November 18 - 20 Power Signs, Nelson, New Zealand

Letterheads New Zealand for 2005 was held in the sunny city of Nelson. Our host for the staging of this eighth event was Power Signs and Warren Burrows and sidekick Andy Lowe.

A full house was expected with there being fifty one registrations having been received of which six were overseas participants. Returning from Australia was the 'Goldfather' John Jordan, who came with son Paul and grandson Scott, three generations of Jordan signwriters! Mike Meyer was making a welcome return from Mazeppa, Minnesota, US of A, accompanied by his niece,Brooke, and rounding out the list of overseas guests was Michelle Leftwich from the Visual impact magazine, taking her first overseas trip ever!

There was a good turn out first thing with only a handful non-arrivals and these people had, for the main part, arrived by lunchtime.

The projects planned for Letterheads were outlined by Warren after his welcoming speech, and the playing of the National anthem for the benefit of our overseas visitors, the Haka.

A massive Kiwiana wall was proposed for the side of the building, the ever popular gilding class run by John Jordan and his kiwi apprentice, Jeff Harvey, Adrian Sigglekow was to be leading the poster painting, Alex Burnett was to open his bag of tricks to demonstrate signmaking effects while a new feature of Letterheads was the addition of a digital manipulation workshop conducted by Warren's business partner, Andy Lowe.

As the day drew on the massive Kiwiana wall project took shape as did the gold leaf class work. Alex Burnett kept craftsmen and apprentices enthralled with his aged sign and paint effects workshop.

It was great to see a fair few Letterheads 'virgins' cutting their teeth on personal projects as well as joining in on the group projects.

Saturday started with the majority 'present and correct'. The plan for the day being a big effort on the Kiwiana wall and the apprentice Signdogs attendance panel. Planning was also put in place for the body painting with team leaders and assistants chosen and a 'gofer' identified. Art was chosen and the area prepared for the 1.00pm start with there being a three hour period in which to finish each project.

Andrew Johns from Total Supply once again provided and prepared a much appreciated lunch and then things stepped into high gear.

Saturday night saw us leaving the workshop and hopping on the hired double-decker bus and heading into town for an evening of fun and entertainment.

After a floor show loosely based on the Fawlty Towers comedy of John Cleese, a live band, featuring local slgnies Alex Burnett and Phil Guerin called Coupe de Ville, took to entertaining us. During a band break the rhythm guitar was picked up by Warren Haakma from Aspect Signs, Steve Richards from B B Signs manned the electric organ and blues harp while Gareth Joyce from Awesome Art sat at the drums and an impromptu jam took place as Phil Guerin and the Coupe de Ville vocalist completed the combo. Needless to say much dancing took place until the bus headed us back to hotels and motels for a well earned nights sleep or a TV vigil waiting for the All Blacks to take the field at Twickenham.

Sunday saw projects completed, even the kiwiana wall almost made it to the finished stage. The apprentice sign wall was completed in time for attendees to sign and the pin stripe race track got a good workout before a hearty lunch and trips to the airport as people made their way home.

With the next Letterheads scheduled for Napier and the Wilsigns workshop most are making their plans to attend already.

Probably best that the pictures are left to explain the rest of the event!