We have been manufacturing signs for over 35 years here at Western Safety Sign, and over the years the applications and materials we have used have changed with the times.
Sign Painting
definition: Sign painting is the art of painting lettering on buildings, billboards or signboards for the purpose of announcing or advertising products, services and events.
Back in the 80's our signs were hand painted. We had a talented sign writer on staff who's attention to detail was key in making our signs of the highest quality.
Here are a couple of hand painted signs we made:
And even hand painting on vans:
This van even won an award for it's Balloons!
Screen Printing
definition: force ink or metal onto (a surface) through a prepared screen of fine material so as to create a picture or pattern.
Screen printing was the best option for making multiples of signs for a long time. By creating a screen with the pattern of the sign, and then pushing each color of paint through the screen onto the sign blanks and letting them dry, you could make many signs, much faster than painting them by hand. We screen printed for many years at the shop, and though there are companies who still do this method, we moved on from it about 10 years ago.
Old Screen Printing Rack:
Vinyl Application
Vinyl application is a process we use to make signs, where the face of the sign is cut into a roll of adhesive backed vinyl, and then applied to the sign blank. You have likely seen this in many signs around your city or town including stop signs, speed limit signs, road signs and more. We also use this for lettering vans and cars and when applying lettering to windows and doors. This is still a great way to make signs due to the long life span vinyl has.
Old Festival Du Voyageur Banner:
Printed Signs
Over the years, the technology when printing signs has gotten better and better and better. Every year there are new machines that are quicker, more efficient and print with a higher resolution. We stay as current as possible with our technologies, renewing our machines every year.
Classic Winnipeg Intersection "Confusion Corner":
Beautiful Lake Manitoba Sunset mounted on Foamcore:
