....AKU-AKU sign replica .... SOLD!!! ....page 4

Greetings all....

..don't know if you followed my other posts, but with the dva gallery annual tiki arts show on the horizon (june), i wanted to get a jump on a few pieces and thought i might start a post for folks to watch the work unfold.....i don't really carve, but some may find this interesting.....but i am also posting this here to stay motivated...I am going to make some vintage tiki bar sign replicas. This is something i wanted to get under way for some time now and figured now is the time....some will hang on the wall, some will be free standing...and some you can actually sit on (you'll see later). Up first will be a wall hanging version of the old aku-aku sign from las vegas......with the help of Pariarts paul, I was able to get the letters cut for the face of the sign.....we matched the type as close as we could....I may have to do a little work on the "o"'s to make them round all around (not your fault paul). The sign itself will be about 4" thick to house the electric hardware. The letters will light up in the proper colors of the sign and the wiggly neon border on the sheild i hope to do in flex neon....The spears will be free floating, two out the top and the bottoms out the....well...the bottom, of course.....here's a pic of the work Paul did.....i will post more pics later as it unfolds. I will also be taking on the pitcairn hotel sign as well as a couple others so stay tuned!!

here's the actuall sign.....i'm only making the sheild and spears part of the sign for this particular one....

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2007-03-19 20:46 ]

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2007-07-18 18:31 ]

[ Edited by: tipsy mcstagger 2007-07-19 05:55 ]

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2007-07-30 07:56 ]

Great thread Tipsy...I look forward to seeing how this sign progresses. I've been playing around with some signs lately, but nothing of this caliber.

Were the letters cut on the Epilog Laser? I just sent away for a package from a local dealer.

Good Luck and thanks for giving us a peek!

Josh
http://www.whollycatsband.com

On 2007-02-22 16:49, Haole Kat wrote:
Great thread Tipsy...I look forward to seeing how this sign progresses. I've been playing around with some signs lately, but nothing of this caliber.

Were the letters cut on the Epilog Laser? I just sent away for a package from a local dealer.

Good Luck and thanks for giving us a peek!

Josh
http://www.whollycatsband.com

thanks!! ..as far as the lettering goes, you'll have to contact pariarts paul here on tiki central.....I have no idea what machine he uses....

Cant wait to see it unfold :)

Yes, they were cut on the Epilog. The model I have has a 45 watt laser and it took two passes to cut through the 1/4" fiberboard. I can't wait to see the finished sign!

The Vegas postcard is gorgeous.

This is a great project to watch unfold! Thanks for this thread.

I know, I know I should wait to see what happens and probably not ask a dumb question but..... You mention the letters are going to light up in appropriate colors, but then it's mentioned they are cut out of 1/4" fiberboard -hmmmm, so, are they transparent? If not, how are they going to light up with appropriate colors?

On 2007-02-24 08:09, jpmartdog wrote:
This is a great project to watch unfold! Thanks for this thread.

I know, I know I should wait to see what happens and probably not ask a dumb question but..... You mention the letters are going to light up in appropriate colors, but then it's mentioned they are cut out of 1/4" fiberboard -hmmmm, so, are they transparent? If not, how are they going to light up with appropriate colors?

The fiberboard is going to have a clear arcylic backing behind the entire face, then, using either thinner colored arcylic behind the letter openings i'll be able to light them up in the right colors.....the added bonus being that when the sign is turned off, the letters will still be colored because of the colored arcylic, as opposed to being all white when the sign is off had i gone with just a translucent white acrylic backing.......if this sounds confusing don't worry...as this takes shape you will be able to see what i mean.

..well...as soon as the stuff arrives from Paul, which should be in the next day or so, i'll get started.

,,got the signs today....gonna jump into this soon so look for pics hopefully by the weekend.

