Yesterday was the last day of demos I did for Mutoh in their booth at the NBM Long Beach show.  Over the three days I wrapped a boat using Avery's 1005 Supercast with 1.3mm overlam.  The graphics were printed brilliantly with a Mutoh Valuejet.  This was only the second time I wrapped a boat so it was nice to get some practice in.  One of the aspects of the 1005 Supercast that I like so much is the initial low tack.  This enables me to install something as long and awkward as the side of a boat by myself.  The reason for this is that I can take the entire backing paper off and install at my own pace.  A special thanks to all of those at Mutoh, especially Brian Phipps, for all their help during the show and to Ron Winter from Avery and Todd LaBrie from Carwraps for all their input.  Next show on tap is SGIA in Vegas in October.  For that show I will be wrapping Rusty Wallace's race car in Mutoh's booth.  Exciting stuff so be sure to come on by.

movie clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRUtqgW6Sr8

The ISA show in Orlando this past weekend went really, really well.  The crowd turnout at Mutoh's booth was big with lots of people inquiring about the Carwraps Business Builder and my videos/workshops.  Todd LaBrie, owner of Carwraps, and myself did 3 demos a day, highlighting the strengths of our program which is efficiency and quality.  I used Avery's new 1005 Supercast film for the demos and people were very into it.  I think this is going to be a very good product for Avery.  High quality media that prints and installs extremely well for an excellent price point.   Smart on their part to make the price point the same as their old 1005 Easy Apply RS.   The people at Mutoh, particularly Randy "The Man" Anderson, went out of their way to make sure the booth looked great.  Always a pleasure to do the demos for Mutoh.   The next U.S. event on the horizon is the hands-on workshop at Sign Warehouse from May 10-12.  For more info on the workshop go to:  www.mutohcarwraps.com.

I just got done teaching  Mutoh's School of Wrap workshop for beginner/intermediate students at Avery headquarters in Painesville, OH.  It was a very good class of students and the training facility was first rate.  I wish all my workshops were at Avery.  Everyone in the class was really eager to learn and put their head down for 2 full days.  We worked with Avery's new 1005 Supercast film with the 1.3mm overlam.  After learning my UGIS system on day one, they wrapped a Ford Explorer on day 2.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well they wrapped the car because all of them were brand new to installing.  Very impressive.  The graphics really popped due to the high quality print by a Mutoh Valuejet and that the new supercast film prints really, really well.  A nice bonus for the workshop is that Crystal Baus from Mutoh came by to answer any questions about Mutoh printers and Todd LaBrie, owner of Carwraps, was present to answer any design questions.  Tomorrow is the advanced workshop and then I'm back to Amsterdam to be with my ladies.

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.

I'm looking forward to relaxing tonight and tomorrow then flying to Sign Warehouse for the sold out hands-on workshop which is sponsored by Mutoh and Avery.  After all the hardwork this year, its nice to see things start to really come together.  Viva Las Vegas.

I'm getting everything ready for my next trip to the States.  From Nov.3-6 I will be doing demos for Mutoh at the SEMA show, the world's largest car show.  In the booth I will be wrapping either a race car or a Ford Mustang with Oracal film.  Joining me for a few days in the booth will be Niels Langedijk, co-owner of Squeezy, the premiere installation company in the Netherlands.  Sandra Schreuder, Niels' girlfriend, will also be helping out.  She's one of the best installers I know so having both of them there will be super cool.  They will have lots of tricks to show.  After Vegas I will fly to Texas for the workshop at Sign Warehouse from Nov. 9-11.  Todd LaBrie, owner of Carwraps, will teach design for the first day and I will teach installation for the remaining 2 days.  The class sold out very quickly which is a great way to end the last workshop of the year.  Mutoh is finalizing the schedule for next year so I'll post it as soon as it comes out.

Afternoon Speedwrap Demo

I did demonstrations in Mutoh's booth to promote the new HD online streaming videos, Techniques and Tips: Vehicle Graphic Installations.  Their home is on the Carwraps webisite - www.carwraps.net. Over the course of the 6 day show, I noticed a tangible turning point for this project. 

We (Carwraps and myself in conjunction with Mutoh) launched this project about a month ago.  Since it was a new project, people took some time to understand the focus and message of the instructional platform. 

At one point during the show, I could just see that click, both in the audience and with people from the industry.  The wheels are really starting to turn.  Exciting stuff.

The message - Efficient printing, designs and installations = money and time."

I'm looking forward to next week - working Mutoh's booth at the SGIA show in New Orleans (Oct. 7-9)

Afternoon Speedwrap Demo