About the author: David and RobinMcDonald own and operate Avila Sign &Design, a custom sign shop in Grover Beach,Calif. They may be found on the Internet atwww.avilasigndesign.com.

YOU'RE REMODELING a beautifulproperty on the cliffs overlooking

perhaps the most incredible view of thecentral coast of California. Objective: Toopen up a new swanky restaurant.

Things seem to be going along prettywell. You've invested a lot of moneytoward this venture and after the initialconstruction phase is complete you findthat the fireplace that would serve as awarm and welcoming interior statementhas a little problem…

The double-sided fireplace, whichshares two rooms, looks great. But theventing system of 12' galvanized pipe isthere in all its glory for your futurepatrons to admire, or should I say scratchtheir heads in wonder as to why it wasn'tconcealed.

At this point you realize that during thearchitectural planning this element wasoverlooked, so what will you do now?Call Avila Sign & Design, I say, and that'swhat our client did who found they werestruggling with the very situation I justdescribed to you.

After viewing the overlooked stovepipewe recommended that it be treated witha faux finish, but which finish would bethe right call?

The client told us that the fireplacewould be finished in mahogany with slatetile accents on its faces with a wall of win-dows also trimmed in mahogany, whichwould further divide the two separateenvironments yet keep the view of theocean from being obstructed.

Based on this information we recom-mended that the entire pipe be leafedwith copper, textured and a toning glazeadded to blend in with the warmth of themahogany. It was our opinion that using

Galvanized CopperBY DAVID MCDONALD

Applying fauxfinishing tech-niques to helpan unsightlystove pipe fit in with its surroundings

Reprinted from • S IGN BUSINESS • April 2000

No longer an out-of-place, run-of-the-mill stovepipe, thepipe that leaves the fireplace now fits its surroundings.The faux finishing techniques we used here can come inhandy on just about any architectural sign job.

the copper was going to be a key playerin selling the look to the future patronsof this establishment.

We explained that paint alone wouldlook more like an afterthought (a deco-ratively painted pipe). We didn't wantto hide the pipe and its metal character-istics because the eye would never befooled to think that it was anything buta stovepipe. Our intentions were to justmake it a beautiful stovepipe, lendingitself to the rich mahogany surround-ings, and this is how we did it…

PREPPING THE SURFACEBecause we needed to be on the move

at all times and move quickly around the

pipe, the work was done using two ten-foot folding ladders. A scissors lift or scaf-fold would have been too stationary andthe wall that separated the two sides of thepipe dictated that Robin and I worktogether at the same time on each side.

To keep the area clean we taped off thetop and bottom of the pipe, and the sur-rounding areas were covered with plastic.Next, we needed to etch the galvanizedpipe so the primer would have goodadhesion; this was accomplished withvinegar.

The vinegar was applied with a spongeand allowed to eat at the galvanized sur-face for a few minutes after which it wasrinsed off with a good bath of ordinary

tap water. After allowing the pipe to thor-oughly dry it was primed with a goodmetal primer and then painted black withKrylon® spray paint.

HEAVY METALWhen laying heavier metal foils such

as copper, aluminum and compositionleaf we like to use Wunda® size — it hasan aggressive tack necessary for theheavier foils.

We used large sponges to apply thesize to the pipe -— this step went realquick. After the size had dried completely(about 20 minutes) surgical-type gloveswere worn as we laid the copper leafdirectly from the book.

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Gloves are important when working with copper leaf. The oilsfrom your hands cause the copper to tarnish and turn dark, evenafter applying a clear coat.

When we finished laying the copper, a foam brush was usedto stomp the copper in all of the joints and crevices. Next, werubbed off all the loose leaf with a foam brush, and using a largesponge like the ones used for applying the size, a final rubbing wasdone to eliminate any wrinkles and to polish or burnish thecopper.

We had copper floating around all over that room; it lookedas if it was snowing copper, but it didn’t take us long to collect therun-away copper and contain it in the trash.

RAGS TO RICHESFor the next step we applied a glaze to the finished copper and

used some removal techniques to create a texture. We wanted toachieve two things with this process…

Reprinted from • S IGN BUSINESS • April 2000

After being etched, primed and painted, weuse large sponges to size the stovepipe.

