Most projects I dream up start as small, simple ideas, but as I start designing, things seem to instantly grow, sometimes out of control. As I draw, new ideas pop into my head, and I know if I don’t include them, the project won’t be nearly as much fun or cool as it could be. The same thing applies to scale. This year’s Sign Invitational entry was theoretically supposed to fit in a suitcase to transport it to the ISA show. But as I thought of how it might be treated by the baggage handling equipment as it went through luggage at the airport, I thought it would be better to send it via freight instead. Suddenly, weight and size weren’t nearly as critical, and without even trying, the pieces I am creating began to grow even more. It didn’t seem like much at first, but things may actually have gotten a little out of hand over the last few months. Another custom sculpted piece I recently sent down to the US was built around a crumpled tinfoil armature to make it lightweight. But customs folks must have put it through their X-ray machine and couldn’t peer into the center, so they smashed the little sculpture into many pieces, found nothing inside, wrapped it up again and sent it to my customer. I didn’t want a rerun of that scenerio and that meant there would be no lightweight tinfoil center, and so I used laminated Precision Board HDU blocks to build the armature. Of course, the heavier weight of the armature meant a heavier welded steel armature frame inside. The now much heavier weight of the piece made me once again reconsider how I would ship it. My original thought of packing the pieces with lots of bubble wrap surrounding them now doesn’t seem like nearly enough to protect the signs. So it was back to the drawing board. As I was fabricating a sturdy welded steel mount yesterday for inside the now rather large shipping crate, the simple frame turned into a fancy, full-blown welded framework that will hold the sign upright during transport. It looked so good, I gave it a rattle can paint job. As I studied my marvellous creation, I decided this shipping frame could act as a display stand with the frame perched on top of my shipping crate. I’ll have to build that extra fancy as well. I love how a well-thought-out plan comes together! But the thing is, my entry is now so heavy I’ll have to ask one of my competitors to help me lift my pieces out of the crate to set up the display. I can hear the protests already…
