posted
I think I rememeber this question being asked, I did a search for it and could not find the post. So thought ok, lets see what you're interpetation is?
-------------------- aka:Cisco the "Traveling Millennium Sign Artist" http://www.franciscovargas.com Fresno, CA 93703 559 252-0935 "to live life, is to love life, a sign of no life, is a sign of no love"...Cisco 12'98 Posts: 3576 | From: Fresno, Ca, the great USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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A person who cares enough about others to share anything and every thing without obligation to give back knowledge or otherwise to anyone who needs it at any time, for any reason. . Give without remembering receive without forgetting..
Sharing is Caring,, simple..
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5274 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
A letterhead is a sign professional who will gladly open their doors to another in the business whether they live in the same town or across the world. A letterhead will cheerfully share their knowledge and experiences with others who wish to learn.
A letterhead is passionate about their art, reading, observing, learning and practicing their craft at every opportunity.
A letterhead will seek out other like minded professionals to learn from them.
A letterhead is a friend to others in the business.
Its a lofty goal, to be a true letterhead, and its something I strive towards each day.
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
An illustrator, free-hand lettering artist and designer. All the rest of that sounds wonderful, but is hardly realistic, and I say that having known and knowing a number of them that have never owned or seen a computer. Not all true letterheads are "nice guys", but they are talented. Some to an extreme.
P
-------------------- Pierre St.Marie Stmariegraphics Kalispell,Mt www.stmariegraphics.com ------------------ Plan on knowing everything before I die and time's running out! Posts: 4223 | From: Kalispell,Mt 59903 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
The original concept was to identify all the old trade secrets of hand lettering and pictorial work and pass that information on to people in the trade willingly... thus being a true "keeper of the craft".
It has long since become more than that and has advanced to include people of all aspects of the sign trade.
There has been a long running struggle over whether it's "about the people or about the trade".
I happen to believe it is a bit of both...but one thing is for sure if you're not willing to pass on what you know, you're killing the intent on which Letterheads was based...no matter what part of the trade you happen to be practicing.
Knowledge has always been something that has be shared, without it all aspects of human relationships will fail. It's this one common thread that has made the Letterhead movement travel the world with no one person or entity steering its course.
In reality it is a "spirit" to be nurtured within and shared without...
[ October 26, 2006, 08:44 AM: Message edited by: Monte Jumper ]
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
posted
"Becoming a Letterhead is fairly easy. You don’t have to pay dues or memberships, attend a bunch of meetings, or even know an existing Letterhead. For the most part, it is all a state of mind or something you feel in your heart. Once you make a conscious effort to better your abilities, your own level of esteem, and the craft in general—you are a Letterhead. Historically, the original Letterheads tried learning the craft by studying old books and applying newly learned skills to their work. The movement has evolved along with the changes in technology, and now just about any branch of the sign trade is included in its broad spectrum. You don’t have to produce reverse glass, carved redwood panels or even apply a piece of gold to be a Letterhead."
"It all started about 30 years ago, when a small group of apprentices in Denver got together to learn more about the craft of making signs. While the organization has grown larger than any of them could have imagined, the simple spirit behind their original needs lives on and evolves. The keystone of that spirit is exchange of information. During any given year, there is one International Meeting, several regional meetings and no telling how many small get togethers. Some don’t even use the “Letterheads” name but still carry on its spirit. While most of the trade magazines do cover events, stories, and meetings, there are several web sites and one magazine specifically dedicated to show casing and preserving that spirit.
The masthead at the top of this page was designed by John Frasier, one of the original members. The shaky script is registered, but is open to all to use in a respectful manner. Download a vectorized image of it below. You can also grab the GIF version of it right off this website.
The Denver Chapter of Letterheads holds occasional business and social meetings. While there is no official designation to the group, many questions about Letterheads are often sent back to that group for advice and steering. Their usual position on things is something like “Live and Let Live”, so most of their advise is just that.
If you are considering hosting a meeting, you are invited to purchase a mailing list of known Letterheads Members from the Smiths. While there may be numerous other mailing lists around, this one is probably the most complete, with names of attendees from hundreds of meetings. They sell the list for no more than the cost of printing, supplies, and postage. Hosts are encouraged to try to break even on any meeting, without financial profit to themselves."
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6718 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Actually, there was a similar movement going on a lil before the "original Letterheads" here in the Los Angeles area.
Big Daddy Ed Roth's Rat Fink Parties were similar to today's Meets...panel jams and showing striping and lettering techniques.
McLogan Sign Supply used to put on an open house at their Anaheim store and have various people demonstrating silk screening, hand lettering, gold leaf, etc. In fact I rermember Rick Glawson doing an "Angel Gild" demonstration ( took 3 tries to make it work in those days.)
