This is a fun little video demonstrating a cheap Neon Transformer operation with a little bit of hacking to run a lamp brighter. This is a really great channel for everything circuitry, even though half the time it's way over my head, the more I keep watching the more I catch as the years go by. Enjoy!     

This is a really intersting and thoroughly researched video on AC Transformers, which is a really dense topic that Kathy covers with immpeccable siting of sources, even with links to all the transcripts and sitations for your enjoyment. If you like this video go give Kathy a follow and check out some of her other videos on these topics. There is also a video on 3-Phase electricity that I recommend, which touches more on the relationship between Westinghouse and Tesla, along with many other historic figures involved in the field to be remembered. She also just came out with a book called "The Lightning Tamers" which covers over 400 Years of electrified history!

"Kathy has earned four higher education degrees in physics, engineering, and science education, but she feels as if her real education came from spending 12 years as a public high school physics teacher. She is an alumnus of the University of Chicago, Penn State, and the University of Utah." 

Bio from https://kathylovesphysics.com/bio/

A video a friend sent me about the film industry and use of mercury vapor lamps and neon lighting, enjoy!

Hello fellow guild members and thank you for the warm welcome to the Neon Makers Guild! It is an honor to be a part of such an amazing group of artists, makers, and enthusiasts alike. I look forward to bringing Neon into the next generation with you all, and even more so, being a part of making information on this field accessible for anyone interested, which so far, I’ve not met that person, when bringing up the topic of neon. Which means to me, that the more we spread the fascinating details on what it takes to make a neon tube work, the more interest and success will occur within the field. There are many avenues one can take when approaching a working practice, and it's really fun to get to see all the different shops popping up, and the way each one works on a day-to-day basis. From sign making, to one-day experiences, to multi-week classes, or making new and interesting works of art, and even beyond that. It really is a beautiful thing to see all these adaptations, and exciting to be a part of such an interesting community of people.

I think what really made me appreciate the organizing of the Neon Makers Guild, other than bringing a community of people with like-minded interests together, is the idea of a place you could go to where the news feed was nothing but the thing you are searching for in that moment, without distractions. When researching a topic, I love when I find a directory about something, that will lead you down the path you are looking to go, where all the information about that thing and things related are in one place, I mean who doesn't!? As a person who gets very distracted by media and flashing lights, places like Instagram and Facebook really are a hindrance to my progression as an evolving human, which might sound a little dramatic, but is a very real feeling I get when using those applications. As some can moderate and block out information they don't want to perceive, I tend to get lost in an endless scroll of people I don't follow, lost in time, and with all the shocking and overstimulating things that I have been seeing in the last few years on these apps, I find it is healthier for me to stay away and focus on what's right in front of me. This is why I love to see NMG provide a space to come and meet people from all over the world with a passion for neon, and walk further down this well lit road into the unknown. If you have met me, you know I love to talk and have fun, and my passion for this field really knows no bounds, so having a healthy moderated space to still be able to make connections and keep up with what's happening is truly something I am thankful for and makes me feel able to included, without having to doom scroll to do so.

I really look forward to the future of this craft and am grateful to have found this community. If anyone ever needs to contact me, has any questions, or just want to share your thoughts, don't hesitate to reach out. I will be posting the journey of my studio build as I go along here on NMG, so anyone interested can keep up with my progress on everything I am working on. I look forward to seeing yours too!

Stay Electric, Séan Bradley

I am very pleased to announce that our first election was a success, and excited to welcome Sean Bradley (vice-president), Annie Saunders (secretary), Zoelle Nagib (treasurer) and Kat Kazlauskas (at-large) to the NMG Board of Directors.  In doing so, we also say goodbye to 3 of the Guild founders, Alleson Buchanan, Nick McKnight and Cameron Clow. I am so appreciative of their hard work and contributions toward getting the Neon Makers Guild started and wish them the best. The other 3 founders, Robert Haus, Danielle James, and yours truly Eve Hoyt (President) are excited to get to work with the new board members. This year we are working to acquire our 501c(6) status, which will help give the Guild the foundation to be an organization that I hope will be around for years to come. We will carry on with our mission to foster a community of support to this wonderful craft of neon making, of helping one another, and providing the information and resources we need to keep our beloved craft of neon alive and relevant in the age of LED's and diminishing tradespeople.

