A JOURNEY IN CUSTOM SIGN MAKING
Not my journey of course, but Tyler's journey. ;) Guys, I'm still talking about Christmas things, just go with it, okay? For Tyler's side of the family we all draw names for Christmas and buy gifts for that one person. This year Tyler got his brother-in-law for Christmas and he decided to make him a custom painted sign. Tyler had been wanting to do a project like this for awhile and he was really looking forward to having it all come together.
Tyler chatted with his sister about some ideas for the sign and how big they wanted it. Tyler needed the dimensions for the design and for the supplies to build the frame as well. Before Tyler moves forward with any type of project he sketches it out. He'll sketch and sketch and sketch until he as a solid blueprint for going forward. For this particular project, after he was finished sketching, he completed the design in photoshop. Once he was finished with the photoshop design he printed it out in sections. Tyler planned on painting the design on to a large piece of plexiglass.
Once everything was designed... and printed... and cut... and attached to the plexiglass, Tyler started painting. Tyler started this project a few weeks before we left for Christmas, so many of his nights after work were spent painting. The process was long, as the painting was very detailed and precise. Before we left for Christmas Tyler also built the frame for the sign. He cut and prepped all the pieces so that we could load them in the car and it could be assembled once we arrived in Joplin.
It was while in Joplin that the final details all came together. Tyler finished the painting. I even helped a little too, ha! ;) Not on the detailed stuff, of course. But I did help fill in all the large black areas to make sure everything was solid. Tyler's sister stained the frame once we got there and once it was stained Tyler assembled it. Between his mom's place and my mom's place it all came together.
That seemed like a short synopsis of the process, but you get the idea, right? ;) Even though I didn't paint it or build it, I still feel like I was a part of it. Tyler is always coming up with and creating great pieces of art. I think it's so cool, I wish I could create like he does. He always tells me I can and I know he's right. It would just take lots of practice and lots of hard work. Tyler just makes it look so easy. Have you or any of your friends tackled a project like this? What was your favorite part? How did it inspire you? xoxo. Samantha