Singer 45k1 Restoration Decals

[Constabulary]

Hi Tony, well reproductions are reproduction - nothing is as good as the original. I don´t dare using my vintage original decals. Maybe one day when I found the "one and only" Singer machines I may try applying them but most likely I won´t. Not many original decals have survived I think. But when your decals turn out nice I´m sure some folks here would be interested if they are affordable.

[Parfektionisto]

On 28/09/2017 at 3:25 PM, Constabulary said:

Hi Tony, well reproductions are reproduction - nothing is as good as the original. I don´t dare using my vintage original decals. Maybe one day when I found the "one and only" Singer machines I may try applying them but most likely I won´t. Not many original decals have survived I think. But when your decals turn out nice I´m sure some folks here would be interested if they are affordable.

Hi Constabulary,

Just done with the tracing from your original decal, although the original decal condition is not very good but I tried my best to trace as close as possible. The problem with keeler's decal is the proportion of the typeface is off, which I guess he might have created it base on existing fonts as there isn't any real reference around. Thanks to your original decals which makes the restoration work possible and a great help to those who wants to restore their machine as close to the original as possible.  

Most of the old singer decals were in gold colours, but yours is in silver colour, very rare, any idea which old singer models used silver colour decals?

Tony

[Parfektionisto]

Another interesting find on the floral motifs decals. I realise there are differences in the floral motifs used on the 45k1, see the pics I have attached for the differences, and Keeler's floral decals is also slightly different. 

The first 3 pics are from original 45k1, 2nd pic is from Jimi, and the 4th pic is Keeler's decal for 31k.

Tony

[Constabulary]

my original decal are actually gold foil - I once applied one to a cast iron table just for testing them - did not turn out very well. Thats why I never used them. When the right machines turn up and will maybe try again.

[dikman]

Don't know about these decals, Constabulary, but I do know that the decals used in plastic model kits can deteriorate with age and fall apart when applied! (And I suspect yours may be much older than model kits!).

[WoodysWorkshop]

I would not be surprised if those old decals were not stencil and hand painted.

We use to have an old Singer peddle machine and cabinet in the basement the correctives on it seamed to be painted on, not decals.

From the literature I found in the drawers, it was probably from the 1940's or early 50's. But I suspect early post WWII when my parents were married and set up house.

My mother use to do a lot of sewing. But I don't remember ever seeing her use that old Singer, just new electric Singers.

 

[Parfektionisto]

11 hours ago, Constabulary said:

my original decal are actually gold foil - I once applied one to a cast iron table just for testing them - did not turn out very well. Thats why I never used them. When the right machines turn up and will maybe try again.

Hi constabulary,

Oh your decals is actually gold colour, I thought they are silver. If you notice your decals typeface  beside the gold colour, it's has a black colour shadow, but the original 45k decals is without the shadow, so I think your decals is meant for a certain model. 

Tony

[Parfektionisto]

13 minutes ago, WoodysWorkshop said:

I would not be surprised if those old decals were not stencil and hand painted.

We use to have an old Singer peddle machine and cabinet in the basement the correctives on it seamed to be painted on, not decals.

From the literature I found in the drawers, it was probably from the 1940's or early 50's. But I suspect early post WWII when my parents were married and set up house.

My mother use to do a lot of sewing. But I don't remember ever seeing her use that old Singer, just new electric Singers.

 

Hi WoodysWorkshop,

I was once told by a local sewing machine repair shop owner that in the past old machines were painted and not decals, but I'm not sure how true was that info. Maybe have to find out when was decals first invented. 

Tony

[Parfektionisto]

Decals were invented in the 19th century, so sewing machines produced during this period should be using decals and not painted. 

Tony

[Uwe]

I found some Singer decals in my stash including some water transfer gold lettering decals. Apparently, making aftermarket decals that say "KISSINGER" avoids certain trademark issues. All you have to do is snip off the "KIS" and you're left with "SINGER" 

[dikman]

6 hours ago, Parfektionisto said:

Decals were invented in the 19th century, so sewing machines produced during this period should be using decals and not painted. 

Tony

May not necessarily be true - way back in the old days companies often had their own painting and signwriting sections.

Uwe, now that you mention it I notice that the gap between the two S's appears to be slightly wider than the rest.

[jimi]

there was a video showing how they made them but it seems to be down now??

Edited September 30, 2017 by jimi

[Parfektionisto]

10 hours ago, dikman said:

May not necessarily be true - way back in the old days companies often had their own painting and signwriting sections.

Uwe, now that you mention it I notice that the gap between the two S's appears to be slightly wider than the rest.

 

16 hours ago, Uwe said:

I found some Singer decals in my stash including some water transfer gold lettering decals. Apparently, making aftermarket decals that say "KISSINGER" avoids certain trademark issues. All you have to do is snip off the "KIS" and you're left with "SINGER" 

Hi Uwe,

Did u make those decals yourself? Where did you get the decals reference from? 

