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After a little more than a decade of using a Windows based PC we are going to the other side... and switching to a total Mac system. I've used a Mac laptop for almost two years and liked it a lot. It's given me no troubles in that time. With some serious software upgrades pending and the...

The last thing I would do would be to cut a corner on the quality of a sign or project I design or build. My personal rule is that anything we can walk over or under requires engineering whether a permit is required or not. Often times I will do MORE than the engineers require. All projects...

As I get older I find I have far less tolerance and patience for attending senseless and long meetings and filling out endless forms. Life is far too short to spend it in this manner. The folks at city hall often forget they work for us, instead seeking to have us work for them. They will...

The sign bylaws and building laws in general in most places I have done business are pretty restrictive. The rules would seek to have everyone conform to maximum sizes, placement, sometimes even style, materials or colors. Here in our area building design, colors, landscaping, placement on the...

As Doug mentioned we grossly over engineer the projects we build. If there is any doubt I will engage the services of a structural engineer. Sign ordinances and bureaucrats in general would seek to have everybody conform. Creativity often suffers as a result. I would argue that when...

The talent we are born with only determines our starting point - not the finish line. While I know many folks who are very talented, I know only a few who had the passion to develop their talent into something usable. These are the ones who excel. -grampa dan

Locally a businessman bought a life sized version of the Predator and put it out front of his business on the pedestal. He declared it art and not a sign. Someone took offense and complained to city hall. They in turn sent out their bylaw enforcement officer who wrote up the offending business...

We all have our favorite operating systems and programs. I hope this doesn't become a debate about that. For us it makes sense to switch to a Mac in the coming weeks. I just feel comfortable after doing tons of research and using my Macbook Pro for the last two years. I'm ready to go totally...

Running a successful business from your house is possible. We've had a home based business for the last 35 years. Although we ran in an ordinary house at the start, we soon saw the need to custom build to accomodate our business. The first places were studios built onto the houses with...

The seventh edition of the Sign Magic Workshop is now history. What a time of learning it was! Normally we get together for some Chinese food on Thursday as a meet and greet, then go back to the shop to get the lay of the land. This time out it proved to be different! Attendees started...

Nice job on the horse! I would argue that this little piece is a sign - at least in my world of sign making. In our shop we only do dimensional work. We've done rocking horses and all kinds of other pieces... in fact I have an oversize rocking horse in design right now which will act as a...

I painted my first window splashes at the tender age of 14 - been doing signs ever since. That would make it 41 years in business in a few weeks. -grampa dan

Even with the amount of Magic Sculpt we use it's all still mixed by hand. If you microwave the separate parts slightly to warm them up it is a lot easier! We looked into an industrial bread mixer which I hear works well but three things hold me back. The first is that I can only apply it so...

GREAT looking dragon! We use Magic Sculpt in our shop a LOT. We have used a litle more than 3 TONS (not a typo) to date. Buying it in volume brings the price down considerably. :) -grampa dan

I'm glad to hear that things are finally getting worked out with Janey's machine. Hopefully it will serve her well for many years as it should. I look forward to seeing some of the stuff you are now doing with your router. Have you mastered textures yet Janey?? :) -grampa dan

When I bought my MultiCam CNC router I assumed I would be able to run it when the tech left after 3 days in my shop. I quickly learned that although I could certainly do some basic things I had far, far, far to go. My tech taught me the basics of the machine as per my contract. He even went...

I should add that I have been in way too many similar situations in my younger years. Looking back I should have taken a deep breath, counted to 10 (maybe 1010 in my case), taken another deep breath and then talked reasonably to the person which whom I thought I had a problem with. It would...

Thanks! I learned something cool today! Just last week I needed some bullets... ended up making them on another layer using the round selection tool and a fill of the appropriate color on a separate layer then cutting and pasting in as many as I needed. This is MUCH faster and accurate too...