Butch Anton's 2017 Geezer Gathering

By Jim Hingst

Butch “Superfrog” Anton and his wife Sandy hosted their second Letterhead Geezer Gathering at their 3-acre homestead in Lake Park, MN from August 18 to August 20. Their picturesque property is dotted with several cabins, which house their frequent guests, and is bounded on two sides by two lakes. This gave Butch’s guests an opportunity to swim and boat as well as to fish for bass, panfish and pike. After being skunked last year, sign maker Jim Gleason from New Jersey was finally successful in his angling pursuits, landing a nice looking largemouth bass.

“Bazooka Joe” Balabuszko demonstrates the proper technique of  transferring gold leaf.

As the event name implies, most of the attendees were seasoned veterans, although it was encouraging that several younger sign makers also participated. “You know that it is a Geezer Gathering,” says Barbara Schilling from Anoka, MN, “when these old farts talk more about their aches and pains and the passing of their compadres than they do about hot cars.”

Faux Painting Techniques 

Jeff Douglas explains how to paint faux aged lettering.

During Butch’s event several sign makers conducted seminars. Jeff Douglas from Douglas Signs in Moorhead, MN explained his unique technique for painting faux aged lettering. Douglas is very knowledgeable in the chemistry of paint, as well as being an expert in estimating and engineering. In demonstrating his painting technique and entertaining the other painters, he cooked up  his recipe, which includes calcium carbonate (whiting) as a flattening agent, tinting clear, thinner, 1 Shot lettering  enamel and a finely ground rust powder dusted onto the lettering after the paint is almost dry.  

Pinstriping with Urethane Paints

Mark Ripley demonstrates his pinstriping techniques using Du Pont Hot Hues urethane paints.

Mark Ripley, owner of Ripley’s Ol Skool Pinstriping in Olathe, Kansas conducted a class in pinstriping using Du Pont Hot Hues urethane paint. “Painting with urethane paints is a lot different than painting with enamels,” say Ripley.

Originally a Southern California native, Ripley moved to Olathe, Kansas a suburb of Kansas City thirty years ago. In California he owned a traditional sign shop. While he still makes an occasional sign and restores some antiques, his primary business today is pinstriping motorcycles and hot rods.

Although Ripley still stripes with some 1 Shot lettering enamels, most of his work is painted with Du Pont Hot Hues urethanes. “In the pinstriping community, urethanes are getting more and more popular,” says Ripley. What he likes about urethanes is that they flow out nicely, they cover better and are durable.

After conducting a pinstriping class using urethane paints, Mark Ripley tried his hand at glass gilding.

“When it comes to durability, urethanes are bulletproof,” Ripley says. “I can take a screwdriver and try to scratch over my pinstriping and the paint doesn’t chip off. You can’t  do that with the softer enamels.”

In his seminar, Ripley explained the chemistry of urethanes. The Du Pont  paints are similar to the urethanes of a factory paint job.  Unlike enamels, urethanes always require a hardener. He points out that when he stripes with enamels, he often adds hardener. “Hardener is a must if you clear coat your job,” he says. 

Ripley points out that painters all have their favorite tools that they depend on. For striping, Ripley prefers to use Mack’s Von Dago brushes and Kafka scrolling brushes. What he likes about these brushes is their ability to pull fine lines. Of course, professional results also depend on the ability of the striper.

Glass Gilding Techniques

Many of this year’s geezers glided glass panels as part of  “Bazooka Joe” Balabuszko’s seminar on water gilding. His hands-on class covered substrate cleaning, preparation of water size and gilding techniques. Balabuszko also showed sign makers  how to blend two colors of gold leaf. In his demonstration, he first applied 23-karat gold leaf. After it had dried, he uses 0000 steel wool to feather the lower edge of the gilding. Then Balabuszko applies 12-karat gold leaf.  

Participants worked on their glass panels through the Geezer Gathering. During this event, Bazooka Joe from Saint Louis Park, MN  answered  many of sign painters’ questions. He shared many of his gilding secrets, which he learned as a union sign painter in Chicago.  In addition to being one of the original members of the Chicago Brushmasters, Balabuszko is presently a member of the Colleagues of Calligraphy, based in Minneapolis, and previously was a member of the Society of Gilders.

Carving HDU 

During the Geezer Gathering, Butch "Superfrog" Anton
taught a class on how to carve both incised  lettering
and raised lettering. 

Butch Anton also conducted a hands-on class in carving. Butch taught his guests how to carve both incised and raised lettering in high density urethane panels. His class covered material selection, project layout, job safety and adhesives used in gluing panels as well as priming and painting carved HDU.

Butch's Geezer Gathering was blessed with pleasant Minnesota weather
leaving the attendees wishing that they could extent their stays. 

During the 2017 Geezer Gathering, Sandy Anton was the hostess who did the mostest work. Nearly everyone else played or relaxed, although Jim Gleason helped with the grilling. Sam Sanfilippo, owner of Skidmore Sign Company in Birmingham, AL and a Wall Dogs mural artist, also helped out with the kitchen duties. Last year Sam treated the old geezers to his praline bread pudding. Upon popular request, he cooked up another large pan of this delicious dessert. 

Along with cooking Praline Bread Pudding, Sam Sanfilippo also found time to paint.  

Vendors, who helped sponsor the Geezer Gathering included Ronan Paint, Precision Board, Earl Mich, RTape, Iwata, Rapid Tac and W & B Gold Leaf, LLC. These generous companies provided samples of their products for the attendees to use in decorating glass and metal panels and  carving raised and incised lettering in high density urethane.  

As usual, Butch and Sandy were the perfect hosts. To top the festivities off, the Minnesota weather this year was absolutely beautiful, leaving the attendees wishing that they could extend their stays as well as looking forward to next year. 

About Jim Hingst: After fourteen years as Business Development Manager at RTape, Jim Hingst retired. He was involved in many facets of the company’s business, including marketing, sales, product development and technical service.

Hingst began his career 42 years ago in the graphic arts field creating and producing advertising and promotional materials for a large test equipment manufacturer.  Working for offset printers, large format screen printers, vinyl film manufacturers, and application tape companies, his experience included estimating, production planning, purchasing and production art, as well as sales and marketing. In his capacity as a salesman, Hingst was recognized with numerous sales achievement awards.

Drawing on his experience in production and as graphics installation subcontractor, Hingst provided the industry with practical advice, publishing more than 150 articles for  publications, such as  Signs Canada, SignCraft,  Signs of the Times, Screen Printing, Sign and Digital Graphics and  Sign Builder Illustrated. He also posted more than 400 stories on his blog (hingstssignpost.blogspot.com). In 2007 Hingst’s book, Vinyl Sign Techniques, was published.  Vinyl Sign Techniques is available at sign supply distributors and at Amazon. 

Slides of Jim's Artwork

© 2017 Jim Hingst