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Hello!
My name is Lori Reed and I've only been on the net for a week now and the
first thing I looked up was "neon"!
I've been in love with neon for as long as I can remember. I've read
every book I can get my hands on about it, I've subscribed to Sign of the
Times (I love those electric sign contests!) so I could keep up with the
latest. I also contacted the schools for information. I haven't the
financial means or the time (I have a 6yr old and a 1yr old) to go to an
"official" school, so I've been contacting every sign company I can find
to try to get someone to teach me.
Last year I finally found that someone! He's a self-taught bender and
was just starting his shop, so I was really excited to get in on the
ground floor. I practiced the basic bends and felt I was pretty good at
it. The problem came when I tried to put those bends together to
actually MAKE something! It took me 3 wks. to finish my first "OPEN"
sign. Mentally I know what I WANTED it to look like and somehow my hands
seemed to totally disregard what my brain was telling them to do! I also
have done some Chevy emblems (just the outside frame, not the text). I
also had some wild and crazy ideas that I wanted to experiment with
(including 20th Century Fox, who okayed my idea and wanted me to do a
prototype.). My boss informed me when I first started practicing that I
should use my imagination 'cuz we're WILD & CRAZY!!! I was all for that!
Unfortunatly, the shop was closed down a month or so ago. Now I have
nowhere to practice! Well, I WAS fortunate to find someone to let me at
least TOUCH it! I live in central Illinois and don't think neon is going
to go TOO far here.(I believe the general census about neon is that "it's
for bars!" Geez, I hate that.) I lived in Oklahoma 2 1/2 years ago and
neon seems to be booming there! But, alas, we can't move back there
because of family responsibility. We're moving back east a bit, Ohio
probably. I sure hope I can find someone there so I can go on with this!
I'm really glad to find a place like this to meet other neon people and
learn as much as I can!
Thanks for being here!
Lori Reed