A word from our outgoing Vice-President, Cameron Clow:

This election was a big milestone for the NMG. From the very beginning of Guild, all directors agreed it was very important to make the guild a fully democratic association allowing regular input from its members. This election was a good first step. Committee work and involvement is probably the next big important goal for the guild but for now we can take a breath and feel good about where the Guild is going and how. Please take a minute to reach out and congratulate our new directors and wish them well as they take on these important roles. To our members we say please consider what you can bring to the guild...committee involvement is just around the corner and every voice in our community is important!! 

Cheers and see you in the fires! 

In solidarity, Cameron Clow

"Yes, the Neon Makers Guild's first election is here and we are hoping some of you are considering nominating someone for a seat on the board..and yes you can nominate yourself!! Please be sure your nominee agrees to the position and is willing to serve.

If you would like to take on a role on the board please don't be shy and understand The Guild needs voices and opinions from all corners no matter if you are a neon wizard or a neon apprentice!! All voices are wanted, are valuable and can only add to our diverse neon community!"

Nominations close on January 29th!

During the past month I have been very busy with a lot of neon related travels, going from coast to coast to attend neon related events and to visit several friends and neon shops along the way.

I set out from our new location in St Cloud, MN on August 26th to attend the first ever Neon Symposium being hosted at the Pilchuck school in Stanwood, WA.  My plan included a 4 day detour into British Columbia to visit with friends Cameron and Holiday and to see their neon shop...I even got to appear in a "Neon Trenches" episode!  Following this, I reentered the US (Yes, there were funny stories about my going through customs with all my portable neon shop equipment and the items being brought for my presentation at Pilchuck, but I should save those for another time.)  and headed for Pilchuck.  This was my first time seeing the Pilchuck campus and all I can say is it is truly AMAZING!  The setting is perfect, the facilities excellent, the food was great, and the staff went above and beyond to insure that all of us had what we needed and had a positive experience.  

This conference spanned the Labor Day weekend and had a variety of presentations and demonstrations related to neon and plasma artwork, there was something for everyone, regardless of your specific area of interest or expertise.  (The presentation I gave involved pre-WWII neon tools and history and the early development of electrodes, with a smattering of the chemical and physical processes that take place during processing and operation.)  I especially enjoyed getting to meet so many neon and plasma experts and the opportunity to exchange ideas.  After years of working in a vacuum  (haha, see what I did there?) it was great to have such an event and I am sure we all came away with newfound knowledge and energy for our art.

After the conference I had a brief visit at Radiant Neon in Seattle, and several other attendees dropped in throughout the day--I suspect Alleson and Marisa got nothing done that day with all of the visitors coming down from Pilchuck on their way home.

Upon returning home and unloading the gear from the car, I had about 4 days before leaving again--this time heading east to attend the first Neon Makers Guild Benders Bash.  This was hosted by Chloe at Uptown Neon in Richmond, VA.  On the way there, I made a point to stop by Evening Neon to pick up some antique equipment that Eve had been storing for me, as well as a stop at my brother-in-law's house in Philadelphia for a similar reason.  (I was stashing vacuum pumps in his garage because it was cheaper to send them there to pick up later than to send them to my home in Alaska.......I am fortunate to have friends and family who will indulge such foolishness on my part.)  Additionally, I made a brief stop to visit with Michael and Steve Grossmann of Cathode Lighting Systems in Gaithersburg, MD and then headed onward to Richmond.

The meetup at Uptown was wonderful!  It was well attended and I know I overheard at least one person mention that it was almost as if people we've regularly seen in our monthly zoom "Benders Brunch" meetings had jumped out of their screens and into real life!  Uptown is an amazing shop with a long history and I am sure you could walk through it a hundred times and see something new every time.  This was a lively meeting, with opportunities to visit and learn, play on the torches a little bit, a swap meet of neon related stuff, and great food!  A big thank you to Chloe, Morgan, and Danielle for driving the organization of the event and another big thank you to all who traveled to attend it!  I hope we can do it again.....and if anyone wishes to host such an event at their neon shop, please reach out as this is something we'd like to be able to do several times a year.

Rounding out my journey included a stop at Fair Radio Sales in Lima, OH--an electronic surplus store that is a favorite (a place open since 1947 and where I have been a customer since 1981.....this time I even found vintage neon there!) and then a stop at Electric Eye Neon in Milwaukee.

