Busy place

With ten or more people in the shop each day and everyone busy working on all kinds of projects in all degrees of finish it is a very busy place. Room is at a premium and it requires everyone to work together and help each other out frequently. The days sure go by quickly but an amazing amount of very creative work is accomplished each and every day. 

Tonight I took a picture after everyone had gone home and things had quieted down. Only the router continued to work in the back room.

Earlier in the day I grabbed this picture of Peter as he sculpted the last of the detail on the bucking bronco.

The bucking bronco is now ready for paint and looking good!

I managed to squeeze in some sculpting time as well today. Dusty, the tortoise is now ready for paint.

The rough shape for the apothecary snake was also sculpted today. He's going to be fun!

Tomorrow we'll pick up where we left off today. Stay tuned...

-grampa dan

Let the sculpting begin

The shop was crazy busy all day as the crew worked hard to turn out the features and signs. Outside and up at the work site it was a soggy mess as the snow began to melt. We'll put off returning to our work there for a couple of days yet.

Three new signs are now glued up and ready for the sculpting to begin tomorrow.

Peter got a jump on the sculpting of the bucking bronco and after only a few hours of work  it is already looking awesome!

The shop continues to fill up once more with every square foot being used to the max. Eye candy abounds in every direction. It is amazing to watch this awesome crew turn out wonderful piece after wonderful piece! THANKS!

-grampa dan

Winter interlude

I fully understand that compared to the prairies, the midwest and the east our winters here on the west coast are non-existant. Just the same when we do get a little snow it is a pretty big deal - especially this late in the winter season. We manage to keep busy in the shop and when it is cool or damp it's our work place of choice. But during the cold snaps or when it snows the work on the site slows down or even stops. That creates more than a little anxiety for the owner as our completion date will not move.

Yesterday it began to snow and by this morning there was about six inches of the fluffy white stuff on the ground. It hasn't let up as of yet. Tomorrow, with warming temps and rain forecast will be a shop day without a doubt. It will be too sloppy to work outside.

I heeded the forecast and stocked the shop up with materials and projects. I've been keeping the CNC router busy to get ahead of the crew. This morning I put the new truck in four wheel drive mode and ventured on the snowy roads to check some site measurements for the signs in progress. While the snow is very beautiful it is not what we like to see on a construction site.

I'm looking forward to the rain melting it all tonight!

-grampa dan