WELCOME!


It is hard to believe that it was only seven years ago I witnessed a CNC router in action for the very first time. I was fascinated and simply had to have one! Although I had been in the creative end of the three dimensional sign business for most of my life I didn't really know what I would do with one - but I just knew it could do fantastic stuff.

Through extensive research I quickly found out that with the relative simplicity of EnRoute, CNC routers were capable of just about anything imaginable. This journal will chronicle that journey to date and continue each week with two or three entries as we continue to explore just what is possible with this wonderful software... -dan

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Going green

Today, in between other tasks we started in on the painting of the Laughing Tortoise Beer sign. First up was the base colors. The greens were Modern Masters Metallics, while the tan colors were General Paint 100% acrylic house paints. Everything was double coated. A shop fan speeded up the drying process.


A light brown was the first glaze. It was applied over the tortoise and around the edges of the scroll. As I brushed it on I followed with a soft towel and dabbed it off to blend it to the base color. The glaze remained full strength in the cracks and low areas and on the edges of the scroll. We make our glazes by using 50% clear base paints (without any added pigment) mixed in with 50% of normal paint. Both the clear base and paints are General Paint 100% acrylic exterior house paint.            


The next glaze was a dark, dirty blue we call blue jeans. It was applied over the green areas of the sign and toweled off carefully. Once I had finished going over all the areas I went back and second coated the ridges around the letters. This will make the painted letters jump on the final sign.


There's still some green glaze to come on the tortoise before a final dark glaze before the gold on the letters. Stay tuned...

-dan