-------------------- Si Allen #562 La Mirada, CA. USA
(714) 521-4810
si.allen on Skype
siallen@dslextreme.com
"SignPainters do It with Longer Strokes!"
Never mess with your profile while in a drunken stupor!!!
Brushasaurus on Chat Posts: 8831 | From: La Mirada, CA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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quote:Originally posted by Curtis hammond: A person who cares enough about others to share anything and every thing without obligation to give back knowledge or otherwise to anyone who needs it at any time, for any reason. . Give without remembering receive without forgetting..
""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3485 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
The original letterheads were the Phoenicians
Gail, Monte and Si beat me to it but, to me, the definition is "Keepers of The Craft". There are certainly more elements to it but I think this is the core. Right on the heels of our credo comes the second most important element (IMHO), the sharing of information. People come and go. God how I miss "Daddy Finegold", Rick Glawson, but his love and passion and the extreme contributions he made to the craft has been passed down to so many others, to be kept alive. If not for the free dissemination of his hard earned knowledge we wouldn't be privy to a lot of the old techniques that he recovered and rediscovered.
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
letterhead is the heading at the top of a sheet of letter paper, usually consisting of a name and an address, and for corporate use, their Corporate design.
If someone has anything to add to the Wikipedia definition, it IS editable.
[ October 26, 2006, 11:31 AM: Message edited by: captain ken ]
-------------------- Ken McTague, Concept Signs 57 Bridge St. (route 107) Salem MA 01970 1-978-745-5800 conceptsign@yahoo.com http://www.pinheadlounge.com/CaptainKen
---------------------------------
"A wise man once said that, or was it a wise guy?" Posts: 2425 | From: Salem, MA | Registered: Apr 1999
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posted
To me....It means things like pulling into a unfamiliar, small town in the Middle of Illinois during a meet....looking around for a brightly lettered vehicle....getting out and asking someone like FranCisco Vargas..."Hey can I help you with this mural?".....and him having never met me before or having no idea if I can even hold a brush.....saying "yeah Man, come on up"
And then doing that very thing all summer long, 20 hours a day, or until the money or body gives out from exhaustion......at least for me.
Take care, Cisco, I hope we get to color a wall together again soon.
Dale
(edited because I can't type with big bandages on my right hand fingers)
posted
Regular talented people, making good and sometimes outrageous money doin' thier thing. I'm just lucky to be in on the gig!
Jack
-------------------- Jack Wills Studio Design Works 1465 E.Hidalgo Circle Nye Beach / Newport, OR Posts: 2914 | From: Rocklin, CA. USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted
...And a "Letterhead" is never finished at learning.
...And when you hear someone (even another Letterhead) say: "This person can't do "Letterhead quality work"...then they simply show they don't know what it means to be a Letterhead.
If Letterheads were all top of the line pros...there would be no need to share information to other Letterheads.
The original "Letterheads" were very lacking in knowledge about the craft and good design, and thats why they got together, to learn how to be better.
Thus you can be a "Letterhead" if you have never picked up a brush, or made a good sign (even vinyl or digital print....you just have to HAVE THE DESIRE to progress to a higher professionalism in the sign art craft and then share back.
posted
Lots of along with , sometimes... Plenty of goodhearted and knowledeable the odd bit of way to much ...that's a good thing! sometimes some along with
John..."loving by brush since 1963"
-------------------- John Lennig / Big Top Sign Arts 5668 Ewart Street, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada bigtopya@hotmail.com 604.451.0006 Posts: 2184 | From: Burnaby, British Columbia,Canada | Registered: Nov 2001
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posted
I like that one John; you are so darn creative.
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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-------------------- Bill Riedel Riedel Sign Co., Inc. 15 Warren Street Little Ferry, N.J. 07643 billsr@riedelsignco.com Posts: 2953 | From: Little Ferry, New Jersey, USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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Most of the time I don't really think I am a letterhead, nor do I think I really belong to this group, (I sorta sit on the fringes) because I don't paint and layout is something I struggle with, (albeit, less as time goes by); my perspective on things is usually a little different from the norm as well, but then I'll get to a meet or a show (or even get a phone call) and am made welcome and made to feel that I also have something to contribute to the 'kindrid' spirit that is the letterhead movement (if there is such a thing). Who knows???
[ October 26, 2006, 07:12 PM: Message edited by: Mike O'Neill ]
-------------------- Mike O'Neill
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value. - Arthur C. Clarke
posted
(You saved me having to say that, Doug- thanks- and all those other misplaced apostrophes, too!)
