BUCYRUS — A Bucyrus man has turned his love of lettering into “a sign of the times.”

Brenton Potter is a tattoo artist by day, a sign artist at night. He’s the guy guiding the paintbrush. The pinstriping wizard. The man making his mark on everything from benches and blades to mirrors and motorcycle helmets.

“I like the retro-ness of it,” said Potter, the owner of The Tattoo Factory on South Sandusky Ave. “Honestly, I just started pinstriping and putting letters on everything I could. If it has a really nice, smooth surface, that’s what works best.”

In a day when self-adhesive vinyl lettering is the rage, Potter prefers a can of lettering enamel called 1 Shot, used for decades by professional sign painters. His brushes? Special “swords” with knife-like bristles made of horse hair and squirrel hair.

Potter is perfecting what’s often called “the lost art.”

In his art studio – the single-car garage of his Bucyrus home – he paints words and messages on church pews, saw blades, old windows and mirrors. No canvass is too unusual – antique tables, actual street signs. Vintage clocks and bowling balls.

Although lettering is his favorite part of the process, Potter is known to embellish many of his custom pieces. He also creates colorful cutouts – drawings on plywood for which he makes a template and then cuts around the design.

Potter grew up in Bucyrus and, as a youngster, frequently traveled with his “hotrodder” father to car shows. He became fascinated with the pinstripers who traipsed around with wagons and paint cans.

“I would follow those guys around and watch what they were painting,” he said.

He opened his tattoo business when he turned 19, but it wasn’t until 2016 that he started dabbling in more than just ink. He also took a beginner’s class at an autobody shop in Cleveland where he learned paint consistency and mixing techniques.

He was hooked.

“Honestly, I started picking up speed and doing everything I could,” said Potter, who was recently commissioned by friends to paint the sign on the front window of Lu Lu’s Kitchen on Marion Road in town.

Potter is always scouting for signage at area flea markets and yard sales, and his mother adds to his collection with thrift store finds. But he manages to keep a few for himself, like wood and metal signs from the 1930’s that say “Entrance” and “All Sales Final.”

“It’s just fun,” he said of his newfound hobby. “It’s relaxing, and I like to create art for other people.”