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).]
Kewl Job! Two thumbs up! 
------------------
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
------------------
Jill Marie Welsh "jillbeans" since 1963
Jill's Custom Signs
just 8 miles South of Butler, PA
jillbean16002@netscape.net or jillbean160020@lycos.com
------------------
Stevo Chartrand
Commercial Signs
Edmonton, AB
stevo_c@powersurfr.com
mark
------------------
Mark Fair Signs
Montgomery, Alabama
http://www.markfair.com/flash.html
------------------
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.
------------------
Karen Sartain
4030 J75 Drive
Paonia, Co 81428
We are not human beings on a spiritual journey.
We are spiritual beings on a human journey."
-Stephen Covey
------------------
Kathy Joiner
River Road Graphics
41628 River Road
Ponchatoula, La.70454
PH. (504)386-3313
casey@i-55.com
Old enough to know better...Too young to resist.
I don't paint. Yet. So, here comes the dumb question........what's a fitch?
------------------
Sharon Bigler
A Good Sign
Chambersburg, PA
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
http://www.mackbrush.com/fitches.html
------------------
Steve Shortreed
144 Hill St., E.
Fergus, Ontario
Canada N1M 1G9
519-787-2673
steve@letterhead.com
ICQ 316338
www.letterhead.com/profiles/shortreed/
------------------
Debbie Delzell
------------------
Kurt Gaber
Signguy7
33 East Willow St.
Chippewa Falls, WI 54729
Supporter of the Letterheads Website
www.gabersigns.com
------------------
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.
