My name is Melanie Teichroeb and I am the new owner of Chalk It Up Signs!  Claire Watson, the previous owner, is still on board as our chief designer and chalk artist extraordinaire

We are still based on a gorgeous, west coast isalnd, and we still offer outstanding chalk art chalkboards for every business and occasion.

We are currently building a new chalk art studio and shop on our property and we hope to have that up and running soon. In the meantime, Claire and I are cozily ensconced in my living room with great music, lovely west coast views and Red Roaster Coffee to keep our creative processes fueled.

Spring has been wonderfully busy for Chalk It Up and we are so grateful to our repeat clients as well as all of the new folks who find us in various ways.  We are so busy in fact that our lead time is six weeks.  We currently have a wait list available for projects set to begin after July 8th.  If you would like to hold your spot on that wait list, you are welcome to contact us, and make a deposit for your project.

Claire put it pretty succinctly this morning…when she started Chalk It Up Signs ten years ago it was like having a baby and watching it grow in stages.  I bought a teenager business!  Busy, thriving, and hungry at all times!  I love the challenge in all ways and look forward to what comes next.

I will post regularly here on the blog and on twitter and facebook, so look for updates and photos on exciting chalkboard projects, the studio build process, and the music we love to chalk it up to (I am a real music fan and married to a musician).

Over and out for now…

Melanie

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Spring is approaching though… I can hear the birds! Time to think about getting those orders in so you are all prepped for summer!

Here are some of my latest projects for El Japapeno Grill and The Kosher Marketplace. All those 18″ x 30″ Market signs are double sided:

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I thought I would start the year with a quick blog update, and some photos of some of my latest work… some of which were scattered amongst out Christmas decorations this year. Now as we delve into the depths of the west coast winter, it is definitely a nice time to be hunkered down in the studio. I am already seeing an increase in inquiries for early spring orders now that the holidays have come and gone.

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So I suppose it has been a while since I freshened up Chalk It Up’s look… I decided it was time to recreate it! Stay tuned as I will also be revamping my website over the winter too.

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Now, the weather however has cooled off, and I can see some leaves starting to get ready to drop. Autumn and Spring are easily the busiest times of year for Chalk sign work, and the orders are flying in. It is perfect as the kids are back to school so it means more time allowed in the studio to focus on and keep up with the orders!

Here is a selection of some of my latest projects… I picked them as they are a little different, and were fun to do!

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This is a question I have never really thought about until a customer asked me that on the phone the other day. I have to admit, I was stumped and my reply was simply “Compared to WHOM?”. I have been so used to a lack of competition out there in the Chalk Sign world. Correction…not so much a lack of competition, but a lack of CONCERN for my competition since I have been consistently at my max capacity, or close to it that I don’t spend much time surfing the net for others out there. I have been just happy in my own little world keeping up with my own projects. I recently looked online and noticed that there are a few more that have popped up in the last few years (since I looked last anyway). Good on ya! In this world of screens and tacky digital menus (don’t even start me on those) popping up all over the place! We are all artists, and if we can make an honest buck creating useful ART then that is fantastic as there are many wonderful artists out there, who just can’t get the word out.

So, now that I see a few more artists out there I guess I do need to address that question. What makes me so UNIQUE? I suppose I COULD say something like, “I have 10+ years experience and over 950 custom chalk signs under my belt“, or “the artwork is completely water proof and long lasting so they can be used over and over, and shipped worldwide“, or even “because I can create a huge variety of styles of sign they can be used in so many different applications“, and “as designer I really want to make sure your sign looks really professional… even though it is hand created“. But honestly? There are plenty of reasons why my chalk signs are unique and stand out, but that is not why I am unique… I am unique because I am NOT a big business and I taught myself everything I know about chalk sign work. Through trial and error I found my method, and it works for me. I am a family person… a mom of two young kids, running the house, and my business. Our family of four is very tight, we work together and play together. I am a volunteer firefighter when I am not chalking, and an avid sailor and stand up paddler. I live simply, and care a great deal about the environment and the ocean. I tend to be rather private (so all this online updating is a struggle for me… but I am working on it) . I live on a small island of 4000 people on the West Coast of Canada and have managed to carve out a successful chalk sign business shipping my ‘functional’ artwork world wide. It is something so many artists dream about… I mean really, everyone is unique in their own way aren’t they?

Then there is my husband and right hand man. He frames all my signs for me and makes sure they get shipped off to where they need to go. He’s awesome! When he is not framing chalkboards, he is working on our sailboat which we hope to have ready to set sail off shore with in the next couple of years… hopefully our girls won’t mind!!! But in the meantime, we work this business and get these mass amounts of chalkboards out amongst some island inconveniences that most city folks aren’t familiar with! We manage and have a great deal of fun with it!

I never take for granted the fact that my husband and I can work together at home, be there for the kids when they are young, and support ourselves with my art… with society the way it is now I feel very happy to be a little different!

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But now we are REALLY excited… we are now relocating to a place with a nice big studio and oodles of shop space. Getting my work done will be so much more efficient and much faster too! We will be closing up shop here from the 28th of March to April 11th, so we can move and get the studio/shop set up again...

Again, here are some of my latest projects…

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So I also broke down and started up a facebook page. I had one ages ago, but dumped my profile and lost my page. BUT, now I figured out I could have a page without needing to have a profile. So that being said, if you are into hand created funk-tional art…then LIKE US! (please of course)

3′ x 5′ unframed

3′ x 4′ unframed

3′ x 6′ unframed

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4′ x 8′ unframed

modification…

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