![A new home business in the community is customizing everything from automobiles to video game controllers. True Colors Hydrographic’s [from left] Scott Rector, Greg Smith and Jaimie Smith.](https://saltwire.imgix.net/Hydrographics1WEB.jpg?cs=srgb&fit=crop&h=568&w=847&dpr=1&auto=compress%2Cenhance%2Cformat)
How limited is your imagination, because it will be the only thing in the way of customizing your world. A new upstart business to the community is offering to customize your world using the latest technology of hydrographic.
The D’orsay Road home business of Scott Rector, his partner Jaimie Smith and her father Greg Smith, True Colors Hydrographic opened its doors to customizing everything from all-terrain vehicles to cellphone cases and even eyeglasses frames. In some cases, underlays and overlays can be done to create even wilder creations difficult to find anywhere else than the customer’s mind. The limits of what can become uniquely yours are as limited as one’s imagination Rector says.
“I think it’s pretty neat you can take something, anything, even old, and with not a lot of money make it new,” Rector said.
“Instead of buying new all the time you can repurpose it,” Jaimie said.
“You could tear your car apart and completely change it,” Greg said.
Instead of the labour-intensive practice of airbrushing or decal overlays, hydrographics uses a water immersion process akin to magic. The chosen graphics are laid into the immersion tank and then the item being customized is dipped. The surface tension of the water allows the graphics to find their way into every nook and cranny, making for a perfect cover, turning what was once ordinary into original.
“With a vinyl wrap, when you do the grill and it has, say, a honeycomb grill, you will never get wrap to go into all of that,” Rector said. “With this, the water makes it like a million fingers pushing it in and around everything.”
Using the Cumberland Business Development Corporation for mentorship, the trio took Rector’s love of customizing from a keen interest into a business. Rector built his first immersion tank from scratch and cut his teeth using it, and along the way developed a passion for the art. His interest is authentic and he talks about the process with enthusiasm and knowledge. It made sense, they say, to make the significant investment to acquire the professional grade tank they now use.
“Originally we tried it out to see if we liked it. It was a small tank… but if you’re trying to sell the product it got to be right,” Rector said,
The mindset has served them well. Much to their surprise, instead of their first client bringing in a few parts to be customized instead brought in a brand-new side-by-side they wanted to stand out from all the others on the lot.
“Buddy brought in a $20,000 Can-Am and said ‘You’re going to do this machine for me,’” Greg said.
“He would not take no for an answer,” Jaimie said.
“And we did it. And he loved it,” Greg said.
“He was thrilled,” Rector said.
The advantage of the local business, Rector says, is its ability to offer consultation and work with clients locally at a savings. By his estimation, including travel outside of Cumberland County, True Colors is more than competitively priced. The savings between customizing through dealerships compared to a hydrographics shop, Rector said, can be in the hundreds of dollars if not more.
“You can fall in love with what you already have. You may have wanted that [upgraded] truck but could only afford the base model. A few years down the road, for $150 you can change it,” Rector said. “Or we can do your rims.”
“The only thing that limits it is your imagination,” Greg said.
True Colors Hydrographic is currently operating as an evening and by-appointment business. Online, their Facebook page can be found at www.facebook.com/TCDips, emailing [email protected], or calling 902-667-4720. The home business is located at 116 D’orsay Rd., Amherst.
