swampfire lounge sign project - COMPLETED !!!! last page...

greetings and happy new year!!!

thought i'd start out the new year by sharing a project i have been working on and off of over the past few months.....Back in may doug horne of swampfire lounge approached me about making him one of my sign replicas based on his logo for his artwork and website.....the plan was to have it done in time for last years 2008 tiki oasis to be unveiled in his booth.....unfortunately, a few set backs occured and rather than rush it through and half-ass it, i informed doug that regrettably, it would not be ready in time.....since then i have been chipping away at it when i can and this past holiday season i was able to rally and start the big push to completion.....

it's about 75% there.......i decided with doug's blessing to post progress pics here ......this will help me stay focused toward it's completion.

here's a few random early stage shots, followed by the latest pic i took this a.m. of the sign with light boxes fired up and ready.....

Here's the only piece of info i had to work from....i based the sign on doug's dimensions and had to wing the rest....

here's some not too interesting shots of the light boxes taking shape....

..and here's the tiki head that will ultimately crown the sign.....this is in the rough early stages (not yet painted either)....since then i have revised it a bit for the sake of assembly. I hand carved this out of dense foam.....it was my first real carving attempt...i thought it came out quite nice....and light-weight too!!

..and this is where we are at right now......

..Doug wanted me to use actual driftwood, but it posed problems with the lettering getting cut...so i had to fake a driftwood look. Also, the camera makes the letters look washed out, but they are actually a nice even green light flowing throughout....

...Had i lived out west near doug i probably would have had it done in time....but i had to carefully design this so it could be disassembled for shipping and easy set-up....i assume doug was going to drag this thing from trade show to tiki event so it had to be light and it had to break down for travel.....as it is, the 2 light boxes are removable.....the tiki head will also be removable....right now it just locates into the top of the pole and is held in by 2 screws......

..stay tuned....i should have the tiki head finished and painted this weekend.....next week i make the flames and tiki torches....

..also- big thanks to BUZZY for suppling the bamboo pole and to Perry for being there for me when i needed the letters cut!!

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2009-01-01 13:19 ]

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2009-03-31 05:04 ]

That looks super sweet!! Good Yob Tipsy!!

im realy diggin this.... I cant wait to see it finished..

That is very cool Tipsy, a most impressive project. I sure Doug
will be happy, anyone would be happy!

WOW! You are one creative windbag! :lol: I'm kidding, you're really not that creative! Kidding! I think this is your best yet & the other ones really blew me away! I hope to someday have one of your signs grace my lounge!
Mahalo,
Rick

thanks all!!

Looks sharp Tip!!! Will you coat the foam head with anything to make it a little more durable? I think Bowana did a foam Moai (before the Woofmutt imposed moratorium) and coated it with Bondo

Tipsy, Very cool!!
Thanks afor deciding to post the progress pictures as it brings it into perspective a little more and shows the detail you put in. Awesome first time carving with the Tiki!
Looking forward to checking it all out!

Great job!!
TabooDan

you've got some serious skills.

On 2009-01-02 08:20, Monkeyman wrote:
you've got some serious skills.

Agreed! Just plain Killer Suff here!

thanks everyone!!

-maddogmike- bondo would be messy and time consuming for this....after i prime the foam, i hit it with a heavy coat of texture paint. This forms a protective shell over the already dense foam..from there the added paint and clear coat will only add more protection to it....it will be quite durable but Doug will still have to be careful with it if he plans on traveling alot with this sign...

Buzzy originally carved a similiar tiki head (i think there are pics of it on one of his carving threads here) out of palm for this project but the end result was too heavy to be used for this ...so i had to go with a lite weight material that i could easily carve myself....

" In a perfect world...Elvis would still be alive ....and all the elvis impersonators would be dead!!"

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2009-01-02 10:04 ]

awesome job Tipsy!

Really a magnificent sign. I think the carved tiki is perfect. How were the letters actually cut out.. and cut out of what material. Is the cutout then glued to acyrlic sheeting?

