The Huron Expositor, 1994-11-23, Page 2Business Beat
Sign businesses uses craftsmanship
BY GREGOR CAMPBELL
Expositor Staff
A Seaforth woman is using some
bright ideas, craftsmanship and lots
of get up and go' to catch your eye
and carve her way to success in the
sign business.
You have probably seen some of
her handiwork out on the back
roads of area townships. The new
hand -carved three-dimensional
wooden sign at Lion's Park was her
doing, as is Hensall's new entrance
sign, and her carved and
sandblasted creations greet
customers at several local
businesses, for instance Flower
Magic on Seaforth's Main Street.
Her name is Brenda Siemon. She
is 36 and lives on Side Steet in
Seaforth, and her business is
Brenwood Signs on 23 Main St.
Brodhagen.
She does good work.
And she was something of a
rarity when she started out and still
remains so, with only a couple of
women in Corwall and Burlington
doing the same sort of thing,
although hand -carved wooden signs
are a bigger trend in regions of the
United States such as New England.
It all started back in 1984 when
she lived in Milverton and her
father wanted a sign for the farm,
which she promptly routered,
carved and painted. It was so eye-
catching that friends of her father
started asking where they could get
one. At first her signs were carved
out of pine but now she uses
western red cedar because of its
durability, weather and rot
resistance. She paints with lettering
enamels and applies four coats of
stain but prefers to let lots of the
natural wood show in her creations,
and thereby sell itself with its rustic
feel or ambiance. By 1986 she had
established the business in
Brodhagen, where it continues to
grow by leaps and bounds.
There are Brenwood signs as far
afield as Switzerland, California
and Atlanta, Georgia. Last week she
had 40 orders on the hook and was
busy with the push for Christmas
orders. About 20 per cent of her
business is commercial work, but
her bread and butter, the other 80
per cent, is farm gate signs.
You want your very own cow or
barn on your wooden sign? Brenda
can carve it. Just bring her a
picture. But please, not like one
customer, who showed up with a
photograph of the back of his barn
and wanted her to use it to design a
sign of the front.
"We really want them to be an
individual statement, we want your
input," she says.
The other half of the business
'we' is now Neil Douglas, 28, who
joined the company about 18
months ago, and has a background
in graphics and design graduating
from Seneca College in Hamilton
three years ago, and has
incorporated a computer into the
process. Brenda didn t know how to
turn one on until he arrived but she
says the computer has speeded
things up, although she is wary of
relying too much on it and losing
her biggest selling point, the art of
it all.
And another thing, if you are
bringing in an idea for your sign,
'47t4r.
Thank you to all the
ratepayers of the
Township of Tuckersmith
for their support at the polls.
I look forward to serving you
as Deputy -Reeve.
Larry McGrath
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Dublin
by Dorothy Dillon
345-2883
Bazaars are held
for Christmas
With Christmas so close, several
bazaars, dinners and planning is 'on
the go'. St. Patrick s C.W.L. are
holding a Christmas Dinner tonight.
The Optimist Club of Dublin and
District are having a Turkey Bingo
at St. Patrick's Hall on Sat. Nov.
26. Check your paper for many
other events taking place.
The first Euchre Party at St.
Patrick's rectory was held last week
and was very successful. It is care-
fully planned and organized by
Rika Brosens and Dorothy Delaney
and is held every othrr week. - 1:30
p.m. on Tuesdays.
Eileen and Don MacRae visited
Jack and Denise Kelly, Stratford, to
celebrate Don's birthday.
Other special people celebrating
birthdays this week are Cecilia
Schoondcrwocrd. Happy Birthday to
a very special lady! Jim Kelly
(Seaforth) also celebrates this week.
Many more good years, Jim!
Sympathy of the community is
extended to Louis and Rika Brosens
on the death of a brother-in-law
who died recently in Holland.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY
`Most of us arc the kind -Br -To -it -
yourself person who hits, the nail
right on the thumb.
GREGOR CAMPBELL PHOTO
SIGN OF THE TIMES - Seaforth resident Brenda Siemon makes eye catching, carved and painted
wooden signs at her unique business in Brodhagen. She has been making signs since 1984 and the
new Seaforth Lion's Parte sign is an example of her handiwork.
"We want them to
be...an individual
statement."
you had better spell your name and
print it out in big block letters.
Nothing gives Brenda that old
sinking feeling in the stomach
better than being on the verge of
delivering a finished work and
discovering the hard way that John
Smith can be spelled 11 ways. It's
something she doesn't like to dwell
on but it has hat' • ned.
"It's everybody's favorite joke,"
she says.
Brenda doesn't do a lot of
advertising and thinks 90 per cent
of her business is word of mouth,
although she knows where her
market is and goes after with
display in various trade shows, such
as ploughing matches, various
congresses, fairs, trade and cottage
shows. She has had a booth at the
last three World Dairy Expos in
Madison, Wisconsin.
With the computer Brenwood is
doin : more winter work designing
R. SIF11()N \V(x}DWORKING
and punching out decals for
snowmobile helmets and decorating
hoods, much of the work in
conjunction with B&K Arctic Cat
dealership in Brodhagen. The
business is there. Snowmobiling is
a big deal in this neck of the
woods.
Brenda and Neil are just getting
into family coats -of -arms and think
there is a demand so have also
started to carve and design wooden
doors that have the same old-
fashioned feel as their signs. One of
her dreams is to do a whole town,
like in Vermont where in some
communities they build on their
heritage and retain a colonial look
by having all entrance, street and
store signs carved the same basic
way.
"I'm kind of like Henry Ford
now," she says. "I think everyone
should have one."
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& Waste Disposal
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Wrap up your
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SHOW &
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RUSTIC ART - Neil Douglas and Brenda Siemon of Brenwood
Signs in Brodhagen aren't relying on old formulas for new
business. They are starting to carve coats -of -arms and wooden
doors that utilize the apply every day at their thriving wooden sign
business.
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