FALL WORKSHOPS

As much as I love to dream up wild projects and then build them, teaching others to do these things is also a great deal of fun. Since 2007 we have been hosting workshops and welcomed well over a hundred eager students from around the world including across Canada and the United States, (and Hawaii), Germany, Sweden, Holland, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.

I've been getting many emails lately, asking about our workshops and when the next ones might be held. We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting two workshops in the fall of this year.

The first will be our SIGN MAGIC WORKSHOP which is to be held Friday-Sunday September 26, 27, 28, 2014. This workshop will cover a wide variety of subjects including design, marketing, creation of 3D routing files, a little sculpture and our painting techniques. For those interested bring your workclothes for this is a hands-on workshop.

The second workshop wil be our SCULPTURE MAGIC WORKSHOP which is to be held the following Friday-Sunday October 3, 4, 5, 2014. This workshop covers our methods of sculpting including the design, building of the armatures and the sculpting of fiberglass reinforced concrete and sculpting epoxy. This too is definitely a hands-on workshop. Students will get their hands dirty as they weld, mix concrete, sculpt and paint.

I'm looking forward to sharing as much as possible through the workshops!

-grampa dan

Job specialists

We have lots of job specialists in our company. Everyone is trained and skilled at an assortment of tasks of course. And everyone is more than willing to put down what they are doing to give someone else a hand if they need it. But when a specialized task needs doing a particular person is given the call. If there's heavy lifting the big and strong guys step to the front. If there is structural welding that is my job. Four others can weld the pencil rod frames as required. Tricky upside down applications of the fiberglass reinforced concrete are best handled by three of four members of the crew. Consistent mixing of our secret blend of concrete is done by a select group on the crew. 

One specialist on our crew is in charge of keeping things neat and tidy - a never ending task. Another specialist is in charge of making sure the paint and brushes are ordered before we need them. Working at great heights is handled by a select group of specialists. If an electrical cord or power tool fails our electrical specialist steps in to fix things up in a hurry.A couple of the crew know how to pull apart the plumbing under the sink to get the drains flowing once again. There are a host of jobs that require the special skills particular crew are good at doing.

Today, when the concrete under the treehouse needed sponging and some woodgrain carved in, the call went out to our small space specialist Jenessa. She is skilled at the fine detail work but also is the slimmest member of the crew. The space under the trehouse was too tight for most of the others to squeeze under.

Thanks to all of our specialistsfor the great job they do in making our projects the best they can be.

Meeting of the minds

Each evening as the crew loads the tools back into the trailer it is the time for review of the days work. First I go over the day's progress with my crew. Then I meet with Chris to walk the work site, evaluate the work done and spray a few more lines on the ground in planning for the next day's jobs. We discuss where the railings and planters will go, the shape of the pools or sidewalks, where we might place benches for people to rest or a hundred other things. Through the last months we have made counteless changes to the project, all in the hopes of making things flow a little smoother and be more enjoyable for our guests. Today we discussed the latest block work that went in to defined the planters and walkways around the Windmill Drop attraction.

As we shut the site gate to head home Chris asked the same question he does every night. Could he pop into the shop on his way home to look at the day's progress there? And as always the answer is YES! By the time I turn the trailer around in the driveway he pulls in behind me and then comes into the shop eager to see what my crew has accomlished this day. In doing so he now shares my passion for theme work and detail. He spends five or ten minutes carefully looking at each piece and excitedly talks about what order and when they might be installed. It is wonderful to have a customer so interested in what we do. It is also very rare!

Our meetings are more than mere review and planning. They are also a daily celebration of the work done each day by our awesome crews!

-grampa dan