Can't wait to see the progress! very impressive!

thanks!!

the tricky part to this is that i have to make the tiki torches and flames a separate component. i can't ship this with them permanently connected to the pole so a sub assembly will be required...i have a way to do this, it's just a matter of figuring out the specifics....it's the only way to ship this to doug and then for him to travel with it without suffering any damage in the process....

..in retrospect , I would have gone with using pvc pipe to create the bamboo pole look....but initially doug wanted to stick with natural materials whenever possible so i used the natural 4" dia. bamboo from buzzy....however some time ago the bamboo split down the back on it's own so i rotated the split part to the backside...it can only be seen if you take a peek behind the sign and it actually made it easier for me to do the wiring.

Brilliant work. I really love it so far.

That sign looks Killer!!

Nice job

Looks great! :D Makes me wanna do my own sign for my lounge room. Where do you get the lighting hardware from? Any problems with heat build up?

Now that I have seen the sign in progress I think I would like to change direction with it.
I'm thinking a Wall Mart meets Wallgreens feel (see picture below for referance).
I think this new direction with the design will give it a more generic, milktoast look, something that will offend no one.

Every artists nightmare right?

I'm just now seeing some of these progress pics for the first time and all I can say is WOW!
I'm so excited to have Dave doing this piece for me.
I wanted this for home use but you are going the extra mile and making it portable as well.
Looking forward to seeing the finished sign.

I survived the head-hungry Jivaro tribe!
http://www.swampfirelounge.com/

[ Edited by: Swamp Fire 2009-01-02 20:17 ]

Oh wow! You are such a pro!! no only the interpretation is more than perfect, the construction of it, it's so neat and intelligent!! i'm totally jealous :) can wait to see it finished!

Tipsy, your work is just perfect.

thanks for all the kind words!!

..finally got some more work done on the sign......i managed to make the flames and start figuring out how the flames, spears and torches are going to be mounted to the sign.....

this picture shows the platform which is attached to the bottom of the head with screws...the acrylic flames slide into location and can be removed for shipping or for travel...behind them will be one flicker flame bulb each.....after i mount the blocks to hold the torches and the spears i'll cut away any excess material from the platform so that it's not so square and large...

the flames have been sand blasted on the backside so that you will not be able to see the bulb through the flame from the front but you will still see the flicker flame action as it lights up the whole flame shape...the added bonus is that it will also throw some light up onto the tikis face.

i hope to have this mocked up so i can plug in the flame lights and sign to see how it all looks this weekend.....i'll post pics of it here when i can...also need to bring out some of the details of the head with some darker paint, so look for that to change in the next couple of posts from me...

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2009-01-22 21:10 ]

Gotta love the functional art.

thanks for all your kind words!

..okay, here's the latest!!.......got the flames done and lit up as well as the platform that supports them and the spears and tiki torches.....this week i'm gonna fabricate and install the flicker flame torches that belong on either side of the tikis head. The spears will be last and those simply get built, cut to size than slip right into the holes provided on the platform......those will remain removable but the torches will remain fixed in place which is why the platform and head are removable, to make it easier to transport and ship......i still need to add some darker details to the tiki head but i'm waiting to do that last so i can see how all the colors play off each other when it's complete.

here's a detail of the finished platform....shows the socket/bulb locations and the base where the torch and spears will be located......

here's what it looks like in the dark with no other light source...

spooky, huh??

the sign project is about 95% done......I hope to have it wrapped up in the next couple weeks and then ready for the task of having to pack this thing up and ship it out to doug a.s.a.p.........

stay tuned!!

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2009-02-01 22:54 ]

Really slick, pro look! Very nice.

[ Edited by: tipsy mcstagger 2009-02-02 08:45 ]

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2009-02-02 08:45 ]

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2009-02-02 08:46 ]

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2009-02-02 08:46 ]

On 2009-02-02 03:22, Sneakytiki wrote:
Really slick, pro look! Very nice.

Thanks....i'm actually gonna add some elements to make it a little more rustic looking which is what doug originally wanted. For example, the spears will have some jute wrapping where the spear heads meet the shaft.....also, on either side of the lounge sign, where the curved bone-like shapes intersect i would like to wrap in some twine to give the illusion that they are held together that way.....

