Technical sheet - How to install letters for gravestone

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Technical Sheet – How to mount italic bronze letters for gravestones
Characters style “Italic” or “Palatino Cursive”
Real Votiva produces a wide range of letters and numbers in bronze, steel and porcelain; such characters
are suitable forgravestonesandcanbe usedforthe compositionof namesanddatesof birth and death for
epigraphs, dedications and epitaphs on headstones.
“Italic” style characters are available in the following sizes:
 Capital letters, height cm 5,5
 Lowercase letters, height cm 3
This kind of characters are also available in different marble colour versions, such as Carrara, Botticino,
Black Marquinia,GuatemalaGreen,blackandwhite orinceramismalt,orcolourvariantslike mercury, gold
and glitter. The letters are treated with a special coating that ensures resistance to weather and time,
especially for the graves planted outdoors.
Important. This technical sheet refers to the "Italic" style bronze letters, for all colours and finishes
available in the catalogue.
Hereby are the instructions for purchasing and installation of the letters.
1. Epigraph composition with Italic characters
Epigraph composition with Italic characters is subject to the following rules:
- First name/Surname: for first names and surnames first letter it’s used the 5,5 cm height
uppercase letter followed by 3 cm height lowercase letters.
- Dates: for birth and death dates composition it is used a bronze bar on which are fixed the
numbers and the star and cross symbols. Bronze bars can have different lengths:
o 31 cm bar: it is used for long date format with star/cross symbol up to 9 items, i.e. eight
numbers plus star or cross (for example “+ 12 10 2015”);

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cm 31 bar
o 23 cm bar: it isusedfor longdate formatwithoutstar/crosssymbol upto 8 items,i.e. eight
numbers plus star or cross (for example “12 10 2015”);
cm 23 bar
o 18 cm bar: it is used for short date format with star/cross symbol up to 5 items, i.e. four
numbers plus star or cross (for example “+ 2015”);
cm 18 bar
o 10 cm bar: it is used for short date format with star/cross symbol up to 5 items, i.e. four
numbers plus star or cross (for example “2015”).
cm 10 bar
- Dates with loose numbers:alternatively,datescanbe composedusingloose numbers; in this case
each individual number will be provided with two rear pins for attachment to the surface.
Loose numbers date
The namesand dateson bronze barsare deliveredalreadyassembledinasingle block and ready for fixing.
Each single block(firstname,surname,date)is fixed by means of 2 or 3 pins fixed in the rear of the entire
block (see figure below).

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2. Italic characters assemblymodes
Italic characters can be assembled in two ways:
- Screwed characters:
o first name and surname characters are screwed together;
o dates are screwed on bronze bar.
- Welded characters:
o first name and surname characters are welded together;
o dates are welded on bronze bar.
The above does not apply to dates made with loose numbers.
3. How to purchase the letters
To buy the desired letters proceed as follows:
- Access the website: www.realvotivastore.com.
- Select the category “Types” from the main page or the general catalogue page.
- Select the sub-category "Bronze".
- Select the desired model, such as “Characters for gravestones. Palatine Cursive”.
- In the detail page of the selectedmodel, there are multipleitemvariants,forexample, "Uppercase
letters to be screwed - cm 5,5", "Lowercase letters to be screwed - cm 3" etc.
- Accordingto the textto compose and to the rules described above at point 1, select each letter to
be purchasedfromthe listnextto the entry"Selectcharacter" and specifythe number of pieces in
the text box beside the button "Add to Cart", then click that button. Repeat this step for all the
letters and numbers to be ordered (in case of mistakes you can make changes in the order
summary page displayed during confirmation order that is in the Cart). Please, pay attention in
choosing uppercase and lowercase characters, and between loose numbers and numbers to be
screwed on bars.
4. How to fix the Italic Letters
The process includes the following steps:
1. Mark the drillingpointsonthe surface.Positioneachblockof textonthe surface of application and
mark the points in which you have to drill holes corresponding to the rear pins.
2. Drillingthe surface.Drill holesatthe pointsindicatedonthe surface usingadrill bitwithadiameter
slightly greater than the diameter of the pins to permit the application of the mastic inside the
holes.Atthe end,remove the stripsfromthe surface andblow all the holes in order to remove the
dust accumulated inside.
3. Preparationof the mastic.To facilitate the application of mastic inside the holes, it is recommend
using a liquid but viscous mastic. Using clean tools, take out from the tin the amount of mastic to
use and add the right amount of catalyst paste (according to the quantities indicated on the
package,e.g.from1 to 3 gramsof hardenerper100 grams of product);mix the twocomponentsby

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meansof a spatula.Note thatthe curing time will shorten with temperatures above 25° C and will
be longer with lower temperatures.
4. Applicationandfixing of the letters. Introduce a sufficient amount of mastic inside each hole and
then put the related letters (you may want to keep the letters on hand next to the holes in the
sequence of application to avoid loss of time). Spillage of mastic can be removed before the
complete hardening,assoonas itbecomessolidbutsoft and chewy, with a thin knife or a spatula.
REAL VOTIVA STORE - Online funeral accessories and foundry art shop
Contrada Pozzo, 73040 - Melissano - LECCE (Italy)
[+39] 329 7138018

Technical sheet - How to install letters for gravestone

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Technical sheet - How to install letters for gravestone