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This is a fun video I put together for the sign/martial arts enthusiasts alike! I was contacted by a movie/game rental chain store to paint 11 stores about 3 hours from my home, so I drove down, took some footage and raced from store to store to get 11 done in 2 days. It was lots of fun and an excellent adventure sleeping in my truck and slangin' paint for 2 days straight.
Seeing that video has totally changed how I thought who you were and what you look like!!!
(meant in an innocent way, please don't take offence..I imagined a small thinish guy with East Indian roots, based on your name)
Yer good..and FAST (I know the video was speeded up!! good job)
Now I know...yer a talented window splasher who does it well!!!
Funny how we have preconcieved ideas of people when we have never seen nor met them?
[ October 19, 2009, 10:24 PM: Message edited by: Dave Grundy ]
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
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haha, Dawud emerges! I wish I knew how to work my camera/program before on better more creative jobs,but there will be more videos now that I know how to edit.
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i miss doin windows!!!!! most fun of anything you can do with paint!!!!
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Love it. But dude where is your dropcloth? Maybe you don't drip like I do. I have a window splash tomorrow, thank goodness it will be sunny out. That was fun to watch. Love....Jill
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Nice stuff! Foamies? I hate foamies. The overall effect is wonderful!
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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Drop cloths? We window splashers don't need no steenkin dropcloths!
Like Preston....I hate foamies...I use the Nocturna series flats for outlines. Red, black and/or white. Instead of a round container for outline paint, find some pint food storage with covers...when you finish a window, snap the cover on it and it is safe until your next job.
-------------------- 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: 8827 | From: La Mirada, CA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I am amazed how over the years I have learned how to not drip paint, ergo no drop cloth. Sometimes if I have a painted ledge beneath, I might run some 2" clear tape down a few stripes to make sure, but really, time teaches how to not drip. It also helps to pull a long verticle line from the bottom.
Si mentions snap lid containers... I went to gallon cans of paint several years back and use one that is about 1/4 full of color and strop the 3" roller against the top. I pour back the extra color into the other can when I am done. I also find that sealing the other cans with clear tape, leaving a good tail of tape to find it later, really helps keep the paint fresher. The rim of the can gets full and hard to seal right.
Another trick is to take the 3" or 9" roller cover off and pour some min spts before placing it in a roller plastic sheath. They will last a couple of days at least.
Another problem is running into a/c blowing against the back of glass, causing the infamous fish eyes in the white latex. Sometimes if it is very humid it also does this. I have found switching to white poster eliminates this. I have also heard that stale beer diluted down with water works? Of course there is fish eye eliminator, but I never seem to remember to stop for it.
Neil says vinyl is king? I see more and more perf signs and digital print. One by one they are coming down and I am getting called back because fluorescent is so much brighter. plus it just has a zippy look to it. I suspect there are less and less hand done splashes because there are less and less of us out here who can still do it? That seems to be the general consensus I have heard from other splashers.
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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That may be a good thing for us, Preston. There not being many splashers left. Then again, who will carry on the legacy? Oh well, I'm only 35 and I'm not stopping any time soon as long as I'm able. I only use drop cloths when I take a splash down, it seems like I've been able to prevent spillage for the most part. I like the foamies, as long as they are the right brand. Poly brush made by jen MFg. Anything else is junk and breaks apart in the middle of a splash. Also, What I do is pour a whole gallon into an old plastic thinner bottle with a handle and just pour it out as I need it, and shake it to prevent settling at the bottom. Also another trick is to thin it with that new "milky" thinner because it's not super watery like regular thinner and you can stretch the day-glo more without thinning it out too much. And yes, splashing is the most stress free way for me to make a dollar these days. After doing vehicle wraps and going back and forth about the design 15 times before we get it right, then hoping the design fits the car. Wraps are stressful. A window splash is such a breath of fresh air. Most of the time the customer doesn't even want to see a layout beforehand and nobody comes up behind your work sniffing it for wrinkles or imperfections. If I could splash all day I would. maybe I will!
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What I meant when I said Vinyl is king is just what you said, there's no one doing it anymore, and I agree it is a lot of fun, but here where I live we would have to do it indoors in reverse, done that many times as well. That's why I went Hmmmmm... I wonder if I should do my own windows.
-------------------- "Keep Positive"
SIGNS1st. Neil Butler Paradise, NF Posts: 6277 | From: St. John's NF Canada | Registered: Mar 1999
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Thanks Dawud for posting your video. Fun to watch and it makes me want to try doing a window.
