posted October 09, 2001 04:20 PM
All my life As from the first day I picked up a crayon and haven't stopped yet! I think it's time to work with pencils next!
-------------------- 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 October 09, 2001 05:38 PM
Mark, forgive me if I give the answer to David's question, just in case you won't. You sure as heck would make me seem ancient to anyone who gives this some thought. (such as David).
I've been involved in the Sign business since 1972.That's almost 29 years. I started in my early twenties. Mark has helped me rack screened items, cut screens, set ups, drawings, mucho travajo. Way way before computers, which turned out to be his passion starting at age 9 or 10, and that was before they made computers for us signmakers.
I have photos of him, 7 and 8 years old, in little smocks trailing the floor working in my basement making signs. I have also fired and re-hired Mark a number of times when he was a teenager, but not as many times as he has saved me in teaching me PC stuff.
Now that I travel with him selling EstiMate, my (now no longer secret) fear is that he'll turn the tables on me and fire me back.
-------------------- Myra A. Grozinger Signs Limited Winston-Salem, NC
signslimited@triad.rr.com
Posts: 1244 | From: Winston-Salem, NC USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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-------------------- David Fisher D.A. & P.M. Fisher Services Brisbane Australia da_pmf@yahoo.com Trying out a new tag: "Parents are the bones on which children cut their teeth Peter Ustinov Posts: 1450 | From: Brisbane Queensland Australia | Registered: Nov 1998
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-------------------- Ken Henry Henry & Henry Signs London, Ontario Canada (519) 439-1881 e-mail: kjmlhenry@rogers.com
Why do I get all those on-line offers to sell me Viagara, when the only thing hardening is my arteries ? Posts: 2689 | From: London,Ontario, Canada | Registered: Feb 1999
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-------------------- Dennis Veenema The Sign Shop Dresden, Ont. but what do I know anyway...I've only been doing this for 20 years! Posts: 368 | From: Dresden, Ont.,CAN | Registered: May 1999
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posted October 09, 2001 08:18 PM
15 Years here...or is it 16? I don't know...seems like I have been doing this all my life...Man! What a long strange trip it's been!
-------------------- Jackson Smart Jackson's Signs Port Angeles, WA ...."The Straits of Juan De Fuca in my front yard and Olympic National Park in my backyard...
"Living on Earth is expensive...but it does include a free trip around the Sun" Posts: 1002 | From: Port Angeles, Washington | Registered: Jan 1999
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posted October 09, 2001 08:23 PM
34 years!!! did my first window splashes and horrible horrible signs at 14. Had to hitchhike to work as it was a long two more years before I was old enough to drive.
Self employed for all those years too. (talk about learning the hard way)
-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!!!
posted October 09, 2001 09:16 PM
Only 22 years in the REAL sign biz. Four more if you count the Airbrushing and Wall Murals that I did before I discovered lettering.
posted October 09, 2001 09:17 PM
Kathy, chalk me up for twenty years, two months of off and on lettering! started out on butcher block paper with quills and then board lettering... then right away to walls! My dream is a mural that is 400 feet long! a mural maybe of letterheads and their stories..hmmm sold one shot paint before that... decided to be an interior designer (architecture too) since 9th grade! been into art ever since, anything I can get my hands on!
-------------------- Deb Fowler
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible - Walt Disney (1901-1966) Posts: 5373 | From: Loves Park, Illinois | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted October 09, 2001 11:18 PM
15 and know less every day. (according to my kids, anyway)
-------------------- Jeff Vrstal Main Street Signs 157 E. Main Street Evansville, WI 53536 1-608-882-0322 Posts: 670 | From: Evansville, Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2001
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posted October 09, 2001 11:20 PM
37 years...5 of those as a union apprentice for local #1045 / Sign Painters and Paper Hangers of America. Denver Colorado
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
posted October 09, 2001 11:32 PM
I am just a pup at this compared to most of you. Makes me feel young again. As of today it is 11 years, 9 months and 28 days.
-------------------- Chuck Churchill, It's A Good Sign Inc. 3245 Harvester Rd, U-12 Burlington, Ont. Phone: 905-681-8775 Fax: 905-681-8945 Posts: 633 | From: Burlington, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted October 09, 2001 11:48 PM
Hey Lettervillians....
Painted my first sign in 1974 at age 14 without ever having seen a signpainter in action using hardware store brushes and enamel paint. Since then rarely a month had gone by without painting at least one sign even though I spent nearly 11 years in the advertising department of a daily newspaper until 5 years ago. Was absolutely wonderful being self-employed right out of high school.
So it's been 26 years for me and although I am proud of my work I couldn't even hold a candle to much of the talent here in Letterville.
-------------------- Happy Signing...... Marty
M.F. (Marty) Happy Signmaker Since 1974 Happy Ad Sign & Design Regina SK, Canada S4N 5K4 306-789-9567 happyad@sasktel.net www.happyad.ca
posted October 10, 2001 12:19 AM
Well, lets see...started painting with oils in Germany when I was 5...and I'm 42 now.
Actually paid work began at age 14, murals and fleet trucks, on to Blimpie bill board sandwiches (14'x75') then on to race cars (round track and drag) a little pnstriping, hand cutting up to 6/color silk screen designs, too many FOR SALE signs, (which results in loss of trees,) and to this day makes 27 yrs of paid work history!
posted October 10, 2001 05:39 PM
I got my first "paint by number" kit 2 years ago.... just couldn't get the hang of it. So, I grabbed a knive and started whacking on HDU... wow... that was fun ! So, put me down for 2 yrs.
ok, well,,,, 32 ??
