I had a chance to finish off the quick sketch I drew yesterday. I thought I’d show it in the finished form today to demonstrate how our ideas start their journey to reality. After the sketch, it is time to work out the details to produce a concept that we can eventually bring to life in the studio. As I draw the final concept I keep in mind how we will weld the structure, where we will put the lift points and how we will join and assemble the pieces. The concept I draw needs to be concise enough to sell the project but still loose enough to allow us some flexibility as we build it. This piece is designed to be a feature on a mini golf course and measures about twelve feet tall, twelve feet long and eight feet wide.
Quick draw
Yesterday, I was without my computer and still needed to work up some concepts for upcoming projects. I resorted to an old-school sketchbook and a ballpoint pen. It felt good to do things the old way rather than just on my computer as I have for many years. I had plenty of time on my hands and in a few hours I had filled a good portion of my sketchbook with over twenty sketches. In the next few days, I’ll import them into my favourite drawing program and use my digital drawing pen and iPad to polish and colour them up for presentation.
First vertical piece
Castles by their very nature are vertical. But before we can go vertical on the castle for Castle Fun Park we first have to build the base. Keith is working hard on the bottom section, joining the plates and welding the horizontal square tubing to this plate. The gigantic castle base plate, when finished will have over two hundred and fifty linear feet of weld. There are a whole lot of pieces to the puzzle and including complex mitered joints. It is coming along nicely! While Keith keeps busy completing that section I fabricated the two identical middle plates where the sections of the castle will join. Each of these four-by-eight-foot oval-shaped pieces has approximately 100 linear feet of weld. Just before quitting time I finished these pieces and had just enough time to weld on the first vertical tube for the castle. Tomorrow we’ll really get vertical. Stay tuned…
