The MicroMeet evolved into much more this
year, last year a few friends that met Thanks to a web site called
"Letterheads.com" . This years meet was much larger, packed full of
talented Sign Artists from all over the west coast, in which Letterheads both old and
young could learn new tricks and tips.
Kristi and I want to thank all that came,
and participated in this years MicroMeet from the bottom to the tops of our hearts.
Kristi and I had prepared for good size
crowd but never knew what to expect. The week before the meet had been planned to
get everything ready for the MicroMeet, but like many plans, we had a snag, we became
swamped with work, not that its bad, but it didn't help. By Thursday before the
meet, we had wrapped up or postponed all work. From Thursday on I averaged around
2-3 hrs. sleep a night until a day after the meet, hard on me, but well worth it for all
of the fun, and friends that came.
Richard Bustamante was the fist to show up a whole day early to prepare for his most
excellent demo "how to get started silk screening for under $200.00", Rich
Stebbing showed up around 11:00 to help pump out those directional showcards in advance of
the meet. To top it all off, Richard Raffled off a computer system he had built!
Another among the first to show up was Danny Boronian from Dublin, ca., Danny brought with
him a generous amount of routed dimensional circles in he had designed a meet logo for
gilding and smalt. Danny, also brought a more than ample amount of PVC panels supplied by
Montroy co., for those who wished to make panels of their own creative designs, Danny
thank you for all your time and effort, it's more than appreciated!
Folks started showing up the night before in which we experience 4 waves of heads stopping
by early to see how set up was going, and that it was, still going on that is.
Late into set up night around 1:30
Robin Sharrard showed up from Fallon, NV., so before he could escape to rest, we enlisted
him in helping our rag tag over tired set up crew and finished preparations around 3:30
Saturday morning, thank you Robin.
My alarm clock rang all to soon Saturday
morning, after a shower, and a quart or so of espresso we were up and going. I'm
sure more than a few of you have experienced the rush of putting on a letterhead, most
recently Mike Meyers and Denise Carson after last the national meet, Whew! how did you do
it?
Soon Sign folks from all over started
showing up and we were off with a bang!
Richard Bustamante on Screening, Warren
Percell on Murals with One-Shot, Gary Erickson on Carving, Kurt Silva on Striping,
Bill Davidson on original Roman Letter Structure, Rick Sacks on Gilded Glass,
Ken Turner on Glass Etching, and even our new friend Marlon Moss working on a sweet
piece for the MicroMeet
Rod Antone also came to the meet and brought
Kristi her own little project panel, seeing she missed out during the Harvest Moon
Meet. Kristi really appreciates you going out of your way Rod, but I guess that
what were all about
"Letterheads",
"Brothers & Sisters of the Brush"
& "Keepers of our Craft".
Again Kristi & I want to thank all of
our suppliers and helpers, Special thanks goes out to Kent and Judi Smith, Connie
"Mom" Martin (food), Adrienne Hawkins, Robyn Marcussen, Steve and Barb
Shortreed, Rich Stebbing, Richard Bustamante, Bill Davidson, Don from Tubelite Co., Jerry
Mathel, Jon Peterman, Kurt Silva, Rick, Megan & Jake Sacks, Ken Turner, Gary &
Galye Erickson, Marlon & Laurie Moss, Warren Percell Sr., Carol
(PSS).
Sorry if I've left anyone out, but I'll
leave the rest of the story to other letterheads and their commentary.
Hope to see everyone next year at
MicroMeet III
Story by: Richard Bustamante
3:am to 3:am at the MicroMeet
--------------------------------------------
3:00am Friday morning was swamped with fog, as
I drove down Hwy99. The drive took almost
6 hours with the pace going around 40 mph. When
I arrived at Ron Percell's shop, and I immediately
see this elaborate gold leaf, abalone inlaid sign,
that says, "Sign Shop" and as I get closer, it only
gets better. Up`close, I see "sparkly" things in
the lettering, come to find out, its this crystal
in the inside of the glass, and it looks
f(censored)`n bad. The van was packed to the hilt,
as I move all my stuff in too. Being the first one
there, I was able to talk to Ron, and get the
"low down" on what was about to happen. He told me of all the preparation he had
taken, to insure that
everyone would have a good time. As I helped with
the final prep, I unloaded all the screen printing
supplies I brought for my demo. A true letterhead,
Ron gave me the best place in the house. (shop) I was in the back, next to the counter,
kind of like, being at "the head seat of the table" in someone's home. I
felt right at home there usually that's where all the work takes place anyway. All through
the day, letterheads would show up from all over. First to arrive, Rich Stebbing, of
"Rich Signs". Surprised to see how many people showed up from far away. This was
the time that the excitement was starting to build. "Sleep, what's that?"
7:am Day Two Saturday
---------------------------------------------------
Heads started to show up early, and the day began
with a strong cup of coffee. I felt like I had just
ran a marathon, but the five cups of coffee soon
took effect, as I set up for the silk screening demo.
I came totally unprepared. None of the screens were stretched, no emulsion on the screens
I did have, and no darkroom, no exposing table, no station, anyway you get the point. It
turned out to be a good thing though. I showed the onlookers, and students how to stretch
a screen, then how to coat it with emulsion. By that time, half the day was shot,
ya know,
this sh*t takes time, when your doing it from scratch. Now that I had the screens
ready, "Oops" Where's the artwork? No positive. Damn! I moved over to the
computer, and did a quick layout for a two color run. Something real simple. To make the
positive, I stuck a piece of transparency in the HP printer. "What about the
Exposure?", you ask. Well, I used a makeshift exposing table with two #250W
"Photo Bulbs", my Painter's easel, and some plate glass. Exposed the screen for
6.5 minutes, and "Vour La." (sp.?) Time to print.