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
To me, being a letterhead means beind someone who is captivated by the asthetics & the communicative potential of arranging letters to become an artful expression of a cerebral message.
being a superior designer, craftsman, or businessman is NOT required... just being captivated with a passion & attracted to typography & the other visual aspects of written communication.
[ October 26, 2006, 11:32 PM: Message edited by: Doug Allan ]
posted
A Letterhead,,, Looks at a movie trailer and makes mention of the nice font. Buys holiday cards with the nicest fonts and layouts. Gets excited when she sees an excemptionaly well designed capital letter 'I'. Thinks to herself, "I could have hand lettered that and really make it pop". Gets upset because the serifs just don't look quite right. Feels bad for letters that are misused and have to be viewed that way by the public. "Poor, all cap Amazone script in an arch, it must hurt you to be displayed that way".
Bring on your gold leaf, metallic, diamond plate, CNC routed, neon, Fifty G's printer, if the lettering don't look good,,,a Letterhead will look at the job and think to herself "Amateur"
-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3816 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
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You're one funny gal, lol...and logical, I agree w/you wholeheartedly...
-------------------- Frank Magoo, Magoo's-Las Vegas; fmagoo@netzero.com "the only easy day was yesterday" Posts: 2365 | From: Las Vegas, Nv. | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
quote from Dave Draper: "The original "Letterheads" were very lacking in knowledge about the craft and good design"
Not quite true Dave all of the original Letterheads were very knowledgeable from serving in one of the last union apprenticeship programs in the country. their quest was for the old methods of producing great pieces of work. They trapesed thru books on gilding ,recipes for paint, design and layout criteria for turn of the century craftsmenship.
Thus "adding" to their fledgling skills and becoming the truly great craftsmen of today.
Some have left the craft and others have become well known names in their own right.
I'm proud to have known them and more than impressed with the skill levels they have acheieved.
Incidently they all still share their wealth of knowledge...that makes me happy!
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
posted
To myself a Letterhead is a person that can talk to a client and reveil a concept from conversation to paper/computer ideas. Then know how to apply it to a final outlook.. Also knowing which materials to use or the right way to stay within thier (customers) budget.
I have never worked with lettering only... as most customers ask for an image to go with the concept.
I am not a letterhead but just a simple Artisan to the trade.
[ October 27, 2006, 09:49 AM: Message edited by: Stephen Deveau ]
-------------------- Stephen Deveau RavenGraphics Insinx Digital Displays
Letting Your Imagination Run Wild! Posts: 4327 | From: Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, Canada | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
Doug's comment about the "misplaced apostrophes" bought another thought to mind
you know it never stopped amazing me that I made my chosen living with just 26 charactors and 10 numerals... and yet I still couldn't put them together in the correct order!
I am without a doubt the worlds worst speller, or as I prefer 'alphabeticly challenged'
I seem to end up with all these missing letters that really should be in there some where... if only I knew where?
and then some times I have more letters than I am suposed to... what's that all about?
I have to wonder what would have happened had a I chosen a career in any other field, with my obviouse cockeyed view of things
say an industry which has a gazillion individual items involved?
I mean there are only 26 letters in the whole alphabet!!!
how can I not get at least some things right, even by the law of adverages alone?
It's just a good thing I never went into medicine, heaven help the poor patient when I was done with them... 'well never mind sir, you really didn't need that organ I forgot to put back in the right order now did you?'
or even... what do you mean people don't have 3 ears... oh dear how did that get there?
all I can say is 'ya just gotta love spell checkers'... lots, and lots of spell checkers
cheers gail
-------------------- Gail & Dave Hervey Bay Qld Australia
gail@roadwarriorproducts.com.au
sumtimes ya just gota! Posts: 794 | From: 552 O'Regans Creek Rd Toogoom Qld 4655 Australia | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
IMHO, I feel that letterville is a great tool in the letterhead movement, but it's really not about what being a letterhead really is. Call me crazy, but I think a letterhead is more about actions than words. It's not "I can do this, and let me tell you it's done". It's more, or should be, "here, let me help you with that, and let's work together to learn". And it's not just about maintaining the high quality standars of the traditional craft either. As the industry evolves, the spirit of being a letterhead has too. 25 years ago it was (and still is) about the brothers and sisters of the brush. 10 years ago, it was computers and vinyl. Today it's inkjet, and who knows what the future will hold.
Havin' fun,
Checkers
-------------------- a.k.a. Brian Born www.CheckersCustom.com Harrisburg, Pa Work Smart, Play Hard Posts: 3775 | From: Harrisburg, Pa. U.S.A. | Registered: Nov 1998
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quote:Originally posted by Checkers: ...It's not "I can do this, and let me tell you it's done". It's more, or should be, "here, let me help you with that, and let's work together to learn". And it's not just about maintaining the high quality standars of the traditional craft either.
