We're so excited to share pictures of the restoration we completed on The Carolina Theatre's 32 year old neon sign for their cinemas wing. In preparation for the theatre's 100th anniversary in 2026, they hired us to do a full overhaul and restore the sign to its 1994 glory.

In our last post, we mentioned how neon can be repaired - today's post showcases a letter "T" from a laundromat sign. This was a tube with neon gas, so the repair could be done just by splicing on new electrodes and reprocessing it. This step flushes the tube with helium prior to filling with neon.

Have you been by the Krispy Kreme in Raleigh lately? We worked with McCorkle Signs to provide a bunch of new neon tubing to help bring this iconic sign back to life. One of neon's best features is that it's just glass tubing with inert gas inside, and if it gets broken, a replacement can be made.

Today we're showing off some of the recent creations in our Neon Workshop. This is a four-hour event where you'll learn the history, art, and science of how neon signs are made, and then get hands-on time in the fires to work on a design of your very own!

After spending years as one of the tenants at Transfer Co Food Hall in Raleigh, Benchwarmers Bagels has grown to the point where they're opening their first standalone location at the Rockway development on S. Saunders Street, and we were thrilled to add some neon to their new space!

"It's German for 'The Cinemas, The.'" Do we have any classic Simpsons fans following us? Who can name the reference? All kidding aside, we're going full steam ahead on the restoration for the Carolina Theatre blade sign in Durham. We can't wait to show you the final, finished product.

We promised there would be more to come from Moon Room: this week we finished up the exterior install on their awning at Smoky Hollow in Raleigh. Bryan came to us with a bunch of inspiration photos of clubs in Europe featuring outdoor, angular neon border tubes, and we worked to match his vision.

Showcasing some halloween neon designs today! The pumpkin was created in one of our neon workshops, and the candy corn has been hanging in our front window all month!

It's almost the weekend and we wanted to share this picture of some neon we recently installed at Moon Room in Raleigh - more to come in this space, too, so keep an eye on our social channels!

Earlier this year, we created some small window signs for Mala Pata in Raleigh; neon doesn't have to be big to make an impact, we love getting to create accent pieces just as much as making spectaculars!

We finally had a chance to stop by Elliott's Barbecue Lounge in Florence, South Carolina, and check out the sign we made earlier this year - looks great!

Continuing our State Fair-themed posts; last year, at the conclusion of the fair, we were given the opportunity to overhaul the neon on one of the the traveling concession trailers. This New York Style Pizza wagon had broken glass, missing tube supports, and some sketchy wiring connections.

“I learned the rules before I broke the rules,” he says. “I learned by messing up, just like in skateboarding, where to hop off a set of stairs, you have to fall 10 times before you make it. When I started painting, I said, ‘My God, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.’ But you figure it out.”

It's NC State Fair season, and we did some rush repairs last week for a few of the concessionaires that came to town to set up.

Staff from the Episcopal Diocese of NC came by to take one of our team-building classes last month, and we're so excited to show off their creation! Made of green, blue and white neon tubing, this depiction of a Trinity knot will hang in their offices, with glass sections made by each of them.

Just a smaller-format custom sign to showcase today, made for a personal music studio. This sign combines clear tubing with red neon gas, and rich blue tubing for the music notes, and provided with a metal bracket suitable for wall hanging.

Part of our business involves repairing neon signs, such as this one from Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, which needed a few neon units repumped to bring it back to life.

We're continuing our experiments with lower light output gases; in our storage area, we now have a large hammerhead shark, filled with Argon gas (no mercury) to create a more muted, underwater appearance. We can create luminous tubes in a variety of colors suited for darker areas, ask us how!

On April 23, 2025, the CURRENT ArtSpace theatre was renamed in honor of Joan H. Gillings, and as part of that renaming, we were asked to create a new sign honoring the sponsor, to hang in the queueing area just outside the theatre itself.

We presented Chad with an option to outline the car hood, fenders, windshield and bumpers with red, white and yellow tubing. We also replaced the burned-out headlights and added a cutoff switch so that the sign can run with or without the extra 200 watts of illumination.

One of our favorite venues has a new neon sign! Missy Lane's Assembly Room in Durham reached out to us to create a window sign for their bar, cafe and music space, and we had the pleasure of installing it this week. Drop by and check it out in person - we can't wait to see it at night!

Repeat customers are our favorites! Dash Carolina had ordered some neon signs in the past from Glas, and came to us at Lightship Neon to create them a new copy of their logo in neon. Thanks for trusting us to light up your business!

One City Plaza added a new pickleball court this spring as an amenity for building tenants, and they came to us to add a splash of light to the lobby. We used color-matched paint on a PVC background, along with white, red and pink neon to catch the eyes of everyone walking past.

We're always looking for new approaches, different construction techniques, or cool ways to present neon lighting. We recently made this infinity box, playing on "Love, forever and ever" in the form of a neon heart sandwiched between two mirrors. For sale in our shop, or contact us to make yours!

