Town crier sign(s) done.

Yesterday I worked on the signs adding color after color, glaze after glaze. Each stage went quickly and by the time I was done every square inch of the signs had at least four layers of paint/glaze – some up to six coats. Because of the design and routing of multiple layers and lots of textures the process went easy. For tricky areas like the lettering I just had to drag a brush over the raised parts making cutting of the edges a snap. 
Now it will be up to the owners to chose their favorite and I’ll hang the other in my studio as a sample piece. Having finished samples on hand makes it easy to sell more of this kind of work in the future.
If it was your choice which one would you pick?
I do have a favorite but I’m not telling…
-dan

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.

SpaceX Dragon Space Capsule – 360˚ View

SpaceX, or Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, posted a tweet about their innovative space capsule known as Dragon. It is a free-flying reusable spacecraft made up of a pressurized capsule and unpressurized trunk used for Earth to Low Earth Orbit transport of cargo and/or crew members. Check out an amazing 360˚ view of the interior of Dragon!

See more info about SpaceX here.

Sign comes to life with color!

The two signs are being worked on simultaneously with progress being about equal. Similar but not the same, I’ll let the client choose the one they want and I’ll hand the other in our showroom as a sample to encourage future sales of this kind of sign.
The paint started with Coastal Enterprises heavy bodied primer FSC-88 WB. As is my style I brushed in on with a small brush, purposely leaving brush stroked behind. This adds character and goes a long way to making the sign look hand made.
I used Modern Master’s Acrylic Scenic paint for the base coats. It was also brushed on by hand. I worked with a very limited pallet, custom mixing my colors as I went. The gold paint is from Modern Masters Metallic line of paints.
I worked on the top portion of the sign initially as I like to splash paint around. Once the top part is done I’ll start in on the bottom portion. Next up is the glazing process.
Stay tuned…
-dan

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.

More than just a pretty face.

Structure is critical in our work. Structure comes in many forms starting with the substrates we choose. In our shop I like to use 30 or 40 lb Precision board exclusively while most shops stick with the less expensive 15-20lb HDU. The numbers refer to the pounds per cubic foot. The higher the number the denser and tougher the product is. I want to sleep good at night and knowing I have used the best possible product for our projects means they will be a LOT sturdier and withstand a lot more abuse down the road.
The small sign we are building now is a good example of our sturdy construction methods. When it came time to build the town crier’s arm I first welded up a sturdy armature from 5/8″ steel rod. This was epoxied deep into the 30 lb Precision Board. I know that no matter what this guy’s arm is going to remain intact.
Once the steel rods were epoxied into place I did the sculpting of the hand and arm, knowing it will stay in place no matter what.
There is also some steel mesh embedded into his hat giving it a lot more strength like steel inside a concrete deck. Overkill? Perhaps, but if it never fails then it has done it’s job.
I’ll be sleeping well at night knowing the signs I build won’t fail due to poor material and shortcuts in their construction. Most of my customers and those who see it will never know. Hopefully they will be concentrating on the pretty face.  🙂
-dan

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.

Ring that bell!

Today’s project was a simple one but it shows an EnRoute tool I use a lot these days. The tool is the revolve tool. Once I learned it I found it easy and handy too!
The job was a small bell (actually two) for the Town Crier Whiskey sign(s). Everything was done in EnRoute. I first used the drawing tools to create a profile of half the bell. Then I drew the centerline. The profile would be revolved around this point. 
The tool in the men bar looks like a wineglass. Select this. Then I filled in the parameters I needed to create a mesh. (100 slices and 100stacks) I selected the profile (as prompted) before hitting the blue forward arrow. Then I selected the centerline. 

When I fit the checkmark I got an instant bell shaped mesh.
I then created a zero height relief. Once I was happy with the shape, size and position I selected both the mesh and the relief. This lit up the combine mesh button and allowed me to do just that. I could then delete the mesh.
I forgot to get any more screen captures but I used the slice tool to get rid of the zero height plate, then duplicated the bell three times to give me my four halves (for two bells) I arranged them and positioned them to cut in one piece from 1.5″ thick 30 lb Precision Board HDU. I used a 3/8″ ball nose bit with an 80% overlap.  I knew it would leave slight tool marks but I am going to be covering the bell with sculpting epoxy in any case so it was of no concern. With the tool paths done it was time to fire up the MultiCam…
As you can see it cut in a hurry! I had the dust hood up and I was blowing with an air hose to keep things clear of dust for the video. Next time I’ll show how we fastened the various pieces of the sign together. Stay tuned…
-dan

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.