Instant color

Most of the crew headed up to the lake first thing this morning with the exception of the painting crew who stayed in the shop until after lunch.The signs and features we sculpted this past week are now beginning to get their colors. The shop quickly became a very vibrant place and the pieces instanty came to life.

It's fun to watch as the creative process is repeated time after time on this project.  We are almost done the shop work for this project. Soon all of our efforts will be on site.

-grampa dan

Still horsing around

Today, I got to build one last critter sign for the Happy Horse Saloon. It had to be a horse of course and a happy one at that.  He still needs the back part of his mane which will happen tomorrow. He will hopefully make guests smile as they enter the park or stop in for a beverage. The sign measures 42 inches across and 24 inches deep. That's a true dimensional sign!

The sign was fun to design, fun to sculpt and should be fun to paint. Stay tuned...

-grampa dan

Three more in the series

Today the crew worked hard on all manner of projects. Two more cacti and two large rocks were sculpted. The last operator's booth got it's last concrete work today. The painters also were busy laying on the many coats of paint and glazes. Tomorrow four more pieces roll out of the door to make room for other projects. The boys were also busy welding up and wiring scores of rocks for the mountain.

Sarah got a good workout mixing epoxy for both Peter and I. Peter did the sculpted portion of the trading post sign, mimicking the mountain top that looms overhead.

I was busy sculpting two smalller pieces. The first was the snake for the Apothecary sign.

With a little help from Peter I also did the armadillo for the hotel sign. He turned out pretty cool.

Both Peter and I had an absolute blast this week sculpting up these projects. They will look even better when they are all painted up. Stay tuned...

-grampa dan