We recently had the chance to work with Aaktun Restaurant on their new Clayton location, adding some neon glow to East Main Street in the form of this 19 foot long rendering of their logo.

Student Showcase: Jody recently took our Neon Lite class, and created this googie-inspired star sign. We always enjoy seeing the ideas our students come up with, and we love helping them bring their signs to life.

Falling behind on social media has us saying "ugh!" But don't worry, we've got a bunch of new stuff to share over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

A couple of months ago, we were contacted by Houston's Lounge in Durham, who asked us to add their logo to the wall of the club. We used 12/15mm clear glass tubing with neon gas, directly mounted to the brick wall on the second floor.

Showcase Saturday: following up yesterday's video with a shot of the finished "ae" logo for Advanced Energy's new office in Raleigh. All the glass was double-dipped, black blockout paint and then a coat of white to blend it into the background.

We recently completed a custom sign for Advanced Energy's new facility in Raleigh; they opted for a 36" diameter circle with Citrus Orange glass. Here's a look at how we dipped the various elements of their logo to help them blend into the background.

We had some units aging in on the 15,000v, 60mA transformer the other day and thought it would make a neat timelapse. Watch as the mercury vaporizes inside these argon-filled tubes and transition from dim to bright blue.

A couple of additional photos of the Hot Barbecue sign in its forever home at Elliott Moss's barbecue spot in Florence, South Carolina (US-52, just off exit 164 on I-95). Photos by Elliott on install day - we can't wait to check it out in person (and grab some whole hog 'cue!)

Elliott's Florence, coming soon to Florence, South Carolina. Video from Elliott Moss showing off the new Hot Barbecue sign. Designed At Lightship Neon, hand-painted by Spcl Signs, neon-illuminated and wired by us, and installed by McCorkle Signs.

Satisfying Saturday: our special light-blocking paint dries to a rubbery/plastic-y like finish. This makes it fairly easy to scrape off of our glass tubes if we accidentally overpaint. It also means it peels off the lid of the dip tank in one easy motion!

Last month, we hosted a group from Cisco for one of our corporate team-building events, which included a tour, demonstration, and hands-on time for them to create a sign of their own design. We're excited to finally unveil their project, neon accents over a printed version of a Cisco server!

We hope you're not getting tired of these HOT BARBECUE posts yet! Here's one last look at the new sign for @elliottsflorence in our shop - hopefully the next time we're sharing photos if it, it'll be in its final location!

Part 2 of our assembly timelapse: after the silicone on the tube supports had a chance to cure, we were able to install all the glass tubing and light the sign up. Once powered on, we went through and touched up the blockout paint on the countershapes.

We've got a couple of time lapse videos queued up showing the build out of the Hot Barbecue sign. First up, marking and drilling holes for the housings, wiring up transformers, and marking and installing tube supports.

We're continuing to showcase different build techniques and methods here at Lightship Neon. Today's example highlights mounting neon on a reclaimed pallet wood background. We break down shipping pallets into loose boards, stain them (if needed) and then reassemble them into a surface for neon!

It's never too early to start thinking about warmer weather - check out this new creation from Rich in our shop! The glass was bent freehand (no pattern!), and the background is a sponge-painted bit of leftover plywood from last year's shop build-out process.

Another look at our blockout paint dip process, as we take this white tubing reading "USED" and dunk it into the light-blocking paint for even coverage. Blockout paint lets us hide the portions of the sign that shouldn't be lit up, ensuring that your eye only looks at the bright part!

A look at one of the Jellyfish from yesterday's post. The background measured 18" wide x 33" tall at the largest points, but because it was cut to the shape of the jellyfish, everything had to fit in a pretty tight package.

Student Showcase: Carrie, Jeannine and Kelley completed our four-week Build-a-Neon course this month, and came up with some incredible designs! Our class gives students the opportunity to design a neon sign and contribute as much as possible toward its creation.

We're celebrating Valentine's Day by repairing some neon tubing for a local lingerie store. You never know what you're going to encounter in the neon business!

Some press for Lightship Neon this week: canvasrebel.com/meet-jared-h...

Little throwback to last year's big game, when we contributed some neon to the CBS Sports pre-game show.

Speaking of our experiments with Krypton, check out this over-pressurized 10mm sea jelly! Passing 12,000 volts through it causes it to go full bottled lightning. It's noisy, it's hot, and it's totally experimental, but we're so excited to see what happens with it over time.

This past month, we've added helium and krypton gas to our lineup - check out our latest color sample sea jellies, made with coated and uncoated glass and pumped with krypton. It's got a much more muted luminance, as shown in this video as we pull back and show neon & argon+mercury next to it.

We're super excited to start offering freestanding neon here at Lightship Neon! Check out this 3D printed base, which contains an 8,000v transformer and has a standard 110v plug. Want to take this heart home for Valentine's Day? Contact us for details!

How do we hide the parts of our sign we don't want lit up? We dip the glass into special light-blocking paint. Watch as we block out the connections on this sign which will read "SALES."