..well, this is what i accomplished today...as you can see, this is the formative stage of the actual sign housing.....basically it just needs a little sanding and it's ready for primer and paint....the back shows the removal panel which will allow me to not only install the light fixture and other structural elements, but allow me to change the light bulb when necessary......the next step from here is to make the back panel and then start mounting the spears..once the spears are in place, i can focus on the lighting fixture and the flex neon border that goes on the outside of the sign.....if anyone has any questions about a certain aspect of this or how i did a particular thing on this feel free to post here......i wanted this to be more of a "follow-along-and-see-where-it-goes" type of thread as opposed to a "how-to", but i would be happy to explain any aspect of this as it goes along......stay tuned!!!

Those pics make it a bit more clearer. Very nice sign. I would love to make my own sign so watching with interest :)

thanks!

Lookin' good! Thanks for the pics. I love seeing things like this come together. From the looks of it, you're gonna have a great, clean sign.

Josh

On 2007-03-06 12:04, Haole Kat wrote:
Lookin' good! Thanks for the pics. I love seeing things like this come together. From the looks of it, you're gonna have a great, clean sign.

Josh

thanks!! i'm taking some liberties with the design...i decided to keep the current typeface on "polynesian food"...it's not the exact same match as the original but more dynamic looking...the face will be painted brown with the same geometric pattern as the original, however on the sides of the sign i'm going to use that brown fleck-stone paint....it looks good and will add a textural dimension to the sign....i also dislike the original colors of the spears in the photograph....i'm going to keep the tips red but probably make the bands black and white and the spears themselves a natural wood finish as opposed to the blue and purple bands. oh yeah and i'm changing the color of the lettering....aku aku will still light up red, exotic drinks will still be white, but i'm making polynesian food light up yellow instead of green.....i like the look in the original of the yellow letters when the neon is off......speaking of neon, i just placed an order today..should be here in a couple days.

Looks like a great job with the wood working. I think your final shape came out really nice. The outside shape is bent thin plywood? Can't wait to see the next step in the process. You are creating an amazing piece I think.

thanks paul!!

...i don't like bendable plywood...it's usually too thin and too stiff for my application. what i use is something called bender luan (i like the name as it's sounds like luau!!). It's not the same as plywood so don't let them b.s. you at the lumberyard...has a super thin layer of wood in the center then sandwiched between 2 sheets of a light balsa wood type material....this way, you can bend it either way. This stuff is 3/8 thick, totally durable and very plyable...i swear by this stuff and will use nothing else.

i just cut the arcylic panels today...just need to trim them up to fit inside the housing. I also got a light fixutre ready to mount on the back panel, which will illuminate the lettering...i'm concerned about the flex neon...i may not be able to create that scallop shape border on this sign, so i may just have to keep it as a straight outline around the sheild shaped housing....we'll see when it arrives. I may have the spear heads outlined in red too...i'll have to figure the logistics of that as well.. it's a learn as i go process...each sign presents it's own challenges....hurray for artistic liscense!!!

the arcylic is lookin good!! i'll post pics later tonight of what it will look like lit up. should have evrything ready to paint this weekend.....gonna get those spears mounted tommorrow.....

okay, here's a sneak preview of what the letters look like lit up..

..this last pic shows me holding the flex neon along side of the sign so you can see how it will look in relation to the rest of the lettering...the really cool thing is that when the light is off, the flex tubing remains red, as opposed to white like real neon is when in "off" mode.

The "hot spots" you see will disappear once the light fixture is mounted in place..right now it's just sitting there loose inside...

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2007-03-08 15:45 ]

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2007-03-08 15:46 ]

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2007-03-08 15:48 ]

Looking great, Tipsy! How will the A's, O's, P and D be defined? Will the letters be "hovering"? How the heck are you gonna pull that off? Sorry if I'm annoying you with all my Q's....

J

[ Edited by: Haole Kat 2007-03-08 17:52 ]

On 2007-03-08 17:52, Haole Kat wrote:
Looking great, Tipsy! How will the A's, O's, P and D be defined? Will the letters be "hovering"? How the heck are you gonna pull that off? Sorry if I'm annoying you with all my Q's....

