The Letterville BullBoard: Tell Us About Your "First Time"

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Posted by Ken Henry (Member # 598) on :

Everyone who has attended a Letterhead Meet for the very first time brings back some very distinct impressions that stay with you. I suspect that with the meet in progress in Boise, there'll be quite a few folks who'll experience "first time impressions" that we'll soon hear about.

What made the biggest impression on you when you attended your "first meet"?

Mine was in '91 at Don Edwards' shop in Newmarket. The first thing I experienced was a very humbling sort of "intimidation" at seeing the awesome project panels that were displayed. When registering, you drew a slip of paper on which was a project outline for a panel you were to complete during the meet. After a good bit of reluctance and hesitation, I got my kit out and "took the plunge", and got to work on my panel, between attending workshops and demonstrations. I also met a lot of friendly, up-beat sign folks including Dave & Susy Butler, Ken Millar, Keith Knecht,Doug Downey,Pete & Marge Payne, and Steve & Barb Shortreed, and a host of others.There was something happening everywhere...panels being painted, trucks being lettered or striped, stuff being carved, but mostly, a great sense of cameraderie and energy. I've been to several meets since, but that one will always be "special"...since it was "my first time".

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Ken Henry
Henry & Henry Signs
London, Ontario Canada
(519) 439-1881
e-mail kjmlhenry@home.

Some days you get to be the dog....other days, you get to be the fire hydrant.

Posted by Chris Meredith (Member # 1616) on :

My first times were while I was still a student at L.A. Trade Tech. They were alumni meetings and I couldn't believe I got invited! Very humbling, and caused me to throw a lot of pictures away out of my portfolio.

First REALLY BIG meet was Denver '85. Threw out some more pictures. I've been to lot of meets since then, always have to revise my thinking on how I do my signs.

It's depressing to have been in this business for 34 years, doing the best I can, and seeing so many much more talented people than myself. I'm at the Boise meet, now.

Going to throw away my portfolio tomorrow.

Mike Languein

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Posted by captain ken (Member # 742) on :

my first meet was Stonnington Ct. last month I don't know the numbers but it was small about 60- 75 people. I had a blast, Cam set me up on a banner for the club that hosted the event (hope they like the jaggerfish)
and I met some very cool letterheads, and saw some old friends, and made some cool contacts at Garston sign supply.
Joe C. hooked me up with a hand carved wooden stripping sword made out of some exotic woods and mounted to a fancy wood plaque (the damn thing won't pull a line, though) all in all I learned, I taught, and had lots of fun!

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"A wise man once said that, or was it a wise guy?"

Ken McTague
The Witch city
Salem, MA

Posted by Steve Shortreed (Member # 436) on :

The following is borrowed from our profile at www.letterhead.com/profiles/

Over the next few years I watched the Letterhead movement grow as members relocated around the country and shared the idea with other sign artists. I just knew I needed to be with them if I wanted to get anywhere. These guys became my heroes (still are today), along with many others I have met along the way. Although I couldn't afford to meet them in person, I still felt a kinship with these craftsmen as I followed their exploits and successes. We did everything they suggested without question. At night I would blow up and trace pictures of their work, trying to understand the thought that went into these designs.

By 1982, I was able to give up the factory job and make signs full time. Noel Weber hosted the "Boise Bar-B-Q" at his new home in Boise, Idaho. He invited additional craftsmen from around the country, and things really began to grow. Mike Jackson hosted the "Oklahoma Bash" in Moore, Oklahoma that October and 135 sign artists showed up. At this point in my career, I still had never seen another sign painter at work.

Sometime in the spring of 1983, we read of a meet in Kansas City. Without even thinking, I placed a call to Ron Overby at Magik Signs and announced we were coming. We put together a quick portfolio of our work and in August, armed with our newly acquired credit card, we boarded a plane for Kansas City and our first Letterhead Meet.

First Meet

I'll never forget entering that shop for the first time. We went a day early to try and get oriented, and it seemed everyone had the same idea. To say I was star-struck is an understatement! My heroes were everywhere: Noel Weber, Mark Oatis and Kent Smith were working on restoring an old gold sign. I ran from one person to the next, shaking their arms off and generally making a fool of myself. Mike Jackson was doing a workshop on sandblasted signs and I wrote furiously in my notebook, trying to copy down every word he said while Barb snapped pictures.

Ellis Doughty attracted a large crowd outside as he laid out the shop window and proceeded to whip off the most beautiful script I had ever seen. Then he got out a funny, long-haired brush I later learned was a sword stripper, and started to pinstripe a design around the lettering without even using a guideline. I elbowed my way to the front and stood there with my lower jaw dragging on the hot sidewalk as he worked. Ellis was the first signpainter I ever saw. What an act to try to follow!

At every Letterhead meet, it is a custom to reserve a special table where everyone is urged to display their work. It's called the Portfolio Table, and I tossed mine in the pile and began to leaf through everyone else's work.

Now, you have to remember I was the only sign painter in a small town of 6,000 people, and I was under the impression that I was just a tad short of excellent. Compared to the signs I had seen in my little world, I really was! Looking through a few of the portfolios on display, I quickly came to the conclusion that my efforts were, at best, just above graffiti. I quickly snapped up my portfolio and headed for the hotel room to bury it. For the first time it really hit home how much more I needed to learn, and I wondered if I was in the wrong trade.

