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Monument font: need help

Patentagosse

New Member
I have a special request from local tombstone maker. Does anyone knows the closest match font for this? I have few small signs to do but don't have anything other than Arial condensed... and it's far from what I need.

Thanks in advance
 

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  • Monument.jpg
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Patentagosse

New Member
Well, after extensive researches, I've found exactly what I need: the font is called COMMON GOTHIC

The only problem is availability. Seems like I could only buy it from the makers of softwares for monuments engraving or Gerber's monument fonts database.

Price listed on 3 differents website is $100. That's WAY too expensive for a one-shot-deal use. The li'l work I have to do is in the $50 range. I'm buying a lot of fonts every years from LetterHead Fonts because they inspire me, because they are beautiful... but only pay like $39ea. and use 'em a lot, on many many occasions.

Does anybody ever found this font in TTF ?

I have 1 line of text to add to existing monument and it's not my everyday work, 'just wanna help the guy at funeral home.
 

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  • Common Gothic.jpg
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Shadowglen

New Member
Sorry I do not have that one. I have all of the Gov marks and gemrocks for monuments but not this one. If we ran into this we would end up redrawing in corel over a scan to size of the rubbing hoping to have all of the letters not fun but that's what we would do. are you going to blast it or are you just cutting the stencil?
 

Patentagosse

New Member
Don't repeat it but I've been asked to make a "patch" for an error made many years ago when they carved it. I will print a section of 6" x 28" of this Canadian Pink granit with new text (light bevel + texture effects) then wrap a piece of aluminum composite. They will handle the installation over old letters with urethane I think. I know, I know, weird move but that's what I'm asked for. The family cannot afford a new tombstone and the grandpa is about to pass out so for the time he's gonna be alive, the "temporary" solution should hold up good.

I will redraw individual letters from the JPG I have...

Thanks
 

Shadowglen

New Member
Part of the reason I got out of the monument business. some funeral homes make a but load of money and want to do everything on the cheap and then pawn it off as the family does not have money. Not saying that is what is happening here but I found out from several people what they got charged for our custom work and it was sometimes 3 to 4 times What we got paid for it.
 

Patentagosse

New Member
Yeah, they seems to make a very good living. They have 13 funeral homes in my area (some small, some very big & state-of-the-art). As I do all of their vehicles, signs & other projects, I have to do what they ask for. They are good customers for me, I treat 'em good. But I admit, this one is farfitched...
:cool:
 

Shadowglen

New Member
just curious was it a recently made mistake? and did they say what it was? We blasted the final dates on a headstone In Montana for a lady who was still alive. It was the funeral homes fault so they ended up replacing the stone. but not before trying every impossible unrealistic looking fix first.
 

Patentagosse

New Member
As you can see on the pic in 1 post, there's a shape engraved under the last name but we have another name / date to add. The family wants the last name with the 3 others, not under the shape. I don't know the reason and the rest of the story but that's what I had as explanations...
 

James Burke

Being a grandpa is more fun than working
any omega past 2.5 should have it as MON STD COMMON GOTHIC AK REV A.

Yep...that's what I was going to say. I can't share the font, but if you want I can type the alphabet and convert to curves so you can "piece" it together...it sure beats tracing. If you know how to use a font editor, you can make your own from the file.

We also do date cutting / monument work and I've had to do a few this way. Just pm me your email address and your preferred format (ai, eps, .dxf, .plt).


....On another note, we're also doing something similar today. This jet black slant marker was purchased by a customer at a salvage yard for 50 cents a pound. His brother (the deceased) was a recycler, and he wanted to honor him with something that was "recycled". The exposed granite in this photo will be recessed back about 1/4" deep for new text.

JB
 

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Patentagosse

New Member
Thanks for your offer but job's done already. After I found the font, I zoom it at the max just before loosing too much details (blurry) so after importing it into Flexi, it has been converted in a snap. Tweaking few corners here and there... voilà!

I always prefer using actual fonts whenever it's possible but I've learned it the hard way starting my business 25 years ago so I know how to do things manually. My 1st computer didn't have color monitor, scanner and fancy printer... Now it's easy with new softwares and all connected options (tablet, scanner...). The 1st time I used a real sign design software (CasMate), the "scan-to-vector" button put a smile on my face on a daily base!!! No more point-by-point vectorizing on the Summa tracing tablet.

At like $39 for the font, I wouldn't had lost my time doing convertion but at $100, I think I still saved few bucks...

Thanks all
 

Blackie

New Member
Don't repeat it but I've been asked to make a "patch" for an error made many years ago when they carved it. I will print a section of 6" x 28" of this Canadian Pink granit with new text (light bevel + texture effects) then wrap a piece of aluminum composite. They will handle the installation over old letters with urethane I think. I know, I know, weird move but that's what I'm asked for. The family cannot afford a new tombstone and the grandpa is about to pass out so for the time he's gonna be alive, the "temporary" solution should hold up good.

I will redraw individual letters from the JPG I have...

Thanks

Granite memorials are very expensive to re-make due to date/spelling error.
There are three basic options.
Good Luck!
Please feel free to contact me with questions.
 

monument man

New Member
Headstone Fonts

Well, after extensive researches, I've found exactly what I need: the font is called COMMON GOTHIC

The only problem is availability. Seems like I could only buy it from the makers of softwares for monuments engraving or Gerber's monument fonts database.

Price listed on 3 differents website is $100. That's WAY too expensive for a one-shot-deal use. The li'l work I have to do is in the $50 range. I'm buying a lot of fonts every years from LetterHead Fonts because they inspire me, because they are beautiful... but only pay like $39ea. and use 'em a lot, on many many occasions.

Does anybody ever found this font in TTF ?

I have 1 line of text to add to existing monument and it's not my everyday work, 'just wanna help the guy at funeral home.

I know this thread is old, but for future reference the Monument Lettering Center has multiple versions of this font available in TTF and OTF, for a lot cheaper (along with a lot of other headstone fonts). This style of lettering was also historically called Round Corner Gothic and Commercial Gothic in the monument industry.

http://www.monumentletteringcenter.com/product-tag/common-gothic-fonts/
 
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