Well said Checkers. I clearly remember the meet where I finally "got it"; it was Dave Sole's meet in Independence, OH. I was watching Alton Gilespie letter and airbrush some race car lettering. He would do a couple of letters then airbrush a doctored magenta blend over the wet paint. He explained that we would clean off the overspray with a rag then do an outline to clean it all up. After doing a couple of letters and me watching like a drooling puppy, he had me hand letter a couple of the letters and handed me his airbrush to do the blend. I was nervous at first but he assured me that I could do it. I don't know why I was nervous about it but I was. I added the blend and an instant friendship was born between Alton and myself.
It was also at that meet that I was asked to do the gilding on what would become a cover of the Signs of The Times "Gold Leaf" issue. I had no idea how important that piece was or how beautiful it would become from the art of the other sign artists work on it. I had to buy a book of gold from Bill Hueg to do the job, LOL.
One more memorable moment from that meet was (late at night) when the "Letterheads Sacrificial Watermelons" were laying there and I thought it would be neat to paint one of them like it had been cut open. Well... it looked sort of like a womans... er ahhhhh... hmmmm... it could have been taken either way but, considering the way things tend to go at night at a meet, it was suggested that it looked like something other than a split open watermelon and it went downhill from there. About two weeks later I got some photos in the mail in an unmarked envelope. There was a letter inside but no name or address, no hint to the mystery sender. The photos were of some horible signs, a couple of pix of some socks airbrushed with a watermelon motif on a pair of beautiful, long, very feminine legs. Lastly, there was a couple of pix of a nipple standing up behind a wet t-shirt; the shirt was one of the pink "I'm the Real Mike Stevens and You're Not". I did find out who the "model" was and who sent them but it took a few months of sleuthing. But I'm not telling.
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
UH! I was gonna say "all of the above' too after reading the great replies . . . so now I guess I gotta say . . . all of the above above all of the other 'all of the aboves' . . .
LOL Ricky . . . actually the very first Letterheads were those guys who painted those 'hiroglyphics' all over cave walls . . . I mean . . . were they Greek? or phonics-techs?
Talk about 'letter' 'heads' AND bein' excited about it . . .
Those first cavemen guys . . . who stumbled upon how to draw simple pictures which conveyed actions and initiated a new form of communication thru visuals . . . who also inadverdently gained MORE ideas and created tangible inventions thru the very act of drawing . . .
Those very first, dynamic elementary images are so important to us today because these prehistoric 'panels' had the actual deep meaning for the Neanderthal 'sign artist' of saying:
"I want to communicate events, ideas, feelings & colours thru these picture-words' because I want you to see what is in my brain, and moreover, I want you to participate by showin' with me how you'd do it . . . Looky . . . here's I fashioned this rustic crayon. Can you improve or expound on it? Take it and use it for a while . . . ."
Here is where the notion of 'two heads are better than one' was first discovered . . . For with awe an amazement did these first two 'sign artists' appreciate the fact that their brains 'saw' different things and could create and invent even newer things by bouncing ideas off one another and experimenting with creations and adding more ideas to those ideas . . . which ultimately has lead us to where we are today!!
Now ain't that cool?? You HAVE to smile thinkin' about the intensity of that first panel jam . . .
But . . . imagine how 'prehistoric' what we're doin' now might look to others in 5,000 years!!
LETTERHEADS. The legacy lives on.
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
oneshot on chat
"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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But everything I learned about signs I learned from the letterheads, or the books letterheads told me to read, most of them by letterheads. It not as expensive but I'll never graduate. Thank heavens.
-------------------- Deri Russell Wildwood Signs Hanover, Ontario
You're just jealous 'cause the little voices only talk to me. Posts: 1904 | From: Hanover, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted
My first Letterhead meet was four years ago. I had never held a brush I was purely a computer cut vinyl girl. The incredible people that i met who loaned me all their gear, talent, knowledge and time I can never thank enough. John Jordan said to me that all he wants is for people to listen. A Letterhead listens, learns and grows. I am a beginner in the field of paint but I believe in my heart that I am a Letterhead. It is in my blood, it beats like a pulse and inspires me to learn and share. The more Letterheads I meet the wider my smile grows.
"The day I stop learning I shall be no longer of this earth"
-------------------- Anne McDonald 17 Karnak Crescent Russley Christchurch 8042 New Zealand
"I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure" Posts: 877 | From: Christchurch | Registered: Sep 2006
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, sometimes... Plenty of goodhearted and knowledeable ![[For Your Information]](graemlins/fyi.gif)
the odd bit of ![[Bash]](graemlins/bash.gif)
way to much ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
along with ![[Group Hug]](graemlins/grouphug.gif)
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