Head On, apply directly to the head. Head On, apply directly to the head.

Nice stuff there. The sign has always been a favorite of mine. When Doug came out with his first three TikiFarm mugs (first of many), they were OK, but I always liked the look of this tiki the best. Still, I don't think it was made into a mug. But now a cool or hot sign, that will work.

Kick ass work, Dave.

Its progressing great and is super clean looking.

I hope to get a look at it firsthand at a few of the California events if Doug has it with him.

Do you work off preliminary sketches or just run with it?

That was my biggest problem with the "temples" was taking something from paper to a three dimensional material.

Keep up the good work!

On 2009-02-02 14:53, Lake Surfer wrote:
Kick ass work, Dave.

Its progressing great and is super clean looking.

I hope to get a look at it firsthand at a few of the California events if Doug has it with him.

Do you work off preliminary sketches or just run with it?

That was my biggest problem with the "temples" was taking something from paper to a three dimensional material.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks!

..when working from my own designs i just use thumbnail sketches to hash out the idea in 3-d.....then i just run with it......in doug's case, all i had to go on was the drawing i posted at the beginning of the thread....he gave me dimensions loosely based on how tall the finished sign should be, then i loosely scaled the rest of it, using the drawing as a guide to let me know where the various elements should line up in relation to each other. There's an old saying in the model making/design biz....."if it looks right, it is right".....

as for your temples, seems like the way to approach it would be to figure out the size you want the most prominent feature to be (in this case, the A-frame entry) then scale everything else accordingly...if you are working from old postcards, note where design elements line up in relation to each other. This will help you out greatly when trying to scale everything to size.

Beautiful work Dave! This thing is looking killer. It'll make a great piece to have as a focal point in the room. Doug has a great design there too.

I sure hope Doug is kind enough to post some pics of it in its new home.

the tiki torches are finished!!!!!...it's almost over.....just gotta fabricate the spears and then button this baby up......a few details and it will be ready to ship out!!

Tipsy. Nice work !

Perfect!! It looks spectacular on the dark too!

well...it's all over but the cryin'!!!!

Finally, after a year of on the job/off the job the swampfire sign is done!!!! Thanks to all of you for your kind words and for occasionally poking your head in this thread to share the journey with me.....I'm sure doug will be happy and he can finally take back some of the bad things he said about me :) -the rest i've earned, so i don't mind.....

anyway, my camera has been giving me grief but i was able to get at least one shot of it......I will get some more pics posted as soon as i address the camera issue...till then, this will have to do......

and then comes the task of disassembling and packing the sign up for it's journey westward.......and providing doug with an assembly guide so he can get it back together at the end of the line.....

[ Edited by: tipsy mcstagger 2009-03-31 05:02 ]

..oops!!!...bump!

awsome man.. realy great work...

Wow! Looks fantastic Dave.

Can't wait to see it in person.

I'm glad you "oops" and bumped this - this sign ROCKS!!!! I love the light boxes - you did you a really nice job with them and kept the 3d design true to dougs painting.

Nice one!!!!

Polynesiac - putting the "F" back in "ART"

[ Edited by: Polynesiac 2009-03-31 17:50 ]

Frickin' flat-out AMAZING, Dave!

That is SUCH koolamundo work! Doug is a perceptive fellow to have chosen just the right artist for the job!

And whatever he paid -- it was worth every penny! (Now I can start dreaming about being able to afford commissioning Doug to design a sign for MY lounge and YOU to build it for me!)

Cheers and Congrats! :drink: :tiki:

[ Edited by: KreepyTiki 2009-04-01 09:16 ]

[ Edited by: KreepyTiki 2009-04-01 09:21 ]

Simply a butt-kicking job, Dave! That's a fine piece of custom craftsmanship....

F***in Sweet bro , likes it

Sweeeet, very nice!

That's some serious signage right there... I think it calls for a drink or two.

Gorgeous work. I love the excellent design and detail work. Snazzy.

thanks for all the kind words!!

i hope to have more pictures this weekend..if i can't fix my camera i'm gonna buy a new one!!

hang in there!!