To keep our studio running at maximum efficiency we need projects underway in all phases of finish at the same time. Getting through these stages takes three to four weeks or more for each piece. Up in the design studio, we need to have projects in development which won’t begin for six months to a year from now. Those concept drawings become commissions which become engineered drawings. Then the structural steel and other needed materials are sourced and ordered so they are on hand when we are actually ready to start the build. The next stage is to begin cutting the steel for the structural frames. Welding up these complex frames starts at one end of the shop and can take days or even weeks for an especially complex, large project. The pencil rod armature is then fabricated around the first big steel. Typically, when this stage is done the piece is moved to the center portion of our shop for the diamond lath which is carefully tied on by hand using special tools. The concrete sculpting is then accomplished over two-three days using our special, proprietary mix. This is allowed to cure for at least three days before we shuffle the piece over to the ‘clean’ end of the shop for paint. Here, over a period of a week or so, the crew applies a minimum of three base coats of paint - all by hand, with the last two being carefully blended. Then, two or three glazes are brushed on and judiciously wiped off to reveal all of the texture and detail. Then after curing for a day or two in the warm shop, the completed feature is pushed outside and everything is shuffled over and the process begins anew. Today was shuffle day and a brand new, extra-large structure was begun. The base plate for this Castle Fun Park feature measures a whopping twenty-four feet long by eight feet wide and is cut from half-inch thick steel plate. Keith has now finished bevelling the edges and tacked the plates together. On Monday he’ll lay down the long welds to join the plates together and then we have to figure out how we are going to flip this gigantic piece over to weld up the other side. It’s going to be a big challenge without a doubt… but that’s a worry for next week. Stay tuned…
