Smart business owners know the value of well-designed signs. They capture the customer's attention, provide the first impression and communicate the type of business. Sign Gallery 7 offers a wide ...
Bayside's HDU Sign
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By MaryKate Moran, Susan Conner
A freelance sign designer sought a fabricator for this double-sided, HDU sign. “The original plan called for all flat, cut-out aluminum parts in a blue-and-white scheme,” Joe Rees of Cape Craft Signs (Eastham, MA) said. “But on first sight, I said, ‘You’ve got to let me carve it and add more color.’ I showed my proposals in Photoshop, and he shopped the idea to his client, who loved it.”
For the relief-carved mermaid, which was an 1½-in. appliqué, big chisel marks accentuate the handcarved effect from a distance. The fish’s scale details and the mermaid’s tail were stamped, not carved, into the HDU with a crescent-shaped tool Rees ground from a piece of aluminum rod.
To enhance the mermaid carving’s perceived depth, Rees waited until the initial colors cured, then glazed over them with a mixture of black-brown paint and Smith’s cream, which was left to pool in the recesses, then wiped from the higher surfaces.
The raised, tan border around the oval was built up from flexible rubber, automotive-body molding. “Building up the border was so much easier than recessing the inner ring would’ve been,” Rees said.
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