Don't Underestimate The Force

Last week I got a phone call...one of those calls you kind of have to pinch yourself and ask if it's happening.
A nationally syndicated television show is in Texas helping a family whose home burned down in the horrible fires that happened there. Being in Texas, they called CarveWright (their home base is there) to see if they might want to lend a hand.

When the producers told CarveWright what they wanted to do- they said "Oh, man! You gotta see what this guy in Illinois is doing with our machine. I bet he'd help out..."

As it happens, the father and two twin boys are huge Star Wars fans. The father had collected Star Wars stuff since he was a kid...all lost in the fire. They told me that the plan is to do a Star Wars room for the family and asked if I could come up with anything that I could make and send in just a few days.

I agreed to help and even told them what I thought I could make and send. A fast call to my local Azek pvc distributor (Parksite) scored a donated 3/4" thick sheet 4' x 8' long. All I can say is, "Todd Farden, Parksite and Azek, you rock!"


From the beginning, my plan was ambitious. It included 6 items, while they were expecting much less. Even one was an undertaking in the time frame, but I just felt it was something I couldn't pass up...a chance to help a family of sci-fi nuts like me, a chance to make Star Wars stuff with a blessing from Lucasfilm, and a chance to participate in a tv show my daughter and I love to watch. I couldn't do it small!

I had to invent a way to do a couple of the projects and pushed myself to try new things along the way. It was only 3 days, but it felt like 2 weeks. Todd stopped by and was even wrangled into helping me bend some Azek I'd heated up on the grill. I think I better come up with an Azek oven pretty soon!

The last push was an all-nighter, but it was worth it. I completed everything, boxed it up and sent it off to Texas.  I hope more than anything those 2 boys like what I did.
 
I had a chance to create a new way to carve images, a sink or swim introduction to the airbrush and a variety of techniques to adapt and learn. Stay tuned!


I love my little CarveWright and wouldn't trade it for the world..but you can probably guess that my mind was racing with the possibilities of what could be done if I had a larger new cnc machine.  Maybe by the time they need help with a "Star Trek" room, I'll be able to make some of those dreams even bigger!

Being part of it was an early Christmas gift for me and I couldn't be more thankful even if none of the items make it on air. I find it fitting for this family that the original Star Wars film's subtitle is "A New Hope".

 -

Keeping My JuJu Intact.

I believe in advertising.  In fact, I've been indirectly and directly in the advertising field since I left college. The best advertising is "word of mouth" and now "word of social media".  A happy client will let people know who made them happy (And an angry one will let people know why too...even more loudly!).  I take the idea of helping my clients very seriously, even though much of my work is light hearted in tone.  I have fully digested the concept that by doing the right thing by your client and doing a little more than you have to, you'll be paid back many times over.  Recommendations that help a client (not just upsell them) show that you are thinking beyond the accounting ledger.  It means you're thinking about the "Giving Back Ledger".
The reward isn't always money. Sometimes it's something more important: A new friendship, a new contact with a vendor, inspiration for new ideas. Sometimes, it's free advertising...
In just under 1 month, I've had my work  shown in "The American Woodworker" and just today I picked up a local paper called "The Stark County News". Inside?

The reporter was here a week or so ago, and seemed a bit overwhelmed with my wacky workshop of fun.  I was pleasantly suprised with the article and delighted to have been included.

When I  got back from lunch and picking up the paper, I had another suprise waiting in the mail.
The mural I painted here in my town (Wyoming, Il) was included in a magazine called "Remember The Rock". It's a magazine dedicated to the memories and stories about The Rock Island Trains. My credit (and company name and web link) are on the opposite page not shown).  I don't even mind that they added some text to the image to create the story headline!

I am working on a project over the next couple of days that's a bit of a secret project. I'll be able to talk more about it later, but suffice it to say that I'm honored to participate and to do something for someone else. It's my way of trying to keep the "Giving Back Ledger" in the black.  An old friend named David Renner would sometimes say "When something goes your way, you've got to give back. If you don't, it'll mess up your JuJu."

Hey...I wonder if I just....

Since I purchased my small CNC machine, I've experimented with many various ways to do projects.  I sometimes vector images in applications like Illustrator. Sometimes I convert an image to black and white and I've had some success carving "pictures" this way if I do a fair amount of work in photoshop to make it carve well.  I started thinking this morning that maybe there is a way to combine the two.
I went back to my vectored Star Wars piece and imported the original image it was based on.  In the carving application I overlayed the two and selected "additive". This told the application I wanted both sets of data to be used in preparing the carve.  So it had data on some solid shapes at various heights, and then a bunch of data on the image...I think the combined result is interesting.

It looks pretty good and should be relatively easy to paint.  Before I do it in Azek pvc (Thanks to my local distributer Todd at Parksite), I decided to do a test carve in some 15# HDU to see what isn't working so I can correct it before the final carve. It's carved at roughly 14" x 20"...

Not bad at all....just a few small changes and it'll be ready to carve when the Azek material arrives tomorrow!

I have three of these that I get to do- and it's a tight turnaround. I think it's fair to say that I have a couple late evenings ahead in order to make this happen...but no worries. I couldn't be happier than to get a chance to do some Star Wars art!
The first movie poster is certainly well known. The Hildebrant brothers were already known for some Lord Of The Rings calendar art, but this poster in 1977 put them on the map and into history.  It still stands as one of the most recognized posters in the world.
How to begin?  I decided to vector the key images from the poster and those layers will then be carved at varying depths.  These layers will act as guidelines as I go in and sculpt the finer details.
Here are the vectors all drawn in over one another.

Next was to decide which layers are deeper in the image that I will be converting to something with more dimension.  Even at this early stage, there's no mistaking which poster this is. Just a few shapes define the image and prove what an impact great design can have.

Now I import the image into my carving application...where I've added the dome for the deathstar.  This will be the "base" for my sculpting and painting.  I plan to carve it in "Azek" pvc.  I have the Star Wars music playing in the shop and I'm itching to carve...but first I have to add the "Star Wars" title itself!

Laugh It Up Fuzzball...

I'm starting a new project this week. It's a tight turn...but I'm dedicated to making it happen.  I plan to share much of the process here, but won't be able to show the final work until it's completed and the final project that it will be part of is completed.  The fact that it's approved and I have permission to do what I'm planning to do is amazing enough.  For now I'll leave you with a hint: