Best Commercial Freestanding Signs of 2016

First Place
Fabricator/Installer
Signs by Van
Salinas, CA
(831) 663-2663
www.signsbyvan.com
Designers
Ronny McCollom
Jeremy VanderKraats
Price
$12,500
Client
Howard Walker

Located in the heart of California’s agricultural belt, Salinas is sometimes referred to as America’s Salad Bowl. Well, that covers the appetizer; for the main course’s meat, local denizens have come here since 1969. Owner Howard Walker, who took over the business from his father in 1976, needed a new sign. Signs by Van developed the concept using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator software, and McCollom prepped it for production using Adobe Illustrator and SA Intl.’s EnRoute Pro 5.1. The shop primarily fabricated the sign from 15-lb. Duna Corafoam on a MultiCam 1000 CNC router. To increase depth, the Signs by Van team hardcoated each part with fiberglass resin and Slick Sand™, a high-build, polyester primer that enhances durability and texture. VanderKraats’ team applied base colors with Behr Ultra Premium exterior-latex paint and enhanced the critters’ detail with Nova Colors’ water-based paints. Signs by Van’s Dick Schulte perfected the sign with fluted-tip, handheld routers and foam-brush touch-ups. Pressure-treated, 4 x 4 posts provide the support, and the sign was secured with 4-in. deck screws.

Second Place
Fabricator/Installer
House of Signs
Frisco, CO
(970) 668-5232
www.houseofsignsco.com
Designers
Periandros Damoulis
Roger Cox
Clients
Lynn and Glenn Amstutz

Evidently, on Silverthorne, CO’s Bear Wallow Way, keeping up with the Joneses extends to differentiating your house from the neighbors with a signature, rustic sign. Damoulis and Cox designed the sign with a portfolio of Gerber Omega, CorelDRAW and Vectric Aspire, and, given the detail on the backside, attended to far more detail than the “bear” necessities. House of Signs CNC-routed the main panel and its 3-D elements from Duna Corafoam HDU using its Gerber Sabre 408 CNC router and Makita power tools, and decked out routed, 3-D HDU letters and numerals with 23K goldleaf. Plate aluminum, ¼-in.-thick, comprised the sign’s frame, and acrylic pants and glazes create the faux-finish and texture. To keep the sign stout through Colorado winters, House of Signs installed it over 8- and 10-in.-thick wood timbers, with textured-HDU post caps to enhance their appearance.

Third Place
Fabricator/Installer
Synergy Sign & Graphics
Strasburg, OH
(330) 878-7646
www.synergysign.com
Designers
Jason Bair
James Dawson
Client
All American Outdoors

Who says eye-catching signs for hunting- and fishing-supply stores belong only to big chains like Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s? Synergy Sign & Graphics made sure this Strasburg small business could compete with the behemoths. The 13-ft.-tall sign’s main panel and deer mount were routed from Coastal Enterprises PrecisionBoard® 30-lb. HDU, with Coastal Enterprises TSF-45 applied to create texture lifelike enough to fool a taxidermist. Synergy cast the antlers in place with Smooth-On epoxy casting resin. Inside the core, a 1 x 1-in., MIG-welded steel frame supports the sign. The HDU letters were carved from PrecisionBoard and glued into place after the background was painted and glazed. Z-clip mounting hardware secures the head to the sign board. The base was filled with 6 cu. yds. of concrete, and rebar was welded into the base and footings. After the concrete base cured, the posts and base were painted and glazed.