Signs of the Times - May 2017 - 49

their fangs. As an artist who has handcarved signs for 30 years, I knew I could
carve the head to look more realistic
than the one on Lauren's sticker.
ADJUSTMENTS ON THE PROWL
I ordered a 4 x 10-ft., 1.5-in.-thick sheet
of Precision Board high-density urethane (HDU). Then, I cut an Anchor
BlastLite™ Stencil #T226 sandblast
stencil. After applying the stencil,
I used an old, pull-behind Smith 100
Air Compressor and DuPont StarBlast™
abrasive to sandblast to a depth of
approximately ½ in. As I was in the
sandblasting stage, I went in to take
the sign down off the rack so I could
blast the top section. This being a
10-ft. piece of HDU covered in dust,
it was both heavy and slippery.
I was reminded that you should
always wear steel-toed boots in the
shop. It doesn't feel real good when
a sign slips out of your hands and
drops three feet onto your toes. Needless to say, I had to take a break, no
pun intended!
I cut out two additional pieces of
HDU and used exterior deck screws
and Gorilla Glue to attach them to
the sign, so that the panther's head
looked like it was busting through
the frame and background. I then

took regular hand chisels and sharpened them using a belt sander. I
even sharpened a small flathead
screwdriver to use in tight areas.
When carving off large pieces of
HDU, I used a rounded wooden
mallet with my chisels, then strictly
used manpower as I got to removing
the smaller ones. I carve both
toward (carefully!) and away from
myself, especially on larger signs
like this because they're too hard to
turn around. I used a Dremel tool
to carve the hair on the panther;
it's a lot quicker than using a chisel.
Before I got the look right, I changed
the details several times. It's important
to know you don't necessarily have
to lock in on your first idea all the
way to completion; newer, better
ideas can come along and still be
carved in while you make adjustments. Finally, when you carve
something this large while standing
right in front of it, remember to stop
and back up often to see what it
looks like.
When I first designed the sign,
I put gashes at the top so it would
look like the panther was clawing
at it, trying to get through. But when
I was carving, I looked at the gashes
and realized they, too, were missing

something, so I added folds to make
it look like the panther was bending
the metal outward.
I reached a point where I knew
something was off but couldn't put
my finger on it, so I asked a friend
what she thought and she noticed it
right off. I had the nose too wide, so
I carved some off and sure enough
it looked better, but something was
still off. Finally, I noticed what it was
- I had the top fangs too far apart.
Now you might be thinking, "That's
a shame. He's already carved the
fangs where they are." But this sign is

Mike sandblasted and carved the panther head from a 4 x 10-ft., 1.5-in.-thick sheet of Precision Board HDU.
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