Coming fast!

You can always tell when the next Sign Magic Workshop is coming in our shop. The CNC router is busy night and day churning out sample 3D pieces which our students will practice their painting and sculpting techniques that we teach. 

In a little more than two weeks we'll be welcoming folks from across Canada and the USA - including Hawaii. We began preparations a few weeks ago and as the time approaches we will devote more and more time each day to the task. This will be our tenth Sign Magic Workshop... and hopefully our very best yet!

We'll be ready!

-grampa dan

Lots of honors of late!

It is always cool when our company is recognized and honored by our peers. This year it seems to be overflowing. Our sextant piece was recently awarded Best of Show and Winner - Unique Sign by Signs Canada - a national Canadian competition. The Stand-alone Signs category in that same competition garnered a first place win with our True North Sub Stop Sign.

In the international arena we have fared even better of late. I recently received word that we won in the Portfolio Awards Competition put on by Sign and Digital Graphics. Best of Show - True North Sub Shop.

And in the 2011 International Competition by Signs of the Times our projects garnered three awards...   First Place - Commercial Sign Systems - MultiCam Western Canada, Second Place - Commercial Monument Signs - Dhillon Farms, and Third Place - Commercial Building Signs - Shmyer's Harbor.

-grampa dan

'B' is for Bug!

What makes our signs different from everyone elses? The answer is simple. It’s a whole different way of thinking. It starts with our definition of a sign. In our shop a sign is anything that draws attention to our customer’s business, product or service. A sign is not merely a flat substrate with letters stuck on it. That would be ordinary.

At our Sign Magic Workshops we do an exercise called ‘B’ is for BUG. We ask our students to create a true 3D panel with a bug on it. We provide the dimensional leaf panel and all the materials they might use... and even some books on bugs for reference if they require it. While most shops would first ask what font they would use we think a little differently. Our first question would probably be which end of a leaf do bugs eat first?

In preparation for the class I made up some panels for examples. The pirate bug is a survey ridden creature, complete with peg leg, buggy eyes and a gold front tooth.  He looks like he would bite in an instant. The second bug is more conventional - sort of.  It features the type of bug that likes to eat everything green. And he’s a hungry little fellow, already almost through the leaf he grasps.  Imagine this sign twelve feet tall.  It would be a memorable sign to say the least... an instant landmark for our customer.  It would be a sign that worked much harder than he average one out there. If you owned a pest control company which sign would you rather own?

-grampa dan