And then he was gone!

It is always exciting when a sign is delivered or a customer comes to pick it up. These days our clients often watch the signs progress on our blog. We had communicated often by mail in the last weeks as well. As they drive up the driveway they were even more delighted with what they saw. He was after all bigger than life! Once the inspection was done we went into the office to do the necessary paperwork and then I fired up the forklift to move him to the trailer.  There were a few anxious seconds as I approached for the stand looked a little tall but there were a couple of inches to spare.

With lots of help he slid in pretty easy and we bolted the stand to the floor in a couple of minutes while the owner added a couple of straps to the top of the stand in case of sudden stops or turns. This bull had no chance of getting loose! We decided to weld one more small brace on the bottom of the stand just for peace of mind. I fired up the welder and in a few seconds it was done. Everything was checked one more time for this beast was traveling a thousand miles before he was home. Then, as quick as the excitement had started they were gone.

As I walked back to the house tonight the yard felt strangely empty. I knew the bull was going to a good home, but wondered what his name would be...

-grampa dan

Sign edges

One of the many things that separates our sign shop from most out there is how we take a little extra time and effort to finish the edges of our signs. Our signs are dimensional - wildly so. This means they have four sides by which they may be viewed.  On the meat market sign we are currently doing, the edge of the sign is cartoon woodgrain - like the front. I could have created a router file to machine some wood grain which would have meant only a little hand work to blend the pieces at the corners. I've done it that way with good results previously. But in this case it was just as easy and probably faster to create the woodgrain texture on the edges by hand with an air powered die grinder. It only took a few minutes to do.

The end result is noticeable but subtle if done right. It adds value to a project without adding hardly anything in cost. It is one more way to separate ourselves from the pack.

-dan

Ring it is!

I had posed this question on a couple of forums and on our facebook page...  the jury is in. Luckily the owners of the sign also weighed in with their opinion. Almost all (including the owners) wanted to see a nose ring. No problem. Nose ring he now has.  :)

-dan

To ring or not to ring...

We are now into the hand finishing stage of the sign as all the machining is done. One of he bull's heads is almost done. There is a debate raging in our shop right now as to whether we should put a brass ring in his nose or leave it as is...  Any opinions??

-dan

It passed our first test!

Today we squeezed in some time to work on the Meat cutter's sign. I welded up a 1.5" x 1.5" square tubing frame with some sturdy eye bolts on the top.  I clamped the sign face to one side of the structural steel frame and then cut scrap blocks of 1.5" Precision Board around it. These were glued and screwed securely.

Then I hoisted the second side into place and fastened it to the back side. I hadn't yet started in on the sculpting of this bull.  We'll do that tomorrow.

The sign is starting to look pretty cool and it is going to be a good size when it's done, measuring about 4 feet wide by 4' tall and an amazing 4 feet thick. THIS is a dimensional sign! The sculpting of the bull on this side is almost done with only a little on his chin, the hair on the top of the head and the horns to go. I'll be in touch with the owners tonight and see if I can convince them he needs a nose ring - just for fun. 

Today we had a new customer from Utah come through our shop. As soon as they came through the door they gravitated to the bull sign. He pulled a camera from his pocket and asked if he could take a picture. I agreed. It made me smile for in doing so the sign passed it's first test. The test is simple. Before we finish installing a sign, someone, not connected to us or the owner, has to take a picture of the sign we build. I can't remember any that haven't. It means the signs we make are memorable and are doing their job. And doing it beyond simply being there. Each time the photos are looked at the sign is working again - wherever that might be. THAT is an effective sign!

-dan

More fun

One of my favorite things about my MultiCam router is that it does it's work unattended - while I do other things. Late last night I started this detailed file - then went to bed. I slept good too! This morning when I came in to check it was just finishing up the file. That is the definition of convenience and ease!

Sarah came in just before noon today and in less than three hours we made pretty good progress on the bull's head sculpt.  A heavy steel rod goes through the head and into the horns to make sure they stay put for a life time.

The bull's head was fastened securely from the back of the sign. I'll weld up a steel frame to laminate the front and back sides over and then finish the sculpt in place. It is always best to sculpt as it will appear finished if possible to get the proportions right - even for a cartoon. The funny groove in the horizontal piece of the sign was a routing mistake. I accidentally called up the wrong file as they were named very similar... but no real harm was done as the top piece will laminate over it before we are done . by the end of the week this side of the sign should be almost ready for paint!

One thing for sure about this sign... it is going to be HEAVY! The wind shouldn't bother it too much.

-dan

BULLS EYE!

 Last night we got the go signal from a new client. They had visited our shop last month, liked what they saw and asked me to design a new sign for their meat cutting business. They asked for a dimensional bull's head as their mascot.I did up a design and sent it off to them. They liked the concept but asked for two small changes. The bull needed to be a little meaner and the lettering needed to be a bright shade of yellow.

I did up the changes in a hurry and sent the artwork on it's way one more time. The response was immediate - BULL'S EYE!

The next step was to figure out just how the bull would look from the side. I threw a piece of tracing paper over a printout and did a quick side view sketch in scale. He looked just as mean from this angle!  

Then I pulled my design into Illustrator and whipped up the vectors I needed for the sign. These were imported into EnRoute pro and the design process began for real. The front view of the head was only for reference sake as I wouldn't be creating a relief from this angle. The bull's head to the left was used to cut eight 1" pieces of Precision Board which I screwed together to make two heads. 

The main body of the sign was to be routed from 2" 30 lb Precision Board. Since the sign measures 4' x 4' it needed lots of depth. The horizontal pieces will be laminated on top and are to be cut from 1.5" Precision Board. For the wood grain relief I used my cartoon woodgrain bitmap with a depth of .3".

Because the shape of the sign is not the same on both edges it is important to build the text reliefs as a separate item from the sign face. I created a copy of each and then flipped the sign face before merging everything together. In this way the front and back of the sign will fit together perfectly.

Since the whole head would be covered with sculpting epoxy I screwed the pieces together pretty rough. I used some scraps I had lying around to create the bulky nose and top of the head. Then I scrunched up some tinfoil to bulk our the nose a little more.  If you look at the photo closely you will see Sarah in the background mixing the sculpting epoxy for me. It takes just as long as the sculpting process.

I only worked on the sculpture for about an hour today. I wanted to bulk things out a little - not worrying about any details at this stage.  The head is quite large as you can see by the spray bottle beside it.

The background pieces for the sign are on the MultiCam router now and will run through the night. Tomorrow some real progress will be made on this project.

-dan