Signs of the Times - June 2015 - 8

S T U P D AT E
By Steve Aust

A Very Warm Welcome

A business manager or owner's understanding that
sizable, well-designed, durable signage is, of course,
an important step in building a brand and growing
business. When private homeowners decide to invest
in signage that reflects well on their domicile, and
without the prospect of a tangible return on investment (unless, perhaps, they one day sell the home,
and even then it's no guarantee that prospective buyers
will appreciate the sign), it's an even stronger indicator
of pride of place.
Josh Brock, a past customer of Jeff Rowland, the
owner of Hygh Octane Graphics (Maineville, OH) -
for whom Rowland had designed a bar's shuttle-bus
vehicle wrap that won a First Place award in the 2013
Vehicle Graphics Contest (see ST, October 2013, page
82) - asked him to design a sign for Celladora, his
Williamsburg, KY home.
"Most of my designs have been for wraps," Rowland,
who's worked in the sign business for 22 years and
operated his own firm for the past three, said. "I found
that I enjoyed them, and excelled at designing them.
However, I also enjoyed this opportunity to leave my
comfort zone and design something a bit different. It
was a challenge to create a sign that appears rustic,
8 SIGNS OF THE TIMES June 2015

Steve Aust
is ST's Senior Associate
Editor. A member
of its editorial staff
since 2000, he
emphasizes vinyl
graphics, architectural
and environmental
graphics, and 3-D
signage in his work.

clean and artistic."
Rowland designed the sign using CorelDRAW® X7
software, and he entrusted fabrication to Lexingtonbased Spurr Services LLC, which fabricates metal
signage, as well as tables, railings and other industrial
and home décor. Rowland said he, Brock and Spurr's
owner, Andrew Spurr, collaborated with material
choices: Brock fabricated the stone pillars that support
the sign himself, and sections of trees he'd removed
from his property and stripped connect the pillars and
the arching sign.
Spurr received the design as a .DXF file, which his
shop checked over using Rhinoceros 5 3-D-fabrication
software. Next, they imported the file into SheetCAM
metal-fabrication software to process the file in routerready G-code. Spurr Services fashioned the sign with
a 4 x 8-ft. Trucut CNC plasma cutter with a Mach 3
CNC controller using 0.125-in.-thick, 3003 alloy
aluminum and ¼-in.-thick, hot-rolled mild steel. The
shop also added mounting extensions with a Miller
252 MIG welder, and handled final assembly and
detail work with a Metabo angle grinder, a DeWalt
impact gun and Snap-On hand tools. S-hooks, which
were built in-house, suspend the HOB letters. They
finished by cleaning the sign's surface with a degreaser.
"The customer wanted materials left bare, so the
steel could age naturally," Spurr said. "Aluminum
spacers separate the steel and prevent rust transfer,
and steel hardware offsets the tone and will break up
the eventually rusty appearance."
Spurr said making sure the welded mounts would
function correctly, without detracting from the 12-ft.wide sign's appearance, presented the primary challenge.

Signs of the Times - June 2015

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