Progress seems slow when we are fabricating the armatures for our larger pieces. This is especially true when we work on multiple pieces at once. We would weld up the structural steel and then the pencil rod and then slide it out the door to make room for the next piece. Because our painting crew was busy on the Hazelnut Inn our goal was to do all the structures for this very large project before we went on to the next stage. As each welded steel piece was finished we would pull it out of the shop to make room for the next. Now we are pulling those same giant armatures back into the shop for sculpting. The fresh frames start at one side of the shop and then are rotated through as they are sculpted, base-coated and finished. The finished pieces go back into the yard every few days and the grand shuffle begins anew. Despite the same amount of work being done, progress at this stage feels a whole lot faster as the daily changes are very visible. We are quickly counting down the weeks before this giant project heads down the road to NEB’s Fun World in Oshawa, Ontario.
Another section is out the door
The painting crew finished off another large section of wall today which meant it was time to pull it out into the sunshine to make room for some more sculpting in the shop. The pieces look great in the shop but they shine out in the sun. It won’t be long until we are ready to make the giant shipment to NEB’s Fun World in Oshawa, Ontario. Stay tuned…
Since the beginning
Our family has worked together for decades since our kids were very young. Back in the early days, in the 80’s and 90’s we were doing historical murals across North America. We would pack up the travel trailer each summer and work across Canada and the USA. Before we transitioned into the theme park world we accomplished more than 120 very large murals. As we travelled between towns we saw the sights, and had a lot of fun. We still enjoy recounting those fun memories of our time together. One summer when Peter was fourteen the two of us did a two-month cross-Canada trip on our own. We fondly recall it as the summer of the go-kart racing series, as we stopped at every track we found along the way. Our driving competitions were fierce and it is still debated to this day who won the most races on our long journey. On that trip, we painted a couple of murals in St. Thomas, Ontario. As was often the case, the projects were covered extensively by the local news media. For one interview I let Peter take the lead. While the TV cameras focussed on him I went down the street to get us some Cokes and a treat. On my return, I asked him how it went and he stated with a sly grin, that everything was cool. That evening we were having our supper in a local diner and I noticed the segment featuring our mural was on. Our hosts kindly turned up the volume on the TV and I proudly listened to my son, the star. Peter did awesome, recounting in detail how we painted a mural. The reporter asked what happened if we ever made a mistake. Peter, with a straight face, explained that he personally, never made mistakes, but his dad did on occasion. When that happened Peter recounted that he would send me down the street to get some Cokes, and then quietly fix the boo-boo without me ever being the wiser.
