n y inad writing there are r f.>. , which he can read, in bold letters, "Yorkshire Relish," "Ho vis Bread," "Provost Oats," etc., : mention of where the car would take him to. All London street cars are double deckers—you can ride on the roof and smoke if you wish to, and all the "risers" of the winding staircases are used for advertising purposes, just as the "risers" of the "L" road stairs are in New York City. In fact, every large public vehicle in " rertiting wagon, and the luch better than the in- sine spaces, for the reason that there are always more people in tbe street than in the car, and so the "circulation"- is greater. Of. course, the cars going through the most populous districts are most sought after, and the revenue acctu- ing from the renting of ! space must be quite an item annually. The theaters are the best ptarons of the big spaces on the tram cars and omni- buses. The roof seats arerailed all round, and a board about twofeet high, and run- ning the full length of the car—perhaps from 12 to 20 feet—is firmly fastened to this railing, doing the double duty of ' legs from wind and time bearing a which everybody on the side- le wall of pitch headforemost into the st disapproval or diva i the ditch of disgrace. George P. Rowel! was the first of the leaders to lake the dirty road with the idea that it was the shortest. Everyone knows, nud all decent men have acknowl- edged, that a recent advertisement of his in the New York San was the most inde- cent that has appeared in many years. The surprise nud stench were only aggra- vated by the Tact that ttajasj has been inclined to be spotless iu its ax The next to go" astray was the clever advertiser of a celebrated soap, who pictured two little children on their knees saying the Lord's Prayer and asking for their daily soap, instead of their daily bread. This irreverent advertisement de- feats the purpose or creating popularity. Perhaps it will be regarded aa wonder- fully clever by those who have forgotten that they were taught to pray at their mother's knees. It tloea not pay to olfeud the public. There are many foots on earth, and it is too had that so many imagine them- selves clever, who are eilher unclean or reckless in offending public sentiment — /■bur//, Esia/e.