posted
It's nice to remember the " good ole days " and we all have different ones of our treck through this business. Our memories of days gone by!
We all start at different intervals and take different paths, so I figured this could be a light hearted, fun and informitive post of memories, good or bad just relate them to the theme of this board.
I'll start with I remember when you could look around town and tell "who" painted "what" sign just by his/her style.
next....
[ July 05, 2002, 03:55 PM: Message edited by: Steve Shortreed ]
-------------------- Bob Rochon Creative Signworks Millbury, MA 508-865-7330
"Life is Like an Echo, what you put out, comes back to you." Posts: 5149 | From: Millbury, Mass. U.S. | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Even though it sounds a bit on the negative side, I can remember when one sign painter wouldn't speak to another for fear of loosing his "secrets". Thankfully, we are away from those "good old days".
And when sign painters were mostly men....that has changed for the better, too!
And when your finger went numb from running the pounce wheel over a pattern for hours at a time.
And when you had to wait until the next day to put the second coat on the yellow lettering.
And when you couldn't straighten up at the end of the day from having worked over those Pool Rules for six hours.
And you had to lay down on your back to letter the bottom line of lettering on a car door.
Now, tell me again...why are they called "good old days"?
But...they are still good memories.
-------------------- Chapman Sign Studio Temple, Texas chapmanstudio@sbcglobal.net Posts: 6306 | From: Temple, Texas, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I remember when your biggest investment for your business was a projector!
I remember spilling paint on every pair of jeans I owned and repairing them by painting over the spills with blue paint to match the jeans perfectly.
And yes, I do remember being the only sign painter lady in town.
I remember all the signpainters being friendly and helpful to each other unlike now a days.
I remember going around town with my brushes, india ink and matt board pieces and lettering sho cards on the spot for all the restaurants and furniture stores in town.
Posts: 3729 | From: Seattle | Registered: Sep 1999
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Hmmmmmmm. I remember when the first shop I worked for got its very first vinyl cutter. It was this gizmo called a Lettersmith . Only cut something like 4½" copy, and I swear that I could cut vinyl fater by hand with a swivel knife than this thing.
-------------------- Jon Androsky Posts: 438 | From: Williamsport, PA | Registered: Mar 2002
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I remember being very young, maybe 13, and a guy from my church took my dad and me to his work and he showed me his trade, I used to draw during the services and he siad I had a knack for it. Then they took me to this crazy guy who lived in our neighborhood, every time he drove his car to the market I would stare at it for hours, it was Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. I didn't really know how cool that was till about 15 years ago. In the late 70s I painted back window splashes for car and mini truck clubs in the area-for free-or really cheap, or for the practice. Those were the days, I didn't stick with it, I went into construction because of the money, I came back because I had the chance and I took it, it's nice to love your work. Rick
-------------------- Rick Chavez Hemet, CA Posts: 1540 | From: Hemet,CA U.S.A. | Registered: Jun 2001
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Hehehehe...I remember at 16 my dad getting me out of bed at 5am on a Saturday with no prior warning to go help him with a billboard. Naturally, he always pick the hottest days. That's how I earned my "redneck", anyway.
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I remember starting out in the seventies. The outdoor firm I was doing boards for let me go so I went out and bought a ladder, some rope falls,a used stage, and a ladder rack for the old used '70 pickup.Think it cost me like almost $1500. A gallon of bulletin white cost almost $12 and a gallon of red was $16.I could buy a gallon of black for $8. Can't even buy a pint now for that price
-------------------- fly low...timi/NC is, Tim Barrow Barrow Art Signs Winston-Salem,NC Posts: 2224 | From: Winston-Salem,NC,USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I remember when truck letterers were different from sign painters and pinstripers were different from both sign painters and truck letterers. Pinstripers did lettering but sign painters didn't or at least it didn't look that way. But yet, truck letterers did a multitude of scroll work and left the thin straight lines to the auto manufacturers or the pinstripers.
As a kid, I was always welcome at most any sign or truck lettering shop and throughout my travels have learned alot of so called secrets from early day signman. Emmette Morelli and Duke Ash were 2 of my favorite persons who were as eager to let me watch and ask questions as far as me wanting to watch and ask questions.
-------------------- HotLines Joey Madden - pinstriping since 1952 'Perfection, its what I look for and what I live for'
posted
I remember when paint was truely "1-shot" ... covered first coat! You could coat an 8x4 with a 6" brush so you could see your reflection in the gloss .... no such thing as paint rollers in those days
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I remember starting my first true sign shop when I was 16. I was so broke I needed a partner to bankroll me. Two months later I decided that a partner wasn't the smartest decision I had made to that point. I bought him out (1/2 of the shops assets) for the amazing sum of $40. Lots of money back in 1970, but I survived and learned well.
