Introduction!

[Robert Lambie]

hi there, big welcome from me 😉
vinyls is a big subject, lots of learn & try.. feel free to ask as much as you like. 😛

nottingham? i was staying in the city centre holiday inn on thursday night.
went for a meal and had a few drinks.. more than a few actualy 😕 😉
other than paying £3.20 for my southern compforts it was great! 😉

[Nigel Fraser]

Glad to see nother new user posting right away ! Ask away, we (collectively) have a lot of knowledge between us and generally are a friendly bunch 😀 guess you know that if you’ve been reading posts previously. welcome anyway….

Nigel

[Pryam Carter]

I’m new here too and just wanted to say alreet. They are a good bunch here and full of informative stuff. That Rob Lambert knows a trick or two l can tell you.

[AaSk4Stickers]

Big welcome from me too.I am sure your knowledge and experienceasa graphic designer will be of immense value.

I have learned a great deal from the knowledgable and very skilfull people on the boards.

Good luck

Alan

[Bill Dewison]

Hi and welcome 😀

Funnily enough I joined the uksignboards on exactly the same basis. I was a freelance graphic designer (least thats what my official title was 😉 ) and I wanted to get stuck in and get my hands dirty doing some sign work.

Little did I know back then that the only dirt I’d see on a regular basis was on the wheel arches of a transit!! 😉 Seriously though, this place is a goldmine of knowledge, advice and the guys here help, help and help some more. The transition isn’t all that hard to make, especially I’m told, if you go digital. I chose not to because I’m a cheap skate 😉

Good luck though OrangeDog and I look forward to seeing some of your work 😀

Cheers, Dewi

[Jill Marie Welsh]

Nottingham, eh?
I thought that was where Robin Hood hung out.
Hi from Pennsylvania, where hoodlums hang out!
Robbie, why would you drink Southern Comfort?
You wanna end up like Janis Joplin? Tastes like
cough syrup if you ask me… 😉 You should be
drinking good Scottish whiskey!
Love- JILL

[Robert Lambie]

quote :

Tastes like cough syrup if you ask me…

i drunk some straight & warm once. (by mistake) and i can relate to what you just said.. almost made me sick 😉 😆 😆 😆

[Liam Caulfield]

Thanks for the hello’s! Nice to feel so welcome.
I am in Nottingham now but am originally from Twickenham, West London (strange what women can make you do). Been up here for about 3 years now with lots of travelling up and down the M1 to see clients back down south. I actually feel like I should be paying rent on the M1 sometimes. So enough is enough I’m going to be looking to build some work up here, I suppose I got a bit lazy and just carried on with the clients I had.
So I’d love to be able to offer vinyl signs to future and existing clients, it kind of rounds off a package for me…and it would be nice to get away from my laptop now and again. I’m learning loads by just reading through the site but would obviously benefit from a more hands-on approach, so what I am basically asking is if there are any recommended training courses around? It would probably save me lots of time and money (not to mention embarrassment when I mess up). Any pointers would be splendid!!
Oh and I think I messed up my registration, my company name is Orange Dog. My own name is Liam, nice to meet you all. 😀

[Bill Dewison]

Hi Liam,

Your plans sound scaringly familiar 😮 I approached vinyl signs in exactly the same way, and dove onto a 3 day training course with a chap in Oxfordshire. Unfortunately he has since left uksignboards and hasn’t responded to either emails or phone calls. 🙁

I’m not sure where else is available for training courses, but it is the way to go if you’re a little under confident with the vinyl side (I was shaking like a leaf when I applied my first piece of vinyl 😕 ) There is alot to learn, not only with the application of vinyl, but the different substrates, the plotter itself and your general suppliers for materials like vinyl, squeegees, application tape etc etc.

Design wise there is also a bit of a jump to make depending on the style of your work. If you’ve been working in the more cutting edge of graphic design, the jump will be easy as alot of recent stuff is based on solid shapes and colours. But if like me your work is/was mainly photographic and textured, learning the new design method can be tricky. A definate plus is that you’ll probably have half the equipment you need already ie scanner, computer, ESDs and the like.

Any help I can offer, my email is signsforthetimes@blueyonder.co.uk and hopefully someone will be able to point you in the direction of some training. After all the training, preparation and gathering of supplies, it very rewarding when you make your first sign (Mine was a CCTV info sign 😉 Thanks to Chris F. once again 😀 )

Cheers, Dewi

[John Singh]

Hi Liam

Welcome to the site

If you wants tips n stuff you should subscribe on site
Theres bags of info for the guy just starting out
Help with designing
Where to buy your stuff
What stuff to use
How to apply it
Where to stick it
How to stick it etc………….

John 😀

[Liam Caulfield]

I have subscribed now and have been reading everything I can, you know how it is when you first start out something new you want to read every tiny detail about it, I found the right place to do that.

I suppose Im fortunate that my design style has always favourite geometric shapes and typography, I didn’t really get into textures/photography except on websites (which are great cos almost anything goes). At least that’s one tiny less thing to worry about, it could be that I started to notice the vinyl around me because of the shapes and styles?

Rob, were you in Nottingham for work? If so what was it you did, I might spot it around town. Yes it can be a good night out in Nottingham, a bit too good sometimes for my own good (lots of good). Or so I am told when I roll in at funny times of night (or morning 😮 )

So Im going to start out from home, how sensible is this? Will the missus mind if I use the shelves in the front room for storing vinyl? And leave big cut marks on the table? She’s used to me messing the place up, and if it’s for a good cause then I might just get away with it.

[jon vital]

Orangedog, that seems to be the fashionable way to decide on a company name nowadays.

1. Think of a colour. 2. Think of an animal, piece of fruit or veg

Voila.

Red Lemon
Blue Carrot
Pink Elephant
Green Donkey

etc.
🙂

[Liam Caulfield]

weee!! fashionable, that’ll be the day. It’s based on my first dog, he was ginger and a mongeral thing, absolutely mad! Great fun tho, I always called him an orange dog instead of ginger. No offence to gingers. 😀