Is Your Next Job Our Next Custom Stencil?

Have you ever turned down a job because you thought it might be too difficult to accomplish? Do customers sometimes have “out of the box” requests that you’re not sure can be re created? What if we tell you we can help make those jobs happen? One of our specialties is manufacturing custom stencils. Although we keep up with EVERY state, federal and aviation regulation for the pavement marking industry, we also enjoy shaking up the monotony. Don’t get me wrong, keeping you safe on the roads and taxiways with clearly visible safety markings is our number one priority! However, it is fun to use our talents for your viewing pleasure as well! Today I’d like to showcase one of the most intricate and detailed custom stencils we’ve ever made! They are painted in a little vacation spot you may know in St. Pete Beach, Florida called Tradewinds Island Grand!  We worked hand in hand with Mr. Dean Fortune’s designs to create a stencil that would allow them to paint wonderful murals on the side of their buildings. Back in 1993 Tradewinds Resorts acquired another hotel adjacent to them. That prompted the idea of hand painting grand murals on the buildings as an aesthetic upgrade after the purchase. This would be a means of integrating the diverse buildings. Knowing there had to be a better way other than hiring professional artists to come in and do the work, Dean Fortune had a hunch that a stencil would work wonders for their painting contractor to perform the task. That is when Dean contacted Paul Woods, Pavement Stencil Company’s Founder! At the time Paul cut all of our stencils by hand! After speaking with Dean, Paul agreed to take on the job. Although he knew this would be a tough one to make by hand, Paul never backed down from a challenge. Working together to figure out the correct measurements needed Paul worked diligently on the first custom large-scale wall stencil in PSC’s history.  

  How was this accomplished you may ask? I had the privilege to interview Dean a few days ago and asked just that! We wanted an inside look at just how something so massive and beautiful came to be painted. Creating a wooden frame around the leaf stencil like a picture frame helped hang the stencil on the wall. This allowed using the stencil vertically, painting through it and moving it down after each sections completion. The stencils, frame and all were saved for reuse 10 years later. When the building was repainted the murals were redone in new colors. Dean and his crew learned that after the initial use of the stencil, the paint created a protective layer on the plastic that helped keep the stencil in good shape for many years. Twenty years to be exact! In 2014 Dean called us once again to create a new mural to adorn the beautiful Gulf of Mexico hotel! “Just let go” became the slogan and so the design was born. Using his artistic ability Dean was able to send us drawings of what he wanted. With careful attention to detail we were able to create the stencil that would bring Dean’s imagination to life! With time, change also comes and this particular stencil was not only manufactured differently, machine cut this time, but was used differently as well. The painter decided to utilize the stencil to outline the wall. Filling in the blanks by hand. A “paint by color” (sort of like paint by number) system was used to create the ocean. This particular design is still being implemented. In addition to a design applied to parking lots of Tradewinds Resorts. In 2002 we got a call from Dean to create a custom parking line stencil design for their parking lots. Having experience with custom parking lines we were able to help him with exactly what they needed. Who says parking your car can’t be just as fun for the eye as the rest of the resort is? Just one more tiny detail in making your vacation experience the very most it can be! How can we help you make your customers parking lots fun for their customers? By the way, 14 years later in 2016 Dean re ordered the parking lot stencils to continue the tradition.     As you can see Dean Fortune is quite the talented artist! However, these designs gave us only a small clue into how talented he actually is! We are so “fortunate” and in awe every year to receive a limited edition nature print created each year by Mr. Fortune! You can check out some of his work on the Tradewinds website where you can purchase a small token of your own “fortune” here: http://www.justletgoshop.com/  Until then I will leave you with another little tid bit of insider information I received from Dean. If you paint your stencil with a darker shade of color first, then move it over enough to paint a lighter shade of color, your stencil will view as 3D from afar!  The TW logo is branded on the tops of the Tradewinds Resort buildings.

I hope reading this has helped you realize that yours or your customers imagination CAN come true! How can we help you? Just let go and give us a call anytime, we’re excited to help make your creativity a reality! By way of stencil of course! We’ll see YOUR imagination soon!