Letterheads 2006 - Scotland

James Kelly · Posted: Mon May 15, 2006 7:17 pm Post subject: Letterheads 2006 - Scotland

Not the fast ferry breaking down in the harbour, not the transfer to a slow boat to a different port much further from the venue and the long drive, not the breaking of the exhaust pipe on my car on a bumpy mountain road, not the tyre puncture and not even the cancelled ferry on the way back home could spoil my first ever Letterheads meet, 'A Tickle in the Trossachs' at Callandar, Scotland. OK, so I was loaded with a cold from a lack of sleep and I ended up missing the first day and of the gathering but the fun I had more than made up for it. Trust me, I was happy, very happy, In fact, JillBeans even even asked me if I was allways a happy, smiley chap? If you keep looking back at the negatives, you will not see where you're going!

The host, Stewart McLaren has been to many Letterheads events over the years and his wealth of experience was evident as this was an incredibly well organised meeting. Looking after over 100 guests form far and wide cannot be easy but Stewart and his crew did an excellent job and made sure we were all well fed and that our time in the Trossachs was an enjoyable one. There was lots to do and all the paints and panels were supplied for the guests to make use of and boy did they make use of them. The variety of work was astounding, from decorative glass workshops by Dave Smith to brush blending by Mike Meyer, I'd swear that that man drinks 1-Shot!

Renowned fair ground artist, Alan 'The Inspector' Brindle was on hand to teach some of the techniques he uses in his craft, a few incomprehendable shapes soon turn into stunning images with a few flicks of paint from his brushes, a real treat to watch and to try.

Fairground graphics by Alan 'The Inspector' Brindle.

Tim has a go at traditional canal boat roses after tuition by Alan Brindle.

Many tried their hand at pinstriping under the guidance of several stalwarts includind Tramp and East Coast Artie who demonstrated their exceptional skills and generously offered their expert advice.

Pinstriping isn't very popular in the UK at present but with number of signwriters who were inspired to have a go, I think that is about to change.

There were many fine examples of woodcarving, routing, gilding, heraldry, airbrushing, andsignwriting on display and even a tattoo artist demonstrating his skills in the McLaren Leisure Centre where the event workshops took place.

Routed HDU by Henry Barker.

While a lot of the work was created by seasoned masters, quite a few first timers got stuck in and had a go.

Peter Normington doing an excellent job of his first attempt at traditional signwriting.

Even the carpark sported some eyecatching graphics on attendees vans.

On Friday evening we were all treated to a boat trip on the magnificent Loch Katrine. There were so many of us that the boat had to make 4 trips!

Of course, no Scottish Letterheads would be complete without some traditional Tartan Paint...

Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for the final night of the meet and missed the ceilidh (traditional music and dance) but maybe that was not a bad thing as the image of those Letterheads in a kilt could be the stuff of nightmares! Laughing

A big thankyou to Stewart McLaren and the crew from Callendar who made the trip worthwhile. This was my first Letterheads meet and it certainly won't be my last.

Lynn · Piggy Passport Holder Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 95

I really can't improve on what you have said James. It really is a shame you missed the last night , the whole of it was an expeiriance I would like to repeat as you say a huge well done to Stuart, it was also our first Letterheads glad you got home O.k. look forward to meeting you again.

you have some really good pic's it would inspire all new comers Wink

Suzie (aka L)

Marekdlux · Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 4:32 am Post subject:

I bet a lot of people are wishing they went now.
-Marek

James Kelly · Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 8:44 am Post subject:

As Suzie says, we really had a ball. Even if you never painted in your life, Letterheads events are an excellent place to dip into some paint and have a go, there are lots of great folk there who are more than willing to help.

Suzie, did the other half put on a kilt for the ceilidh on the last night?

Henry Barker · Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 7:28 pm Post subject:

Just add a link to some of my pics and a post I made at Steves site, we had a great time! It always goes so quickly!

I don't know where to start really, I guess the first thing is to thank Stewart,Avril, and everybody in Stirlingshire that made us all so welcome and made it such a great meet.

I decided to take Åsa with me and spend a few extra days showing her places we visited as kids when we visited relatives up in that area, the views and scenery are beautiful and we arrived with sunshine which made it all the more enjoyable, I met Stewart on the monday who was putting together the final touches and you could see that it had been a mammoth task, and at times an uphill struggle with the local council.

People started arriving tuesday onwards and it was great to strat bumping into old friends and meeting people off here for the first time. Funny that the written word often fails to show a fraction of the person behind those words....no surprise that there is friction and misunderstanding at times.

The meet got underway and as always there, is so much going on and so many people you want to talk to, and ask questions, and it all seems to go so fast. John Jordan, Dave Smith, and John Studdan wére doing some glass gilding so we started there, was blown away by pictures of their work, such a great priviledge to be around them and get so much help.

