posted
i've got a screwy customer who "just wants some simple paper banners"...
he had some guy who's been doing this for years who was doing splash banners for him. these are a couple of steps up from a grocery store paper banner (they're two or three colors, not just blue or red). he tells me the guy would letter the paper, then pop by and "just glue them up" and "then take them down again the next month".
i told him to just stick with the old timer, but i guess the guy croaked (probably from doing too many banners for cheap). so i agreed to do a few, mainly just so i could practice my lettering. he's only paying $100 for a 7'x7' banner, which is about enough for me to buy some brushes, poster paints and pay for my time to install the thing (yes, he's all the way across town, of course).
so... what kind of glue should i use? wall paper glue? is there some magic formula that makes it possible to remove it? (or do you just wait until they stack up and then peel the whole group?)
any other tips and suggestions would be appreciated. paper banners seems to be a "lost art" (gee, maybe its because of the price?), but this seems to be the place to revive it...
-------------------- :: Scooter Marriner :: :: Coyote Signs :: :: Oakland, CA :: :: still a beginner :: :: Posts: 1356 | From: Oakland (and San Francisco) | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Scooter. You will want to make up some quick drying putty to hang the paper signs up.
You can make it from dry whiting and shellac. Mix it to a paste like consistency and be sure you stir it up well. This is to make sure you have no lumps under the poster. You can also use patching plaster with the shellac if desired.
-------------------- Bob Stephens Skywatch Signs Zephyrhills, FL
posted
Where do these banners go? On what surface? Glass?
We put paper banner up on glass with Clear vinyl circles....duh!
............
Longtime ago, I worked for a sign shop in a rinky dink town. But this shop shipped paper supermarket window banners to 4 chain super markets in 5 different states.
He would paint one paper window banner in black 1 shot poster paint. After it dried in a few minutes, he would tape another sheet of paper over the top. Because you can see right through the white butcher paper he was using, you could see the sign layout underneath. He would paint 20 of these, this time he would use lots of color, one for each store, then make a new layout and make 20 more. Each store had 6 new banners to make each week.
Then he built a rotating double face easel. On one side was a big table where I would roll out the paper and cut it to length. Then I would tack it up on the rotating easel over a "templet pattern". Then he would hit the release pin, spin the easel around and paint the paper sign, while I got the next one ready. Then he would spin the easel again and I would take off the painted top sheet and hang it up to dry, cut a new sheet and tack in on the easel.
He could always beat me! He painted that fast. The paper banners would say:
32 oz. can green beans 4 for .89 with some squiggly lines and again lots of color. You know how super markets use to advertise sale items years ago.
He made good money and it was fun work.
[ September 09, 2002, 09:01 PM: Message edited by: Dave Draper ]
I apprenticed in a shop that did paper banners first thing every morning, then the show cards, then the signs.
The paper was so much fun! We seldom did any layout other than imaginary lines with our fingers waving over the banner. We'd roll out the 4' paper the length of the bench and then cut it to 8' pieces as we needed them.
We used water color. I never liked using the 1 Shot poster colors for that purpose. Carol Chapel say's the sign supplier in Portland still has all the colors of the water based poster color. It works like a dream if you ever wasted effort trying to use craft grade tempera colors. We used these big flats with medium hair length, usually a mixture of camel and ox hair, called CAMOX. I'm still swinging those brushes I bought thirty something years ago.
I don't know how to glue the pages together to make 7', nor do I know how to glue them to the wall allowing the banner to be removed without damaging either the wall or the banner. Seven foot square is an odd size to make and layouts on squares are awkward also.
The difficult part of it all is that folks grumble about paying for the banners because "they're just paper." If you did the same job on a board they'd pay six times as much.
Have fun with it.....that's what it's all about.
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6818 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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thanks Bob... but what is "whiting"? (gee, i REALLY feel like a beginner, now). i don't think i've even come across that word in my older sign books. i'll have to look for some shellac... do they still sell that, or did it get replaced with urethane or something?).
Rick, i knew the question would bring back some memories for people -- i'll have to check on that poster paint... not sure if its worth buying a bunch of it until i see how the first one goes... how wide is a "medium wide" flat? are we talking 3/4" or 2" ?
-------------------- :: Scooter Marriner :: :: Coyote Signs :: :: Oakland, CA :: :: still a beginner :: :: Posts: 1356 | From: Oakland (and San Francisco) | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
I used to love doing paper banners!! I did them the same way as Rick. Do one...then lay the others all on top. They used to be good money makers. I did them for furniture stores, and specialty food stores, restaurants etc. I think you need to raise the price a bit, and have fun!
Posts: 3729 | From: Seattle | Registered: Sep 1999
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