Using a foam brush, copper leaf is stompedinto the cracks and joints.

A large household-type sponge is used to dothe final rub down on the copper leaf, whichleaves a nice shine.

A toning glaze (color) is applied over the drytexture glaze. All color is removed from thecoupling joints then clear coated, addingcontrast and interest to the finishedstovepipe.

Working in sections, a glaze is rolled on andallowed to set up to the point where it willhold a pattern. The glaze is rag-rolled tocreate the pattern and mask some of thecopper appearance.

The completed texture glaze. We wereamazed at how the texture would vanish inthe areas that were well lit by the sun, yetwere very dramatic in the darker areas, cre-ating movement when we would changeour position (pretty cool).

Working from 10’ folding ladders, Robinand I work on opposing sides of the dividingwall. When working with copper leaf besure to wear gloves — oil from your fingerswill tarnish the copper.

First, to kill the fire of the copperjust enough to melt it into the back-ground of the pipe, and second, to add asoft edge texture that would create lotsof depth to the finished pipe.

The glaze was mixed using 1 Shot®

finishing clear with a little boiled oiladded to slow down the drying time.Black and brown enamel was added toshade the mixture. This was applied tothe pipe and allowed to set up to thepoint where it would hold a pattern(about 15 minutes).

A removal technique, referred to asrag rolling, was then executed on thesection. This was accomplished bywadding a lint-free cotton rag and pre-senting this to the glazed section, rollingcontinuously with light pressure in onedirection and lifting away from the glazeonly to do a new area.

A new section was glazed and the pre-vious steps repeated until the entire pipewas completely covered with the textureand allowed to dry overnight.

For the last step a toning glaze wasapplied to the entire pipe. Mixing 1 Shotfinishing clear with red, green and blackenamel created this glaze. The glaze wasrolled on top of the texture glaze usinga 3" short nap roller.

To add a contrasting effect, weremoved the toning glaze from the cou-pling joints of each section of pipe, clearcoating the joints to seal any possibleexposed copper finished the job.

As an extra touch we used our Gerberrouter to 3D-carve the logo into twopieces of slate, which were then treatedwith copper leaf. The slate was attachedto both faces of the fireplace.

Because the fireplace wasn’t finishedwhile we were doing our work, we hadto use our imagination as to the finaloutcome. After the mahogany and slatewas finished we were very pleased withthe final results.

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About the author: David and RobinMcDonald own and operate Avila Sign &Design, a custom sign shop in Grover Beach,Calif. They may be found on the Internet atwww.avilasigndesign.com.

IWAS JUST a young fella when I letteredmy first vehicle about 20 years ago. It

was a powder blue van and a few years oldat the time but it had a fresh new coat ofpaint.

I met with the owner of the van at hisapartment where we discussed the job.When I knocked on the door I heard adistant voice telling me to come in. Afterentering I saw a man sitting at a cardtable covered with envelopes piled high.He was licking and stuffing envelopes asI stood there.

I noticed that he didn’t have any fur-niture in the apartment — nothing exceptthat card table and a phone at his feet witha thin cord that made its way to the plugon the empty wall. It looked as if he stillhad at least a few hundred more to lickand stick.

He told me that the mailers he wasstuffing were part of his business plan toget his carpet cleaning business off theground and that my work was also goingto be a big part of that business equation.

I just stood there listening, still tryingto adjust to the emptiness of the room.This guy was serious as heck about get-ting his business off the ground and hehad no problem with the $350 that I wasasking for the job.

He said that he would be willing togive me a little more if I could do a littlesomething extra to add to his advertisingvalue, and of course I was willing tooblige.

I think I learned a little somethingabout advertising value that day. I don’tknow if that experience made me a betterbusinessperson, but in some way I cameaway the better for it.

I was just getting my feet wet in thebusiness of sign painting, and quitefrankly I didn’t have a clue as to what Iwas doing on the business end of things.It sure seemed like a great way to makea few bucks and I could express myselfwith what I enjoyed… art! By the way, Imade $400 on that powder blue van.

MIRROR, MIRRORThe financial market has shown us

that the cost of goods will quadrupleevery 20 years. That may be true for a loafof bread but I can’t say the same has hap-pened with the price of signs.

