THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 25, 1996 TAG: 9609250086
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: EARNING A LIVING IN VIRGINIA BEACH
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 76 lines
Leon Estes has seen the light.
Not the proverbial ``light,'' but neon light.
Estes owns Neon Nights, a custom neon business he started two years ago out of his Norfolk home and recently moved to a shop on Diamond Springs Road.
``Neon commands attention and everyone notices it,'' said Estes. ``Neon can change the way people look at a business. Exposure is everything.''
Aside from what he says are the business benefits of neon, Estes, 44, offers a wide array of products highlighted by neon.
``There are a lot of uses for this that no one's thought of,'' he said.
His shop is in the commercial area of Diamond Springs. Inside there are several examples of the kind of work Estes can do. There are typical neon signs with company logos, but then there are other neon works such as a lighted Santa Claus, a witch, a ghost, a signature, a dolphin and several pictures with neon as a back light.
Estes specializes in window signs, service, repair and even banners.
A 4-foot-tall red rose with a green stem and leaves hangs in the shop's window. The creation was a gift to his wife, Vicki Estes. There is also a neon lettered sign announcing the birth of a baby girl.
There's a POW/MIA picture in a box that's topped with plexiglass and a neon frame, a neon dinosaur night light, even a neon outline of a motorcycle. Estes has also been commissioned to make a neon cactus mounted in a clay pot.
``There are no impossibilities,'' said Vicki Estes, who does the bookkeeping and billing for the company. ``We can do any pattern you want. Even a profile of a face.''
Her husband can create Christmas trees, crabs, fish, flamingos, guitars, ice cream cones, lighthouses, lobsters, palm trees, music notes, rainbows, sailboats, shamrocks, teddy bears, windmills and logos for nearly every sport. The prices for these designs run from $85 to $250.
The price is $15 a letter with a $45 minimum for names done in block letters 8 inches high; script letters 8 inches high are $19 a letter with a $57 minimum.
The shop showcases some of Estes' work and is also where he creates the product. In a separate room, he works with 4-foot-tall glass sticks. He welds on electrodes and then begins a process using extreme heat to manipulate the glass into the shape he wants. Once the glass has cooled, Estes inserts either neon or argon gas, which is what gives the glass its color.
``The combination of the phosphorous coating on the glass mixed with the gas is what creates the color,'' said Estes. ``For instance, neon gas in a green tube will create orange.''
Estes uses a graphics computer program that enables him to copy and follow any pattern.
All the neon works come with adapters that can be plugged into regular electrical outlets.
Before Estes began his neon business out of his home, he worked for a local sign company as a sheet metal mechanic for about seven years. After a back injury and two surgeries, he returned to work at the company's neon room. That, he said, is where he learned the art of neon.
It wasn't long after that, that Estes realized that he could work for himself. ``I'm pretty much called the scourge of the industry because my prices are so low,'' he said. ``But, I still have to put out a good product. This is how I'm raising my family and quality is very important. If it's done right, it's right. If it's not, it's trash.''
Together, Leon and Vicki Estes have five children. They decided to open the store after working from home for two years.
``We needed showroom space so we could really show people just what you can do with neon,'' said Vicki Estes, who also works as a restaurant manager. MEMO: Neon Nights is at 1493 Diamond Springs Road. The phone number is
857-NEON (6366). ILLUSTRATION: D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/Staff
Leon Estes bends a glass tube to make a custom neon sign in his
shop, Neon Nights, on Diamond Springs Road.
An outline of a new moon is a Leon Estes creation. by CNB