That night we were invited to have dinner with Mark and Jeannie Klein, a couple from Miami whose work I had always admired. Later, back at the hotel I confessed how I had hidden my portfolio. The two of them made me run up to our room and dig it up so they could have a look. They promised to give me their honest opinion of my potential. Looking through the book, they admitted my work had some rough edges, but I would be welcome to work at their shop anytime. My confidence was restored with those few words, and I started to work even harder to improve.

Jeannie passed away a few years later from a brain tumor, but I still think of them often and take every opportunity I have to thank them for stretching the truth a bit about my work. They could have destroyed any self-confidence I still had at that point, but instead they chose to build me up. Mark and Jeannie are probably responsible for me still being in the business today.

Most Letterheads will tell you the meet they recall best is their first. I agree completely! I can still see Ken Millar standing on a makeshift stage, conducting a workshop on layout. Some guy with big ears had on display the finest showcards I had ever seen. He introduced himself as Mike Stevens. Little did we dream of the books and videos, not to mention the influence and inspiration, that Mike would have on our trade.

I met a sign painter from Chicago called Bob Behounek, and watched with envy as he lettered his wonderful scripts. Keith Kneith, another of my heroes from the Toledo area, teamed up with Steven Parrish, an old-time gold leaf master, and these two kept me in stitches with their stories and tall tales.

Impromptu seminars and workshops were breaking out everywhere I turned. Noel Weber and Kent Smith taught me how to lay gold leaf. Mike Jackson sat outside and talked sandblasted signs with me for over an hour. The show went on into the wee hours of the morning, and I made sure I was the last out the door each night. We flew home loaded with new knowledge and inspiration, not to mention a whole bunch of new friends. We were on fire! Letterhead fanatics!

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Steve Shortreed
144 Hill St., E.
Fergus, Ontario
Canada N1M 1G9
519-787-2673
steve@letterhead.com
ICQ 316338
www.letterhead.com/profiles/shortreed/

Posted by Janette Balogh (Member # 192) on :

My first time was in Bloomington.
"Letterheads on Mainstreet"

And although I didn't smoke a cigarette afterwards, I did light up!
And Oh, yes, yeees yeeaaassss!!! ... it was good for me!

You can read my take on it at:
http://www.letterhead.com/meets/mainstreet/index.html

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"When Love and Skill Work Together ... Expect a Masterpiece"

Janette Balogh
Sign Studio
in Sunny Florida
jbalogh@earthlink.net
Current Pet Profile - Please send us yours!
http://www.markfair.com/nettie

Start packing and move in! It's just too easy to be a Resident!
Location, Location, Location! It's all right here!
http://www.letterhead.com/supporters

[This message has been edited by Janette Balogh (edited July 14, 2000).]

Posted by Diane on :

I haven't attended one YET. I spoke with Dave Brill - Brilliant Signs, Conn., the other day regarding organizing a meet in Butler, PA @ Jill's Custom Signs.

He told me the greatest story about Letterheads. He was vacationing at the Rhode Island shore and when driving back he saw Cam Borg's shop. (Awsome). He said there was a note on the door saying he was at a meet. Then ironically he saw a directional sign to the meet. He went. Got there right at the end. Dave is a newbie like me (got the "shy thing"). He said they opened their arms and totally welcomed him in. We spoke on the phone for a while and shared stories. It charged me up! I can't even imagine what a meet will do. Once again, kicking myself for not going to Boise!! I will make it. I'm really interested in the crafting part - carving, gilding, smalting, etc...

Anyways,... it seems too good to be true but there are some really great people out there and thank Goodness I've found them. When I do get to my first meet I just want to be a fly on the wall and take it all in.

Now I have to get this job done!!

Diane
Summit Signs
Sellersville, PA

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Summit Signs
Sellersville, PA,

Posted by Jillbeans (Member # 1912) on :

Ok, that meet (Krazy 8)is done and gone and neither of those 2 showed up...but I remember my first meet.
It was at the zoo in Cincinnati in 1994. I was overwhelmed, seeing folks I knew from trade mags walking around and shooting the breeze.
I had driven out there with my insanely jealous husband (now an X) and for the first time in my miserable life, I felt as if I fit in.
I was soooo intimidated. My little signs looked like crap. I had made a project panel which I had though was OK, but I was embarrassed to hang it up.
There were pinstripers and a banjo player, Pure Prairie League, books and brushes to buy, and just too much to absorb.
I put my card in the panel swap basket, and soon a guy from Canada was painting me a sign. He had placed his card on a panel for me to paint, so I just did it. Of course it looked like crap, but I got so much friendly encouragement that it was fun to exhibit my lack of talent.
My hubby got jealous because I talked to too many people about signs. He did not speak to me the entire 6-hour ride home. Needless to say...he is history. I had finally found my niche.