I still do most things by hand... because thats what I love doing. And my projects are still 'out there'.
Who would have thought there was enough work to keep my busy all these years, and I've turned down two or three jobs for each one I've accepted.
-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: 8759 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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Remember when we had to stir the paint for a long time to get the lead sludge on the bottom mixed in? Remember the smells of the varnishes we used to get before they all turned plastic? How about mixing all the leftover custom mixed enamels to use as base coats and possibly even to put a name on it as a color and sell it to customers? Remember how when we'd be sitting at the bench lettering and friends would drop by and become mesmerized by the peaceful quiet spell generated by the seemingly magic at the tips of our quills? How 'bout those old spruce "A" ladders with the tressels extended? And the wonderful relations established when we'd go to letter a window and it took two afternoons? The passersby that stopped to watch us making backwards letters in a window that saw the mahl stick and thought it was the secret that would make them able to do it? Going to a restaurant for lunch and having folks stare because of those rampant flecks of gold leaf in my hair and beard? The days at the firehouse waiting for size to set up? The comeraderie of meeting for lunch with sign guys from several different sign shops and telling stories about the stupid things we all do and the customers that make the rounds to all of us? I have many fond memories.
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6805 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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quote: Remember how when we'd be sitting at the bench lettering and friends would drop by and become mesmerized by the peaceful quiet spell generated by the seemingly magic at the tips of our quills?
Beautiful, Rick, I can certainly relate to that one
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
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Remember trying to smile politely when the millionth person, said “ You must need a steady hand for that job, bet YOU weren’t out on the beer last night.” Then they would pause for applause as if you might never have heard anyone say that before.
Or the dubious, “I used to know two blokes that were so good that they could each start at different ends of a fascia and, without aid of lines or layout, would meet in the middle and no-one would ever know it wasn’t just one person who’d done it – and every letter as straight a die”.
Or the blatantly apocryphal, “I used to know this old fellow that did all the writing around here. He’d start in the morning and his old hand would a-shake something dreadful, then, as soon as the pubs opened, he’d shuffle off and sink a few pints. And do you know what? – When he came back, his hand was as STEADY AS ROCK!”
I’m sure my smile must have seemed a little rigid at times.
Arthur
-------------------- Arthur Vanson Bucks Signs Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England arthur@buckssigns.co.uk -------------------- Posts: 805 | From: Chesham, Bucks, England | Registered: Mar 2002
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i remember when you NEEDED art ability and talent..to DRAW pictures and letters...and then be able to blow up that layout to fit a 4'x8' sign board......my greatest purchase when i stared was an opaque projector....i was big time then!!!
-------------------- 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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I remember using lettraset on acetate and blowing it up on my new projector. Tracing and pouncing before lettering, I was told by others I was cheating, but it made my signs sharp!.
In the third week of my new business, a man walked in and said " I hear you can blow this artwork up to 10'x10' in a stencil". I did and made $350.00 for 2 hours work.
I had this customer for 9 years, paying me huge bucks to make stencils up to 60 feet around for markets all around the world. N.H.L. U.S. Figure skating, Olympics.....Then the 4' plotter came out and so did the $10 an hour student on a computer. Oh well...I have since whithin the last year or so started carving and lettering again and have enjoyed the "magic at the end of my Quill". It's a vvery nice feeling.
Thanks to the computer and mostly the spirit of this board.
posted
Another memory is when the materials signs were made from lasted much longer and so did the businesses. Then there was a process we knew as re-paints. Remember re doing those neon cans? Indelible pencils? Spotting in the white letters? Cutting in the red backgrounds with a red that really covered and didn't look blotchy? Remember pulling those black outlines with the tubes still in place?
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6805 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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When we got our first computer system it was an Anagragph with a Blazing fast 286 computer with a monochrome monitor and we were pretty high tech cuz we had about 20 fonts!
-------------------- Tony Lucero Eagle Graphics Waterford, MI www.eaglegph.com Posts: 305 | From: Waterford, MI, USA | Registered: Apr 2000
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Got a nice box truck to re-paint next week, I'm actually looking forward to it. Probably my last but hey...I'll take it. I also remember painting signs on cinderblock walls. I always enjoyed just being out of the shop on a ladder or scaffolding on a nice sunny summer day. People would always come by and watch with amazement.
