| It had been just over a year since NZ’s first Letterheads event was held in Chris Field’s Auckland signshop and here we were again, champing at the bit, in anticipation of Letterheads number two. This time being held at Joe Atkins’ sign shop in the country’s art deco capital, Napier, in the sunny Hawkes Bay on New Zealand’s East Coast of the North Island. Running from Friday through Sunday, 5-7 March, Thursday started with the usual last minute checks for both the Hawkes Bay signies and for yours truly who was again roped in to be ‘Mum’ for the weekend. |
After packing the car with all the necessaries, next stop was Graphi-Cal’s premises in South Auckland to pick up our overseas participants. Graphi-Cal had combined with Viponds Paints to sponsor two renowned Australian Letterheads, John Rigby and Glenn Phipps, over to New Zealand to stage a one-day workshop in Auckland and had planned the trip to coincide with Letterheads. |
After the introductions, and some assistance from Graphi-Cal staff to transport the 50 kilos of sign kits, brag books and display work that John and Glenn had bought with them, over to Chris Field’s sign shop, which was the departure point for the Auckland contingent, further introductions followed. Chris had two staff, apprentice Julian Lissiman and tradesman Mark James plus himself going from Field Signs along with Alan Clarke and myself, all participants in the first Letterheads, plus John and Glenn to transport to Hawkes Bay some four and a half hours drive away. |
Mark, Alan and Julian headed off in the company van, loaded to the gunnels with sign kits, compressor, Letterheads logo competition entries and associated paraphernalia, while Chris, John, Glenn and I travelled down in Chris’ station wagon with a fairly light load. After Glenn and I established that we couldn’t light up in the car (darn), we headed off down State Highway one at 5.00pm with the aim of making Taupo in the central North Island before nightfall where we planned a dinner break. |
Bladders and the craving for nicotine dictated a break at the Red Fox Tavern just 60 minutes South of Auckland. This also proved to be a good point to refill the said bladder with various liquids before hitting the road again. (Thank goodness Chris was doing the driving!) Making Taupo as dusk turned to night, a pleasant, and large, evening meal was taken at an eatery opposite Lake Taupo where two of us also got our nicotine fix before the last leg of the journey to Napier. |
Making the Kennedy Park complex, where most of the out of town signies were staying, by 11.30pm we renewed our acquaintances with Tim Webb, Zane Clarke, Jason Burrows and apprentices John Webb and Sinclair Akuhate, all from Law Sign Centre in Whakatane before retiring to our beds in anticipation of the first day of Letterheads 99. 7.30am and most of us were up and about in search of breakfast. While waiting for the stragglers we met up with first time attendee and travelling signwriter Dennis Latimer and his wife Kelly who had travelled across from the Taranaki region on the opposite coast. After a decent feed we headed off to Atkins Signs and Graphics to meet up with our fellow playmates for the next three days. |
On arrival we were greeted by Joe Atkin and fellow locals Murray Wilson from Wilson Signs and Ross Probert from Probert Signs, both of whom had been introduced to the Letterheads concept the previous year and were instrumental in the staging of this second event. Already there ahead of us were Steve Jensen and his wife Diana from Jen Signs in Feilding and another local in Ian Clarke from Clarke Signs. (I’m going to have to talk to the Hawkes Bay guys with regard to the originality of their trading names!) Checking in new arrivals and handing out Letterheads polo shirts occupied my time for most of the morning. During the next hour or so the majority of those registered showed up in time for morning ‘smoko’, entries in the Letterheads logo competition were set out in Joe’s office and brag books/portfolios were put on the table to be scanned by all during quieter moments. Ross Probert kicked the day of with housekeeping matters and what options there were to exercise skills at over the next three days. The emphasis in the first day was definitely going to be community projects. |
Joe’s shop was already set up with two community projects for the local Napier Youth Hostels Association and the Hastings Tourism Trust, both murals depicting local scenes and designed to test airbrush and hand brush skills. Another project sat in the spray booth, a large ’fridge that was to be airbrushed and given to Tui Breweries who had sponsored the liquid refreshments for the three days. Hot tea and coffee was available on demand for work time with the sponsor’s product being consumed at the end of the day. John Rigby and Glenn Phipps each grabbed brush and paint and started to deal to two panels of the YHA community project mural. They were soon joined by local signie, Trevor Hayter from Hayter & Flemming Signs, Tony Pritchard from Sign & Display Corporation of Wellington, Jason Burrows and Ross Probert. |
