Coastal Enterprises, manufacturers of Precision Board HDU, is proud to host guest blogs written by some of the signage industry’s biggest movers and shakers, posted to the Precision Board Blog. This guest blog is written by Stacy Kolacz with GrafiXhouse Design Studio, based in Garner, NC. Stacy tells us how they came up with a unique design for a customer’s beach house in North Carolina using Precision Board urethane and inspired by some heavy-metal legends.
In Stacy’s own words…
This is the job all artists dream of – the job where a customer gives a list of wishes and then says simply, “Just run with it.” In this case, our customer’s list was one of the good life: beach, music, and good bourbon on the rocks.
With a beach house in Carolina Beach, NC, they wanted a custom sign to reflect that life. No dolphins, no pelicans, no pastels. It was up to us to produce a sign, and a name, that could welcome our customer to their home with personality and style.
After sketching multiple designs, we decided on the final image – the crab wearing headphones, making the “Sign of the Horns” with one claw and holding a rocks glass of Blanton’s in the other.
Next came the name, and what better name than “Enter Sandman.”
Once the sketch and typography were complete, we used FlexiSign to vector the image and prepare it for routing. Starting with 1.5” 15 pound Precision Board HDU (PBLT-15) on our ShopBot CNC, we created the shape of the crab.
To create the seashells, barnacles, and facial features of the crab, we hand-sculpted using Magic Sculpt, and finally, we primed using Kilz and finished painting with 1 Shot.
While we were happy with the results, next came the moment of truth – giving it to the customer.
We presented the sign to our customer; they loved it and were ecstatic to hang it at their beach house to say to all, “Enter Sandman!”
Many of our jobs are unique, but we were especially thrilled to be able to let our creative juices flow and produce this sign for our customer.
GrafiXhouse Design Studios is located in North Carolina and is staffed by professional artists that have degrees in fine art and advertising. They do everything from logo design, company branding and marketing to 3d signs, trade show props and banners. We are very impressed with their work and highly recommend them. Give them a call at (919) 329-5743 or visit their website.
Coastal Enterprises manufactures Precision Board HDU, a versatile, cost-effective and eco-friendly urethane sign material that is particularly suited for making professional-looking indoor and outdoor dimensional signs. It is a closed-cell rigid substrate that does not rot, warp or crack. You can request free samples, get a quote or sign up for periodic newsletters packed with helpful information.