All of our projects start out with a concept drawing. This gives our clients (and us) a good idea of what we intend to do but it also leaves lots of room for interpretation and to add better ideas later. The golf sign is a good example. The concept was done more than a year ago as one of the first drawings for the project. Things have changed considerably since then. Skallywag's is spelled differently. The sign now faces a different direction which means that things had to be changed around. The realities of putting the sign into a container for shipping meant it had to spread out horizontally and not be as high. This required a rearranging of the rule signs to make them fit. The bark texture and colors of the tree will change some as well as we get into those processes. The hanging light and bird house will disappear. Even so the sign will still keep the same flavor as the original concept and hopefully become better in the process.

On Thursday and Friday I started in on the task of building the frame for this sign. I first welded up a sturdy structural frame using heavy tubular steel. I blocked out the basic shape and thickness of the trunk and branches with pencil rod and then welded on all of the signs. Then I went back and finished the pencil rod frame.

It's hard to see the finished sign and tree at this point but the proportions look good and in spirit it looks a lot like the original concept. Now the crew will begin the tough job of attaching the galvanized metal lath to the frame, no easy task on all of those compound curves of the tree. We'll sculpt the bird and nest using sculpting epoxy and then the concrete sculpting will happen in a hurry. Once cured the painting crew will work their magic to bring it to life. Stay tuned for more progress...