Dub's

My son, Steve, came home for Christmas :) .
While he was here, we did a quick, but cute little project for one of his friends, a mechanic, in New York.
.
I carved the letters, Steve did pretty much everything else.

Here, he carves the wrench that will hang below the sign panel.


3/8" studs were glued into the carving, and copper ferrules were added for spacing.


A bit of paint...



We did'nt have time to get all the detail paint finished, so Steve brought it all back to NY to finish it there. Hope his friend likes his new sign!

Having Steve at the shop this week really made my holiday complete!

Antiquing the Rooster Appliques

The carvings are colorful, but lack the feeling of dimension that they had before they were painted. So a couple more steps are needed to bring out the detail.

Applying a brown/black antiquing glaze

Working quickly before glaze begins to set



Wiping off

Touching up

After glazing

Music Break!

It's a couple days after Christmas, and the shop is in high spirits.
Today, my old band mate Mark dropped by to entertain us with his ukulele.


He's a drummer (and a good one), but Mark also plays a mean uke.
He looks like a natural when he puts on that pineapple shirt of his!

I just had to grab a harp and join in...

It Was a Red Letter Day

Putting a 23 carat border on the letters, all 40 of 'em.

The Magic of Color

After primer, the carvings get a base coat of deep brown.

Detail colors are blocked in.

The basic detail colors are done...

Starting to Look Like Something...

The carvings are done, and ready for painting.

Gettin' Rough

I just LOVE mallet work!

The steel pins are epoxied into the grooves. The web between the two legs will be carved away during the detail carving phase.

The detailing begins.

Lambert's Farm Market - The Fun Begins

The roosters, which will be the focal point of the logo, are cut from 1 1/2" high density urethane (hdu).

I prefer the 18 pound density material because it holds good detail, and is stronger than the softer 15 lb.

Because the legs will be rather fragile until the carvings are mounted, I will attach them after the rough carving is done. A trough is carved into the backside of the blank, in which steel pins will be epoxied later to reinforce the thinnest sections.