Now That You Dimension It…

Now That You Dimension It… A gallery of dimensionable substrate projects< Elizabeth A. Misleh

Routers and carvers and chisels… oh my! Just how many ways are there to carve a dimensionable substrate into a first-class sign? Many sign professionals shared with Signs of the Times their solutions and methods for crafting in the third dimension.

To ensure a variety of projects, we limited the commercial substrate search to several categories: polypropylene and acrylic rigid plastics; aluminum composite materials; wood; faux MDO; MDO alternative; stone, marble and tiles; and high-density urethane (HDU). A sidebar of several router and substrate manufacturers is also included.

Mystically Majestic Signage

Cameron Bortz of Finest Kind Signs (Pawcatuck, CT) carved The Old Mystic Inn sign using HDU and outer mahogany frame. The sign replaced a similar display made entirely of wood, which had decayed. To achieve an 8-in. thickness, Cameron used five layers of HDU when sculpting the figure in the center of the sign, then carved with knives, rasps and sandpaper. The "book" is a separate piece of HDU set in the sculptor’s "hands," held in place with finish nails. Adhesives and two long lag bolts through the body (the lag bolt heads form the buttons on the vest) hold the sculpture to the sign. The sign’s background was sandblasted to achieve a pebble-textured finish, and the letters’ faces are hand-carved to a raised prismatic shape, then gilded.

The Majestic Jewelers sign is also fabricated HDU with a mahogany outer frame. The diamond and letters are carved from two layers of HDU applied to the face, while the two smaller panel shapes are created from a single layer of HDU with incise-carved lettering. The scrolls were carved directly into the HDU background surface and decorated with black smaltz; the outer frame is finished with eight coats of high-gloss marine varnish.

Bortz used West System (Bay City, MI) two-part epoxy resin adhesives, 1Shot (Gary, IN) and Chromatic (Norcross, GA) lettering enamel.

Splash through the Fields

Jay Allen of Shaw Craft Sign Co. (Machesney Park, IL) created the Splash Magic River at Magic Waters Park (Cherry Valley, IL) by carving and routing the elements in HDU board, then painted them with 1Shot enamels and acrylic latex. The sign is attached to cedar boards, which were painted to appear weathered. MaiTiki Studio (Cocoa Beach, FL) carved the tiki posts out of Sabal palm trees for an authentic appeal. The Fields of University Centre (Rockford, IL) monument, Allen built the 6 x 8-ft. sign cabinet-style and slipped it over 6 x 6-in. redwood posts. The base was routed out of HDU to resemble tile and sandblasting was used for the main HDU panel and painted with acrylic latex. One-inch HDU lettering was applied for the text, which was then painted with Sherwin Williams Ultra One Stage gold automotive acrylic and clearcoated. The top and bottom panels were marbleized using 1Shot enamels, and the text on the lower panel is also sandblasted, as is the deer. To complete the piece, 3mm DiBond aluminum composite was used for the white band at the top.

Racing Queen

Brad Funk of Artisan Signs (Phoenix, AZ) created six redwood signs, measuring from 2 x 3 ft. to more than 6 ft. wide, for a subdivision in Arizona. The wood was edge-glued using 11/2 x 2 x 6-in. old-growth redwood boards, and the masking was cut into three pieces on the large signs. Funk had to hand cut a few boards to make them line up, after his plotter went off track pushing through 6 ft. of mask.

The painted horse was cut from painted black and white lines on the plotter. After blasting the sign, he masked out only where the sign was to be painted black, and then removed the mask to reveal an outline for the white paint. The sign was then stained silver to look like weathered wood and painted with 1Shot enamels. These signs replaced originals made more than 10 years ago.

Flower Power

Pat Neve of Sign Man Inc. (Melbourne, FL) produced a sign using HDU for the lettering and Sintra