Task: Recreate and digitize a custom typeface from 1857 for a sign painting

Role: Graphic design, stencil creation, sign painting

Middleton & Fern was a blacksmith shop founded in 1857, in Clarksville, Missouri by John Middleton and John Fern. As the building is being restored to its original look, the owners asked me to take a custom typeface from a two-inch brass plate and attempt to digitize it and paint it onto the building front. I went to work trying to find out if the font existed online, I searched tons of typefaces and even posted the photo of the brass plate on Reddit in hopes of having someone recognize the typeface. I eventually settled on the fact that it truly was a non-existent font and that I would need to recreate it in Illustrator.

I spent many hours tracing an image of the brass plate and refining the letterforms. After the typeface was digitized, I then printed each letter on poster-size paper to create 15-inch tall stencils. My wife and I then hand-cut them all out with Exacto blades. Several hours and sore thumbs later, the stencils were cut out and the layout process began. We had to figure out the distance between each letter and attach the stencils together to match up the kerning. Next up, we laid out the stencils on the rough plywood and painted two coats of white. We had to clean up the letters afterward due to the paint seeping beneath the stencils. To complete the project, we attached the plywood to the building, added the battons, and touched up white paint to the battons where necessary. Everyone was thrilled with how it turned out and we are excited to see how it ages with time and becomes weathered.