Making Magic at the 2017 Sign Invitational

First place entry for 2017 Sign InvitationalSign Builder Illustrated wrote up a fantastic article about the 2017 Sign Invitational, including information on next year’s show.  The magazine spoke to the top three winners about how they came up with their designs and the methods and materials they used to achieve the finished product.

Dan Sawatzky from Imagination Corporation took first place with his entry “Magic Train”.  Here’s an excerpt of how he came up with the idea for his submission, based on his early work in the industry painting historical murals.

Many of these murals featured Sawatzky’s favorite subject—steam trains. “I thought it would be fun to have a sign painter painting a mural with the steam train busting through the billboard,” he says, noting that the sign painter featured in the bosun’s chair was inspired by a painting by one of his favorite artists, Norman Rockwell.

Frames were built from plasma-cut and welded steel. The train was routed out of thirty-pound Precision Board HDU (PBLT-30) using a MultiCam CNC. All the paints and glazes were hand-brushed acrylic.

Coastal Enterprises was proud to be one of the sponsors of the 2017 Sign Invitational, held in Las Vegas, Nevada during the ISA International Sign Expo in April.  This was the second year of the Invitational and the theme was “Magic”.

We encourage you to participate in next year’s event and show off your creativity and craftsmanship.  The 2018 Sign Invitational will be held in Orlando, Florida in March and the theme will be “Marvelous Machine”.  The primary mission of the event is to foster involvement and creativity in the sign industry, partially through these yearly competitions.  You can submit portfolio pieces here to be considered before invites are sent in August.  25 competitors will be selected to compete.

Check out the entire article on the  Sign Builder Illustrated website.

Another award

The sign collection for the Pin & Crown Pub were honoured once again. This time it was a first place award in the Signs System category of the Sign Media – Canada.

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

Another load gone

With everything ready to go prior to the fifty-three foot trailer arrived we had a whole day to load it. This meant we could do the task without rushing. The pallets were numbered and one by one we carefully brought them to the truck and slid them into position. Since we don’t have a loading dock we instead used the forklift along with a custom designed, two piece push rig that fits onto the forks. We can reach into a trailer about thirty feet. The pallets each weighed up to two thousand pounds but slid easily on the smooth trailer floor.
Each pallet was equipped with temporary dolly wheels which facilitate easy movement of the heavy pieces around the shop as we build. As we lifted the pallets with the forklift these wheels dropped off effortlessly, ready for reuse on the next project.
With all of the pieces stuffed into the trailer securely there was only four inches of space left by the door. Some scrap dunnage was tossed into this space to prevent any movement on the journey.
The total time to load was just over three hours. Tomorrow morning we sent the trailer on it’s way.

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

Making a Splash with Pirok Design: Creating Blackberry Farm’s Dimensional Signs

Kevin Pirok founded Pirok Design in 1996 after spending the early stages of his career working with some of the most talented sign-makers in the business. Now in its 22nd year of business, Kevin’s Illinois-based company does logo design, websites, marketing materials and creates distinct signs for area businesses. He uses Precision Board HDU as one of his sign mediums and we asked him a few questions about one sign in particular that caught our eye- Splash Country at Blackberry Farm.

Kevin used multiple layers and materials to give the sign the dimensionality he envisioned.  “This sign was part of a three sign entrance wayfarer system for Pioneer Park and Splash Country, so I wanted to make them as colorful and attractive as possible. For this particular park they are located in a country setting so that’s where the rooster and the barn comes into play as a theme. It was a farm driven activity center for families before it was upscaled to a park, so one sign features a rooster and another features a train. The train would take people around the property.”

Pirok Design's Family Aquatic Center sign

The graphic was printed on vinyl and applied to clear polycarbonate, showing use of multiple mediums and materials in the signs. “We created a sign for Family Aquatic Center which featured a dolphin breaking out from the top. The splash marks the dolphin is making was carved from Precision Board.”

Kevin is a big fan of Precision Board for a multitude of reasons. “It cuts really well. It routs really nice. I can carve it and I think the big features is that it doesn’t wear down your tools as fast. Precision Board is a lot less resistant than wood or other materials. It cuts and sands very well. We can glue it together and create different thicknesses and shapes. You can use it with FSC-88 WB, a water-based primer/filler that can be used prior to paints and coatings.”

Pirok Design's Main Street Pub sign

Don’t be afraid to use Precision Board HDU to add layers and dimensions to an otherwise flat substrate and come up with a fun and interesting sign design.

Things are really hopping at Pirok Design right now as they currently have five projects geared towards electric signage, a skill set that Kevin developed from his early days as a designer.

Kevin also just finished up another dimensional sign for Main Street Pub. “This sign combines reclaimed lumber with lettering cut from Precision Board. We used PB Resin as a doming technique and applied silver-leaf to it.”

If you’re in the market for some amazing sign designs or other company branding, you can call Kevin at (630) 365-9870 or visit the Pirok Design website to see an extensive photo portfolio of their work. We think he’s a great guy and does beautiful work, but call to verify for yourself!

 

Packing for the trip

We think carefully about how we will move our pieces in the shop as we build them. They need to be safely lifted into the transport truck and secure while they are being transported. Once on site our customer needs to easily and safely move them once more, lift them into place and secure them in place permanently. It is easy to say but requires lots of thought and engineering to pull off. 
The planning starts as we design the pieces with lifting and mounting points built in from the start. The combined weight of the pieces for this shipment is about fifteen thousand pounds.
Tomorrow the trucking company will drop off a fifty-three foot long trailer for us to load. It will leave on Thursday morning. Today we shifted our efforts from production to packing. The pub signs we finished late last year were cut off their temporary stands and welded onto a new custom designed steel pallet. Underneath the signs four post backs will rest. These heavy pieces will provide ballast weight to keep the top heavy signs in place.
The pieces are fabricated from a variety of materials including, steel, plywood, concrete, sculpting epoxy and 30 lb Precision Board. Each piece has hard points built into the piece for lifting, carrying during transport and final mounting.

The pallet holds the six pub signs as well as four post backs which go on sideways, in pairs on each end of the pallet.

The massive (and heavy) posts sit on a structure that mimics the six by six steel posts they will surround when they are mounted. In the background two arches are mounted back to back and at a slight angle for safe moving and transport. Ten of these arches will fit on this load.

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