Neon Tube Bender Story—Jeff Miller
April 2, 2025
Erin Gould Ph.D., Bill Ost, Leslie Gilbert
A well-established neon artist, Jeff Miller builds signs and bends neon for companies in Kansas City and across the country. Nicknamed The Sign Guy, Miller claims, “Sign people are creative craftsmen…we’re a unique bunch.”
Growing up in Kansas City, Missouri, Jeff’s interests favored trade work that kept cities going. He built custom car parts in high school while enjoying every type of shop class, especially those his teachers crafted just for him. There, he built skills in metal work and fabrication, both instrumental in his sign work and transition to neon bending.
In 1979, Jeff joined Midwest Fabricating, a wholesale sign shop specializing in custom sheet metal fabrication. With no tube bender on staff, Midwest outsourced its neon needs to Alice Neon, headed by Jewell Bowlin in Kansas City, Kansas. As a channel letter fabricator, Jeff worked closely with Bowlin and remembers how Bowlin would “let him play with the neon” when he picked up Midwest’s neon orders. Eventually, Jeff joined Bowlin after work to advance his neon bending.
In 1984, Jeff opened his own sign shop in Olathe, Kansas—he bought an Oklahoma company’s entire sign plant. Jeff proudly notes the fires and torches he uses today are the same ones he bought in 1984. Not yet comfortable with a neon bender title, he hired Kevin Martin to bend neon for the shop while he continued working with both Martin and Bowlin to perfect his tube bending. When Martin left the shop after only six months, Jeff took on the shop’s neon tasks.
For many years, Jeff’s full-service team of 12 to 16 staffers completed each wholesale order in its entirety, from cabinet build and neon bend to service and installation. Over the years, he moved his shop from Olathe to Gardner and finally to Kansas City, Kansas, where it all began for Jeff. His shop still caters to a mix of large and small sign shops, nationwide. Jeff’s approach to sign work: “I listen [to the customer’s ideas], then create something that flows with what the customer has in mind.” After years of administrative task coordination, Jeff downsized in 2022 to refocus his attention on neon work. He now spends many more hours “in the fires.”
Jeff’s notable projects include the White Haven Motel sign restoration (see it at the Johnson County Arts and Heritage Center), signs for an entire miniature golf course, the Uptown Café (which was supposed to remind viewers of Roger Rabbit), The Mel Tillis Theater, Old Bucket Shop, Fashion Bug and Mr. Goodcents. You can find Jeff on Facebook at Full Blown Neon, or in his shop, Full Blown Neon, in Gardner, Kansas.
