The Undercover Carver: Greg's Bar & Grill: The Sign

This project took me over a year to complete. Not a years worth of carving, just life taking priority over my hobby. I am glad to have it completed. The client wanted this as a gift for her husband. It will be outside in thier pool area for the summer months and inside for the winter. It is made of a western red cedar. I purchased the blank online from PefectPlank.com It may not have been the best choice for hand carving since it is very brittle and tears out easily. These planks are intended more for sandblasted signs but I overcame my difficultys by using a dremmel tool rifflers and sanding sticks. Not what I wanted to do, but sometimes you gotta do what you "have" to do. My client, being a close friend, was very understanding in regards to the time taken to complete the sign and as it was completed in time for Christmas, she was excited to see it completed.
Dimensions are 3ft wide x 2ft high x 2.5in depth. I burned it with a propane torch before finishing it whith a spar varnish. Hope you like the results.

My pattern began as an image from a vintage Polynesian Resaurant menu. I modified it to more closely resemble a hut from the island of Guam and added some other details to reflect the culture of the ancient Chamorro people of guam. After the pattern was done on the computer, I used PostoRazor to enlarge it to postor size. The link is here...http://posterazor.sourceforge.net/

Transfering the pattern to the wood. I used a large sheet of carbon paper and a stylus to rub it in.

A little hard to see in the picture, but it is there. I darkened it using a #2 pencil.

Starting the stop cuts with the router.

Router work finished.

My set up on the front porch. I like to use other relief carvings as a reference. These are not pictures of my work, but those of other artists that I admire on the web.

Starting to round out some of the details. I listen to alot of different music while carving. I usually try to fit the theme of the carving to get the proper motivation. So, alot of Hawaiian music, slack-key guitar and of course, The Beach Boys.

A nice place to work.

The main hut taking shape. Those large collums are calle "Latte Stones"

The ancient Chamorro people carved them from the the island coral and built their houses on top of them. From some of the pictures I've seen, some of them were as high as the roof on a modern single story house. Amazing!