Our local firemen wanted a way to formally honor fallen fire fighters. They had a brass bell which would be rung once for each firemen. It was on a temporary stand. The ceremony was in ten days and they came to us, hat in hand to see what we could do. It was a good cause and with our MultiCam entirely possible. I used their logo as the starting point. Using EnRoute I domed the top and added texture too the logo. I wanted it to appear timeless and feel like an heirloom. Then I designed the bell support to look like an old timber. The pieces were routed separately from 30 lb Precision Board on the MultiCam in a only few hours. Then I glued it all up over a welded steel frame so it would last forever, no matter how it was handled through the years.
I painted it up with copper paints and gilded the scroll and lettering with 23K gold. I then did a glaze over the entire surface except the gold to give it that time worn appearance. The bell was polished up and hung with care. The piece was ready two days before the ceremony. I called the fire chief to let him know. When he dropped in to pick it up there were tears in his eyes. We had met the goal and done it in a way that was a fitting honor to these brave men.
-dan
