New Challenger: Phase Two: Turning 2D to 3D, It’s harder then it sounds

I have a concept, I figured out my scale, now to start actually building… ugh… Where to begin?

Jim and I sat down with my concept sketch and started figuring out materials we should use. This can somewhat be overwhelming, but we approached it by dividing the piece in half. We started with the base, The bottom pretty much needs to be the strongest and most durable. This is because your top half is to be shipped inside it.

We came up with a steel frame welded together and attaching Precision Board from Coastal Enterprises for the panels inside the frame. This will give great durability and strength to the base while keeping the weight lower without sacrificing durability by using the Precision Board panels. Making this easier to unpack and assemble at the show.

We took my vectors into Enroute Pro to develop the textures and look and feel of the panels on my piece. Below is Jim instructing me how to tack weld, lets just say I need to practice those welds.IMG_2454_blogIMG_2449_blog

Also here are a few views of our Multicam carving the panels.

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Next up is painting!

-Aubrey

 

Published with permission from Synergy Sign & Graphics. Source.

New Challenger: Phase One: Use all the math you learned in school, that you never thought you’d actually ever use.

Phase One: Use all the math you learned in school, that you never thought you’d actually ever use.

I have a concept! Now what do I do? Well… I guess I can put the engineering degree to use and start drawing my piece to scale.
I started with the basic dimensions a 24in x 24in base, as stated in the contest rules with a total height of 72 inches.

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Easy enough, right? Well I began using all the math knowledge I never thought I’d use, I started to do rough sketches.
I brought my dimensions I calculated in Abobe Illustrator, and then everything seemed to fall into place.
I did my rough outlines that I will later bring into Enroute to start the modeling process so I can carve my design.
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Onto the modeling carving… yay! Fingers crossed!
-Aubrey

Published with permission from Synergy Sign & Graphics. Source.

New Challenger

A few months ago the invites for The Sign Invitational went out, I thought nothing more about it really besides the theme and some ideas came in mind for the shops entry.
As some of you may know, Jim and the shop helped organize a contest last year, where a bunch of sign makers challenged each other to create a dimensional display piece.
Synergy placocnept-editced 3rd and that was the first month I started at the shop and my first big project.

I then received an interesting email from none other than Dan Sawatzky. My eyebrow raised as I opened a email entitled “Sign Challenge.”
Oh brother, I thought to myself reading that Dan challenged me to compete in The Sign Invitational with Jim as a accomplice.
I panicked a bit, well actually I am still panicking a bit, ok well I am panicking a lot. I have a lot to learn and I am learning a lot and I feel this was a very tall order.
I still feel it is a tall order and a challenge for me having the least experience then the rest of the competitors.
I took a deep breath and thought to myself I might be able to do this if I have a strong idea.
I began to do what I do best, I curled up at my desk with my sketchbook and began to brainstorm several ideas.
The theme this year is Sign Magic, and I fell upon one of  the oldest styles of magic, fortune telling.
It is all starting with an idea and a sketch… Wish me luck and send some sign magic my way! I’ll need it!
-Aubrey

 

Published with permission from Synergy Sign & Graphics. Source.

What’s behind door #1?

A while back, I started brainstorming what our entry way should look like. It was pretty drab and boring, so it was in need of a major upgrade. The first thing that popped into my head was some neat looking gear themed window sills. We followed that up with some gear / steampunk themed custom shelves.

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This past week, we started carving a crazy door skin that screamed LOOK AT ME! in a very steampunk sort of way.

The door was carved from 30lb Precision Board plus from Coastal Enterprises. Our Multicam 3000 series router handled all of the machining duties flawlessly. EnRoute Pro 6 was tasked with creating the model for the door. We used some amazing bitmap wood textures from Dan Sawatzky’s Wood collection to create the wood planks in the recessed areas.

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After a quick test fit, we started the texture coat using Coastal Enterprises TSF45 coating. Its super thick and lets us do lots of fun things with it.

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We also cast 2 sizes of hot rivets using a silicone mold and Smooth On casting resins. The molds were created using real hot rivets. The resin copies were glued into the door and textured using the TSF45 and some HDU dust.

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The base coats were applied by hand. Here you see the skin based in a coat of dark brown.

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The next step involved various colors of black and dark red glaze. Once the glaze was dry, we applied the metallic paints from Modern Masters and Novacolor. One last coat of black glaze was added and wiped off once the metallics were dry.

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Here you see the finished product. All we have to do is finish the back side of the door and add some glass to finish it out.

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Stay tuned for progress on the rest of the entry way.

-Jim

Published with permission from Synergy Sign & Graphics. Source.

When Steampunk meets Polynesian

The past few months I have been learning new things pretty much daily and the past few weeks I have been tasked on learning the machines on the vinyl side of the business.

As the illustrator/designer at the shop I am often given challenges or tasked to come up with ideas frequently. Jim loves to give me the most curve ball concepts to work with. From camel camp signs to robot repair men, so when Jim came up with this newest challenge I wasn’t shocked it be somewhere from left field.

Jim sit across from me a the shop, makes to easy to collaborate and bounce ideas off one another. One morning Jim calls over to me “Hey, Aubrey when you find yourself with a minute try drawing up some steampunk tikis.” I looked at him and tilted my head thinking to myself “What in the world?” Naturally, I did what I always do when Jim wants me to draw up something. I nodded and replied “yeah sure.”

Meanwhile, I secretly Googled and typed in steampunk tikis and nothing came up…  rats!

Challenge-accepted

I started looking at traditional tikis and thought of things that are common in steampunk designs, the ideas started to swirl and well Ta Dah I passed Jim’s challenge.

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-Aubrey

Published with permission from Synergy Sign & Graphics. Source.