J

[ Edited by: Haole Kat 2007-03-08 17:52 ]

Thanks!!....Not sure what you mean by hovering letters...the insides to the letters you mentioned will be epoxyed onto the arcylic near the end. Aside from that, this is basically how the letters will appear on the finished sign..trying to outline the letters in neon is impossible at this scale, as well as time consuming..i don't feel it is necessary to acheive that effect and it certainly won't detract from the finished sign.......plus, the flex tubing can only bend on a radius of a pencil width....so trying to make tight corners is impossible without breaking the tubing. The flex tubing will mimic the red neon border on the original sign.

i'm gonna cut the back door panel and start getting the spears in place tommorrow...i think you're gonna like the solution i came up with to acheive that effect...

till then....

That looks great so far, Tipsy. Very cool project. Thanks for showing it!

okay- here's the latest.......i started putting the finish coat of brown flec-paint on the sign......I also mounted the spears in place, using wooden table legs that screw into a fixture in the sign...this way, the sign can disassemble for easy shipping and to keep it from getting damaged when you move......I took a shot of it all together in front of a door so you can get an idea of scale....the top spears will be shortened cause i still need to fabricate the spear heads and mount those on top. I was suprised at how strong the legs actually are cause i was originally going to make this a free standing sign, with a metal bracket to hold the sign in place, mounted in a shallow base filled with real sand and lava rock, just like the original sign in vegas...i was also going to create a miniture moai to place under the sign like in the postcard......If i new the legs would support the thing the way they do now, without busting off i would have done it, but i think at this point i'm gonna stick with this being a sign you can hang on the wall......I liked how the legs(spears) taper at the end...i think it adds to it being wall art as opposed to a free standing sign..the spears in the original get larger as they near the base. Again, artistic liscense is a beautiful thing!!

..Now that i am in the home stretch with this, these are the last pics i will post until it is finished (sometime this week).....I don't want to give away too much visually, i would rather you see it complete in order to get the full impact....shortly following the completion of this i'm going to start on the next sign...i'm taking on the ol' pitcairn motel.

-enjoy!

what you would normally mount to the underside of a table, i mounted inside the housing so the spears just screw in...

Looks better every time mate! :) I didn't realise quite how big it was though... Awesome. Cant wait to see the finished pics.

Excellent stuff as usual tips, thanks for the extended How-to, now I know how to too.

On 2007-03-10 21:32, Benzart wrote:
Excellent stuff as usual tips, thanks for the extended How-to, now I know how to too.

thanks ben!! i may call on you if i decide to tackle the islander sign.....i may need you to carve me up a smaller version of the tiki on top of the sign.....(at least i think it's the islander sign.....dunno, gotta check my picture archive).

awesome sign. Considering it's homemade as well, that's so sweet. Great job.

"Not sure what you mean by hovering letters...the insides to the letters you mentioned will be epoxyed onto the arcylic near the end."

I'm an idiot. Doh!

J

what did you use to cut out those letters?

PSYCH!!!...HA HA!!....nothin' new to post just yet but it's almost done...stay tuned.

well...here it is!!! please excuse the lousy pics.....my camera can't seem to capture the light from the sign without distorting it....i'll get better pics later......but for now.....

I provided a shot of the back so you can see how i access the light bulb.....you can also see hooks for hanging, rubber feet to protect a wall surface and a finger hole to remove the back panel as well.......i ran the cord out the back as opposed to the bottom so that it can be hardwired into a junction box and not leave a hole on the bottom.....the neon is run off a separate 9 volt power source.....the button to turn on the neon is on the bottom of the sign housing..

hope it was worth the wait.....you'll be able to see it up close at the DVA Gallery annual tiki art show......

Zowie! I knew it was going to come out great but I had no idea it was going to be perfect. You should really be proud of your work. That is just awesome.