-------------------- John Smith Kings Bay Signs (Retired) Kissimmee, Florida
Posts: 822 | From: Central Florida - The Sunshine State | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted October 10, 2001 09:43 PM
11 years for me...
Looking at some of the other posts is very humbling.
-------------------- Mark Kottwitz Kottwitz Graphics Ridgely, MD www.SeeMySignWork.com -------------------------- Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein
posted October 11, 2001 01:17 AM
Crap Marty, you reminded me, there was one sign - my very first that I did at 14 using the same type of materials you used - the absolute worst tools and an utter void of any knowlege of type. Of course I didn't bother to even look at some real lettering to try to copy the font. I made the most basic rookie mistake that is the ultimate dead giveaway of a doityourself sign by an idiot - I divided my headline into equal spaces and made the letters fit in the boxes. Lol. What a moron. Funny, no matter how I drew them dang letters they still looked weird. Naturally I painted it anyway and proudly gave it over to my dad who had the even bigger folly of putting it up on the front of his business. That didn't last long (the business). Unfortunately the sign, or at least a photograph of it, came back to haunt me a couple years ago at a family reunion. That was a hoot. I have GOT to remember who had that goddawful photo and demand posession of it. So I can burn it.
SONGPAINTER Original Sign Music by Sign People NOW AVAILABLE on CD and the proceeds go to Letterville's favorite charity! Click Here for Sound Clips! Posts: 1974 | From: Orleans, MA, Cape Cod, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted October 11, 2001 03:38 AM
chuck..you sure your not in AA? hahahahahah
Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted October 11, 2001 05:52 AM
Mine won't count for much...
In high school I painted a mural on the lunchroom wall for Black History Month... musta been Feb of 1981 or 1982. Got first place in the district and a check, I think, for $20.
But for real I went to NW Tech Sign Design & Lettering class in Detriot Lakes, MN from 1995-1997. I even got to graduate at the top!
I don't get to do much since I moved here, although I have bugged Bruce and Tracy around the shop a few times!
So you can probably count me for 5-6 years or so.
-------------------- Dana Ferry St Cloud, MN
Posts: 1556 | From: St Cloud, MN | Registered: May 1999
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posted October 11, 2001 04:16 PM
Why am I always the last to jump in... I'm 42 yrs of age and I've been at this since I'm 18.. I remember I had my 4x8 hinged on the wall for my easel, next to my bed... imagine that... I'd paint a sign then roll over and go to sleep with the smell of one shot lingering in the air. Geeze those were the days... no computers no big expenses just a few brushes and a couple of cans of paint. Neil
[ October 11, 2001: Message edited by: Neil D. Butler ]
[ October 11, 2001: Message edited by: Neil D. Butler ]
-------------------- "Keep Positive"
SIGNS1st. Neil Butler Paradise, NF Posts: 6277 | From: St. John's NF Canada | Registered: Mar 1999
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posted October 12, 2001 04:31 AM
32 years, but it seems like only yesterday...........
Posts: 4117 | From: Lilburn, GA USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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posted October 13, 2001 02:25 AM
Well gang, I'm amazed 1556 years total experience! And... that's not everyone.
Steve, see what you have done. This board was your brainchild. How does it feel to know that it has become so much a part of many or our lives? I for one have learned so much here that could not be possible without years of education from the "School of Hard Knocks".
One of the most important things that I have gleaned form this board is the desire to see the "real" sign trade not become a thing of the past. As long as Letterville exists and the Letterhead spirit prevails, the inspiration is there for the newbies.
Thank you Steve and Barb for giving us 1500-plus years of sign making at our fingertips!
-------------------- Kathy Joiner River Road Graphics 41628 River Road Ponchatoula, La.70454
Old enough to know better...Too young to resist.
Posts: 1891 | From: Ponchatoula, LA | Registered: Nov 2000
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posted October 13, 2001 09:41 AM
48 years. My first painting episode included my mother's 52 Caddy that I creosoted the front. left white wall, fender bottom and then crawled up inside to do the dash. She freaked. My dad prescribed a quick trip to Colorado (after they cleaned off most of the creosote) to have the high altitude help bleach out the brown stains. Forthwith, I was called "Painter". I was just trying to help out just as I had seen at my dad's shop where the shop crew painted tires black to give the old skins that 'like new' look!
-------------------- Preston McCall 10305 Eby st. Overland Park, KS 66212 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1562 | From: Overland Park, KS | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted October 13, 2001 10:03 AM
Well, I feel like I absorbed most of my Dad's Experience too. He taught me everything I knew up until 1974 when I Started my own Shop, and he started in 1924 painting post office signs with paint made from lampblack, lead and varnish. He also had a twin brother that was in the business with him.(Biggs Twins Sign & Display, Jonesboro, AR) He later became a Minister, and Dad moved to Texas in 1950. So I take Credit for 1924 to 1950 from both of them and 1950 to 1997 from my Father and 1974 to 2001 for myself.I also have my son, Nephew, Wife, and Niece working with me since 1975 so 26 years each from them 104+25 from my uncle 72 from my Dad and 28 from myself =229 years, I think LOL Talk about Feeling Old, My son turned 40 today. Bill
-------------------- Bill & Barbara Biggs Art's Sign Service, Inc. Clute, Texas, USA Home of The Great Texas Mosquito Festival Proud 10 year Supporter of the Letterheads Website www.artssigns.com "MrBill-" on the chat page MailTo:biggsbb@sbcglobal.net Posts: 1020 | From: Lake Jackson,Tx | Registered: Nov 1998
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