Peter applied his style and tastes to the design for the Neb's Pub project. He sketched his ideas out on an iPad using his stylus pen. His design will be layered and created using a variety of mediums. The support structure which will be laminated into the centre will be CNC plasma cut steel and the front elements will be dimensionally routed from Precision Board HDU. The fairy will be hand sculpted in epoxy. He is documenting every step of the process so he can teach the workshop sessions in Denver using these as examples. It is going to be stunning when it is done.
Pub signs - take two
I'll always be a sign maker at heart but ordinary signs aren't what excites me. I love super creative and dimensional projects. One of my favourite group of signs we've made was for the Fox and Hounds Pub. The signs we designed and crafted for that project told the story of the place rather than advertising real brands of beer. Each sign was a visual pun, and real eye candy. When we finished that project I wondered if another opportunity like that would ever arise again.
It turns out we are indeed that lucky. The decor in NEB's Pub will again feature delightful, tongue in cheek, fictitious beer advertising who's sole purpose is to tell a story of NEB's Fun World. Peter and I decided we would start with four signs to start. He picked two and I did as well. The signs will illustrate some aspect of the magical and enchanted garden, while staying within the theme of the pub. We'll be making the signs in the next couple of weeks and then using them as examples while we help teach a sign routing workshop we are doing in Denver later this month. Here's the two designs I worked up today. I'll post Peter's designs tomorrow.
Long, long weekend
During long weekends we prefer to stay off the busy roads and instead stay close to home. The extended time off is a wonderful opportunity to catch up on jobs around the house. My list of things to do was long. One of the many chores on my list was the front gate. It had been acting up and so I replaced one of the mechanical openers. It worked fine the twenty times I tested it. But as soon as I turned my back it acted up once more. After much testing and a close inspection I determined the fault was one of the hinges. I dragged out the welder, cables and tools to the front yard and cut off the top hinge on one side and welded in a new one. It swung perfectly fine by hand and during extensive testing it never failed. I congratulated myself on a job well done and then put all of the tools back in the shop. But when Becke dropped in last night to feed the horses the gate acted up once more. This morning I dragged the welder, cables and tools out to the front once more and replaced the remaining hinges. One hinge indeed did prove to be stiff when I tested it after I cut it off. The gate now worked perfectly every time I tested it (and it got a real workout this time). With the long, long weekend now pretty much behind us so too hopefully are the gate troubles. :)
