posted August 18, 2001 10:32 AM
I'm not sure when the photo will follow, you see, I'm too busy painting this monster, so I haven't had time to read up on how to post a picture. Barb Shortreed kindly offered to post it for me, so I just e-mailed her a jpg of this job we've been doing this last few weeks.
This is my first real walldog project, and we're quite proud of it. It's a 20' x 30' on the side of a stucco finished building here in downtown Chippewa Falls, WI. There was an existing painted sign advertising Leinenkugel's Beer and the bar that was housed inside the building, and we blocked that one out, and repainted the new updated Leinie's logo along with a tribute to the veterans, as it is now the American Legion Hall.
Leinie's had their own artwork, and our biggest challenge was getting the blend done right, and I think we succeeded. My only employee Marc had never hand painted before, and I thought he would be filling in with a roller behind me as I used fitches and cutters, but very early on in the project, I just handed him a fitch, and he did a super job! Now, we're not afraid to tackle anything on our own. Mike Meyer had agreed before I even bid on this job to come over and help out with it, but he had some projects of his own, so we just jumped in and did this one, but we were fortunate to have him come and paint for a day and a half, so we had alot of fun swapping stories while the three of us were up high on our lift.
If some of you have read about this earlier, this wall job may be the spring board for a potential Letterhead meet next year here in Chippewa Falls. This particular piece was a bit controversial because of it's off premise advertising for Leinie's, our on-going struggle for the city to adopt a new sign ordinance, and the possibility of more of these wall jobs in town. So far, after seeing the progress, the community is quite receptive, and I had the mayor come over personally (the day Mike was there too!) and she thought it looked wonderful, so we have her blessing.
We have been held at bay the last few days with wet weather, and there is only a little bit of copy left down below, along with some reflections/ripples in the water, and then we are done.
It felt great to get back to my roots and paint again... I do alot of vinyl now days, and the best part of painting this job was the satisfaction of having people giving thumbs up driving by, and giving us praise for a job well done day in and day out. This alone was worth the hassle of working in 95 degree heat and all of the sweat we put into this. Some of my own customers didn't even realize we painted... It's kind of a public wake up call letting them know we do have talent!
------------------ Kurt Gaber Signguy7 33 East Willow St. Chippewa Falls, WI 54729 Supporter of the Letterheads Website www.gabersigns.com
[This message has been edited by Steve Shortreed (edited August 18, 2001).]
Posts: 315 | From: Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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------------------ Draper The Signmaker Bloomington Illinois USA
Get To A Letterhead Meet This Summer! See you there! DUCK SOUP SPLATTER JAM Sept. 14,15,16 Somewhere in Alabama -------------------- 309-828-7110 drapersigns@hotmail.com Draper_Dave on mIRC chat
Posts: 2883 | From: Bloomington Illinois USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted August 18, 2001 12:13 PM
Hi Kurt! As always, you're a class act. Hope you can come to Mars! Love- JILL
------------------ Jill Marie Welsh "jillbeans" since 1963 Jill's Custom Signs just 8 miles South of Butler, PA jillbean16002@netscape.net or jillbean160020@lycos.com
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted August 18, 2001 03:24 PM
A very nice job there Kurt...one you can be justly proud of. I also like the idea of the small banner on the lift you used identifying just who's doing the work. Never hurts to do that little extra bit of marketing, especially when you're finishing off a job as nice as this one.
------------------ 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.
I'll give you a non-technical description of a fitch. It's a stiff bristled brush that's made to work on rough surfaces. If you tried to use a "quill" or "flat" on a stucco or brick wall, the brush hair would be too soft and it would be very tough to letter with those. However, using fitches, and cutters (cutter: I use a 1-1/2" wide cutter for larger letters... kinda like a house painting brush I guess, but stiff) speeds things up. You can load up your brush with more paint for covering the rough surface too with a fitch. Hope that helps a bit. Just for the record, I hadn't bought a new fitch for probably 6 to 8 years until I did this job. I bought a new 3/4" fitch for about 12.00 and it was an awesome brush!
By the way, thanks to all of you for your kind comments regarding this post, and thanks to Barb and Steve for posting the picture for me.
------------------ Kurt Gaber Signguy7 33 East Willow St. Chippewa Falls, WI 54729 Supporter of the Letterheads Website www.gabersigns.com
Posts: 315 | From: Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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Posts: 3710 | From: Fergus, Ontario, Canada | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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Debbie Delzell
unregistered
posted August 20, 2001 08:02 PM
Thanks Steve! I forgot I was going to get a couple fitches. I found a place here from the site. Now I just have to go get them. Thanks.
posted August 21, 2001 11:49 PM
Well, the project is finally finished! We added the finishing touches on Wed. 8-21-01. I took several pictures of the entire process from pressure washing, to working from the lift to the finished product. I've posted four of the "steps" at my web site under the "Hand Painted Mural" tab on the opening page in case anyone was interested in checking it out. Thanks again to all for their encouraging words.
------------------ Kurt Gaber Signguy7 33 East Willow St. Chippewa Falls, WI 54729 Supporter of the Letterheads Website www.gabersigns.com
Posts: 315 | From: Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted August 22, 2001 12:28 AM
Hi Kurt! Great job on the mural!I tried to look at it on the link you left on an earlier post but guess I was to late reading it. The news had changed. Judy
------------------ Judy Pate Signs By Judy 110 LuMac Road Albany,Ga 31701 229-435-6824 Letterville is my HOME! Life is like a canvas...you do the painting.
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