I was pleased to be featured in a Sign Media article called Meet the Makers which was released today. Sign Media Canada is a trade magazine that caters specifically to the Canadian market. We’ve been proud to have our work displayed in the magazine many times through the years with a few cover articles as well. This light hearted series showcases various sign makers from across Canada and seeks to discover how they approach their craft and market.
Sign Invitational progress
For the Sign Invitational, all entrants are asked to create a double-sided, dimensional pub sign which hangs from a supplied post and bracket. The name on the sign will be “__________ TOAD”. Entrants can fill in the adjective to suit the theme. Examples of this would be “Ugly Toad”, “Loyal Toad”, etc. The entrants are to be creative with the theme! The suggested size for the sign is 16ish” wide x 24ish” tall.
I’m creating two signs for the International Sign Association EXPO. One will be entered in the competition, and the second will hang in the booth of Coastal Enterprises, who are a long-time supporter of the contest. I’ve been working on these pieces for quite some time and am down to the final stages. The sculpting is complete, as are most of the base colours. I’ve begun working on the glazes with some detailing and gold leaf, yet to finish. With the show now only a couple of months to go, it is time to get this finished. Stay tuned…
Building a unique trophy for a unique contest
The Sign Invitational, which is happening soon, is a ‘contest’ of sorts, although the contestants are actually really good friends. Each year, Jim Dawson and I invite signmakers and other creatives from around the world to design and build a dimensional sign with a specific theme and bring it to the International Sign Expo to be held in Orlando, Florida, on April 8-10. The twenty-thousand attendees who pass by the booth will have the opportunity to admire them and vote for their favourite. The reason for the ‘contest’ is for the entrants to create a showpiece for their studios and, in the process, hopefully inspire others to do this kind of over-the-top dimensional work. Being at the show is also a chance to hang out with some of the most creative people on the planet, which is always a whole lot of fun. We anticipate that about fifteen signmakers will answer our challenge this year, which should make for an amazing display.
As one of the organizers, I volunteered to create the awards this year for the entries voted number one, two and three. With my current passion being the creation of limited edition laser prints, I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to get in a little more practice with this extremely limited edition of only three pieces. Jason Nale ( http://originaledesigns.co ) did the logo design for the completion a few years ago, which I produced in my style as a line drawing. The toad was added to the top to tie in with this year’s theme. I’ll be adding a little colour and some 23K gold leaf bling - just for fun.