I am reviving this post so newbies might take interest in attending ANY of the upcoming meets this summer. There is something good to be learned at any meet...you get out of it what you put into it.
Love...Jill (17 meets later)

Posted by Alicia B. Jennings (Member # 1272) on :

Mt first 'meet' was at a Rat Fink reunion at some guy's shop out in, I think, Orange County. That was in about 1991. I had no idea what I was doing there. I was way over dressed. Saw Ed Roth for the first time there. I had brought this stupid boyfriend of my at the time with me, so I really didn;t get to mingle as much as I would have liked to. Along with all of the usual auctioned stuff, there was an handmade knife on auction, that had been made by Von Dutch.

Posted by Frank Magoo (Member # 3950) on :

Alicia; I remember that night and I thought you looked good, it was second time I'd met you.
Your b/f had more than one young buck seeing green w/envy....heh-heh
Don't know what happened w/Dutch's knife, it might have been the one that got sold around and is now on display somewhere's.
BTW, that was Kim Dedic's shop in Fullerton. later cutie, we thought of ya this past weekend.

Posted by Alicia B. Jennings (Member # 1272) on :

Yeah, I think the knife went for $2500.00. The guy I was with was my Fabio look-a-like. Met him at LATTC. But I soon had to get rid of him. He could understand why I didn't know when I would be done with a job.

Posted by Kevin W. Betz (Member # 4133) on :

1983 was the first time i was introduced to the letterheads. my father decided to attend this meet in kansas, 1983. he brought my grand-father & my-self. i was only 13 at the time and did not know mike stevens was there. it hurts now knowing this knowledge was there and plenty was availiable with-out me learning. growing up in the sign-bussiness has taught me there is room for art as well as signs. one makes money, and the other offers freedom. both work. after seeing the people in kansas, i learned there must be something more than just lettering.
a sign is as good as the idea.

krazy kevin
krazy kevin

Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :

LOL Jill . . .
I met, married, an' divorced that jerk too . . .

FIRST MEET IMPRESSION:

Within 5 minutes KNOWING I was home.

I have a secret, personal, kindred-spirit test that even I am usually unaware that I'm giving because when I get ideas I wanna discuss 'em and get feed back . . .
so I share bits and peices of intense artistic ideas with all kinds of people I meet but 99 times out of a hundred I get frowns, questioning looks, and most often, from people who know me, jusy rollin' eyes,
"Aw' . . that's just Sheila and her crazy, creative, artistic mentality . . . [Roll Eyes]

"

But I noticed that NEVER happened once at my first meet . . .people were just like,
"Oh yeh . . I see that too . . ." [Big Grin]

When I was tellin' Jill how crazy most people think I am . . .
she paid me the highest compliment:
"You're not crazy . . you seem normal!"

LOL . . .that's the FIRST time I EVER heard that!!
[Big Grin]

Posted by Brian O'Prey (Member # 4063) on :

Dublin, Ireland, 1996. Can't remember much.....too much Guinness. But the main thing I DO remember is in bed with a fine Australian girl (not involved in the meet. Just in case any of you start wondering who she might be).
It's comforting to know sign-painters are still held in high esteem by the opposite sex.
There IS a point to this post.....nothing much happened at the meet.

Posted by PKing (Member # 337) on :

1997 International Walldog Meet in Belvidere,IL.
Made a point to arrive days earlier to start learning ASAP!
I never seen so many talented people at one time in one place in all my life!What a treat to find out I wasn't alone in the world!
I would be surprized if I didn't introduce myself
to everyone there,INCLUDING town folks.
Jay Allen and his team's efforts influenced not only my business practices, my out look on the other people in the same business,to include life in general!
No man stands taller,that the one that reaches down to help another.
I'M HOOKED

Thank You Letterheads [Applause]

Posted by Kissymatina (Member # 2028) on :

My first meet was Pat King's splatter jam. I arrived the evening before to be greeted at Pat's by Pat, Bobbie, Steve & Barb and a few others. Pat tried giving us directions to the hotel that included "go past where the school was before it burnt down" then he drove us over there.

The meet itself is a blur, I just remember the whole time I had this feeling of being right where I belong.

I do remember what seemed like 50 people standing there, all trying to give advice when Pat was trying to show me how to hand letter. I even remember a few lefties trying to help. How many other righties have had lefties trying to tell them how to handletter? That's just wrong.

I couldn't get enough of Tick's accent and that Coop has the coolest wife. I still get a tear in my eye and start gigglin uncontrollably when I think of Don Hulsey telling the story of the kitten & the woman in a dress. I could never forget that awesome great George Perkins painting me a panel to practice my hand lettering. It's still on the wall and one of my most prized posessions.

Almost forgot: we stayed at this place that we called the Hindu Hilton. Everyone of us that made reservations weren't sure if we really had made reservations or not cause we have no idea what they were saying. Some had coffee pots but no coffee, some had coffee in the form of a big spill on the floor and Don & Cheryl's room had a bullethole in the door that had been filled with putty or chewing gum. Yes Don, I totally agree that HAD to be a blood stain on the wall too.

Posted by Joe Cieslowski (Member # 2429) on :

Sheila,

You would even be "normal"up here!!!!!!! [Big Grin]

Joe,
Makin Chips and Havin Fun!

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