Stash Rewards is a new customer!  We took their logo art, printed a beautiful full color image and mounted it to a sheet of 1/2" thick plastic.  it's got a hint of highlighting to create some warmth and then we added the dimensional lettering on top.  it's simple and effective. A cool hidden feature is the way we installed it. Hung with specialty hardare the customer will be able to easily remove it and take it to events. It's placed just outside thier front door, welcoming visitors.  Thanks Stash Rewards!

One of the joys of sign making is the creativity and craftsmanship I get to put into my work. Recently my daughter asked me to help her make a box for her valentines cards. Gladly I accepted.  Knowing there would be a few extra hours in the shop ahead, I smiled and deep down knew this would be a labor of love.

Over the years I have created address signs, cutting boards, game boards and lots of customized pieces for family and friends. These special projects produced for a smile, give me joy & offer an opportunity to work on my craft. With no thoughts of deadlines, margins, established procedures, or critical examination,  I am more free to experiment. After a few hours of trying new techniques, materials, adhesives and finishes, the final result was worth it.

My critical eye sees areas for improvement, (maybe next year) but my daughter loves that her note box will be a keepsake she can treasure for years to come.

If you have a special project of some sort, don't be afraid to ask us for some help. Maybe even just personalizing it with an engraved attachment will make your gift that unique piece you cherish too.

Mike
 

One of our goals for 2011 was to update our custom van wrap. Considering I removed the last one back in January, I waited up until the last minute for sure. But I couldn't be happier to have this excellent marketing piece ready to work in 2012!

For me it was another "cobbler has no shoes" story. If you know us you may find this to be a common inside joke. We never seem to have enough time to invest in our own signs, even though we know how important they are to our image and success. So every month or so I commit to upgrading one of our existing signs or to making a new sample for our showroom. This one I had set aside for December, and now that it is done I am so excited to show it off.

The design took me quite some time. Personally I like lightening, flames, rusted & textured metal- but none of these properly portrayed the quality, professionalism, and craftsmanship we put into our signs. I certainly spent enough time trying to make it work. I also created designs incorporating collages, cityscapes, landscapes, information and more information. Since avoiding clutter and overload are key design considerations I generally scrapped these as well. In the end I settled on a clean design with a subtle gradient, some Photoshop embellishments, and a clear logo and QR code. We have recently upgraded our web site and I saw this as a perfect gateway- one snap and your browser is directed to the info we want to present. With the basics in place I will add custom text, numbers, even specials in removable vinyl we can update monthly to keep it fresh.

The graphic printing was a snap with our Roland Soljet III. The whole wrap was printed and ready to go in less than a day, although prepping the van took a bit more time. Over the years the body has taken a few hits and the bumps and bruises were starting to show. After some thorough cleaning, bondo work, touch up painting and more  thorough cleaning we were ready to apply. The last few days of December were very wet and windy so we were especially grateful for our indoor installation facility.

Arnie, my wrap installer, returned from his Christmas vacation Friday to find everything ready to go. I handed him his golden squeegie and told him to get 'er done- Even with me standing over his sholder and offering more advise and direction than was needed, he did an awesome job in only 1 day.

Now that a new vehicle wrap is off my list of things to do it is time to move onto the next one. I just have to decide - new window lettering, a new interior wall mural, a better directional sign to get people into the showroom (it's the South building), dimensional sample boards or a edge lit led acrylic sign. Check back next month and see what I decided on.

Happy 2012!