[ July 05, 2002, 10:42 AM: Message edited by: Bob Rochon ]
-------------------- Bob Rochon Creative Signworks Millbury, MA 508-865-7330
"Life is Like an Echo, what you put out, comes back to you." Posts: 5149 | From: Millbury, Mass. U.S. | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
I can remember back when there wern't such things as "vinyl banners". The heavy-duty ones were canvas, with the rope sewn in. These were usually provided by a local tent maker or awning manufacturer. Before lettering, they had to be primed with block-out white, then sanded lightly to get rid of the stiff burrs that resulted from priming.These were almost always lettered using a fitch, rather than a quill, since the surface was still a bit rough.
Lighter banners were done on cotton muslim fabric, which had a starch size on 1 surface. Japan colors were used to letter these, and since the surface was smoother than the heavy-duty ones, quills or truck lettering flats could be used on these.
In a few years, I'll probably be recalling when I actually used to letter Showcards. These have pretty well gone the way of the Dodo Bird around these parts, which is a shame. Some of the "hand lettered alphabets" which are so now revered, and available as "fonts" had their origins as showcard letterstyles.
-------------------- 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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For transparent letters and borders on store windows, we used some kind of heavy lead foil as a mask, it came on a roll and adhered well with vaseline. Then drawing or tracing the lettering on backwards and cutting it with a stencil knife. The real tricky part was to clean the letters before painting without moving the insides to much. Then it was painted over with thinned out oil paint and stippeled (correct word?)with a brush until even transparency was archieved. I didn't mind the invention of transparent vinyl
posted
Remember when the inexpensive signs were oil cloth stretched and stapled over a 1x2 pine frame?
I remember doing smalt jobs on oilcloth.
Ken, we used to lay white 4' paper down the length of the shop on the floor, and then unroll the canvas banner and saturate it with a latex house paint and roller. We'd letter them with 1 shot and retain some background color for touch up.
Lotti, we used to use Kotex for stippling a window transparency. Many women were embarrased when we'd use that technique to do a red valence in their office window.
Remember when we had to put numbers on the bottom of airplane wings?
Or what about mud? How many of you used mud for truck lettering?
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6805 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
how about using brown paper wet with mineral spirits to trace the letter off of a sign you had to duplicate
-------------------- Jimmy Chatham Chatham Signs 468 stark st Commerce, Ga 30529 Posts: 1766 | From: Commerce, GA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Remember when keeping your job at a sign shop meant spending two hours every night after work practicing lettering? On your own time? How you hated it at first, until you began to get a sense that the paint and the brush would actually sort of do what you wanted, and you began to understand why people love to do this? And how good it felt the day you were given a pattern and told to letter a truck door or a 4x8 on your own? Suddenly all those practice hours seemed worthwhile.
Now all of a sudden seventeen years have gone by, you're in your own shop, the portfolio and showroom walls are covered with photos of work you've done, and hundreds more are in a box under the desk. A good customer calls and wants a sign, nothing carved or gilded, just a decent sign for a storefront, up to you, just make it nice, and after you screw around with the computer and those new fonts you just bought, you put it down and sleep on it, and the next morning there's a design in your head. So you cut and prep and then you get out the pattern paper and the charcoal, because what's in your head isn't going to come out of the plotter, and you draw and redraw and draw again, then when you're happy with it you go at it with a pounce wheel. And then one morning you go in early, while the shop is cool and you're rested and fresh, and it's a couple of hours before the help shows up and the phone starts to ring, and you choose your quill and dip your paint and in a little while you remember you much you hated practicing at first, and how damn glad you are that you just did it. And when you're main copy is done and you're into your drop shade and your third cup of coffee, and the help shows up, and to him it's still magic - "Nice! When did you blast that out?" And maybe you remember feeling that way when you came in to that old shop years ago, and the boss had performed another early-morning miracle, and you wondered if you'd ever be good enough or fast enough to do that.
Remember?
-------------------- "A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
Cam Bortz Finest Kind Signs Pondside Iron works 256 S. Broad St. Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379 "Award winning Signs since 1988" Posts: 3051 | From: Pawcatuck,Connecticut USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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This is a great post, thanx.It's strange that my memories here in the UK of earlier days can relate to your own memories of early days in the USA . We may live far apart but we have almost the same recollections !! It's a graet life being a signwriter !!!
-------------------- Brian the Brush brian the brush uk Yorkshire, UK www.brianthebrushuk.com Posts: 123 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Sep 2001
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![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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. Only cut something like 4½" copy, and I swear that I could cut vinyl fater by hand with a swivel knife than this thing.
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