The sub’s sign has been laminated up from many layers of one inch Precision Board HDU. Dad had used up all the scraps he had saved for this purpose. The next step is to bring the wood grain texture around the edges.
To bring the texture around, dad used an air powered die grinder. It eats through 30 lbs. Precision Board HDU in a hurry. He used a tapered bit with a round end so he could mimic the woodgrain on the front. He did the top first, keeping it relatively flat. (The sub will sit there.) Then he started bringing the grain over the end and around to the front. Diagonally grain works well and adds interest.
Dad kept things a little bumpy and rough to match the front. The object is to not be able to see where the router left off and the hand work began.
Even the bottom of the sign got the treatment. It's not likely that anyone will see it, but if they make the effort to bend over and look there they won't be disappointed.
Next Dad added some sea life. For our hand sculpting we use an epoxy sculpting medium. It is a two part putty - with a consistency not unlike plasticine. However, this stuff gets rock hard in a few hours. The star fish is a simple shape - five legs with little balls of sculpt for decoration.
Then dad pressed on little balls of sculpt in random clumps. These would become barnacles.
To sculpt the barnacles dad use a custom made tool — he breaks off the end of a paint stir-stick and then sharpens it like a pencil with a little flat point on the end. This is pushed into the center of each ball of sculpt and then used to push the edges down a little to create a rough texture.
And as simple as that the sculpting is finished. After the sculpt had hardened dad applied a coat of Coastal Enterprises water based primer. He used my brush to apply a simple stipple pattern to the starfish.
Now the piece is ready for final paint. The heavy grains and textures will make it easy to add lots of rich color and aging. When we are done it will look like we brought this up from the deep and hung it on the wall.