The second set of murals got underway with the efforts of Zane Clarke who was soon joined by Doug Potts from Doug Potts Signs in Napier (there’s one of those real inventive Hawkes Bay trading names again!) and Ian Clarke. As with any event, there’s always a host of supporters without whose assistance some things just wouldn’t happen. And so it is with Letterheads. In recognition of support each sponsor was to be presented with an acknowledgment board after the event. Dennis Latimer, who works mainly in pictorials decided to brush up his design and lettering skills by taking on one of the many boards to be completed over the weekend while Tim Webb grabbed an airbrush and started on another. Meanwhile Chris Field and John Webb started on marking out the ’fridge in the spray booth while others checked out the brag books and logo entries and familiarised themselves with all that was on offer over the next few days until lunch was delivered and a break was taken. |
After some fine vitals it was back to the many projects. Brad Townsend from Aspects Signs in Hawera and trainee Alison Rush from Directional Information Signs in Wellington started on the attendees board by designing a layout based on Napier’s seafront attraction of Marineland. About this time the last of the signies arrived in the form of Joshua Cowley, a participant from last year and now working with Fine Signs in Wellington, and locals Paul Musson from Musson Signs and Brent Nelson from B J Nelson Signs. (Question: Is it something in the water or do all Hawkes Bay signwriters feature their surnames as their trading identities?) |
Paul, known and respected for his brilliant chalkboards, started on a Letterheads Bar & Grill menu board. Attracting the interest of others, Paul enlightened those present as to the vagaries of using chalk as a medium and over the next couple of days many tried their hand. A quick check on the ’fridge saw much masking and film being laid up and various, as yet unrecognisable, designs being airbrushed into place. Murray Wilson had started on a ‘Thank You’ board while Alan Clarke started putting the finishing touches to an embossed card Letterheads register by reverse cutting by hand the individual letters in dense foam board. The effect of the finished work had to be seen to be believed. |
Day one came to an end at around 5.30 with maps being handed out as to where dinner would be found that night at local eatery ‘Shed 2’. After a quick shower and change back at Kennedy Park it was back into the transport to find the aforesaid Shed 2. On arrival the Shed appeared to be predominantly a sports bar with restaurant attached. Even some of the signies made it their business to watch a bit of rugby and some league before going through to the restaurant for the meal. On leaving the restaurant and returning to the bar we found that it had changed from a sports bar to a night club with video walls pumping out various forms of mega-mix dance videos while bodies bumped and ground all about. (Oh to be eighteen again!) At 1.00am the place started to empty and we headed back to Kennedy Park to get some ZZZZs. |
Saturday morning saw us head into town for breakfast which saw Chris’ party arrive back at Letterheads Central just in time for morning smoko. (Cie la vie!). By this time further acknowledgment boards had been started by Ross, Nigel Falloon, an apprentice from Sign & Display Corporation in Wellington and one of Murray Wilson’s apprentices, Damian Gormley, while workmate Corey Stephens was replicating a photo in airbrush. Chris Mathers from TAG Signs in Wellington was well into a chalk pictorial. Mark James had started laying out a picture of a 1932 Ford 3 window Coupe for an airbrush rendition of an old Bonneville car, at which stage talk amongst those with a keen interest in things automotive, generally turned to hot rods, and old cars in general. It was at this point in time that Joe Atkin suggested that he could lay his hands on a ’55 Chevy that would really appreciate a good flame job - this was good and getting better! |
The community projects came along in leaps and bounds on Saturday with both being virtually finished and just needing minor work to see them through to completion. By lunch time the ’55 Chevy and owner/signwriter Dean Evenson had arrived and talk turned to colours, layout and effects. After lunch Alison Rush turned her hand to the chalk art, Chris and John were heavily into masking graphics on the ’fridge, Joe Atkin was actually seen wielding a brush and signing the attendees board, Alan Clarke was now embossing brass sheet with the Letterheads logo and Aussie signies John Rigby and Glenn Phipps were laying metres of masking film onto the metallic blue front and sides of the ’55 Chevy. |