We need to step up to the plate andtake some responsibility for being paidaccordingly for the value we give. Duringthose early days of my career you couldsay that I fell into the category of the“kid down the road”. You know what Imean… like the customer that has anephew who can probably do it for lessmoney. We’ve all experienced that type ofclient.

A lot of us have come up through thebusiness as that kid. Some have done welland some have dropped off the map com-

The Value of VehiclesBY DAVID MCDONALD

Every businessdepends onyour expertiseand under-stands thevalue of yourwork, but oftentimes theywon’t get ituntil you edu-cate them!

Reprinted from • S IGN BUSINESS • June 2000

With this truck we used the Gerber Edge® and printed on gold reflective vinyl. Acontour cut was applied to the image, which was then weeded and installed onthe truck doors. We designed this job knowing that there would be a large quan-tity of vehicles to do quickly as they arrived from the dealership lot. This is wherewe put digital printing to work, allowing us to get the truck out quickly ondemand yet still offer a custom product. CONTINUED

Reprinted from • S IGN BUSINESS • June 2000

On a custom job like this I like to work with paint and a brush. Working from apattern, this truck was all hand painted with lettering enamel. Vinyl was usedon the cab doors and the stripe at the bottom of the bed. We used some handblending techniques to create the split-blended shades on the lettering. Wedesigned the logo for them at the time that they opened up their business aboutseven years ago.

This vehicle is like a moving billboard. It is a fully self con-tained plumbing truck with all the parts and tools aplumber could possibly need while on the job (it’s prettyneat inside). The vehicle will sit in neighborhoods on jobsall day long and the client wanted to be sure thateveryone would see him. I have done several vans for thisclient with the logo larger, overwhelming the sides like asuper graphic. He wanted more emphasis on the phonenumbers and added more secondary copy, so the logowas made smaller to accommodate his request.

“Bandurraga” is a long name so I thought it might be a good use of space to put it on an arc. He wanted to have his backhoe in the design andI thought it would serve best as a center focus. The panels were used to hold everything together and create depth. Some lines were pulledaround the cab and bed of the truck along with some graphics done with a sponge. It was important to the client to let everyone know that heworks with laser equipment so I added a little graphic in the mix to illustrate just that. The lettering for “Bandurraga’s” and the illustration of thebackhoe were printed on our Edge. Using paint alone on this job would require too many hours of labor and would put the job over budget.This is a good example where we can mix vinyl, paint and digital printing to keep the vehicle affordable.

This is an old job; a red, white and blue All-American boy, but I’ve always liked this one. I think we had just purchased our first computeraround the time when we did this vehicle. I remember being pretty excited to be able to paint the little red squares knowing that I could followup with the white vinyl letters (what a time saver). “Bradshaw” was textured with plastic wrap, airbrushed, outlined and given a split shade.The graphic was spattered with an acid brush and then pinstriped.

pletely. I know one thing for sure —there will always be another kid down theroad who will be blamed for undercut-ting prices and as some would say, “Notallow us to get a respectable price for thejob.”

But I say give the kid a break! If wewant to blame low prices and under cut-ting on anybody maybe we can blame thesign painters of the old days who traveledfrom town to town lettering a wall for gasmoney or maybe a sandwich and a roomfor the night.

The point I’m trying to make here isthat the business of signmaking has prob-ably been overshadowed by the creativeside of signmaking from the first brushstroke ever painted.

The franchise shops springing up inthe last 10 or so years have been thelatest target blamed for under-cuttingprices. However, I see the franchises aspeople with a good business plan andgood business sense.

Sound business practices are the cat-alyst that will eventually lead to an ele-vated value in the eyes of the buyingpublic. The next time we want to blamesomebody for not getting enough moneyfor our work, maybe we should look inthe mirror and ask ourselves how we’redoing business. Maybe it’s our own darnfault! Ouch! I think I just stubbed my toegetting off of this soapbox!

Some of us will never be good at busi-ness and will have to hire someone whois. I’m very lucky because I have a partnerin the business and in marriage who doesan excellent job with the business side ofthings for us.

