After having worked in this trade for over 40 years, I have noticed a few general things about sign shops. Namely, the thing about how people, with odd projects in mind, often come to a sign shop for advice, parts, or actual fabrication of their pet projects. We seem to accumulate all this knowledge about other trades...a little electrical, carpentry, plumbing, painting, sandblasting, masonry, even ditch digging, to name a few.
There have been all sorts of things come through the doors. It's as if people think the sign shop is a place for the jack of all trades or something.I once had someone ask me to make a 12 foot tall turkey out of pipe and chicken wire so they could grow vines all over it and turn it into a giant topiary or something. He didn't know where else to go. People come in wanting objects like Christmas lawn ornaments made, or else want trade booth displays made. Again...they didn't know where else to go. Need a 8 foot box with a ribbon on it?...no prob.
So my question is: what kind of out of the ordinary work have you run into where you are? You can include painting projects too. Anything unusual.........is there anything you'd like to tell us about?
Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
Made parts for some 'coon traps once.
Posted by Michael Boone (Member # 308) on :
one guy came here around halloween time.. he wanted to dress up as a parking lot... i couldnt help him
Posted by DONALD THOMPSON (Member # 3726) on :
i just finished a tachometer for a morotcycle. Three inches in diameter. The numbers were 1/8" tall. He wanted it with purple and orange numbers and a tiger paw at the 4500RPM mark. He likes Clemson University. I also made a Tombstone for a poodle. They wanted a real one, but it was $75. I made one out of Sintra for $25. It had a a silohette of a poodle and the birth & death dates of the dog.
Posted by Bill&Jane Diaz (Member # 2549) on :
I painted "Bob & Ringo's" (a bar in town) on both sides of a horse's "rear end" for a big parade. The big problem was what kind of paint. We didn't want to harm the horse. One of our boys came up with the solution. "What about the colored hair spray stuff that we spray on our hair at halloween, Mom?" Bill didn't want to do it (city boy!) but I had a horse when I was younger so the job fell to me. It was a nice calm horse but I was a little worried about what she would do when I started to spraying, but all went well. Another time a farmer brought in a 4 foot high concrete cow that he wanted to "look real". We did it in One-Shot. Can you tell we live in a agricultural area? Posted by Roy Frisby (Member # 736) on :
Painted a concrete collie dog years ago and refurbished it a couple of years back. Also a few other unusual projects thru the years that I can't seem to recall at the moment. You are right on, everyone brings their odd ball projects to the sign shop. May be that we just look more intelligent than most...ya think?
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
I don't know if they think we look smart enough to do it... or just dumb enough to try!
[ June 15, 2003, 12:25 AM: Message edited by: David Harding ]
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
We liked this aspect of the sign biz so much that wierd projects are all we do and little else.
We've built space ships, submarines, airplanes, alien plants, flying saucers, antique cars, mountains, parade floats and a thousand other things.
It's more fun than working.
-dan
Posted by John Arnott (Member # 215) on :
It seem like my file of "ODD" photos are as much as any other file. From painting a 8' chicken to life size horses and bulls. I had a beautiful girl come into the shop once and wanted her black body suit airbrushed like bones. So of course I said OK, and she took off her coat and had a black body suit on with an increadible body to go along with it. That one I took my time with.
[ June 15, 2003, 11:25 AM: Message edited by: John Arnott ]
Posted by Jeff Ogden (Member # 3184) on :
Yes Dave, I guess we are dumb enough to do this odd stuff sometimes. I like the Diaz's horse painting ...nothing like a moving target. I once helped paint a trailer full of orangetangs(sp?). We were painting a jungle scene, with apes carrying off fair maidens, etc., and the orangs. were bouncing off the walls inside. They are a lively bunch..at least when they're cooped up in a semi trailer. The whole thing was actually rocking. And stink!! you aint smelled nothin' till you've smelled a orangutang ! We took some hairs back to the shop when we were first designing the job to get the right colors, and my partner at the time had a german shepherd dog. Well that dog went beserk when he got a whiff of those monkey hairs. He started running around in circles, with all the hairs on his back standing straight up. What a hoot !
Dan, I guess you got to be the champ when it comes to making stuff that's out of the ordinary. Have you ever played around with neon? People used to ask for all sorts of crazy stuff when I was working in a neon shop. It helped that it was located in a college town with lots of art students who used to come around looking for pieces to use in art projects. And plastic. Many people came by looking for scraps to make all sorts of stuff.They'd find a piece, then want to know how much trouble was it to bend it, and the next thing you know you're working on their project. Oh well....its all part of the fun of it,I guess.
Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :
I'm almost embarrassed to tell ya.....but just "almost"......anyone who kno's college rivalry football will understand the long-standing competition between The University of Alabama (roll tide) and Auburn (tigers) University. This freind of mine and his wife are among the die-hards. They owned a 26' camper an' we decked it out with graphics all around and for the final`e, a tiger face, mouth wide open in the bowl of the toilet... man, some sign painters will do ANYTHING fer a buck an' a laff huh?
Posted by Jeff Ogden (Member # 3184) on :
That's dedication, Sheila. Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :
....heh,heh....well FIRST, I DID ask him to buy a new loo.....but he did'nt wanna go there so they scoured for hours 'til I was satisfied...then we scuff-sanded accordingly, LOL... ...like that really made it OK... Posted by Jeff Ogden (Member # 3184) on :
Gee...what a way to check for paint durability ! Talk about harsh conditions.....was it a 1-shot job?
Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
I have a mill sawblade in my shop right now that's 4'6" and primed with Dupont basecoat white that I'll be starting in August. I can hardly lift it. The project is for 10 murals on the one saw of snow groomers and lettering for a snowmobile club. I also will be making a 2 sided cow later this month that will be milked by kids at the local fair. I'll be sure to post thenm when they're done.
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man, some sign painters will do ANYTHING fer a buck an' a laff huh?
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...like that really made it OK... ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)