Monday, March 4, 2013

Documentary about Ornamental Glass Art

The Making of John Mayer's 'Born & Raised' Artwork from Danny Cooke on Vimeo.
(Link to video on Vimeo)

David A. Smith is an artist from England renowned for his traditional hand-crafted signs, which are etched and gilded on the reverse side of glass.


David recently produced a cover for American singer/songwriter John Mayer's album "Born and Raised" by matching the style of turn-of-the-century trade cards and letterheads.

This behind-the-scenes video captures the many stages of the process. The video is by Danny Cooke, shot on a Canon 7D.
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Previously on GJ: The style of lettering known as engrossing.
Thanks, Dick Hill

7 comments:

Tom Hart said...

I'd look forward to seeing the video. I'd also like to give a shout out to John Mayer and the art director for investing the time and the money for quality artwork for the cover. With the size of CDs - which are themselves being replaced by mp3 downloads - "album" artwork doesn't get anything like the attention it used to in the days of the LP. And thanks to you, James for highlighting this as well.

Steve said...

Thanks for the sharing this, Jim. I was struck by the artwork on this cd when I got it out of the library so it's great to learn how it was made. I was equally -- if not more -- interested in the other documentary video on Cooke's website, Upside Down, Left to Right, about letterpress printing.

Kraan said...

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
This is why I follow your blog.
This little treasure is incredible, and the "turn-of-the-century" art is one of my favourite period in art.

Does he accept old apprentices that doesn't know anything but willing? :)

Jeff Miller said...

Small world, I saw this video posted on another site for engraving http://www.handengravingartist.com/ . The scroll work is used in metal engraving and is some of the best you'll ever see, art you don't see much.

mp said...

Love this.

MrCachet said...

JAMES!!! I've seen five or 10 minutes shorts of David's work through a site called Letterheads, but this was several years ago. THANK YOU,THANK YOU, THANK YOU. Gilding, which I've done since I was 15 years old (taught by my Dad), is a painstaking, laborious but always fulfilling process. I did glass gilding when I was younger, but nobody but nobody wants to pay you for the process when they can buy vinyl stick-on stuff. This is really awesome. There is a site that documents that his various works throughout the UK. I wish I could find it. His truck is a masterpiece of rolling advertising, albeit classy and all his. WONDERFUL! I think I'll but the record album just for the cover.

SLN said...

That artwork and method is fascinating, but all of John Mayer's parts made me want to punch him the face.