Lettercutting and Signs

October 2011, and I have finally got round to carving a sign for my workshop! Here it is, with an image of the carving on it. The symbol on the left of the sign is my logo (just my initials put together)

In August 2011, I made a sign for Lawrence Weston City Farm in Bristol to welcome visitors into their waterside woodland. This small wood is next to a channel called a 'rhyne', which possibly dates back to Roman times. Water voles (an endangered species) have recently been seen in the rhyne, so this little reserve is particularly special.

The sign is made using sweet chestnut for the posts and oak for the sign boards, both timbers being very durable and longlasting. The coach screws are stainless steel, as ordinary steel tends to corrode when in contact with these timbers. As well as the text, which was carved and then carefully painted in, there are also carvings of a water vole and a cuckoo pint.

 

 

On the left is a view of the path through the wood. To the right is a view of the rhyne.
 
The cuckoo pint is common in the woods and is poisonous, despite having big, tasty-looking orange berries. On the right is the water vole carving.

 

A slightly different kind of sign was commissioned in March 2011 by Greenwoods furniture, a shop in Redland, Bristol. The proprietor, Simon, wanted a pub-style sign to hang outside on the wall. The sign needed to be durable and distinctive. I decided to use oak (sustainably sourced and from a local supplier, as is all the oak that I use). After finalising the design with Simon, I started to make it. It was interesting doing a job with a lot more joinery skills involved than a lot of recent work and I'm very happy with the outcome.

The joints are held with handmade oak dowels. The larger circular oak plugs that you see cover nuts and washers holding in eye bolts, from which the sign can be suspended. The design on the central panel was routed out and then painted using weather-resistant paint. The whole thing is 90 cm (3 feet) square and is the same on both sides.