Six months ago we were approached by the department to recreate a sign they found in the station's photo archives. The company which celebrated its 100 year anniversary in 2013 wanted a handmade sign for the front of their building reminiscent of the sign in the archived photo. Not satisfied with just making a copy of the original flat hand painted sign, we were able to convince the fire fighters to have faith in our ability to create a custom sign design worthy of their sacrifice and dedication. We followed the basic layout of the old sign using old world techniques to add some dimension and sparkle. To enhance the hand crafted feel, we added a rough cut wood grained background. We raised the letters to add dimension using a 100year old technique called smaltz to add sparkle to the lettering with the use of crushed glass. To celebrate the companies belated 100th anniversary we added more smaltzand gold leaf accents to the founding year bubble at the top. Unlike the arched original door in the photograph, its replacement had a square frame which we covered with the sign filling in the corner with precisely cut sheets of PVC.
During our initial meeting the fireman in charge of the project Mark Blajsa mentioned that visitors often had trouble finding the building so I recommended that an additional carved sign be added to the secondary entrance. We tied the two signs together by using the same shape and old world techniques to carve and embellish the sign, but purposely colored them differently so they would not compete. Just imagine trying to find this building without these carved signs and see how beautiful the building is now with them. These brave guys deserve the best and we did our best to deliver. If you live nearby, come take a look and see how we can not only inform but enhance your premises with our custom sign designs. If you would like to learn more about the Millington Fire Dept, check out their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Millington-Volunteer-Fire-Company-Long-Hill-Fire-Dept-182261171818971/.
