Thursday, August 26, 2010

A disappearing craft..

Falcon Motorcycles posted this on FB...I've always been a fan of hand painted building advertisements...

UP THERE from Jon on Vimeo.

7 comments:

Dave-O said...

For the same reason I respect what these guys do is why I respect what Tom does so much. Its a disappearing skill that these guys carry on. I know it just pays the bills in most cases which is sad, but it is timeless and can't be replaced by technology in my eyes to the same degree. Cheaper, faster, easier...thats what our society is all about. Thats why we have childrens toys with toxic chemicals and moldy dry wall that will kill you.

tom said...

cheaper, faster, easier. heh, just this afternoon I lost a job to Sams Club. Dude told me he can order "custom neon" for his pizza place for $200.00. My bottom line was 425.00. This fucking world is horseshit. crafstmanship means absolutely nothing anymore. Cool video tho, the technique they use is call "poncing", thats what I did for the past three years at Madison Sign and Lettering, not to that scale of course!

Dan Yoder said...

Got to chime in here. First off word the fuck up to the surviving "wall dogs" in the world. To be able to make money slangin paint is nothing less than a pure blessing. I, as Tom does, experience the faster, cheaper..yadda yadda. On the contrary, though, it is that mentality that allows people to look at crafts such as wall painting to be an artform in todays world. Whereas in the yesteryears, it was just another trade. Now it is up to us to keep those crafts alive so the people who do appreciate this artform seek us out. In the mean time...got make the chedda. If your biz model doesnt make the chedda then change the biz model and keep the craft as an artform. Just my two cents yall.

Dave-O said...

Hell yeah! Good point Dan... And fuck Sam's Club.

aaron said...

Sam's Club... neon?? Why the hell would they offer that? It's like they're just looking for ways to screw people over. Was it really custom, or just open and closed signs?

tom said...

no, it's custom, to a degree. 30" long, block letters and a choice of seven brilliant colors...

what-ever the fuck you want it to say, under 15 letters or numbers, 149.00. Ad a second line for 50 more smackers.
my biz model makes chedda, and it's not from fucking china or indonesia, i just cant get behind that at ALL.

signs from sams club hurt everybody in the business, not just neon guys, EVERYBODY. Unless of course you dont mind selling shitty crap.

Dan Yoder said...

WTF Sams Club selling custom neon signs? That is outrageous! I thought you were talking an open signs. I seem to remember hearing that they also have their own sign shop for all of their store signage, which i would assume is built overseas...at least the big electrical signs anyway.

I really had no idea they were selling signs to end users, though I have to say I am not too surprised as I am sure they aim for world domination.

I can proudly say that I havent stepped foot in any one of those shitholes in at least 5 years...cant and wont.