Back in 2015 when Dan and I sat on a grassy hill at the EnRoute summit in Denver Colorado, I would have never guessed our crazy ideas would turn into an amazingly fun event. The premise, Invite the best of the best in the sign industry and see who answers the call. The challenge, set some rules and see how creatively people can break them.
After collecting my award for Best Novelty Sign at the EnRoute summit and meeting some super amazing people, it was time to return home and get ready for our first Sign Alchemy class. People started arriving for the class on Wednesday night and we spent some time hanging out at the shop and preparing for the days to come. Everyone arrived Thursday morning eager to get started learning how we do what we do.
A couple of years back, I attended my first EnRoute workshop in Denver Colorado. I had and amazing time with some old friends and made some new friends along the way. When EnRoute announced it was holding a competition leading up to the 2017 Summit in Salt Lake City, I climbed all over it. Up for grabs were cash prizes, advertising opportunities, and free trips to the summit. I’m happy to say that we placed 1st in the Novelty category with our gear set.
A few months ago, I walked in the shop and stopped in the entryway. I looked around and thought, this is nice, but it’s not really Synergy. After some careful brainstorming, the hammers came out, the paint brushes began to fly, and the Multicam CNC Router began cutting parts. The first step was to texture all of the walls with Coastal Enterprises TSF 45 texture coating. We used 3 gallons putting a nice heavy texture on the walls.
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. Easy enough, right
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 pla ced 3rd and that was the first month I started at the shop and my first big project.
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.
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.
Today, we finished up the application on the plaque for my daughters room. Variegated copper and silver were the choices. After looking at the finished product, there is no doubt that it’s the little things that make something special.
Today we continued work on a one of a kind carved sign for my daughter. Today we sculpted the vines and a flower. Tomorrow we’ll add some paint and some cool enchanted bug elements.
