The Copper Crown Suite is looking fabulous! It is always exciting when a whole lot of visual progress happens in a single day! As soon as our guests checked out of the other suites, we could make lots of noise for a few hours. They broke out the saws, screw guns and staplers and made great progress getting things ready for sculpting tomorrow. The plan is to get enough area sculpted that next week, the painting crew can finish the painting, and more scaffolds can be removed to make the stairs fully functional once again. Stay tuned for more magic…
One level down!
It was with great delight that we carefully removed the top layer of scaffolding from the staircase of the Copper Crown Suite. This scaffolding had been assembled over the staircase at roughly twelve feet above the main floor. The next level, which is our current workspace, is about five feet lower, at the height of the second landing. Once we made this level safe with a temporary railing, we installed the first completed Atlantid, which looked stunning in its permanent home. The opposing Caryatid will be installed tomorrow, and then we can do some final blocking and staple on the diamond lath to prepare for the hand-sculpted concrete. This section will be ready for painting next week, and we can then permanently remove the scaffolding from the staircase as well as one of the scaffold towers in the main room, making all areas of the Copper Crown much easier to access. Stay tuned for more progress…
Best of Show - again!
Back in 1984 I found a copy of the annual contest issue of Signs of the Times magazine at our local sign supply shop. This event is the largest and most prestigious international contest of the sign industry. That dog eared copy of the magazine still sits on my reference shelf all these years later. The magazine featured the best of the best and I remember poring endlessly over those images, admiring the top quality of work and amazing designs. Every year since I would look for the contest issue to see the very best and be inspired. I made a promise to myself back then that someday our work would be good enough to appear there. It was an ambitious and lofty dream!
It was 2005 before I worked up the courage to enter the contest. We were pleased to be honoured with a first place and an honourable mention in two categories. Since then we garnered many wins in various categories through the years. The illusive prize was Best of Show and it wasn’t until 2022 we garnered that honour with the ‘Sprocket’ giant robot project.
This morning we were delighted to receive the announcement that the NEB’s entry project has been bestowed with a first place win in its category and Best of Show in the Signs of the Times annual contest. This was a massive effort by our entire team and the NEB’s crew who did the installation. Thanks!
