Finishing touches.

A green glaze was next on the list . Suddenly the turtle became part of the sign. It was looking pretty good in a hurry.

Then it was time for the last glaze. It was a custom blend of dark brown, metallic cherry and a teeny bit of black. We call it plum crazy. Two coats of gold finished things off. We were done!

-dan

Going green

Today, in between other tasks we started in on the painting of the Laughing Tortoise Beer sign. First up was the base colors. The greens were Modern Masters Metallics, while the tan colors were General Paint 100% acrylic house paints. Everything was double coated. A shop fan speeded up the drying process.

A light brown was the first glaze. It was applied over the tortoise and around the edges of the scroll. As I brushed it on I followed with a soft towel and dabbed it off to blend it to the base color. The glaze remained full strength in the cracks and low areas and on the edges of the scroll. We make our glazes by using 50% clear base paints (without any added pigment) mixed in with 50% of normal paint. Both the clear base and paints are General Paint 100% acrylic exterior house paint.            

The next glaze was a dark, dirty blue we call blue jeans. It was applied over the green areas of the sign and toweled off carefully. Once I had finished going over all the areas I went back and second coated the ridges around the letters. This will make the painted letters jump on the final sign.

There's still some green glaze to come on the tortoise before a final dark glaze before the gold on the letters. Stay tuned...

-dan

Fish in a bowl

In most of my 3D routing I use a technique to route the sides of the reliefs and leave an onion skin at the base. In this fashion the top edge is finished and any hand work is done at the bottom of the piece. If I am gluing two routed pieces back to back I leave an onion skin ridge intact on both pieces. This way the glue squishes out away from the edge making finishing much easier. It is cleaned up in seconds after the piece dries.

Below is a fish relief I created in EnRoute. It is a relatively simple relief...  the fish body is created using the dome tool. The fins were created separately as flat reliefs and then merged with the body. The eyes and fin were added to the relief.

Once I had merged all the pieces I used the offset tool to create two lines - one 0.6" and one 0.2" outside of that. The outside line was used to create a relief of 0.75" thick. Then I modify that relief with a value of negative 0.75".  Both reliefs are aligned to the bottom of the plate and then merged together. This forms a stepped 'bowl' with a fish inside. I've found that using this stepped shape breaks less bits.

 -dan

Not a straight line in sight!

 The Fox & hounds project is starting to come together pretty quick. to support the work we will do on our router we are doing lots of large scale preparations. The biggest part is the entry walls. Trees, rocks heavy beams and lots of meandering bricks are all being sculpted from fiberglass reinforced concrete. Already the look of the place has dramatically changed.

-dan

Setting the bar

With each day the new project is a series of new things, each setting the style and level of finish we will do through the rest of the job. Each new aspect of the job is a test, to see how all the different techniques and mediums can be blended together to look like one large, seamless piece.

The beginning of the sawn woodgrain was sculpted today, the first two of a number of wine barrels that will frame feature pieces, bulletin boards, and other things through the pub.

The carved concrete woodgrain is designed to match the woodgrain we routed into the mantle piece yesterday.

When I got home I couldn't resist putting in a few minutes to finish sculpting the tortoise.

Next up we begin the painting process which is bound to be a lot of fun!

-dan

Faster than a speeding tortoise

 As a reward for a bunch of other work that was not quite as enjoyable I did some preliminary sculpting on the Tortoise Beer sign for the Fox and Hounds Pub. Rather than advertise real beer brands we are creating some fun signs for the establishment that simply are fun!

I did a little research on the net and found some great reference material... then I set to sculpting. I roughed in the head first for I knew I wouldn't be able to do it in one go. Sometimes it works better to build up a foundation shape and then go back to add a detailed layer later. This was one of those instances. Then I roughed in the shell and lastly I switched to the feet. It went pretty quick.

He will be realistic but with a great deal of character added to make it a little more fun. The scales of his legs are just balls of Abracadabra Sculpting epoxy pressed on. Lastly I smoothed out the shell, then added his eyes.

The whole head and neck will get another layer of sculpt tomorrow, with lots of character, wrinkles and laugh lines too. The side view shows just how dimensional this sign really is.

This is so much more fun than actually working!

-dan

Sign Magic Workshop options

This summer/fall there will be FOUR Sign Magic Workshops. It will keep me very busy and will also allow many more to learn exactly how we do all the things we do. For the first time we will be taking the workshops on the road. While much of the same knowledge we share in our mobile workshop will be taught, the magic of our shop/studio and environs will only be able to be experienced in pictures. The workshop to be held here in our studio is to be held on September 30, October 2, 2011. Included in that workshop will be a tour of the MultiCam facility and the Fox & Hounds Pub along with some other local projects. We will also do welding, cement sculpture and a few other things, not always practical or possible on the road.

We have received so many requests to travel to various locations because not everyone is able or willing to take the time to travel to us. It is understandable. The Sign Magic Workshops will include as much information and hands-on lessons as is practical for each location.

The locations and dates are as follows...

Sign Magic Workshop - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

August 18 - 20, 2011

MultiCam Canada Technology Center

15-701 Millway Avenue, Concord, Ontario

(905) 738-7954

daniel@multicam.ca

Sign Magic Workshop - Kiev, Ukraine

September 5-7, 2011

Kiev, Ukraine

tel    +380 (44) 453-65-20 #704

cell  +380 (67) 467-47-79

editor@signweb.com.ua

Sign Magic Workshop - Yarrow, British Columbia

September 30 - October 2, 2001

Yarrow (Chilliwack), British Columbia, Canada

(604) 823-2216

dan@imaginationcorporation.com

www.imaginationcorporation.com/sign-workshops

Sign Magic Workshop - Orlando, Florida, USA

November 3-5, 2011

MultiCam Florida Technology Center

Orlando, Florida, USA

Amy Johnson  (972) 929-4070  EXT 2013

amy@multicam.com

We hope to see you at a workshop soon!

-dan