Decals – an easy way to brand your retail store

February 15, 2017 By Mark Hackley

Decals – an easy way to brand your retail store

Last week I was contracted to make and install about 30 decals of a well-known brand of residential and commercial paint. The owner of two retail stores, one in Waynesboro, Virginia and one in Staunton, had renovated their store interiors, repainting the shelving fixtures in an updated color. When they repainted the store fixtures, they painted over the old logos, so they hired me to make new ones.

The shelves ranged in width from about 48″ to 65″ and the decals were designed to fit all widths. I provided a scaled sketch and presented a color swatch of the decal color. The customer could not get a copy of the logo in vector format, so I was able to vectorize what they provided as a jpg. The project took about 10 days to complete from the time I received their proof approval and deposit check, taking about a week to get the vinyl material, a day to cut and prepare the graphics, and a few days to schedule and make the final deliveries and installations at both stores.

Even though it was an interior application, I used high performance 10-year exterior Avery vinyl film for the decals so they will last a long time.

Mark Hackley, President of Augusta Sign Company, Waynesboro, VA 22980. 540-943-9818

Covers for Electric Signs

February 15, 2017 By Mark Hackley

Covers for Electric Signs

I frequently get calls from new customers who have purchased existing electric signs with their new business property within my service area of the Waynesboro, Staunton, Harrisonburg, Richmond, Winchester, Roanoke, Lynchburg regions of Virginia. They call me for pricing and timing needed to change their covers for electric signs. They regularly call “covers” what I call “faces” but what they are needing is new sign panels for electric signs.

I generally would need to survey their situations to get them an accurate price and turn-around time. Most often, these replacement signs fall into one of these types:

Least expensive type: Flat plastic sign panels of either acrylic (Plexiglas) or polycarbonate (Lexan) with either graphics on the outer surface or backsprayed.
Stronger type and best for thinner cabinets: What I call “pan” faces, which are vacuum-formed plastic signs made of either some type of acrylic or polycarbonate material with either graphics on the outer surface or backsprayed.
Or, Strongest of all and dimensional for added good looks: Embossed graphics on a pan face.

If you are in need of replacement covers for your lit sign in Central or Western Virginia, I would be happy to take a look.

Mark Hackley, Augusta Sign Company, 540-943-9818

Augusta Sign Company Service Area in Virginia

December 9, 2016 By Mark Hackley

Augusta Sign Company designs, manufactures, and installs custom wood, metal, and plastic signs and building letters generally within a 90-mile radius of Waynesboro, Virginia which includes:

Waynesboro Culpeper Lynchburg Wintergreen Nellysford

Staunton Crimora Elkton Grottoes Verona Stuarts Draft

Harrisonburg Greenville Weyers Cave Bridgewater New Market

Winchester Front Royal Woodstock Covington Clifton Forge

Lexington Hot Springs Warm Springs Strasburg Mount Crawford

Charlottesville Stanley Luray Roanoke Richmond Scottsville

…and many other areas in between!

Give us a call today at 540-943-9818 or e-mail mark@augustasigncompany.com for more information.

www.augustasigncompany.com

Wood Sign Restoration

November 7, 2016 By Mark Hackley

Reviving the Color

Wood sign restoration is what I love to do! I made Webber Payne’s sandblasted wood sign in the mid-1990’s, and he recently contacted me to restore the sign back to its original brightness that grabbed attention of shoppers in downtown Waynesboro, Virginia.

The process of restoring redwood and cedar signs is not difficult, it just requires multiple steps and knowledge about what materials work best and last the longest. First, me and my helper Marshall Carpenter took the sign down and transported it to my sign shop in Waynesboro. Next, I ordered the colors needed, which is getting harder all the time as hand-painted signs are becoming a lost art along with neon as digital sign techniques and LED technology take over the industry. While waiting for the paint to arrive I steel brshed and sanded the background, filling any major gaps with painters putty. Once the materials came in I mixed up a custom color purple stain to match the existing background color and coated out the entire sign. (I choose not to reveal my background stain recipe that I developed in the 1990’s…kind of like the Kentucky fried Chicken recipe, or McDonald’s Big Mac secret sauce.)

Next I primed the letters white and painted all the flat areas to complete the sign. I hung the sign and touched up any edges that needed it. (The photo of the sign hanging here in this feature was taken before final touch-ups, but it’s hard to see any issues from the distance in the picture.)

Mark Hackley owns and operates Augusta Sign Company, Waynesboro, VA 540-943-9818

Can Sandcarved Signage be Implemented into Wayfinding Systems?

December 1, 2015 By Mark Hackley

Can Sandcarved Signage be Successfully Implemented into Wayfinding Systems?

Can sandcarved signage be successfully implemented into wayfinding systems?

I recently got a call from the new dentist in Waynesboro, Virginia, Dr. William Potter, in need of a new sign for his office. He was taking the place of Dr. Michael Kivlighan who along with his real estate partners had contracted my previous company, Tree Street Signs, to make all the signage for his professional office park some 20 years ago. Now they had to hire a sign company that could closely match the existing signage system.

The unique thing about this particular professional center is the signage. It’s all made of sandblasted cedar, stained dark green with raised white graphics denoting the name of each tenant. The signs are single-sided and are attached to the brick walls facing the main road. The main office park sign has been there probably since the complex was built, and I had rehabbed it 20 years ago by removing the routed metal letters, applying a stucco background over the bare brick, and then repainting the letters in the same color green as the cedar signage to make everything mesh.

So does sandcarved signage make sense for wayfinding systems? I think so.