new signs for me to follow
'Signs' have led me back to working part-time for a large sign factory. I'm sort of 'enjoying' it working in a team environment producing large, elaborate, expensive signs.
I get to regularly put many of my skills to work, focusing on producing my best effort without worrying about: getting paid,
counting on when money is coming in,
did I estimate properly,
have I enough for materials,
is there a machine I should be using that I don't own,
complications of installation,
and best of all, not worrying about where the next job is coming from.
My Main concern is being 40 minutes away from my home, in case ever my daughter needs me quickly, if she's upset or sick or were hurt. I remained self employed for so long mostly because I wanted to be near, being a single dad. But the reasons above made it viable, for me to make the choice to return to 3 - 9 hour days.
My latest signs to be installed in Alliston at the end of my full-time business are: Healing Habits, - Hand cut and sculpted foam letters adhered to a blank store front. The typeface chosen by the client was Tempus, which lends itself very well to hand carving. A deep blue to go on a pale blue background makes these letters quite striking.
And the local Museum, finally, after months, got the signs with the new name up on the building. I had the signs done quite a while ago, but was waiting for the right timing for installing, which required a boom crane because of the very odd shaped roof making it inaccessible any other way. The Parks people are very pleased with my workmanship, and have said more signs will be coming my way in the near future. These signs I will gladly take the time to do, because I know that no one else around will do them as carefully and lovingly crafted as I will do them; I care about the pride of my town and will make sure the signs are excellent because i want to. I have a passion for Making signs with old-fashioned craftsmanship that few others anywhere have. Making a living from it, as crazy as it sounds, seems secondary, but I know I will make a fair and honest wage from doing them giving the client more-than excellent value for their money. Especially since I don't have massive overheads like most sign shops.
I will carry on with my one day a week maintenance job at the residential school, which I also enjoy very much, and fit only the choicest of sign jobs in the other day or two in my week. I will for the near future, not do piddly little jobs for clients who's first concern is 'how much' a sign will be rather than first talking about what kind of sign they want and it's purpose and it's image. With my steady p-t job, at least now I can afford to only take on work that I will be proud to create, using the most imaginative ideas and techniques to make something exquisite !
I get to regularly put many of my skills to work, focusing on producing my best effort without worrying about: getting paid,
counting on when money is coming in,
did I estimate properly,
have I enough for materials,
is there a machine I should be using that I don't own,
complications of installation,
and best of all, not worrying about where the next job is coming from.
My Main concern is being 40 minutes away from my home, in case ever my daughter needs me quickly, if she's upset or sick or were hurt. I remained self employed for so long mostly because I wanted to be near, being a single dad. But the reasons above made it viable, for me to make the choice to return to 3 - 9 hour days.
My latest signs to be installed in Alliston at the end of my full-time business are: Healing Habits, - Hand cut and sculpted foam letters adhered to a blank store front. The typeface chosen by the client was Tempus, which lends itself very well to hand carving. A deep blue to go on a pale blue background makes these letters quite striking.
And the local Museum, finally, after months, got the signs with the new name up on the building. I had the signs done quite a while ago, but was waiting for the right timing for installing, which required a boom crane because of the very odd shaped roof making it inaccessible any other way. The Parks people are very pleased with my workmanship, and have said more signs will be coming my way in the near future. These signs I will gladly take the time to do, because I know that no one else around will do them as carefully and lovingly crafted as I will do them; I care about the pride of my town and will make sure the signs are excellent because i want to. I have a passion for Making signs with old-fashioned craftsmanship that few others anywhere have. Making a living from it, as crazy as it sounds, seems secondary, but I know I will make a fair and honest wage from doing them giving the client more-than excellent value for their money. Especially since I don't have massive overheads like most sign shops.
I will carry on with my one day a week maintenance job at the residential school, which I also enjoy very much, and fit only the choicest of sign jobs in the other day or two in my week. I will for the near future, not do piddly little jobs for clients who's first concern is 'how much' a sign will be rather than first talking about what kind of sign they want and it's purpose and it's image. With my steady p-t job, at least now I can afford to only take on work that I will be proud to create, using the most imaginative ideas and techniques to make something exquisite !
posted by Cliff Perry at 22:41
