Moving Along

The Chameleon sign is completed and installed and receiving rave reviews! Josh is now working on a sandwich board for Good Faith Tattoo. He finished their glass door last week. Here's what it looks like:

If you want to see more photos of the sign-making and installation process , check out Best Dressed Signs' Facebook page!

Next up is a sign for Primitive Traditions Body Piercing (in the same building as Good Faith) and then hopefully some signs for Dame, a really cool vintage store in Jamaica Plain, if they accept the bid. So far, so good.

A Rant by Meredith and then some Hot Italian Beef!

Tomorrow is the big day! Best Dressed Signs is installing our first sign in Boston! The installation is scheduled to start at 9:00am and Josh is putting the finishing touches on the sign at this moment!

And now, what I think are some important implications:

I think it's imperative that signage, as the most basic form of marketing, should not only be conducive to generating business for the company that it advertises, but should also contribute to the beautification of a space. It is, after all, or should be, the most accessible art that we see every day. Boston spent billions of dollars on the Big Dig in an effort to (among other things, of course) beautify the city, with the expansion of parks and greenways. Why not extend that aesthetic progress to the the city's signs? I think this Chameleon sign is going to be the first step towards changing the way people think about their urban environment here in Boston. I hope so, anyway.

Okay, enough of that. Click on this video to see Josh in action, working on the last sign that he painted for New Bohemia in San Francisco. And check in again on Sunday, when I'll be posting all about our adventures in installation. It will certainly be the first time I've ever done it. Wish us luck!

Work in Progress. Still.

The Chameleon signs are in the works! I forgot that they're getting two signs and they're HUGE so it's taking a little longer than first anticipated (besides the fact that Josh obsessed over the precise geometry of the 3-D and tacked strings to the wall, making me angle them just so while he stood across the room contemplating with his hand on his beard). But they're coming out awesome and will be worth the wait!

He also just finished a sign for the 90th anniversary of a New York company called WWD, a fashion news website. The woman had originally contacted New Bohemia and they referred her to Best Dressed Signs since we're on the east coast. Thanks New Bo!

Here's the sign for them:

Next up: Good Faith Tattoo on Comm Ave near BU. They're getting their glass door and some sandwich boards done. We'll keep you posted.

And GO GIANTS!!!

Gettin' Goin'

This is the finalized sketch for Chameleon Tattoo. We've been given the go-ahead and Josh has started on the pattern. Here's a picture of him tracing the projected pattern:

Today he reserved another ZipCar and picked up the wood which the physical sign will be painted on. Tomorrow will begin "Covert Mission #1: rolling out the background paint in the basement". We'll see how it goes. Apparently, my cousin has offered to share part of his studio space so if things don't work out here, Josh at least has another option.

At this very moment, Josh is working on some sketches for Good Faith Tattoo. He is scheduled to start their window on Monday the 25th. After that, he'll start on some sandwich boards for them.

The Chameleon sign is scheduled to be installed by the end of next week and we'll be sure to post some pictures of the final product (including also, most likely, some more shots of Josh in mid-painting action). Stay tuned! This is just the beginning for Best Dressed Signs!

Open for Business!

This is the first sketch for Chameleon Tattoo and Body Piercing in the Garage in Harvard Sq. Josh submitted it to them and they LOVED it! It's obviously not finished, he's gonna tweak it a little bit, make it curve the other way so that "Tattoo" is to the left of "Body Piercing" but the idea is pretty much a go!
We're getting going on the equipment side of things. The Electro Pounce (a device that perforates the pattern so that a chalk outline can be traced onto the surface of the sign) arrived at our door today. We signed up for ZipCar so Josh can go and run errands like picking up the wood and paint and whatnot. He needs a saw and sawhorses that fold so that he can covertly sneak them into the basement of our apartment building to cut wood and roll out background paint. I think it'll go unnoticed, for a while at least.

The next step is advertising. The business card is finished and at the printers. Here's a preview (the real one has a phone number too):

The Website will be coming soon so keep an eye out! We'll update you here when it's up and running. Or at least up. Thanks for reading! And thanks for being Facebook fans, we're reaching 100!

Best Dressed Signs' First Bid in Boston!

Some nice gold leaf on Newbury St. Boston, MA

Today we visited our first potential customer in Boston at the Chameleon Tattoo and Piercing Shop in the Garage in Harvard Sq. They are one of the first tattoo shops in Boston, as tattooing was not legal in Massachusetts until 2001! (Crazy, I know. We all had to go and get shitty New Hampshire tattoos by curmudgeonly old Vietnam vets with American flag parachute pants back in my day! Mine are all covered up by now.)

The guys at Chameleon were PSYCHED! Josh showed up all professional with a Bid Inquiry Sheet adapted from one from New Bohemia. The old shop is really helping us out here in Boston. Couldn't do it without 'em!

On our way to Harvard Sq today, we also stopped by Stingray Tattoo on Harvard Ave in Allston to inquire about their need for signs and not only do they want and need some, but the owner, Scott, is an old friend of my sister's who I first met when I was 14! Small world!

Big day for Best Dressed Signs! Boston is the perfect venue for this burgeoning business!

Back to Real Life=Back to a SIGN blog!

Today we're moving into our new apartment and school starts next week for me, which means it's back to real life! Josh is starting to get Best Dressed Signs out there on the world wide web, so we have a new Facebook page. Become a fan!

We also got a new computer (!!!) so we can easily upload photos. Check out the pictures of cool signs we saw all across the country on Josh's new Best Dressed Signs flickr account. There's a variety of signs that we liked, from gold leafed, hand painted, neon, to ghost signs from yesteryear.

Stay tuned to this blog as it will chronicle Josh's transition from a laid back New Bohemian to a bad-ass Boston Best Dressed Sign Painter!