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This truck was designed and executed by Chuck Davis, a talentedfellow who worked with us for a while. Chuck did an outstanding jobon this design, giving the customer a look and image he can be proudof. A nice hand script that shifts in color a bit is enough to make thisdesign jump. Vinyl was used on the secondary copy as well as thephone number.

Bob knows water! From reverse osmosis to water softening systems,Bob also knows what to put on his vehicle. Less is more, in myopinion, and his. We designed a clean logo to be painted in enamel.Clean, simple and easy to read!

Well here is a graphic statement! I borrowed the “s” from a design I saw of DavidButler’s, and it seemed to be just the ticket here. I held a piece of card stock at anangle and airbrushed the shade on the letters. The graphic was masked off andsponged, spattered, shadowed and pinstriped.

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If the business part of your daily dutiesgets you down then maybe it wouldn’t bea bad idea to hire someone to take on thatresponsibility.

We’ve had countless testimonies fromour customers on the return they’ve seenfrom the advertising value of the vehiclegraphics we have produced for them.

In one case the return was reported tobe as high as a 30 percent increase in salesafter having their vehicle marked with agood design to communicate their serv-ices. Those numbers add a lot to thebottom line for the vehicle owner andreinforce the value of vehicle lettering asan advertising medium.

When we price vehicle work, the firstthing we do is evaluate the advertisingvalue of the vehicle, based on what typeof company is using it and what it will beused for. It may be used for the personal

expression of the client (graphics orstriping), legal identification, generalsales or for a hard sale where a supergraphic is used to grab the attention ofeveryone.

The more advertising someone needs,the more labor will be required, thereforesimple identification takes less time andeffort and is obviously priced lower.

We use three criteria to price the job— shop time, design time and materialcost. We figure our shop rate based ontotal overhead and what percentageprofit, over and above that, we need tomake. We reevaluate this at the end ofeach year. We also mark up materials 50percent, and charge a fee to bring avehicle into the shop.

For this article I’ve gathered togethersome photos of vehicles that I lettered —nothing fancy, just some good old-fash-ioned advertising value. Follow along inthe photos as I share a little about eachof them…

Reprinted from • S IGN BUSINESS • June 2000

This one is a little too busy for me! I went a little nuts with the use of techniques here. There isengine-turned 23-karat gold and copper in the crown, the stars are aluminum leaf burnishedat a 45-degree angle. The banner is airbrushed and the phone number is vinyl. You gotta loveworking over all those rivets. I usually plan on outlining the graphic when lots of rivets areinvolved. I will lay a mask, hand cut with a knife, roll out a base color and then airbrush. Ifyou use a rag with a little thinner the runs can be cleaned up before outlining. I’m thinkingthat if the gray panel were softer in value this design wouldn’t appear quite as busy.

This guy had a logo already established but wanted to freshen up his look, so hehired us to design a new logo. He wanted to keep his dolphin (he’s a Dolphinsfan) so I added some panels with color and implied water at the base of the dol-phin. I brushed a bevel in the letters to bring them forward. I had him do somepainting at my house and I can tell you “when quality matters” he’s the man!

In one case the return wasreported to be as high as a30 percent increase in salesafter having their vehiclemarked with a good design.

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JUNE

The B.I.G. Show — Best In Graphics,Broomfield, Colo., offers the best ofsign, environmental/architectural,P.O.P./display, engraved, vehicle/fleet,wide-format, exhibit, retail, outdooradvertising and screen-printedgraphics, all in one venue, inColumbus, Ohio, June 8-10. Fordetails, call the QuickFax InfoLine at(800) 894-1774. Make your selectionsfrom the menu and the informationwill be faxed to you in minutes. If youdon’t have a fax machine, call (303)469-0424, or check out our website atwww.nbm.com/bigshow.

Advantage Sign Supply, GrandRapids, Mich., offers four classes atAdvantage’s Hands-On Training June19-22, held at the Advantage TrainingCenter in Grand Rapids. For moreinformation call (800) 522-3698 or visitwww.advantagesignsupply.com.

The Texas Sign Association (TSA),North Richland Hills, Texas, celebratesits 47th anniversary during the annualconvention June 22-25 in Amarillo,Texas. A preliminary schedule includeseducational programming and a tour tohistoric Route 66 for shopping. Formore information, contact the TSA at(817) 498-8601, or check outwww.txsigns.org.

