Our Newsies Sets team asked us to create the Jacobi’s Delicatessen sign. I searched around on the good ‘ole internet to see what I liked, chatted with our director, then dove in.
We started off in the garage, and propped the two 4’x8′ luan panels on white folding tables so they were flat, but I wasn’t working on the floor. We didn’t sand them or do anything to make them look ‘nice’ because we wanted an aged, run-down-part-of-town look to them. I built up several layers of stain around the edges and corner, to look as if the sign had seen ages of wind and dirt blowing by. I had both tables laid together instead of working on them individually so that when we hung them on stage, the aging would help it look like one long sign, without distinguishing two separate pieces of wood.
I played around on my iPad, creating the lettering in Procreate, keeping in mind our massive 4’x16′ dimensions. I created a second layer, and pulled it down and to the side for a drop-shadow effect. With director Bobby Tschoepe’s final approval, we dove into painting the lettering.
We moved into the house to work on the project. I don’t have an image of this, but we first propped the wood up vertically, and projected the lettering onto the wood. Chloe and I traced the letters onto the stained wood. Once all the pencil work was complete, we laid the panels horizontally onto the table, and I could paint on just one panel at a time, knowing the lettering would line up properly at the end. Please also note our stern taskmaster, Malibu, supervising our work.
These images show the details of the drop shadow work and the aging effect of the stain. Once the paint was complete, my dear hubby hauled it to the theater for us with his truck and trailer. (along with a load of other set pieces…) Four of us worked on this project and it was very satisfying to see it on stage each night.
