Most are either plywood with “V-carved” lettering or thicker solid wood with full 3D carving.
V-carving gives text an elegant “chiseled” look and is relatively simple to design.
Full 3D carving is amazing, but it’s a lot more work to design and carve.
We can also cut and carve special materials like high-density urethane foam.
This sign for a backyard hobby farm is about 24x18" (the biggest we can carve in one segment on the ShopBot). It’s made from 1” marine baltic birch, V-carved on both sides, and finished with acrylic latex and a UV-stabilized clear coat. Marie drew the animals by hand and painted them from photos of an actual goat and prize-winning Buckeye rooster. |
This single-sided sign uses the same rooster drawing. The plywood is the same, but the finish is spar urethane instead of our usual exterior clearcoat. The urethane adds a little amber tone to the wood. |
For this sign we V-carved the area around the text, for a raised look. The natural cypress lettering against the sunken red background gives a rustic "antique" feel. |
This dock address sign is 3D carved in 5/4 solid cypress, 24x16”. We started with 3 6” wide boards, and dowel-joined them to form a wider panel. The fish is hand painted and the entire sign sealed and finished with UV-stabilized clear coat. We don’t (yet) do our own 3D relief modeling, but we own some clip art and can purchase addition models. |
A 3D carved address sign. |
A sign for a horse farm with 3D carving. |
A classic driveway address sign V-carved in western red cedar. |
A garden sign with relatively simple artwork V-carved in western red cedar and finished with spar urethane. |
An old-timey hand sign points the way to the beach house. The shading on the hand is laser-etched. |
An art deco address sign in red oak. |
A little self-promotion |
This double-sided birch plywood sign marked the entrance to an exhibitor's booth in the North Carolina State Fair. The “street lamps” were on loan from another project. |
A 24x18” wedding gift plaque V-carved in birch plywood and finished with spar urethane. |
This double-sided marine-grade birch sign for a local farmer’s market has an integrated planter. It’s hard to see in the photo but the individual letters are laser-cut birch layered for a 3d look. The sign is double sided and larger than we normally do. |
A sign for the entrance to a Wisconsin farm. The center image was painted from sunset photo taken at the farm. |
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A birch sign with inlaid acrylic mirror stars. |
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Vinyl lettering on a painted board. The adhesive vinyl can be applied easily to flat substrates, cars or windows for simple 2-dimensional signs, and comes in lots of colors. |
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An acrylic sign with multi-colored and mirrored lettering. |
Clear acrylic can also be edge-lit with white or multi-color LEDs. |
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