I always liked doing custom banners and I still do. I use scaled artwork converted to a transparency and hand letter my banners with one shot enamel. When I had my shop in Anaheim I could do 40’ banners if necessary. Most of the time they were around 8’ in length. Today there is the option of digital print and vinyl letters to use instead of hand lettering. The banner material has greatly improved from the ‘drill’ cloth that I used when I first started out in the sign business.

I’ve always loved the Coca Cola Santa done by Haddon Sundblom and all the work he did for Coke.

I wanted a Christmas banner to display over my girlfriend Anne’s garage door for a Christmas party we were having in 1984.

As with all my hand lettered work at the time, I made a pattern using a transparency and the overhead projector.

I did the script on paper with a marker until I put together the right combination. You can use a marker, charcoal or brush. It is a method I learned from a book on Graphic Design and because it’s done with the natural flow, when it is enlarged it looks like it was hand scripted.

This was a lot of fun to do. I had my daughter Amy help me paint the background with bulletin enamel. The banner has worked as an invitation for Christmas parties for many years and is still in good shape. My wife Anne and I have had Christmas Sing Alongs yearly since that first banner.