Metal Cast Alphabet

Y

yoodooright

Junior Member
Hi,

I need to find a complete 3d alphabet cast or made from a metal. Does anyone even know where to start looking? The more 'cast' they look the better and they need to be no smaller than about 10cm high, something along these lines would be great (but preferably a complete set from one font):

letters+on+wal.jpg


I'm based in London and would need them pretty quickly so ordering from the States etc. might be a non-starter. And as always, budgets pretty minimal!

Thanks,
YDR
 
Don't know of anywhere that you could buy these off the shelf. I got some made from a signage place, but not cheap, and takes time.

What is it for?
 
Yeah as Berry says, not cheap if you are having them made as a bespoke set. Also I think you will have trouble finding letters 'off the shelf' with the same level of patina as the samples in your post. Most cast letters are cast in resin and because the purpose is usually shop/exterior signage they don't generally have any quirky imperfections.

I've had letters from Centre Signs in the past.

What are you using them for? If it's an internal project what about having them routed in 18mm MDF? You can have them routed and sprayed a colour, or even face the letters with a metalic vinyl. This is your most cost/time effective route.


http://www.centresigns.co.uk
 
as said what are they going to be used for, if its going to be photographed you could get pretty much the same effect using 3D CAD models.

There would be no issues with font choice (you pick it :)) and then its a case of material etc and render, either into the scene or as individual components.
 
Yes, the letters are to be photographed in different locations, spelling different words. In all there are potentially 24 separate images/words needed so 3d rendering wasn't really an option as i have about 1 day to generate all images in the set.

Finding a complete alphabet and going out to shoot the images for real just seems so much quicker (and of course = instant realism!!) than trying to recreate it digitally.

YDR
 
I think you may have bitten off more than you can chew.

Case letters are bespoke and a complete alphabet will be amazingly hard to source.

The nearest thing I saw a number of years back were some ornamental solid metal letters in a household designer shop, but they were a mixture of sizes and fonts.

I think you may have to come up with another idea?
 
Very possibly! It would have been a simple solution to the brief if i could have laid my hands on these letters easily but perhaps this is a non-starter if this kind of thing is not readily available off the shelf.

Thanks,
YDR
 
Sourcing stuff can be a nightmare or simply a quick Google find. I'm sure this exists out there, but finding it is the hard part and the clock is always ticking. Always have a back up plan.
 
It might not be what you're after at all but the only way I can think to achieve a metallic letter in a random environment on a budget is to have them cut in self adhesive vinyl. We can get a brushed aluminum vinyl or a mirrored silver. You can either use the vinyl on it's own if you have a smooth surface to apply it to. Or we could get the letter routed in a 5mm thick black foamex, then face with the vinyl.

PM me if you need a quote

Tom
 
Thanks for your help on this. Now the brief has slightly changed and the letters can be made of any solid material (plastic, wood etc.) just as long as they look sturdy and strong.

A couple of references below:

M_and_A_letters.jpg


Helena Dietrich

So does this offer up any other possible sources that you might know about?

Thanks,
YDR
 
My first thought would be to use a 3d render and photoshop it in... Much more versatile in size/positioning etc.

Would take less time than going to the shops and buying some or waiting for delivery if made by the right person.....
 
yoodooright said:
Thanks for your help on this. Now the brief has slightly changed and the letters can be made of any solid material (plastic, wood etc.) just as long as they look sturdy and strong.

Thanks,
YDR
Click to expand...

It depends on what thickness you need to get them looking 'blocky' enough, you can order letters in a few different materials from here >>

3Dimensional Lettering for Signs : BHMA, The Marketing Store

Click on the letters and it gives you the per letter price.

Tom
 
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