WELCOME!

It is hard to believe that it was almost ten years ago I witnessed a CNC router in action for the very first time. I was fascinated and simply had to have one! Although I had been in the creative end of the three dimensional sign business for most of my life I didn't really know what I would do with one of these machines - but I just knew it could do fantastic stuff.

Along with the CNC router I discovered the wonderful material called Precision Board and the glues, primers and other companion products they offer. Since then we have gone through many tons of the material using it in most signs and projects we tackle. This journal will chronicle our many adventures both past, present and future. I'll talk from the perspective of someone who pushes these products to the creative limit on a daily basis. I'll be adding to the stories two or three times each week. -dan

Monday, August 5, 2013

Paint!


This weekend is a statutory holiday in our province so the crew is off this Monday. This gives me a little more time to catch up on some personal projects - one of which is the mechanical fish of course. With Labor Day now less than a month distant the 'competition' deadline is looming. Looking at my schedule for the rest of the month means I had to put a few hours in to make sure I don't get behind.

Today was the day to apply some paint to the dock. I disassembled the dock one last time to make painting easier. I decided the background needed a good coat of primer before it's last paint, then I started in on the rocks. I painted out of multiple buckets of paint at once, randomly dipping my brush in the various colours. The rock work was a little bright but I knew with the application of the dark glaze , yet to come, everything would be toned down considerably. The look I was going for was a facility built in the 30's, used heavily for three decades and then left abandoned. There would be plenty of industrial grunge and grime. The heavy duty cast iron bits  would all sport a heavy coat of rust.



Once the base colours on the rocks were done it was time for the dark glaze. I kept things a little lighter at the top, darkening towards the base to add weight and age. The dark will frame the fish beautifully when we are done.


There is still some rock work to do on the bottom of the dock but it had to wait until the back was on permanently.


The textured blue background then recked it's final coat of metallic blue to make it ready for final assembly. With the lights turned on the contrast between the dark frame and the bright blue was amazing!


While I wait for everything to harden up properly and for the last rust to form (a 24 hour process) I hung the mechanical fish in place to see how everything looks together. The fish is still much too bright but that will tone down when I apply the glazes soon.


Now it is time to spend some time on other projects...  but I'll be back soon. Stay tuned...

-dan