My first memory of signs of any kind was watching a couple of guys splashing a large window from the inside. I was about 8 or 9 and we watched from a diner across the street. The first word was LOOK and because they were working from the inside they forgot to flip the L and it ended up backwards when looked at from the outside. They didn't notice it until they were finished and were they mad at each other. I am sure I would not have know any of the words they were using. It was great fun.
-------------------- Patrick Sweeney Terre Haute, Indiana Highline Signs Posts: 40 | From: Terre Haute, IN | Registered: Aug 2003
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Splashing windows comes naturally to me but I do them in a "non straight" kind of way with wavy lines and try not to make them uptight and blocklike very much. When I see someone pull a straight line all the way down the side of a car with a pinstripe brush and have it come out flawless, I'm amazed. I've tried pinstriping and to me it's very technical and takes foresight where as splashing windows is very spur of the moment and basically "do what'cha like". I guess that's what I love about splashing windows because there's so much room for mistakes and you can fix them so easily. Fits my personality because I make lots of mistakes, haha.
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Hi Dawud, That video was really fun to watch. You prove that fancy computers and brushes are not needed. The main thing is to get out there and get to it. I enjoy reading your posts because your positive attitude and love for this type of work is so encouraging. Maybe you should make a training video. I'm up in Connecticut and all I do is window splashes. I only have a few customers so far though, but things are starting to pick up.
I started out doing a style that is very 3 dimensional and detailed. The customers that see them want the same level of detail. They all want more pictures and less lettering. I like working that way so now I'm working on getting my prices up to cover the amount of time I spend. I started a fun one today. It's on a beer and wine store. The idea is to advertise Yellow Tail wine. It's a fall scene with a bottle of Yellow Tail wine and large realistic turkey with a [yellow tail].
Looking forward to your further adventures!
-------------------- John Browning JBG John Browning Graphics 439 East St Hebron CT Posts: 75 | From: Hebron Ct | Registered: May 2008
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I did my splash yesterday and was quite pleased with it. I must not be a real splasher because I did use a drop cloth and thank God I did! I like to keep them loose too. The window that I did was about 5'x7' and 3' up from the ground. Beside it was the same sized window with a stacked vynull phone number with the digits at least 20" tall, it looked awful.
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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A Toyota dealer called and asked if I could letter some windshields. I got there on Tuesday and he had 83 Used Cars and another 40 new (@$10 ea.) Hmm. Then he asked if I still did big windows. He has a new Used Car building that looked very bare. Two hours later, I had Huge Sale up there with outlines and eyeball kicks. I went over to the main store yesterday morning and he counted out another 26 windows 45" wide. Naturally, I had figured he would probably ask me, so I already had several message laid out from the computer and on a page. We negotiated a bit and I started. Then the rain moved in. I still have the rest of the new car store windows to get done today, but they have a great overhang canopy! The bill will run him $2400 for three days of late October fun! Best part is he has two sister stores that I also have not done in several years!
I asked him why he was steering away from the digital printed perf graphics and he said because the flourescent just stands out so much better! Once again, Death to Smoochie and all the perfs who have been vinyl cutting in on my hog!
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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Nice work Dawud. As far as brushes go anything goes. I started using foam. Then seeing some of Nick Barbers excellent work I used nocturnas as Si mentioned. Now I use whatever works best. What I would like to know is anyone out there familiar with a better price on fluorescents. I use either oil, tempera or 100% acrylic. My last order for day glo tempera $72 a gallon. Last year it was around $56. Locally they have acrylic in the $125 range! Ah for the days when I ordered by the case at $16 a gallon. Were talking 20 years ago too, not the " dark ages"
-------------------- Kevin Mann SignMann Sacramento, Ca Posts: 80 | From: sacramento california | Registered: Jan 2007
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Best price I have seen is about what you are paying for it. I get mine in Maine from Hamilton Marine. Every once in a while they offer free shipping or some price deal in their emails. Good folks! They even shake and date the gallon cans for me! Fast, reliable and delivers to my door. The last One Shot Fluoro I bought was over $140 a gallon. The Day Glow seems to be more stable and stays together without so much of that nasty sludge at the bottom of the can deal. I must have two dozen quart cans of One Shot Fluoro in the garage which have gone south! Every once on a while I go thrpugh there and pop off the lids to let them dry out completely and then dispose of properly.
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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I use hamilton marine as well, I have been for years. They're good folks, for sure. Just a few years back it used to be in the $50 a gallon range. I don't use water based fluorescents though. It's always a good idea to use the oil based flourescent in case the rain breaks loose unexpectedly in the middle of painting windshields or even a storefront. It will save you LOTS of trouble, trust me. I'm glad you all like the video. Makes me want to do another one! In the immortal words of Preston "Death to Smoochie and all the perfs who have been vinyl cutting in on my hog!" LOL
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