Selling designs to decorative painters...

[Guest Schramm]

Ok as some of you may know I am a decorative painter and I deal with other decorative painters (1000's of them).  There is a company called Modello Designs and you can see there site at www.modellodesigns.com, this lady markets at HUGE profits to decorative painters all over the country as do I.  I really dont need all the stuff that comes my way so when I get to Illinois I would like to put together a site where decorative painters and vinyl cutters could meet kinda like this forum.  I think that the best business is local business and there is enough of us and more then enough of them for us to all make money and take this fraud down at the same time.  I will help anyone and everyone on this site understand what a finisher looks for when doing this so that you can do it right.  I think that you will understand what a larger machine is needed for once you see some of the crazy stuff that we do.

I have to get ready to do a cabinet job today so I will check in later and tell you more...

[RegisG 0]

Now that is something I'd really like to move into, local, face-to-face.  Take my laptop and sit and translate designs and color schemes into stencil or(?). 

So can you start feeding us some startup info e.g. who, where, etc........ears & eyes open and notepad at hand just waiting.

How do we find these folk?

Excellent idea about paintet/cutter meeting place on the web.

Regis

[knucklehead 530]

Excellent idea, Thank-You Schram

[Benr98 40]

This sounds interesting...I'd like to hear more!

Jenny

[swaneejuggalo 0]

cool idea where in Illinois are coming to I'm just across the river from moline

[Guest Schramm]

Ok here is the plan, I am leaving this weekend to Illinois and should be set back up by the 10th of Sept at which time I am going to mass email my contacts that I sell foil to and other faux products and let them know about this site.  Trust me when I say that they will come to this site from all over the USA and introduce themselves so that they can find some one local or more local.  I sell to a lot of these people but honestly these people are highly intelligent and know what they want and can translate it to you without issue.  I personally give everyone a pretty good deal but it is still not me or some stencil designer standing on the job looking and taking measurements.  I am willing once I am back in Illinois to help each one of you with answering questions giving you images that you may need as these people do not do a lot of lettering (though the do some), you will need scroll work and wrought iron designs and stuff like that but dont worry I will give you the images and set up a site that has kinda like a catalog of images that they can choose from and once they tell you what they want, you can simply email me and I will give it to you FREE OF CHARGE!!!

Now you are probably saying ok there has to be some kinda catch, right?  WRONG!!!  No catch, I want this lady that has been overcharging these guys for years "OUT OF BUSINESS".  I want to replace her with good quality people willing to work with these guys at a reasonable rate which both makes you money and yet makes it affordable for the finisher to do what they are best at and that is design without the hassle of not making any money!  I will help you will billing, understanding the market of the faux finisher, best ways to do the designs, which vinyls to use for each situation and so on!  All you need to do is get a basic of what they want and let me know, I will email you with the way to handle and what to charge and you just be fair with them as this is business for everyone as there are 1000's of finishers in each state in the USA!

I will talk more about this soon, I have to cut some stuff as I have been at work all day long...  Trust me when I say this will be great for all!!!

[Guest Schramm]

Ok I am going to start giving you some information into what decorative painting is about so that you can start to understand how to help them out when they call you.  Most of the time the design is as simple as a circle, diamond, harliquin and at other times they may want Flur di lis (looks like a spearhead).  Below is a design that is very popular with finishers as are many Oriental designs.  You can get your designs from a number of sources Dover Design books (available from Amazon.com) work great as they come with a CD of the images that you can vectorize (I use vectormagic.com - you still need to clean up some).  You will want to pick up books with Oriental, Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Victorian and anyone with Ornaments.  If you offer this service you will find yourself in a different ballpark then the other sign companies in your area.  Getting business is as simple as picking up the phone and going to Superpages.com and typing in Faux Finishers Your Town USA and calling them and tell them that you are willing to cut and help design.  Business will become almost immediate!  Another one is Decorative Concrete contractors especially the ones that acid stain.

Here is a challange to see how they come out.  Cut the image below, weed the black areas out then lay the image on a piece of wood, drywall or something that you can paint on, tape off the outer edges and paint it.  Let it dry overnight and in the am pull the vinyl and post the pics (even if it is a mess!), in order to sell to these people you will have to understand what they do with it.  Once you do this, I will post another challange and get into more detail tomorrow.  Good luck, who knows someone may find a new talent!!!

Rob

DoverOD-153.eps

DoverOD-153.eps

[knucklehead 530]

I'm with ya Schramm, art noeveau toilet seat, it's actually green, from one of the Dover books.

[BossThinksImWorking 4]

Oh, Lord, here I go again. Me and my ADHD self getting excited about another new project when I haven't even perfected the cutting thing yet. (But I will.) Thank God I have my daughter and a great staff to run my store because I'm not there nearly as much as I ought to be lately!

I can't wait to get started. Thanks, Rob.

Carol

[Guest Schramm]

knucklehead, 

That is from the Art Nouveau book right?  I have a number of those vectorized.  You did a nice job on that one as they are not easy to vectorize.

Hey did you know that Dover has books with cds coming out in January that are completly vectorized?  The first one is scolls and ornament - cannot wait!!!  Dover's books are just soo full of great art and the best thing it is ROYALITY FREE so not only can you sell the vinyl but you can also vecotize and sells discs with the images vinyl ready.  Personally I would never do all the work and sell the ready to go images but you could.

[RegisG 0]

Schramm,

Got your Dover OD cut & weeded but, won't be able to paint until later this evening (Wed).  I did buy some stencil vinyl.  It seems easier to weed than the 651 that I've been using.

