In the 1890s, Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, psychologist, and physician was investigating the gastric function of dogs. He used a technique of training or “conditioning” wherein he would ring a bell and then give the dogs some food. After a time the dogs would actually start salivating upon hearing the bell, without ever getting their food. Hopefully this sign produces the same results if you happen to visit this customer’s home.

They open a window into another time by showing us where the great and the good have penned their masterpieces, developed new technologies, lived or died.

In the 140 years of its existence, the blue plaques scheme has errected over 800 plaques. English Heritage receives about 100 proposals every year, but it can take between 2 and 6 years from the initial suggestion to the erection of a plaque.

Luckily it didn’t take quite so long for one of our customers to receive his House Plaque. He received his plaque less than one month after his initial inquiry. His request, however, did not stem from the noble desire to celebrate “the great and the good”, but merely to have a laugh. Regarding his plaque he explained:

It’s actually a copy of a sign I saw in San Fransisco when we were there three years ago; I crossed the road to read it and really smiled as most Americans do not get the english type of humour very well and this example crossed all boundries.

Well, we here at Clover Signs, also smiled at this “Blue Plaque”. We just hope that Engligh Heritage doesn’t track down our customer and remove his unapproved plaque.

Here is what the client already had:

And this is what we did:

Those are just a couple examples of the signs.  If you are looking to have a set of signage made for your estate, please don’t hesitate to try out our free design service.

Gina was thrilled with her part of the deal and the cake was most delicious!  Clover Signs certainly recommends Gina’s Cakes as the source for your celebrations.

Of course, if you are looking for a sign, not a cake, you can get a hanging shop sign from us!

We make the brackets ourselves as it is very hard to get custom metal work done these days.  The signs are all made out of HDU, a tough synthetic wood, which is hand carved and gilded.  Any artwork is done by hand. The hanging hardware is all stainless steel.

If you are wanting to add that finishing touch to your home pub then a home pub sign is for you.

Slate and stone is still a great choice for a house sign, so we would like to recommend Rustic Stone. Rustic Stone make all manner of slate house signs and signs on boulders, ideal for setting next to driveways.

However, if you were dead set on getting that beautiful custom painting, and simply had to have it on slate, Your Signs, based on the Isle of Wight is the place to go. From simple house number plates to superb custom painted house plaques, their dedicated team of house sign makers and house sign artists combine traditional arts & crafts  techniques together with contemporary  resin & reflective lettering technologies  to produce elegant, quality, long lasting house signs that will  enhance the look of your home in daytime and also help  make your home address easier to find during hours of darkness.

In July 2007, we were contacted by The Old Thatch Teashop on the Isle of Wight and asked to design some signs for them.  The teashop was very plain, and  didn’t fulfill it’s potential in the busy tourism months.

Here is the Old Thatch just before the signs went up:

And here are the signs in place:

The pictures are not the best, as for some strange reason we decided to travel down and install them during the worst storm of the winter!

Since the signs have gone up, Patricia Whybrow, the owner of the Old Thatch is delighted with the amount of new business she gets.

In the end, having a decent sign could be the cheapest form of advertising, especially in an area like Shanklin where there is lots of competition.  People are wandering around and choosing what to visit purely by whim - so you have to make something distinct in the image you present.

If you want to discuss having a sign for your pub, restaurant or hotel, please feel free to get in touch.  We offer free sign design and beautiful hand carved signs.

We often get questions like “Why is my sign unvarnished? What can I do to protect it?”

The answer is simple - nothing! The acrylic paint we use is great for outdoors, and because we don’t varnish it, it can always be touched up in a number of years.

Acrylic paints stay bright and don’t yellow like oil paints do. They are ideal for signs and outdoor artwork.

Here is a beautifully done sign by one our artists:

We do all our art by hand and never print our signs. This means that we can put any picture you want onto one of our hand painted signs! Lots of people see our gallery and think that’s all they can have. If you need something custom made, just ask.

Here is how their sign looked before we replaced it:

Here are the 2 butterflies we sculpted trying to escape from the sign shop

And here is the new sign we made:

We don’t have a section on our website yet devoted to school signs, so please just contact us.