These are the beginings of the upgrades.
After I designed these The first thing that came to mind is that they resemble the logo on the old Triumph Motorcycles.
This works pretty well at making the blade stand out.
For the longest Time we have just had our name and House # painted on our Mail box so I thought I'd better change that or It would be like the shoemakers kids with no shoes. These are the beginings of the upgrades. After I designed these The first thing that came to mind is that they resemble the logo on the old Triumph Motorcycles. Here is the finished product, I wish I had taken a before shot ( it's hard to do a before when youv'e done the after) The saw blade fixture was created about a year ago and I always wanted to embelish it with some thing. This works pretty well at making the blade stand out.
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Here is a shot of the Moat Mountain Smoke house and Brewery Sign I recently created. After Installation I didn't like the way the "Smoke House & Brewing Co" Text read. After all that is the most important part of the message. I tried repainting and changing the colors (which helped) but I still was not satisfied. So I decided I needed to enlarge the text as much as possible. The only way I could see to accomplish this was to make a panel with the enlarged text on it and secure it over the smaller text. And Here are the results. This reads much better from the road at 35mph. My Goal was to make a sign that the Owner could get 10 years or more out of this sign and I wanted him to be happy with this sign for that entire period of time. Now I'm Happy and hopefully better educated as to what is really important on a sign. We drew 3 names out of our Bucket from the Business to business expo @ the Mount Washington hotel for our giveaway of a free custom designed plaque. So far only two recipients responded. Here is the first one For David Cullinan Of the Eastern Slope Airport In Fryeburg Me. And The Second was Deni Dufault of Dufalt Finacial Services. Congradulations to the both of you. It was a pleasure working with you on these projects. I had an idea that I just had to run with. I didn't like the looks of the light fixtures so I decided to hide them and what better way than in a beer mug. I designed a mug in Enroute (the software I use for the Multicam CNC router) I had to do each Half of the mug because a router such as mine cannot do any under cutting ( think of a ball, I can cut the top half but anything below that cuts straight down from the edges). These mugs are going to be 7.5" in diameter and about 10" tall. I'm cutting these pieces out of 2" foam so I had to cut each half in two slices I took quite a bit of hand work with a die grinder outfited with a sanding disc to carve out the inside so the hole thing fit around the light fixture. Then using stretch wrap packing tape, gorilla glue,and some spring clamps the four pieces for each mug became one. Once the final shaping and cleaning up of the gorilla glue was complete, I needed to embelish the mugs with some texture. Modifying a old drill bit was just the ticket. A bit of Sculpting epoxy and we have frauth. A couple layers of various paints and It's really looking as I envisioned. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to paint translucent glass, but I did it, Kool! keep up the finishing Touches are just around the corner.I think this is were that line of the national anthem came from. Color Is a wonderful thing it changes the apperience of simple objects and makes them pop. This is the first of two coats, the raised "mountain" text will get a "summer squash" yellow or as I refer to it "school bus yellow". A quick little sneak peek at the purple logo text on the silver corragated back ground. Just a reminder the corragated textured background is cut from foam is't not steel. The "Smoke House & brewing Co." text gets the same purple and the bottom line of text gets black. Back to The paint dept. and watch for the Bling!Here is a mock up of the sign back panel with Raised text and the logo which will be stood off the back panel by about 1/2". It's starting to come together. this is the back of the logo section with the stand offs glued in. I first drilled a hole in the back of the logo pc., then I inserted a carriage bolt in the hole with some 2 part urethane adhesive and over the bolt I used a piece of pvc pipe as a spacer. In this shot you can see the square blocks that I used to keep these standoffs straight until the adhesive had a chance to cure. We're getting close to paint How exciting. Stay tunned. A very important component of a sign is it's lighting, and far too often it's the least thought about aspect. I this case we need to light this from above so I purchased some LED spot lights and actually wired them up temporarly so I could hold them in front of the sign, in the shop with the shop lights out so I could see exactly how far from he sign the lights needed to be. The verdict was for a 5' x 4' sign the lights needed to be 3'6" away. ( the lights on the existing sign I am replacing are 12" away not good!) So I got out the conduit bender an fashioned up the bent arms that would support the new lights.and some other features. On the back of the lights I am adding a little bling. I'm making some beer Tap handles that will stand up above the lights. with a little branding going on at the same time. Here you can see the steel that I am sandwiching into the Tap handles for strenght. Next up on the plate (or should I say "on Tap")is a replacement for the Top section of this Local Brew pub's Sign. http://moatmountain.com/ This One has seen better days, A perfect example of why use HDU ( High Density Urethane Foam) in an xterior application, This sign is made of solid wood and plywood and is Quickly deteriorating. This is a concept drawing of the replacement. The Bulk of this sign is all HDU Foam with the exception of the interior structural frame. The back ground is to be cut to ressemble wavy corragated metal with the smaller text protruding from it (cut from the same piece), The "Moat" lettering is to be 1-1/2" thick and will be stood off of that corragated back ground to give it some shadow. The "mountain" text is raised from the Moat Text but also cut out of the same piece of foam,(nothing gets glued on so nothing can fall off). Here you can see the structural frame work of the sign. I've cut away some slots to reduce the weight of the structure, and this also allows me a chase to run the wires for the Tap Handle Lights. Although this interior frame work is plywood (exterior grade) If I do my Job correctly it should never see any water. Below are a couple of shots of the Cutting process. Stay Tunned for more updatesOnce all the Compnents were attached and the final coats of paint were done I rolled the sign out side for it to cure in the sun for awhile. At This stage the only thing left to do was to clear coat the entire piece after the paints have had a chance to cure. Then it was moving day. I fabricated a craddle that would suspend the sign and allow it to be transported in it's upright position. Hopefully this craddle will work for other signs of this nature and not be a single use piece. I let the customer barrow one of my trailers so they would be able to pick up the sign. The report I received last nigt was that the sign made it to it's destination safely and that everyone tha was able to peek at it gave good reviews. It should be hung in it's final resting place high above the entrance to Elf University at Santa's Village In Jefferson New Hampshire for opening weekend. I Can't wait till Santa sends me some photo of this sign hanging,
Happy learning Elf Class of 2012 I's awsume how when you start to add coloir things really start to pop. A few coats of White, a few coats of green, a few coats of red, through in a splash of yellow and presto. Here I've detailed things a little more. I painted the bells gold and the lettering white. I also couldn't resist attaching the holly and berries to the top. today I should be able to complete this piece. Yet to be done;
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AuthorDonald A. Johnson This is an on going story of my explorations into the artistic world,chronicling the process of this journey. Highlighting my successes as well as my failures. I'll try not to focus on the failures, but they are what has taught me the most.
I Owe the ability to take this journey to; My Mom (for she bred in me a drive and creativity required for this type of trip) My Incredible Wife and Children for their support, and to the world of creative people that inspire me everyday. One in particular is Dan Sawatzky (click here to meet Dan) This Guy has Changed the way I look at things. He is truly an artist and a Visionary with passion. Archives
June 2014
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