WELCOME!


It is hard to believe that it was almost ten years ago I witnessed a CNC router in action for the very first time. I was fascinated with what I saw and simply had to have one! Although I had been in the creative end of the three dimensional sign business for most of my life I didn't really know what I would do with one - but I just knew it could do fantastic stuff.

Through extensive research and LOTS of hands-on practice I quickly found out that my MultiCam router was capable of just about anything imaginable.This journal will chronicle that journey to date and continue each week with two or three entries as I continue to explore just what is possible with this wonderful tool... -dan

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Adding the family jewels

We stay busy on the Fox & Hounds project and it's many, many pieces. One of the signs is almost ready for paint. There were a few details yet to do. After gluing in the support structure I needed to finish the edges and back of the sign. I took a few minutes and used the die grinder to add a subtle texture to the areas. It looks a lot like it was dome with an adze or flat chisel.



The other details would be hand done as well. Back a few weeks ago, when I was doing the workshop in Toronto, I was getting a few supplies (stir sticks and paint cups) and I found these large plastic rubies. They were perfect for the jewels I needed in the crown of this sign. It only cost a couple of dollars for a good sized plastic tube. 


The tops of the crown was sculpted with Abracadabra Sculpting epoxy. I used the die grinder to hollow out the sockets for the plastic jewels. I made them oversized and then partially filled them in with sculpting epoxy, then pushed in the jewels.


I trimmed the sculpting epoxy around the jewels and then fashioned some claws to look authentic. As quick as that this portion of the sign was ready for paint.


Then I used a little more Abracadabra Sculpt to fashion some grape leaves and fastened them to the sign. A couple more seconds with the die grinder introduced a subtle texture to the face of the scrolls.


Stay tuned for the painting process...

-dan