Chicken wrangling

Today we rolled the parade float out of the shop in readiness for it's send off tomorrow. I did a bit of a photoshoot, as always. Since the budget was small we could only give the float a minimal face lift, minor repairs, totally new paint, new signage, colorful flowers and a new fringe along the bottom edge. It looks a bunch better than when we brought it in.

It's been five or six years since we built the float. Back then Phoebe was fascinated with the chickens we had sculpted and happily posed for a photo when we let her ride.

Today I called her out for a similar photo opportunity. This time I didn't have to lift her on.

Time flies when you are having fun!

-grampa dan

Strong man!

With the good weather now only a day or two away we are anxious to get back into Whistle Punk Hollow to finish off our work. There's been a lot of rain of late and rain mixes poorly with the finish painting we need to do. Just the same we've used our studio time to finish off a lot of things in the studio, some of which will be installed at Whistle Punk. This work included a few more signs and the rail way tracks for the trestle. 

Because the trestle is up high where the public will not be allowed we could make the rails instead of using real, HEAVY iron. We routed them from 30 lb (per cubic foot) Precision Board and then painted it with our special iron paint. Then we applied a mild acid to begin the rusting process. The end result is a convincing I-beam rail that doesn't weigh a TON. Matt carefully packed them into the trailer this afternoon. He swung the heavy (looking) lengths of rail like it was nothing.  :)

This will be the last load that goes to Squamish for this phase of the project. It's been a great deal of fun!

-grampa dan

Creative and instant gardening

With Canada Day now just around the corner it was time to put the finishing touches to the parade float refurb. We had previously given it a fresh coat of brighly colored paint. Today it was time for a little creative and instant gardening. We drilled holes and 'planted' more than 400 bunches of flowers, blending them from bright yellow in the front to a deep orange in the back. The brightly colored flowers changed things in a hurry!

Tomorrow we'll add a gold fringe along the bottom to finish things off.

-grampa dan