Hello from the Hayward Sign School

[MichaelB]

I would like to introduce myself as the owner of The Hayward School of Dimensional Sign Making. I have been in the business of making signs for 25+ years. In 2003 my wife Mary and I purchased a five cabin resort on beautiful Callahan Lake near Hayward, Wisconsin where we conduct our four day dimensional sign making workshops.

In Sept. of last year we purchased a ShopBot CNC router and the good people of ShopBot Tools became a sponsor of our school.

I am excited to join this forum so, I thought I would start by posting some signs we've made around the resort and invite you to critique my work.

So, let me have it!

[dlcw]

Welcome Michael.

The signs are really beautiful. I wish I had the artistic talent to do that nice of signs.

Maybe someday.......

[garyr6]

Always glad to have another dust maker with an CNC. Welcome. Sounds like a great place to become artistic to me....

[ssflyer]

Welcome Michael.

You are off to a great start. Attention to detail, choice of fonts, etc., are excellent!

[MichaelB]

Thank you all for the compliments. I can take criticism too. I posted these pictures on another site and the lower case "c" in the word cabins (in the green Woodhaven Resort sign) drove people nuts.

I am working on some other signs for around the resort and if I can get enough students, I am planning on making a sign for the groomer shed that our snowmobile club owns. I will be sure to post pictures of the signs as we make them.

[tri4sale]

I can take criticism too.

My only criticism is you are too far away for me to be able to come take a class from you :(

[joe]

Michael,

Glad to see you posting.

This forum needs more skilled artists like you. For those who don't know the Hayward School has a long standing reputation. And Michael is still using sandblasting for texturing.

His school would be a nice summer vacation destination for the whole family.

Cheers.

[GeneMpls]

Hi Mike- Wayne from our shop took your class almost 2 years ago and
still talks about it. He is a true artist and you got him started on 3D.
He was very impressed with the school and also the resort. He is a real fisherman but kept his nose to the grindstone at your school apparently-
not much gets between Wayne and his fishin'. Good to have you aboard
and if anyone wants to chat about the school he would be happy to. He
got back and we built a sandblast booth. :D

[myxpykalix]

Michael,
How far are you from the Wisconsin Dells? As a kid we went there and (I think) a place called the Black River? I think it was near a dam because my brother and i caught more fish jumping out of the water going upstream (I think it was Chinook?) then guys fishing in the river...
Anyway that might be a fun side trip to the school...or better yet the school might be a fun side trip to the fishing!:eek::D:rolleyes:

[phil_o]

I recently took on my first job using Signfoam. I googled for information on machining the product and came across The Hayward School website. I am grateful for the information provided, it was very helpful.

Thanks,

Phil

[GeneMpls]

Michael,
How far are you from the Wisconsin Dells? As a kid we went there and (I think) a place called the Black River? I think it was near a dam because my brother and i caught more fish jumping out of the water going upstream (I think it was Chinook?) then guys fishing in the river...
Anyway that might be a fun side trip to the school...or better yet the school might be a fun side trip to the fishing!:eek::D:rolleyes:

Probably Black River Falls- not too far away. I just got back from a 3 day mini-vaca just above the falls. I need to get away and just read
(and watch SB and Vectric tutorials) and sleep... gettin' old. Gene

[MichaelB]

I have been busy with the resort so I'm a little behind here. I will try and answer a few replies but first a little back story:

When we opened our sign business 25 years ago there was very little technology available and the only dimensional signs being made were sandblasted redwood or hand carved hardwood signs. Then came along Sign Foam and although we loved working with the material, it was difficult to get our customers to accept the "stucco" texture when sandblasted because, they were accustomed to the wood grain texture of our sandblasted redwood signs. We solved that problem by developing the Grain Fraim and then it didn't matter what texture the customer preferred we were able to use Sign Foam for either or. Sandblasted signs are still a staple here and still the fastest way I have found to add texture to the background of a sign.
Over the years we have embraced the technology and now have a shop full of equipment but. we never stopped producing sandblasted signs. In fact, we use our router to cut the stencil (already transferred to the substrate) change bits and cut-out the sign blank. This has made the process much more accurate and efficient.

As far as our location, we are (North) about 3.5 hours from the Dells and 2.5 hours from Black River Falls. The fishing has been great on our lake this summer - especially the musky fishing. In June alone people staying at our resort boated a 40", two 41", 44" and a 47" musky. A banner year!

I know we are far away from many potential students but wherever we would have chosen to host our workshops that would have been true. We picked a place that we new would be a great place to visit and would inspire creativity. If a school existed when I was starting out, I could have avoided a lot of trial and error. That is what we are offering - the trials without the errors.

[t28c34]

Hey Mike. I see you posted the fish cleaning house sign. You should tell everyone the story about who came to inspect it.

[joe]

So, where has all the part-time signs gone? At one time this forum was full of interesting topics and postings?

[kevin]

Joe
Not to hijack the tread Joe i post from time to time but there is only 2 or 4 doing anything on a let make a living level you are right
Joe you have taught me to think forward I miss your posts
This is a link it has nothing to do with shopbot but just this guy way of thinking is incredible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy9w7bNJWfY

[joe]

KD,

The best I can tell, dimensional sign work continues to grow. At one time many of us were experimenting with the latest materials and techniques while taking the time to share our finding with fellow artists. It was approx. five years of stunning visual growth. During this period there was a huge insurgence of part timers. From there the pro's drifted away. Many were not interested in developing new competition but most grew weary of redundant questions. This dampened the spark the lead to so many creative postings. That's where we are today.