Gettin’ ready for the first workshop of 2010
One week from today I fly out to Painesville, Oh to teach the first of 6 hands-on workshops for Mutoh and Avery-Dennison for 2010. This first workshop is at Avery-Dennison headquarters which I'm very excited about. The reason for this is that Avery has offered to give the participants (and myself) a full tour of their facility. I always love these behind the scenes tours and its a great chance to learn about how the material is made. For the workshops, both beginner/intermediate and the advanced, we will be using Avery's new 1005 Supercast film that was officially launched on March 1. I'm pleased to have Crystal Baus of Mutoh and Todd LaBrie of Carwraps at Avery for the workshop. They will be on hand to answer any questions about printers and the Carwraps Business Builder that comes with the purchase of Mutoh printers for 2010. For info on the workshops go to: www.mutohcarwraps.com.
Mastercraft Wrap
I just got done wrapping a beautiful Mastercraft boat for Abel Vegter, owner of Streetsurfing here in the Netherlands. The wrap came as an extra option when he purchased the boat. It was designed and printed by System Inc. for Mastercraft. The film used was 3M IJ180. Its funny how with boats, the wrapping time doesn't take very long. The big chunk of time comes in the prep - applying Primer 94 and cleaning then in the finishing - post heating and using 3M edge sealer. This boat was Abel's life long dream (a Dutch wake boarding champion) so it was a particular pleasure to wrap.
Welcome to the jungle, baby
Avery gave me 25 yards of their new supercast film to try out because it will be the film I will use in my advanced hands-on workshops for Mutoh and Avery this year. Avery's new supercast film exceeded all my expectations. On many areas that I normally use a little bit of heat the film simply conformed perfectly to the area with minimal tension. The best way to explain how the film felt during the application was that it was like driving a super luxury car. It did everything I have always wanted a film to do with the greatest of ease. A truly extraordinary film. Also, the film printed very well - the colors clean and sharp. I would like to thank Knibbe Lettering (www.knibbe.nl) for printing the wrap. At Avery, Molly Waters and Hans Bruins did a great job in coordinating the delivery of the supercast film and lamination. My wife and daughter love leopard print so they are very happy to have it on our car. Anything for my ladies.
Article for Sign and Digital Magazine
This is an article I wrote for Sign and Digital Magazine's October issue. I just wrote a new one for their April/May issue that is about how being able to effectively problem solve is one of the best attributes of a professional graphics installer.
Merry X-mas Mom
For X-mas this year, my mom asked me to wrap her car so that it looked like wood. I thought this would be a good chance to experiment with a new combination of film/overlam. For the Mutoh workshops/signshows for 2009 I used Avery 1005 Easy Apply RS film with a 2.0mm overlam. I like a thinner overlam for it helps the film conform better to bumpers and recessed areas so, for my mom's wrap, I used Avery's glossy 1.3mm overlam. The thinner overlam really made a big difference in how the film conformed to curves and recessed areas. It was also just as easy to handle as the 2.0 overlam, an added bonus. I highly recommend this combination of film/overlam (1005 Easy Apply RS/1.3mm glossy overlam) and will it for all my sign shows and workshops in 2010. I would like to shout out a few thank you's for helping make this wrap happen. For the design, Todd LaBrie and Chalong Nanthamong of Carwraps created the file/art work. Randy Anderson and Ken Parsley of Mutoh did the printing/shipping. Lance Hutt, Molly Waters and Ron Winter of Avery coordinated/supplied the Avery film and overlam. Rob Rule and Kyle of Signs Now in Boise for letting me use their space and helping out when needed. Now my mom is the coolest 72 year old driving around Boise. Merry X-mas and a Happy New Year.
2010 Workshop Schedule Set
The 2010 Hands-On workshops for Mutoh have been set. Go to the Workshop tab on this website for the dates and full descriptions and pricing. One thing I like about this schedule is that it has something for everyone - basic/intermediate and advanced classes. If you have any questions feel free to post a comment or contact me at justin@justinpate.net.
2 cool jobs for Squeezy last week
Job #1 - Rotterdam subway station
This was a 3 1/2 day job that covered the entire station. The film used was 3M's IJ20 unlaminated - a temporary calendar film for the 2 week ad. I love putting on large scale jobs that are really unique and well planned like this one. Every flat surface in the station, like this hallway (one of 8 this size), were covered including all the platforms.
Job #2
100 scooters had to be wrapped in one day so Squeezy brought in 22 installers to bang them out. The film used was Avery's 900 series. The scooters are electric and were shipped to Copenhagen for this weeks climate meetings. Its always tricky to wrap scooters but once you get a couple done they all get easy. A cool job for sure.
Workshop – Brussels
On Nov. 19 and 20, I will be teaching a workshop in Brussels with Niels Langedijk and Sandra Schreuder, both of Squeezy, the premiere installation company in the Netherlands. The class will be held at 3M Belgium in Brussels. The class has 36 participants, much larger than expected. The two day workshop will focus on 3M's 85 series and IJ380 films. This is always one of my favorite workshops to do, mainly because I get a chance to eat some of Belgium's famous french fries. Pics will be in the follow up blog to the workshop.
Hands-on Class – Sign Warehouse – Finished
The Sign Warehouse/Mutoh/Carwraps hands-on workshop just finished a few hours ago. The class was a really good group of people, very eager to learn and get out of the class as much as possible. That kind of enthusiam made for a fun two days. Eveyrone really grasped my UGIS: Universal Graphics System and they installed a full wrap by themselves.
Todd LaBrie, owner of Carwraps, taught Day 1 which covered design. Molly Waters from Avery was nice enough to come by and talk about Avery's 1005 Easy Apply RS film and some of their other products. Day 2 and 3 were install. I would like to thank Sign Warehouse for their hospitality and help throughout. From my first workshop for 3M Sweden in February to now its been quite a year. I'm really looking forward to 2010 - more hands-on classes, the video platform on Carwraps and a big surprise.
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by Niels Langedijk - Co-owner of Squeezy
www.squeezy.nl