Professor Bustamante
Day two; 12: Noon
--------------------------------------------
We all broke for lunch. The Percell's made us feel quite at home, with the best pasta I've
eaten in a long time. From one end of the table to the other, all you heard was shop talk.
(sign chatter) Everyone was well off into their own projects, while I was so far behind,
that I thought I wasn't going to even get an impression off. There was so much going on, I
wasn't able to get around to everyone. I did see however, some fine ass work though, like;
Warren Percell doing a gold leaf job on someone's van. It looked hot. Marlon Moss, with
his sign kit on wheels. I mean literally on wheels. He has this antique look`n car that he
pulls around, but when you open it, it has all the stuff any veteran sign painter would
want. His rendering of a Micro meet logo was way kewl. Dragon and all. Take. Marlon Moss
did one hell of a job.
Late Saturday night, and all that are left are hardcore signers. Deep into the night,
discussions arose about this or that, but really fascinated me was the gold leaf. Around
two in the morning, Warren Percell did a quick "How to" on the finer points of
gilding. He knows his biz. Showing me water gild, surface gild, leaf application, and the
most important part, mixing the size. There should be more meets like this.
Story By: Francisco Vargas
aka Cisco"The Traveling Millenium Sign Artist"
Well folks, arrived this afternoon over here
at this Great Event! Man this place is jumping! Lot Dynamic Sign People! Great Food, Ron
and Kristi Percell his Dad Warren, his brother Keith, are here man these people know how
to throw one a great Sign party!
Bill Davidson gave a great lecture on the structure of Classic Roman Letters. Met Jerry
Mathel, and his old running buddy Bill Williams. Lot of others cool cats here, to many to
mention, and I'm not the writer for this event, that would be to much work :)
anyway lot of folks won some neat prizes, everyone except me :( but it was ok, I helped
Rick Stebbing hold his tickets, while he called off names. he won a book The Alphabet Book
II. later he gave me the book for helping him, what a guy.
Hey Cheryl hate to say this but YUP! you missed a good one. They was knocking out
Pinstriping techniques, These dudes are BAD! when I was coming over here went thru Frisco,
and took the wrong exit. ended up going thru the City it took me another 25 minutes just
to get thru, but you would have loved the sights!
Nancie yeah you should of came by also, we had a couple of Boom Lifts out here they had a
paint balloon bomb party!! well I better get back to the event oh yeah it's on live TV
------------------
FranCisco Vargas
aka: Cisco
aka:Traveling Millennium Sign Artist
http://www.franciscovargas.com
Fresno, CA 93703
559 252-0935
Commentary By: Robin Sharrard
Robin & Cisco
Wow, 12 hours of driving to be among such
talent! Even had my paint kit picked apart and re-organized by this awesome group of
people...ya know...clean out the useless stuff and a good stern discussion about the
importance of OIL! Got some great tips, a mini one-on-one, or should I say many on one,
pinstriping boot camp and even some encouragement! Thanks! Think I might even be
successful at screen printing after a full day of how-to's The whole Percell Family were
tops as hosts!!! The food was 5 Star all the way, and the Action simply to intense to
describe! Just had to be there! Lack of sleep has left a slight void in the old brain so
if I missed anyone, Thanks does not begin to cover the appreciation that I am trying to
communicate! See ya all again! Robin
------------------
Robin Sharrard
Bob's Textile Graphics
Fallon, Nevada
rds@phonewave.net
Commentary By: Jerry Mathel
You said it Robin! The Percell family does
indeed know how to throw a party. The ravioli and chicken on Saturday night was out of
this world.
I just rolled in the driveway, and my head is still a little foggy from the I-5 express so
I'm not even going to try to list all the great stuff that was there, but if anyone was
within traveling distance of Micro Meet II and didn't go, they may have just missed the
greatest Letterhead of the year.
Thanks to everybody that helped make this such a great event.
Jerry Mathel
Jerry Mathel Signs
Grants Pass, Oregon
jmathel@grantspass.com
Commentary By: Adrienne Morgan
Absolutely the best letterhead meet ever!
I'm so glad I decided to go after all. Such a great turn out and a wonderful opportunity to
sit at the feet of the masters learning the craft that we love!
Ron and Kristi Percell's most gracious and generous hospitality made everyone feel like
part of the family.
And thanks again Warren, Jerry and William for the beautiful lettering on my van!!!
Adrienne :)
------------------
Adrienne Morgan/Rainkatt Studios>^,,^<
Benicia, CA
707-550-4553
RainkattStudios@aol.com
www.bigfoot.com/~Rainkatt3
Commentary By: Rick Sacks
Rick & Jerry
The small meets at sign shops have character
and this one was hot! We were all involved and producing in learning, sharing, teaching,
critiquing, and all fashions of shop talk. The hospitality was tops. Suppliers sent lotsa
stuff for us to play with. Got to meet a few new folks too.
Thanks to Percell's, all those that gave more than they took, and Robin for arriving early
and staying up all night setting up!
The Sign Shop
Mendocino, CA.
Commentary By: Rich Stebbing
Wow is right
Robin,...Ron, Kristi, Kiersten,
Alyssa and Family really were excellent hosts. I think Ron said the "Head" count
was at 52. Got to see some familiar faces as well as a chance to meet some new ones. The
demo's, the food (I think gained some weight), the camaraderie, and even the weather, was
all great. Great job all.
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