Contents

1. Painting Storefront Windows—A Step-By-Step Guide

2. Frequently Asked Questions

3. All Window Alphabets at a Glance

Material

3. Prepare the Sketch

I draw a grid over the sketch, and on the window to transfer the drawing more easily.

5. Draw the Guide Lines

Using the grid on my sketch, I calculate the space between the guide lines. I measure them out on the window pane and make marks with a crayon that writes on glass. Then I use a chalk line to draw the guide lines on the the glass.

6. Sketch the Alphabet on the Inside

I make the preliminary drawing on the inside with a colored pencil that draws on glass. I draw freehand with the help of the grid.

photo: Hari Klein

7. Paint the Alphabet on the Outside

I paint freehand on the outside of the window with white acrylic paint. For most alphabets I use a flat brush. I use a scraper with razor blade to make corrections. I paint in white because it is best seen on the dark background of the room.

8. Clean the Window from the Inside

At the end, I remove the preliminary drawing and clean the window on the inside.

Which paint do you use?

I paint my alphabets with simple acrylic paint. It’s inexpensive and easy to remove, either with a razor blade or with water and a sponge. If I wet the paint, it comes off and washes off very easily. I scrape off any residue with a razor blade scraper.

In most cases, it makes sense to use white or another light color, because window panes look dark from a distance, light colors are best to see.

Watch out: On my shop window acrylic paint lasts for months, because the house over the window juts out a meter. This means the window is protected from direct rain. I once painted a storefront window that was exposed to rain, there the moisture made the acrylic paint brittle and partially washed off within a few days.

I have no tips on what paint is suitable for windows that are not protected from the rain. My recommendation would be to paint mirrored on the inside.

Which font is that?

My window alphabets—like all my work—are not based on specific fonts, but I design the fonts myself. That’s the thing about them.

After ten years of specializing in lettering, I know the basic letter shapes so well that I can vary them freely. That’s actually the idea behind the »Window Alphabet« series: I keep altering the familiar shapes of the alphabet in interesting new ways.

Do you paint all this by hand or do you use stencils?

I paint by hand, without stencils. Depending on the alphabet, I either make a relatively precise preliminary drawing or I paint freehand. That works for me because I have a lot of experience with my hands.

On the photos with the overall view, the letters look very even, but up close you can see the irregularities. The nice thing about painting on glass is that I can always correct it by scraping the paint off again. I have already scratched off half an alphabet again, because I only noticed at the »P« that I had forgotten the »G«.

photo: Hari Klein

Why do you do this?

Well, for fun, of course! And I wanted to take advantage of having such a nice big window space available … Besides, the shop window thus fulfills its original purpose: the alphabets draw attention to my work. At the same time, they serve as a curtain to curb the curiosity of passers-by—my office space is not very big and many of the people who pass by it stop and watch me work: »Oh, look, she’s painting!« I am not super comfortable with show working like that so I’d rather give them another eye-catcher.

photo: Hari Klein

All Window Alphabets at a Glance

13 window alphabets since October 2018. Have a look at them here in chronological order or see them here in large.

Ligature Alphabet, 10.2018

Frakturphabet, 6.2019

Weirdphabet, 12. 2019

Monoline Condensed, 3.2020

Dripphabet, 5.2020

Horizontalphabet, 8.2020

Snowballphabet, 12.2020

Patternphabet, 3.2021

Wobblephabet, 04. 2022

Scratchphabet, 12.2022

Halphabet, 1.2023

Flipphabet, 10.2023

Negativespacephabet, 7.2024