Sign painting: the windows of La Clap

Sign painting has always fascinated me. So when the La Clap bar, in Paris, trusted me to dress its windows, I was thrilled to take on this new adventure. I had first drawn their logo; then came the big question — how to bring all of it to life on the glass?

With the team, we talked through what to highlight: the prices, so you can read them from across the street, what the bar offers (match screenings, game nights), the logo on the entrance door, and the word “Fumoir” on the smoking-room window.

It all starts by hand

Before the glass comes the paper. I made lots of lettering studies, to show the team what was possible: the layouts, the typefaces, and the “bursts” that now hold the prices on the windows. Everything is drawn by hand, photographed, vectorised then printed — that’s how I make the stencils.

A sheet of calligraphy studies: prices, “fait maison le midi”, “bières” — The first studies sheet shown to the team to choose from

A sheet covered in studies: “pression”, “maison”, “le midi”, “dès” — Each word tried, with a marker

A burst shape drawn with a blue marker — The “burst” — the shape that will hold the prices

Digital simulation of the lettering on the burgers-and-beers window — The project, simulated in the window, to picture it and sign off together.

From drawing to stencil

Once the letterforms are chosen, I vectorise them cleanly (in Affinity): I tidy up, round off, and reposition some letters or fix slips, since the original lettering is done by hand. Then I print them at full size, across several sheets that I tape together.

A4 sheets aligned to form a full-size stencil, pounce wheel top right — I tape several A4 sheets together into a full-size stencil (the pounce wheel, top right)

A paper mock-up held in the window to test the placement — First we test the placement, at full size

Painting in mirror, on the glass

First of all, the glass must be cleaned thoroughly, several times over. Then, once the stencil is stuck down and the chalk applied, I paint. At first I followed the order of the letters — bad idea: I risked going back over paint that was still wet. Being right-handed, the right method is to paint left to right, rather than following the words, which are reversed, from right to left.

Painting with a liner brush on the glass, arm resting for support — The arm rests to keep the wrist steady

Seated on a small step stool, painting a price burst — Down at the price bursts, at the bottom of the window

First finished window, white lettering “Burger maison” and “Bière pression” — My very first window, painted in white — the step stool is still there.

Copper, the signature of the place

La Clap’s world is all about copper. So I suggested going further and gilding the lettering. I wanted to use real gold leaf in a copper shade, but it’s far too expensive and tricky to handle — so I went with copper leaf, gorgeous and far more manageable. My first applications weren’t perfect; with practice, I learned to lay the leaf perfectly flat and edge to edge, so the seams eventually disappear. At the end, the copper must be varnished well to keep it from oxidising.

Applying a sheet of copper leaf onto the price burst, seen from inside — The copper leaf is laid flat, piece by piece.

La Clap window, price bursts gilded in copper — The prices, gilded in copper — visible from afar

A “match screenings” window with a football — Another window — the match screenings

The logo, and the smoking room

The finest challenge was the logo — far less obvious than the letters, and the one I’m proudest of. I drew it and then painted it entirely by hand on the glass, before lifting it with copper.

The logo outline, in mirror image, in progress

The finished logo, before gilding

For the smoking room, I first had to find the word “Fumoir” by hand — with its curls and its little cloud of smoke.

A calligraphed study of the word “Fumoir” topped with a cloud of smoke — A “Fumoir” crowned with its cloud

A study of the word “fumoir” with several curls of smoke — Curls of smoke, worked out one by one

A clean, confident study of the word “Fumoir” — The version I kept — I added the smoke on the computer

The smoking-room window at La Clap, the word “Fumoir” in gilded letters — And on the glass, to finish: the smoking-room window.

It’s a project I’m truly proud of. I loved every step — from the first curve on paper to the last sheet of copper — and I hope to have the chance to paint windows like these again very soon.