On 2007-03-20 03:16, pappythesailor wrote:
Zowie! I knew it was going to come out great but I had no idea it was going to be perfect. You should really be proud of your work. That is just awesome.

thanks pappy!!

Wow... That turned out great. Can't wait to see it in person. Nothing better than the DVA Tiki show!

Great job again Tipsy

tj

Wow that's really something! You've created a unique one of a kind art piece. It captures that retro tiki roadside sign feeling perfectly. I'm amazed at how fast it all came together. I'm sure it will be the center of attention at the art show. And I really like that it's so big. Good job man!

You need to sell Tiki Kiliki one of these to go with her tattoo. Really nice work Tips! So what's next? How about a Mai-Kai sign! I see a whole line of mini tiki road signs in your future...

thanks for all the compliments....this actually would have taken less time, but i was sidetracked momentarily..as for more signs, yeah, i'll probably be doing more...i like the problem solving end of it where i have to figure out how to make a life size sign look believable on a smaller scale....I'll post a separate thread tonight with the start of the next piece...i would like to have a total of three pieces for the show....the past couple years i played it low key at the dva tiki shows but this year i intend to shine and pull out all the stops....watch out!!

"the past couple years i played it low key at the dva tiki shows but this year i intend to shine and pull out all the stops....watch out!!"-you

Sweet, thats the same way I feel right now. 2007 should be a good year. I'm thinking this spring/summer, I want to make it up to the DvA gallery. I guess there is a new coach bus that drives from my town to yours for $1-$26 and that a four hour drive one way.

Your sign turned out great, I like how you showed it in the dark first and surprised us with the lights on. Even more stuff to look at. Nice tribute to a great sign. Cheers, teaKEY

hope it was worth the wait.....you'll be able to see it up close at the DVA Gallery annual tiki art show......

Does that mean there will only be one available?? That sign rocks, Tipsy....you should mass produce those!!

On 2007-03-20 15:09, FlatEarthTrading wrote:

hope it was worth the wait.....you'll be able to see it up close at the DVA Gallery annual tiki art show......

Does that mean there will only be one available?? That sign rocks, Tipsy....you should mass produce those!!

Thanks!! and In answer to your question, there will be only one like this available......again, this goes back to a previous discussion in another thread about art versus product...........too much about what makes an art piece or new idea cool gets lost in the rush to bring a product to market when it is mass produced...the level of detail and craftsmanship can never be duplicated inexpensively enough to make copies of it as nice looking as the original.....just check out the lame tiki sign lamps that spencers gifts was selling or the horrible las vegas plastic welcome signs that light up to see what i mean.....because there is only one, keeps it on the level of art.....I love vintage neon, and with the prospect that very little will remain of it (except in museums)in the coming years, I like to think that by making these sign lamps, I am somehow helping preserve the whole look and feel for like minded folks to enjoy in their homes or businesses.

Hey Dave- This is so cool and a great idea. You not only have to be an fine artist and craftsman but an engineer as well to create this. You did a beautiful job on it. I can't wait to see how the Pitcairn comes out.

Man!
That sign takes cool to a whole new level! Cannot wait to see the Pitcairn!
Absolutely great work.

Unbelievable! You killed me with this one. This is one of the best projects I've seen on Tiki Central, Tipsy. Thank you so much for showing us how you did it!

Fantastic work, Tipsy! Thanks again for inviting us to watch it come together.

Great job Dave.

tipsy, very cool....I love it!

Amy

This one of a kind sign replica wall lamp is for sale!!! It can be yours for the low low price of $400.00.....this sign is pretty light weight and can be shipped......the spears unscrew as well to make the whole thing fit in a smaller package. P.M. me if interested.

I figured i'd offer it here first at a discount before ebay..........i'll leave the offer open till wednesday of next week...if no one wants it by then, up on ebay it goes....

thanks for lookin'!!!!

I wish I was the lucky bastard who could pay you for that sign. Beautiful work!!!

thanks!!!