Workshop name tags 3

Cory’s name plaque  was to be a diamond shape. The vertical and horizontal lines play off this shape and a comic font offsets the squareness of the diamond. It uses a bitmap from my TEXTURE MAGIC collection called checkerboard squiggles.
The border of the panel is a basic flat relief. Then I modified this relief by using the bevel tool, but I set the perimeters to limit to the height.
Then I imported the bitmap, enlarged and entered it on the panel. 
The letter outline was created as a separate relief, adjusted vertically and then merged highest to the plaque.
The lettering was the last element to be added. It is a bevel with a base height of 0.15″. As quick as that the file was ready for tool pathing.  
-dan

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

Workshop name tags 2

The second name tag was a relatively simple one. Jeff’s name tag would feature his name on a log round.
I imported the long round with splits bitmap from my TEXTURE MAGIC collection. The relief was a simple circle with a dome shape. The bitmap was then applied.
The lettering outline is then made into a relief, and then modified into a dome shape with a similar sized circle vector using the same settings as he original background vector.
Stay tuned for some more name plaques coming up.
-dan

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

Sign design in a different light

When most sign makers think of a sign their thinking is limited to the flat substrate and what they might stick onto it. At our shop we think of a sign as anything that attracts attention to our customer’s business, product or service.
In the entry hall of the Fox & Hounds Pub we have a project that closely resembles a sign under most definitions. The sign is dimensional of course for that is our style. We take it further than that however. The base of the sign, a large barrel tied the sign into the theme of the restaurant and helps tell the story. The brick wall behind the sign also was part of our work. It is actually the back of a seating booth in the pub. The curved brickwork mirrors the extensive carved concrete brickwork we did elsewhere in the restaurant. The large beams overhead also are part of our contract. 
But there is more to the ‘sign’ we are creating. My design also included the fancy tile work on the floor. The work was to be done by another subcontractor but is an important part of the design. The lighting above is placed and focused to show the sign in the best possible light. Everything works together to bring attention to our customer’s brand. This is an effective and memorable sign.
-dan

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

Outside progress at the pub

Each day we do our best to cross another job off the list. For the longest while it seemed the list of projects ahead of us at the Fox & Hounds was much longer than the finished ones. But as we walk through the project now it is coming together. It will be an incredible body of work when we are done.
Today the weather was perfect to do a large sculpted concrete out front. The unseasonable heat wave we have been experiencing is now gone. Annie mixed for me today and I slopped on the mud and when it had set enough I started in on the brickwork. We finished with time to spare, allowing for a thorough cleanup which always makes the job look better.
Tomorrow will be a shop day and by the end of the week we hope to be finished all of the sculpted concrete handrails outside at last. Then it is down to paint. 
The contractor has finished the plasterwork and the tudor trim. It is looking pretty welcoming already. Up top the blank area will soon be home to a new dimensional sign which is underway in the shop.
-dan

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

Production in spite of me

Yesterday was one of those days when almost nothing went right. Tools broke and had to be replaced, pieces were missing and had to be fabricated, and I simply got things wrong. Not much headway was made through the day in the shop. We all have days like that from time to time. At least the weather was perfect for those drives to town. I tried my best to whistle while I worked.
The good news however was in the router room the router kept chugging away doing things right. The file was massive, the detail was tight and the file ran a long time but it ran flawlessly. While I was frustrated in the shop and running back and forth to town the machine kept working, and working and working. It worked through the night while I caught up on my sleep. This morning when I came out to the shop it was done, perfectly. I had no worries. This is what I love about my MultiCam. Even the tools were put back in their holders. It doesn’t get better than that.
The file was one I created in EnRoute last week. Since I posted the mantle project here I changed things up a little and added a few more pieces for the bottom and top of the mantle. It now covered a full 4×8′ sheet of 1″ thick 30 lb Precision Board, wasting little material. Tomorrow we’ll glue the pieces into place and then build the rest of the new fireplace front around it. 
Stay tuned for pictures of the progress…
-dan

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