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Briefly Noted: Recent Projects
lettering a soybean
The Iowa Soybean Association’s “2007
Soy on Parade” provided me with the
novel opportunity to do calligraphy
on a 4 x 4 x 6 foot fiberglass soybean.
Twenty painted soybean sculptures
were exhibited at the Iowa State Capitol,
venues throughout the state, and the
2007 Iowa State Fair, with proceeds from
their auction providing scholarships in
Agriculture Education.
autumn 2007
Loving to cook, and a consumer of
soy foods, I chose edible soy products
as a theme. The considerations of lettering on an outdoor sculpture were daunting, albeit exciting. Golden Acrylic
Paints Tech Support became a lifesaver,
guiding me through prep, painting and
sealing as well as choosing media specifically tested for my purposes.
Having lived near soybeans my whole
life I’ve loved how mature plants turn
from rich green to an earthy gold,
becoming so profuse that they crowd
together and all but eliminate the rich,
black Iowa furrows. Stacks of golden
Neuland lettering on a black background created a similar overall texture
and become a metaphor for this jeweled
landscape.
The Process: The fiberglass was lightly
sanded, wiped with solvent, and painted
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1 The raw bean.
2 Using the matboard ruler to mark lines.
3 Mr. Bean gets tattooed.
4 Painting white counter-spaces.
5 Painting the yellow mixture over the white.
6 Overpainting the blue violet.
7 Final touches.
8 And more final touches.
9 Detail: scumbled letters.
10 The bean coming off the truck.
11 After the autobody topcoat.
with two coats of black gesso (mixed
with GAC 200 for increased adhesion),
and covered with a coat of pure black
gesso.
Test lettering on a black apron
allowed color scheme experimentation
and provided a flexible swatch to hang
on the sphere. Scale of lettering and
color were appraised from a distance.
Guidelines were drawn with a white
pencil using a strip of matboard the
same width as the letter height. This
flexible straightedge made creating
guidelines on a curved surface easier
than a rigid ruler. Each line’s circumference was recorded and the number of
characters per line calculated.
White brush lettering was scumbled
with fluid acrylic paint, leaving black
speckles showing through. Compacted
words, in rows on top of rows, on top of
rows with little interletter, and no interlinear space, echoed mature soybeans
(filled out fully, touching each other,
with just a hint of black evident between
the rows).
Letters and counterspaces were
under-painted white, with a dry brush,
then scumbled over with tints of yellow,
ochre, and raw sienna. Counter spaces
were scumbled over with either dull butterscotch (the color of mature, shelled
soybean) or its complement, blue violet.
Lastly, letters were scumbled again with
iridescent gold, adding a reflective quality and causing the soybean, as a whole,
to appear jewel-like.
An isolation coat of diluted Soft Gel
provided a protective coat for the artwork and also prepared the surface for
an industrial clear coat, applied at an
auto body shop. The shop guys assured
me that race cars receive the same treatment which was impervious to weather.
The bean was off to the races, or at least,
the delivery truck.
Working big was delightful and it
was great fun to letter on fiberglass once
the surface was prepped. The same
design principles for small projects
applied to this large format, with scale,
legibility and craftsmanship being just
as critical. This calligraphic adventure
underscored my respect for thorough
research, and rewarded me with the
desire to take more risks in the world of
letter making.
—Dot Prater
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Dot Prater is a calligraphic artist from
Ames, Iowa. She and her husband are founding members of CASA, a cooperative, nonprofit art studio where she works and teaches and shares a space large enough for such
big projects.
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