Tony

[Parfektionisto]

10 hours ago, dikman said:

May not necessarily be true - way back in the old days companies often had their own painting and signwriting sections.

Uwe, now that you mention it I notice that the gap between the two S's appears to be slightly wider than the rest.

Hi Dikman,

This is getting more interesting!!! At first I was thinking that local repair shop owner sounded logic, I was thinking decals probably didn't exist that long ago, and stencil and hand painted seems like a primeval method of the past. Moreover I restored my machine with crinkled finish, which I thought decals might be hard to stick on, until Jimi said singer machines were not spray painted, trash treasure and WoodysWorkshop taught me more about decals which caught my interest, but now u say it could be painted.....maybe I should do more research on this. 

Tony

[Uwe]

1 hour ago, Parfektionisto said:

Did u make those decals yourself? Where did you get the decals reference from? 

 

@Parfektionisto No, I didn't make the decals myself - they were part of a larger sewing parts inventory I bought last year. Sorry, I don't have a decals reference.

[jimi]

Jimi said singer machines were not spray painted?? i do not recall saying this tony??

[WoodysWorkshop]

I wouldn't have not thought in a million years that decals were that old.

This has really changed my few on things tremendously.

I wish I still had that old sewing machine.

I looked it up and they were so mass produced that they literally had no collectors value.

I took a $10 offer from a guy for cabinet and all.

But it had no belt, long deteriorated, and the only foot for it was on it.

I have no idea what had happened to all the feet and other stuff that must have went with at one time.

That was back in Jan. 2014.

[Evo160K]

Tony, you might want to take a look at the video Jimi referred to above.  I believe he's referring  to "BIRTH OF A SEWING MACHINE".  Here's the link, but as Jimi mentioned, it seems to not be working at the moment:   http://movingimage.nls.uk/film/1592

In this 1934 +/- ** video by Singer, you'll see the japanning (paint) being applied by dipping the machines, and you'll see the decals being placed in a hot liquid and then being applied to the machines.  They aren't slide-off decals, they're more like transfer decals.  It's a remarkable video, it starts slow, but it's well worth the wait.

Maybe someone can provide a link that's working.

** it's in this timeframe because they mention and show the Queen Mary being built at the Clydebank ship docks, the QM was launched in September of 1934.

[Constabulary]

yesterday the media player on the website did not work - today it does - at least on my end - I will try to download the film for my records. Really worth watching!!!

applying decals starts at minute 16:32.

Edited October 1, 2017 by Constabulary

[Parfektionisto]

12 hours ago, jimi said:

Jimi said singer machines were not spray painted?? i do not recall saying this tony??

Hi Jimi, 

This was the first message you sent to me on this topic, hope I didn't get you wrongly. You said " I do not think they ever sprayed the letters on". Maybe my text was misleading, I mean the decal not the machine itself. 

Tony

[jimi]

you got me . 

[jimi]

I thought you were talking about the machines not the decals.

[Parfektionisto]

21 hours ago, Evo160K said:

Tony, you might want to take a look at the video Jimi referred to above.  I believe he's referring  to "BIRTH OF A SEWING MACHINE".  Here's the link, but as Jimi mentioned, it seems to not be working at the moment:   http://movingimage.nls.uk/film/1592

In this 1934 +/- ** video by Singer, you'll see the japanning (paint) being applied by dipping the machines, and you'll see the decals being placed in a hot liquid and then being applied to the machines.  They aren't slide-off decals, they're more like transfer decals.  It's a remarkable video, it starts slow, but it's well worth the wait.

Maybe someone can provide a link that's working.

** it's in this timeframe because they mention and show the Queen Mary being built at the Clydebank ship docks, the QM was launched in September of 1934.

Hi Al, 

Thank you for sharing the link to that video, it's really an amazing video. Not only the japanning and decal, it also showed how they made the wooden table top, without seeing this video you can't imagine how advance is the machinery used in those era for making sewing machine. The factories were huge, it was an empire of sewing machine making.

Tony

[Evo160K]

@  Tony    You're welcome.  It is an amazing video.  You mention wooden table tops, did you know, at one time Singer was the largest furniture manufacturer in the world?

 

@   anyone who understands this computer "black art".   That video still isn't opening for me.  I'm getting the message: Error loading player: No playable sources found

What does that mean and how do I fix it?  TIA

Edited October 2, 2017 by Evo160K

[Wizcrafts]

1 hour ago, Evo160K said:

@  Tony    You're welcome.  It is an amazing video.  You mention wooden table tops, did you know, at one time Singer was the largest furniture manufacturer in the world?

 

@   anyone who understands this computer "black art".   That video still isn't opening for me.  I'm getting the message: Error loading player: No playable sources found

What does that mean and how do I fix it?  TIA

What type of computer operating system or hand held device, as well as brand and version web browser are you using to try to open the video? Some systems may not be able to open this video unless the correct video codec is installed. Further, if you run a script blocker, the video cannot be loaded. I was able to open it in Firefox, Chrome, Edge and Internet Explorer on Windows 10.