Work continues at a busy pace in our shop. It's my job to design and weld the structure for each piece. The fellows doing the lathing (tying on the galvanized diamond lath) are only a day or two behind and catching up fast. When the lathing is done we lather on a thick coat of fiberglass-reinforced-concrete and then wait just the right amount of time for the mud to set up and then carve like crazy. There is no stopping until the carving and cleanup is done. The key is to carve at the same speed as the mud went on for then it stays perfect. I carved this tree while TJ carved another piece. He also gave me a hand smoothing out the rocks.
Next I'll add the edge and end grain to the sign wood using an air powered die grinder. I'll also sculpt a cartoon bird which will be perched on the top and is to be fastened on the steel rod that sticks out of the top of the sign.
It was great fun to sculpt the gnarly detail into the twisted tree!
Stay tuned as it all comes together in the next few days...
-dan
