There’s much more to our signs than just a pretty face. Precision Board HDU and sculpting epoxy are awesome materials, but they don’t offer much structural strength. Our signs often need to travel thousands of miles and need to be handled with cranes. They also need to withstand decades of wind and weather. That means we have to design, fabricate and embed structural steel inside the fancy features we create. This requires careful planning. In the case of the little tractor we are creating for Downey’s Farm, it means we will have to assemble it in stages, finishing it as we go, as many parts will not be accessible after they are all together. Today’s task was to weld the steel frame and glue up the first three layers around it. Tomorrow we’ll weld it to a 1/4” thick base plate and then begin the first of the sculpting and painting. Stay tuned…
Building a giant duck
We designed and built a large sign for a water park almost two decades ago. The sign base was a giant, twenty-foot-tall wave with a rubber duck surfing on top. A huge sign was suspended on the front of the wave. We did as much as possible in our studio, which went smoothly. Then came the onsite assembly, which was a relatively new experience for us at the time. The sign had a prefabricated steel tripod structure, which was lifted off the semi-trailer and tipped into position easily. The sign face installation also went smoothly. The colourful tube and body of the duck were much trickier to install as a crew member had to climb inside to position the piece and tighten up the giant bolts.
Then came the hardest part - putting on the duck’s head. It was a matter of guiding the head’s structure to slip inside the top of the body. I remember gingerly climbing up the very tall ladder, rigging a safety rope around the duck and then wedging myself between the feet and body and doing my best to direct the crane operator and physically coax the head into position. Then came the most terrifying part of the job… unhooking the crane and twisting out the eye bolt. I remember shaking badly as it was below freezing with a stiff breeze, but I was also the most scared I had ever been on a job. Thankfully, I survived without mishap and was delighted to finish and climb down. With winter and freezing temperatures on us, we had to wait until spring to finish sculpting the base wave. It turned out fabulous!
The giant duck sign is still in place to this day. That project taught us many things, and these days we would do things very differently with better equipment and more safety protocols.
Big scaffold gone!
On Friday, Jay finished painting the upper areas of the Copper Crown enough to allow the long-awaited removal of the big scaffold. This was one more important step on our journey to finishing the third suite of the Hazelnut Inn. The sculpted concrete work is also nearing completion. The tiles have been picked out and will soon be installed on the floor. The electrician is almost ready to install the lighting fixtures, and the draperies and banners are in planning and will soon begin fabrication. It won’t be long until we are ready for our first guests. Stay tuned…