I've been home a week now.  Gradually trying to fall back into some sort of routine before my next bit of traveling for neon purposes.  (yes, there is something in the works already)  A long roadtrip that has been a great experience (well, other than the tire that was damaged on I-95) and I truly enjoyed getting to meet so many talented neon people!  Oh, and on the subject of mileage and cars.....You have likely seen or heard about the Bentley ad featuring a bit of asmr in it and all the various parodies being done of it.  Well...apologies in advance....maybe I was sleep deprived, or just nuts, but it was too funny to pass up so I made a neon related one, click here:   Bentley vs Neon Shop

We are very excited to announce that we will be sponsoring a regional neon meetup at @uptownneonrva in Richmond,Virginia.
-
SEPTEMBER 16th. 9am-6pm
-
Virgina seemed to be a nice central location for the east coast folks to get together, and Uptown is a SUPER cool shop. No brainer right? 
--
Started by the late Douglas Solyan in the early 80's this welcoming neon shop is responsible for many iconic Richmond area signs. He gladly shared his love of neon with all interested customers who visited and mentored several people around the world in the ways of bending glass tubing.
--
Sadly Doug passed away in 2022 but his legacy lives on.

@kottwitz.studio his last apprentice and new owner of Uptown Neon kindly opens up her studio for us to visit, hang out, and have some fun in her fires.

Open to members and non members alike!
---
Won’t you join us?

When the Neon Makers Guild was about to launch in 2022 there was one lingering question, would enough people see the value of such an organization and even more than that, would they join? The answer was a resounding YES!!

This past year we have barely been able to keep up.  There is so much need out there but also so many folks wanting to help out and get involved. There's lots of work to do but the years of bending in isolation are over! The roadblocks and "gates" that restrict learning are coming down. The inability to affect change, or have a voice, or have a VOTE, is no more. 

This year the Guild has been a whirlwind of activity with so many things all needing to be set up from scratch.  So far, we have set up a temporary Board made up of our founding members of 6 volunteers from the neon community to oversee the rollout of the Guild and opened the Guild up for Membership.  We've created a fully functional website with membership profiles, blogs, forums, not to mention a very needed neon classified section. (Thank you Robert Haus!!)  The Website has an incredible library of out-of-print and hard-to-find neon publications.  We also have a resource list to help members find suppliers and classes. 

In addition to the website, we have started an Instagram account to make getting Guild news and event announcements easier than ever.  These avenues of communication are vital as the Guild isn't just a website or social media account, it's a community. 

Have you heard about the Bender's Brunches?  Once a month there is a virtual meet up for all interested members of the Guild held on the third Sunday of the month. Benders can talk, ask questions of their fellow members, give demonstations or just hang out!  Previous highlights include the amazing Bing Reisling giving a demo on animating neon with arduino boards!  It was so intersting and just an example of the back and forth that is inspired by these critical "gatherings". 

The NMG has also been making a splash at as many neon related events as possible.  In September of 2022, the NMG was a presenter at Neon Speaks with Eve Hoyt, Danielle James (DJ) and Nick McKnight talking about the Guild's goals and plans.  In June of this year, The NMG was also present at the GAS conference in Detroit with Alleson Buchanan, Danielle James and Bing Reisling doing demos, showing off collected neon resource material and just talking to folks about neon and the role of the Neon Makers Guild. 

It really needs to be stressed that some of these events are not always easy for the Guild to get to..  The GAS Conference in particular was only possible because of a huge effort by all those involved.  We are stronger as a group of course, but there is always a need for individuals to make a huge difference. Thank you to everyone who has stepped up to make these kinds of events a possibility.  Looking ahead, the NMG would love to host actual in-person meet ups or even a NMG Neon Conference(!!), so there's lots to do and also look forward to.

By renewing your membership, or becoming a new member you help support these invaluable neon resources and strengthen the neon community.  Remember to also spread the word about the NMG at every opportunity!  Without the membership, there is no Guild!!