The afternoon tea break came and went. Projects in general were continued and John and Glenn, with plenty of input from those around, were chalking on designs and wiping them off again until consensus said she looked good! While all this was going on a small delegation vested with the judging of the Letterheads logo entries convened in Joe’s office to endeavour to identify the placegetters in time for prize giving that night. Between 5.30 and 6.00 participants drifted off to prepare themselves for the gathering at the Napier RSA that evening. |
A three-course meal later it was time to get down to the light-hearted formal part of the evening - the prize giving. The prize list had swollen with the kind donation of a set of limited edition prints that John Rigby had had published of his paintings. It was decided that one of these, a painting entitled "Letterheads Inspiration" would be presented to the person or group who most embodied the spirit of Letterheads by participation and sharing both knowledge and skills. This was presented to Law Sign Centre of Whakatane and was collected by Jason Burrows. |
With so many apprentices and trainees present this year it was decided to give each of them one of John’s signed limited edition prints. Nigel Falloon took the prize from the traditional Letterheads logo with a fine carved and painted rendition of the event logo while Tim Webb took the open class. Ross had made up some other awards. These were awarded to our Aussie friends, Glenn Phipps and John Rigby for Most Travelled. Julian Lissiman took the Young Guns award for his sheer enthusiasm and that’s not bad for a guy who’s just completed his first year as an apprentice. The Fox Pass award (read faux pas) was given to Jason Burrows who owned up to a spelling mistake while practising poster painting. |
A special award was made up on the day for Chris Field to receive. Aptly titled the Dangerous Bastard award, it was given for the slight mishap that happened while the ’fridge was being masked up in the spray booth. It seems Chris has a habit of storing things behind his ears while working. On this occasion it happened to be a rather sharp surgical scalpel. The scalpel fell from behind his ear while he was leaning over John Webb, who happened to be lying on the ground applying some masking film, and stuck upright in John’s shinbone until it was removed. (Mental Note: Give Chris a wide berth when working with him!) The evening ended for most well after midnight and it was again time to seek some shut eye and return to the Kennedy Park complex. |
Sunday started with yet another need to seek sustenance before heading into Joe’s sign shop for the last day of Letterheads. With still quite a few projects to finish, the day started fairly early. Top on the list of priorities was finishing the attendance board, the ’fridge and of course the Chevy. The flames on the Chevy were carefully cut out and the edges smoothed down. John and Glenn then traced through the masking film to provide a template for the opposite side of the hood, guard and door. |
After being fully masked and cut, a team of keen volunteers pitched in to rub the area to be flamed with 1200 grit paper and fine wire wool prior to cleaning the area down with Prepsol before spraying the metallic blue over metallic blue began in earnest. After giving the paint a few minutes to tack, the airbrushes were brought into action to add white highlights followed by yellow tips before copious amounts of clear were applied to seal the finished work. |
While this was going on Chris and ‘don’t-stab-me-in-the-shin-again’ John were starting to see daylight at the end of the tunnel on the ’fridge front. The finishing touches were being applied to the murals, acknowledgment boards and various personal projects while others tried their hands at chalk art. During the three days of Letterheads, Sinclair Akuhata had been quietly working away on an airbrushed and hand detailed anime/munga style cartoon. Come lunchtime and this too was close to finished. A hot lunch was served to sustain the letterheads until they reached their various home towns, after which the mandatory group photo was taken along with all of the work that had been undertaken in the last three days. |
This was followed by the obligatory pin stripe racing. I can honestly say I’ve never seen a striping sword loaded to the degree that it dripped on the start line. Again quality gave way to speed and plenty of ‘yuks’ followed each attempt to complete the course first. As three o’clock rolled round the Wellington contingent headed off for the four-hour drive down country. They were followed by those who literally had to cross the country to get to the West Coast about five or six hours away. The keen team from Law Sign Centre stuck their hand up to host Letterheads Y2K in Whakatane next year, which was great to hear. They too then started making tracks for home. We too said our thanks and good-byes to the Hawkes Bay signies and headed back to the big smoke satisfied in the knowledge that we had participated in this, the second NZ Letterheads. Last stop of the day was to drop our Australian friends at their hotel before heading off to our respective homes to recuperate from what was three great days. Roll on 2000! |
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