With each project we review everything and rethink things that didn't go according to plan on the last job. With a project like Trinidad we also have to consider other things. Because of the distance and travel costs we want to minimise our time there. Plus we are always looking to raise the bar on our work. All this means we are constantly searching for new and better ways to do things.

The first pieces we are applying the concrete to is the benches - seventeen in all. We are incorporating a steampunk meets Gruffle flavor which means there will be plenty of color, mixing wood with faux brass and rusty steel with lots of rivets of course. But with the sea air of the island there will be no real metal exposed to the elements. We'll be using every trick in he book to create the look in a believable but artistic fashion. The benches (and everything else) is designed to be bolted to concrete footings and then the concrete decks poured four inches deep around the base, hiding the anchor points and leaving a clean edge in the process. The simpler the edge we give the concrete tradesmen the better they will do with their part. So Peter came up with the idea of putting a 'copper' collar around the base of all the posts and features. Faux rivets will appear to hold the inserted 'wood' in place. It is all very steam punkish and will introduce a wonderful variety of textures and finishes/materials to the project.

We are also looking for ways to make things simpler and faster without compromising quality. By doing the bottoms of the benches first (with the benches upside down) we could put a better finish there and do them much faster than the way we have done them in the past. Today the first of the bench bottoms got the treatment.

We got a great start to a cool new style.

-grampa dan