Yes, the Guild has come a long way in it's first year but there is still one big accomplishment to share... The Neon Makers Guild will, by the end of 2023, finish it's constitution and hold elections for ALL POSITIONS on the NMG Board, making the NMG a fully inclusive, cooperative and democratic neon institution.  We are so excited to announce this and look forward to all who help represent the Guild now and into the future.  -NMG Board

I’ve sat in front of my laptop about five different times to write this blog post. Coming at it from all different angles, trying to write about my experience in the world of neon. Finding the right approach has proven more difficult than I originally thought. I have ultimately decided to start with this question to myself: What is the one thing people ask me the most about neon? I guess it would have to be: How the hell did you get into this anyway!? My answer is always the same: A neon art show at the Museum of the Rockies in 1991 in Bozeman, Montana when I was 17 years old. I saw an advertisement for a neon art show in the newspaper and felt immediately intrigued. I had never thought about neon art. I had never really thought about neon except that I liked it and knew it was called neon. When I walked into the gallery I remember having a physical response to what I was seeing. It lit up (excuse the pun) my imagination and my brain turned on. The next response was whispering to myself, “I want to learn how to make this.” And that was it. The only artist that I can remember from that show was Willem Volkerz. Willem is an artist who is originally from Holland and settled in Montana. He had his glass bent by local (Bozeman) neon legend Bill Todd from Rainbow Signs.

After that encounter with neon I screwed around with attempting to be a nanny back east (huge fail), working in Yellowstone National Park for several summers, winter resorts in Idaho, a UPS driver helper, and various other jobs that were leading me nowhere except having great stories to tell. In 1995, when I met my future ex-husband, I decided that perhaps I needed to find something to do with my life and find a path that might lead me to a career. I remembered my desire to learn the craft of neon so I started with Bill Todd in Bozeman. I asked him if I could be his apprentice, he said he was too old for that, but he would help me find a school. Bill warned me that sometimes apprenticeships could turn into slave labor and he thought that was a bad idea for me. Thanks for lookin’ out Bill! 

I had narrowed my choice of schools down to Northern Advertising in northern Wisconsin with Dean Blazek or the National Neon Institute in Benicia, California with Lee Champagne. Since we were heading into winter, I chose California. Later on, I would kick myself for that choice. I ended up working for Dean’s son Jay Blazek in Seattle for about three years at Western Neon and I feel I would have received a more well-rounded education in Wisconsin. But I didn’t and that’s ok. I received a great introduction into the craft of neon and I was on my way. I did go on some crazy installs in the San Francisco area with Lee Champagne and for that I will always be grateful. I made a dreadful sign for a bead store while I was at school, but it was my first real paying job in neon and I was damn proud of it at the time.

From California, I moved to Detroit, Michigan (where the future ex was from) and landed a job in a neon shop that was inside a larger sign shop. Bill, the guy who hired me, was a grade A asshole but I learned my neon chops at Mid Michigan Neon. It was here that I was introduced to large channel letter jobs and would go on to bend most of the glass for Auto Zones (the auto parts store) in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. Bill paid me per foot of glass that I bent, pumping, and repairs. I carried around little notebooks that I would keep track of all of my jobs and how many feet of glass I bent each week. I loved living in Michigan but in 2000 the ex wanted to move out west again, so off we went. 

After Michigan, I worked for Western Neon in Seattle and American Neon in Tacoma. We lived there for a total of seven years. My years in Washington were very formative as a tube bender. For the first 10 years of my career I supported myself by bending and pumping glass and I am proud of that. I worked hard to hone the craft of bending glass. One thing I do regret is not paying closer attention to all those “extra” things a tube bender needs to know. Like plumbing, carpentry, more complicated electricity than wiring a sign together, cleaning and maintaining your own system, and a myriad of other trades one must know to run their own shop.

And that brings me to today…I never dreamed I would own a neon shop. Especially in Casper Wyoming. But life has a way of taking you on journeys that you can be ill prepared for! I opened the doors of my very own shop three years ago when COV!d hit the United States. I wasn’t too worried at the time about my business. I was more worried about my kids and getting us through that time. And now? Well, I am once again supporting myself and my family by selling neon signs. Somehow the universe keeps looking out for us. Neon is already a unique career choice but add on the fact that I am the only functioning neon shop in the state of Wyoming, and that makes me an anomaly. I’ve had the good fortune of meeting a lot of people here that love neon as much as I do and they believe in my mission to keep it alive. 

I am beyond grateful for the journey that neon has taken me on and how much it has enriched my life. I am also grateful for the wonderful humans I have met along the way. The ones who lift my spirits when I am down and frustrated and especially the ones who have helped me out of a jam or two (Robert Haus you are an amazing human). Neon is more than a glass tube filled with gas and an electrical charge, neon is a way of life, it’s a culture, it is a feeling that you can’t describe to others on the outside…neon is simply, extraordinary.