Learning, learning, learning,,,,

Regis

[Benr98 40]

Do we have to have the stencil vinyl to try this out? (with the eps file given)

This really sounds interesting and I can't wait to continue to learn more and more about it.

[Guest rvgraphixs]

thats cool want to hear more.

[duke 12]

hey rob, you have me hyped up and ready to go

i have been looking for a sales niche, and this may it.                                              who is best supplier for stencil vinyl ?

regards  duke

[Benr98 40]

Hey RV, why did you modify your post?  That was a very good question!!!

[Guest rvgraphixs]

lol I did a little reading and found that yes thats how you do it, actually go to that site it has installation examples/instructions.

I just went and order some fdc paint mask from wensco to try... now what room to paint first lol

[Benr98 40]

Oh..lol.  I guess I need to read more information on that site! 

I see Signwarehouse has Stencil film and Spray Mask vinyl....is one better for the other for this project?

A roll of 20" Stencil Film is 19.80 for 10 yards and 88.30 for 50 yards!

Jenny

[Guest rvgraphixs]

15inx10yd White Paint Mask Premium FDC Punched 

23.42

        SubTotal: $23.42 

Estimated Freight: $11.92 

 

Estimated Tax: $2.12 

Total: $37.46

[Guest rvgraphixs]

wow i guess I should have shopped more lol signwarehouse takes 5 - 6 days to ge there for me wensco is 2 days max.

[Benr98 40]

LOL...well time is money too.  If I wouldn't of had a Signwarehouse catalog sitting right next to me, I wouldn't have known! 

Shipping is always highway robbery it seems.

[Guest TracMatt]

Very neat.  I just looked at all the instructions on that site as well.  It's like learning some totally new craft.  There looks like a lot of choices to use for tools.  Rolling, brushing, sponging.  Also what type of paint do you use?  And when you peel the vinyl off doesn't some of the paint peel off too?  I have had that happen with taping around the edges of a room and when I remove the tape some of the paint peels off with it.  So many questions.  We are redoing a room in our house right now the sheet rock just got finished last night, now we have to clean it good and put our primer on.  I might try this in there.  I want it to be cowboy themed or southwestern because my husband is from a farming family.  I like that triangle southwestern design.  I wonder if I could find one of those to use?   

Tracee

[BossThinksImWorking 4]

I used regular vinyl 'cause that's all I have and one of the kids' Melissa & Doug toys for my wood surface. Just ignore the beat up green surface. It's a well-loved toy.

This was actually easy and fun. I can't wait to do it right.

Carol

[RegisG 0]

Schramm,

Here is what I did for your proj #1.  You did not specify a size so I simply made it about 7" diameter.

The base is just a black metal panel.

[Guest rvgraphixs]

they both look great!!!

I found about 5 sets of dover 
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=8864813552f3d8fcd2db6fb9a8902bda
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[Guest Schramm]

Awesome!!!!  See you have hidden talents!  I will be quite honest, each one of you can make beautiful pieces that most people in your area have never seen before.  All you need is something to paint such as a desk, table top, chest of drawers and so on and a little patients and you can get really good at it.  My favorite and many of my customers love it as well is called tone on tone.  What is, is painting something in black with a satin finish (which has a lower sheen) and then allowing that base coat to dry 2 days so it starts to cure, laying out your stencil design all over the item OR 1 where you want it and then take the exact same color but this time in high gloss and run it through the design  and allow that to dry overnight and in the morning pull it and you will see it but it is very subtle.  Keep in mind that black is only a suggestion - any color will work.

I actually have paint that is non exsistant in the day light when it charges but at night glows in the dark, talk about tricked out!!!  I did a Haunted house one time and people walking through in the daylight about crapped when they came at night and saw all the skulls and spiders (it even gets more tricked out with black lights).

Now I have got some PM's today that had specific questions and I want all to learn so I am going to answer them here so all can learn:

1:  What type of vinyl do I use?  I like both Avery spray (paint) mask for curved and flat surfaces such as drawers, walls and so on.  For totally flat and smooth surfaces I like stencil mask, it is blue and feels almost like mylar but the surface does have to be smooth.  If you are working on a textured surface or you want to do raised stenciling then I use Hartco sand mask.  Sand mask is what sandblasting sign makers use it comes in 10, 15 and 25 mil and you can actually apply it to the surface and then run plaster over the stencil, allow to dry and pull it and your image is then raised!  Tricked out quick!!!

2.  Wont this peel the paint on the surface:  As with anything you need to test your surface prior to doing anything, for furniture unless you do not prime and then paint, the mask will not pull.  However on crappy drywall that is painted a stick test is important.  I take a piece of mask and stick it, burnish it and let it sit an hour prior to pulling it and then pull it and see what happens.  I can tell you if you use 651 vinyl chances are it will pull off a wall however mask has a much lower tackyness.

NOTE:  ASK THE QUESTIONS IF YOU HAVE THEM AS THIS IS NEW TO ALL HERE FOR THE MOST PART AS EVEN IF YOU THINK IT IS A DUMB QUESTION IT IS BETTER TO ASK THEN TO TRY AND FAIL!  BELIEVE ME OTHERS HERE PROBABLY HAVE THE SAME QUESTION AND ARE JUST NOT ASKING!

Another thing to know is that I have been a decorative painter for 20 years and sometime I just do not mention everything as it all comes easy to me and sometimes when explaining I forget that not everyone knows!

I will try to come back tonight and see what else there is and talk more about the design that I posted last night, I have about a million things going to do before Sunday when we leave for Illinois, but this could be a really fun and a super long thread so keep them coming and dont forget to ask if you dont know!!!  I am really easy!