Watch neon signs being made

Whilst neon sign-making used to be a commonly found skill only a generation ago, it’s now classified as ‘endangered’ and is on the Red list of the Heritage Crafts Association in the UK.

Although the term ‘neon’ is very common these days, over the last couple of years it’s become used to describe LED neon flex that’s imported from the Far East in order to try and mimic real neon. We offer our own version of this produce that we make here in the UK incidentally, but are always clear that it’s LEDs.

The skill of making real neon is an absolute art-form in its own right, and incorporates glass-bending as well as pumping the glass with either Neon or Argon gas. We produced this video in December 2022 in order to showcase the art and craft of creating a real neon sign. When we say art and craft, it really does require both disciplines.

As well as producing this video, we also have a Masterguide to Neon here, which talks you through, along with accompanying photographs all of the different elements and decision you can make when commissioning a neon sign. You can see the colour of the neon glass and questions are answered such as ‘how big is a neon transformer?’ and ‘do neon signs all have neon gas in them?’.

Interested in seeing our work and whetting your appetite? Check out this page with loads more photographs and information on real neon lights that we’ve made.

The main processes of making a real neon sign

This video showing the process behind making a real neon sign, the key processes are show at the following timestamps:

00:01 Neon template being rolled out.

00:07 Electrode locations being marked on template.

00:25 Sunflower colour neon glass rods being selected.

00:35 Neon glass being heated and bent over flame.

00:56 Ruby Red neon glass being bent.

01:24 Electrodes being located onto glass.

01:53 Argon gas being sucked into vacuum glass tubes.

01:58 Neon sections lighting up.

02:08 10mm White acrylic being machine-cut.

02:13 POW! vinyl being printed.

02:16 Vinyl being applied to acrylic.

02:21 Neon glass being mounted to acrylic.

02:35 Final sign being turned on.

How can we help?

We go through most elements of this neon signmaking process every single time we make a neon light for you. We make neons for some of the World’s most famous Artists, Brands, Productions and Agencies, and we’d love to help you too.

If you’d like to commission your own real neon light, then give us a shout through the Contact us page, and we’ll get right back to you.