JULY

Master Photoshop with Katrin Eismannwill be July 2-8 in Santa Fe, N.M.Sponsored by Santa Fe Workshops, theclass is a hands-on digital workshopdesigned for creative imaging profes-sionals, artists, educators, web designersand film producers. For additional infor-mation call (505) 983-1400, e-mailworkshop@sfworkshop.com or visitwww.santafeworkshops.com

Letterheads 2000, will be held at theBoise Convention Center, Boise,Idaho, July 13-16, 2000. Proposedclasses include everything fromAirbrush to Zen; other class sugges-tions are welcome. For updated infor-mation, contact Noel B. Weber, 412South Sixth St., Boise, Idaho 83702;Fax: (208) 344-8285; e-mail:classic@micron.net;www.primenet.com/~signguy.

PrintImage 2000 Conference andExhibition will be held July 20-23 atthe Rosemont Convention Center andadjoining Hyatt Regency O’Hare inChicago. Event activities include aworking operation, from prepress tobindery; a computer lab which willenable attendees to gain hands-on soft-ware training; and on-the-floor dis-counts. (312) 726-8015 or (800) 234-0040 or visit www.printimage.org.

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At Charleston Industries,we strive to offer moreintelligent signage. Wemanufacture our signssmarter - heavy duty mate-rial for strength, morestandard components fordesign flexibility anduncompromising service–all this at economicalprices.

Please call 1-800-722-0209or visit our web site @http://www.cisigns.com

Elk Grove Village, IL 1-800-722-0209FAX: 1-800-722-4211

Charleston, MS 1-800-647-2384FAX: 1-800-413-0454

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AUGUST

The B.I.G. Show — Best In Graphics,Broomfield, Colo., offers the best ofsign, environmental/architectural,P.O.P./display, engraved, vehicle/fleet,wide-format, exhibit, retail, outdooradvertising and screen-printedgraphics, all in one venue, in Anaheim,Calif., Aug. 10-12. For details, call theQuickFax InfoLine at (800) 894-1780.Make your selections from the menuand the information will be faxed toyou in minutes. If you don’t have a faxmachine, call (303) 469-0424, or checkout our website at www.nbm.com/bigshow.

Signs Now will hold its annual inter-national convention, Rally 2000, Aug.9-12 at Wyndham Palace in Orlando,Fla. The Rally will include a kick-party, exhibits, presentations and work-shops, and a golf tournament. Formore information regarding boothavailability, cost and reservations, call(727) 548-7200, or fax (727) 546-1956.

Plan ahead for the next Letterhead Meetfrom Aug. 18-20 at Jill’s CustomSigns in Butler, Pa. The theme isKRAZY 8 and will include a muralpainting, panel jam and pinstriping.The fee is $25. For information call JillWelsh at (724) 586-6923.

Sign-A-Rama, West Palm Beach, Fla.,is sponsoring its annual Expo 2000,Aug. 19-20 in Las Vegas. The eventwill include a vendor appreciationdinner. It will be held at the TropicanaHotel in Las Vegas. For more informa-tion call (610) 278-4060.

SEPTEMBER

The UK Letterheads first meeting ofthe new millenium will be Sept. 15-17at Terry Colley’s Bull & Brush inCheshire, England. Projects are on thedrawing board and any ideas are wel-come. For more information, contactTerry at (011 441) 614 945 089.

OCTOBER

Awards and RecognitionAssociation, Glenview, Ill., is holdingits annual Eastern Awards Show of theAwards and Recognition Association, Oct.6-7 at the Atlantic City ConventionCenter in Atlantic City, N.J. For moreinformation call (800) 344-2148 or visitwww.ara.org.

Color Management with Andrew Rodneywill be held Oct. 16-20 in Santa Fe,N.M. Sponsored by Santa FeWorkshops, the class is a hands-ondigital workshop designed for creativeimaging professionals, artists, educa-tors, web designers and film producers.For additional information call (505)983-1400, e-mail workshop@sfworkshop.com or visitwww.santafeworkshops.com

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