Noel Weber and Cam Bortz where gilding Screw-Its letters, Mike Meyer was busy blending, Dave Kynaston was showing scripts and graining techniques, Alan Brindle was showing his skills with transparent paintover aluminium leaf, for fairground art, Tramp Warner and others, Art Shilling, Mark and others were pinstriping, Paul was doing his Heraldry, Doug was carving, there was sandblasting going on, loads of new faces to me from both sides of the pond, tattooing, plus loads more, Stewarts mum keeping us all fed, with her gang, great location great centre, nice little town, unusual hotel

I for one didn't want to leave, we got back here late last night, and straight into a load of work today.

Made some new great friends and rekindled some old friendships, it was great to see Marcus and Manfred again, meet Jill, Jeff Lang, Tim,Ash, Leeson, and the river/barge painting, and more.

Meeting Duncan from Montana was great too, as was Jack Keith and his wife, Judy, and Jonathan Gough, and more that I can't put names too just now James Kelly.

Really good to meet up with Scott, and Damian again after Greece, I never got a picture of your trossachs panel Damian , I meant to ask if I could take it outside, but never got around to it.

I'm sure I've forgotten other names....but not faces

I have some pics here, alot of shots from inside the hall are yellow and some are blurred, as the lighting was abit like that, haven't edited so much so there are pics of surrounding area, and us on a greát but killer walk on the last day, which I ended up doing twice, as Åsa lost an earring she got from Sonny, which we found pretty close to the top, talking of Sonny it was great to seehim and Peggy again, and he left his mark on the local bookshop, which they talked about in a very warm way both on the sunday and monday after the meet.

Thanks to everybody, and thanks Dave for a great t shirt design, we had a time I wont forget for along time, it was so nice for us to get away as a couple too no kids just time for each other something that gets overlooked at times with 4 kids and a company to run.

Nice to meet you James, I didn't realise that you had to leave early Sad

Hope we all meet up again soon!

http://www.signcraft.se/scotland/scotland.htm

Lynn · Piggy Passport Holder Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 95

He certain did James Cool

in fact we are on some of Henry's pics

Suzie

Wayne Osborne · Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 9:50 pm Post subject:

I'm still buzzin with it all, and will be for a while I think.
Great to meet Henry and James, along with all the other heroes.
...so whens the next one ? Razz

jon gough · Active user Joined: 18 May 2006 Posts: 1

Having purchased a tin of tartan paint I was so looking forward to slapping a coat on my living room wall. I now find myself with a yellow and purple polka dot wall!! Is this because I shook it instead of stirring?
As there were no instructions on the can advising against this I expect a full refund, or, a sofa to match.

James Kelly · Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 11:33 am Post subject:

Hi Jon, welcome to SignPig.

The instructions did say to stir the paint. Stir anti-clockwise for one tartan pattern and clockwise for another tartan. A special tartan can also be made by stirring anti-clockwise with your left hand whilst rotating your right leg clockwise.

Full instructions are on the bottom of the inside of the tin! Laughing

Beej · Active user Joined: 01 Nov 2005 Posts: 19

I was so envious before but now I have read the various posts and seen lots of photos (thank you Henry for sharing those) I wish I had gone instead of being stuck at Sign UK on my own for 3 days!!

So, when is the next one then? I have been spending a great deal of time recently re-kindling my real love of traditional lettering and signage, it was why I was asked to go to Sign UK in the first place, to show a bit of airbruishing and lettering but never got chance to paint any signage/pinstripe due to my non-stop talking!! Smile

I painted my first coach for a cub scouts group when I was 14 and thru the 80's and some of the 90's (b4 too much digital set in) I made my living from poster writing, signs and lettering plus the odd mural and lots of airbrushing. 2 of my uncles were sign/coach writers so it's in the blood so to speak! I think it is fantastic that there seems to be a real interest in the crafts again, I was thrilled to hear so many folks talk about this at the Sign UK show and I really do wish I could have gone to Scotland with Tim, Paul P. Jill and all the others!

So . . I am currently converting a barn on the farm here in Wiltshire and there is a wonderful 17th Century B&B here, 5 fishing lakes, lots of horses and beautiful countryside . . I would love to do something like this next year and the barn will be ready for the summer 2007 . . . anyone want to respond to this? It would be an honour to get involved and the owners of the farm host many parties in the very large barn here during the summer time. There is also places to park caravans in the attached fields and each year different caravan clubs stay on the farm land. Downton village is 2 miles away and there are other B&B's local too where my students stay when the farmhouse is full.

Here are some piccies of where I work and live:

This is the 17th Century Farmhouse B&B

Ther is more info on my site about the farm and also here: www.witheringtonfarm.co.uk

Like I said, if I start planning now and talking to people then we could plan it for next summer and it would be fantastic fun I'm sure. We also have contacts here on the farm who keep horses who are events organisers so doing this to 100% is not an issue . . . . .

. . .what do you all think???

Let me know and thanks again for the pics, very inspiring. Smile

Looking forward to hearing your feedback please . . .

Beej