Making neon signs is a sadly dying craft, but there’s no better way to learn about the beauty of the art than this video, showing a master neon craftsman create a replica of our favorite shape on Earth: the Apple logo!
The sign was made for Matt Fuller, a die-hard Apple fan who lives in Chicago, by Neon Shop Fishtail, a well-known neon shop in Chicago. After contacting Neon Shop Fishtail and hearing back from the owner, Tom Brickler, Fuller asked if it was possible to film the creation of the sign. And lucky for us, it was!
Here’s the story he told The Loop:
The experience was fascinating to watch and I soon realized that the three men running the shop were extremely skilled craftsmen. Before I arrived, neon artist John Noga had already shaped three main parts of the logo, but had not yet fused them together. I was able to watch him create the leaf part of the logo from a straight white glass tube. He then trimmed and joined the larger pieces to form the lower apple part of the logo.
The next step was to bring the project to the basement where the two pieces were electrified with 15,000 volts of electricity, heating them to 550˚F to burn out the impurities inside the glass. The white tubes were then filled with argon gas to produce the white glow I had requested.
The last two steps, completed by Chevo Carreño, included “burning in” the tubes with electricity so they would glow evenly and then painting the non-glowing parts of the tubes. With the logo complete, I took it home that day.
Man. This is incredible. I know what I’m asking for for Christmas. How about you?
Source: The Loop
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
3 responses to “Watching a neon sign of the Apple logo being made is hypnotic”
I’m surprised it’s considered a dying art. What’s taking neon sign’s place? Certainly in places like Singapore and Tokyo and most major tourist centers of the world, neon is still king. LED lighting hasn’t progressed that far yet because it would be quite expensive to do large signs with.
making a bunch of panels and “stitching” them together to make large screen signs where it’s going. there simply aren’t as many neon sign makers out there, they are either dying or there aren’t enough younger kids learning the art. “working with your hands” to kids means pressing buttons on a keyboard, kids just aren’t creating things by hand like they used to. It’s almost like the music industry, there is more and more music that’s produced on a computer vs musicians performing on musical instruments. It’s actually kind of sad if you think about it. Computers can be a great tool, but people really need to focus on using their hands to create something instead of having the computer doing it for them. Some things need to be preserved as an “art form” rather than just making everything so processed and dehumanizing everything.
I’m Matt who made the video. These gentlemen were true artists and very generous to let me watch the sign being made. As I was recording video, several times I realized how warm it was there, realizing moments later that I was standing next to a blue open flame (several of them, in fact)! A couple other things I didn’t mention: first, and appropriately for my project, the neon shop was a converted garage behind the store area. This shop handles the neon whenever it’s needed for the many movies and TV shows that are filmed in Chicago. If you go to their site (http://www.neonshopfishtail.com) and click Movies, you can see some of the examples. Finally, and unsurprisingly, Tom the owner jabbed the LED sign industry, saying that LED signs make your business “look like a Dollar Store.”