Rain Forest Cafe

[foamcarver]

We are working on doing 4 big signs for the Rain Forest Cafe in Egypt. Brady scanned in the smaller version of the sign, then I had to blow it up to 24 ft. We then had to cut each animal out separatly. The monkey is taking about 20 pieces of 2" blue foam. Here is 4 inches of the monkey. Hopefully the rest of him will be done by Friday. We will continue to make updates to show our progess.

Nikki
nicole@foamcarver.com (mailto:nicole@foamcarver.com)
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[Brady Watson]

Here's a pic of the original and the resulting scan...


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I can't wait to see it full scale!

-B

[fleinbach]

Brady,

What was the size of the original you scanned?

[Brady Watson]

It was about 12 X 24 X 4" if I remember correctly.

-B

[jhicks]

WOW, good work by Brady on design scan and Mark on getting such a prestigious project/customer.
Fantastic.
In egypt no less!
TERRIFFIC!!! and CONGRATULATIONS!!! I"M IMPRESSED!

[foamcarver]

Thanks- We can't wait to see it all finished.

[jhicks]

Thats going to be quite an artistic airbrush job.
Guess I would be comfortable with fab but the paint would be a leap of faith for me.
Guess thats what makes it exciting.

[foamcarver]

I don't think we're painting it. It would be a "leap of faith" for us too.

Nikki

[foamcarver]

Here are some more pictures of the last few days. Right now we're putting some clay on him so we can make a mold of him. The parrot is done being carved just needs some hand carving, and the frog is on the router right now.
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[foamcarver]

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[foamcarver]

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We'll put pictures of the parrot and frog up tomorrow or monday

Nikki

[beacon14]

It is amazing what quality tools can produce in the hands of an artist. Wow

[jhicks]

So Mark, do I have it right with the pink and blue foam + clay? You cut the standard home depot insulation foam in slices, stack them up to laminate the layers, then cover with some type of modeling clay, then vacum form a mold around that?
How well is that pink/blue foam cutting?
Is it the HD pink type insulation sheet foam?

That is a very cool process. Wish I culd make the camp to see it up close.

[foamcarver]

Jerry we slice the images so they are sliced 2" after they are cut, we glue them together, cut further by hand if we need - then using kleen clay (it never dries out) we model the whole piece, then we will make a two part mold using silicone rubber and a backup mother mold. with this mold we can create many of the same. With ArtCam Pro and their slicer program - once we have an image we just ShopBot it out.

I still want to make it to your shop someday soon...

[foamcarver]

Forgot this is not your standard Home Depot lumber yard foam some will sell this kind - this is unscored much of what you get from Menards - Home depot is scored several times not all the way through so you want to make sure you are gettting unscored.

Mark

[Brady Watson]

Mark & Nikki,
That is turning out great! That is a MASSIVE amount of Kleen-Klay & quite an undertaking! Do you heat up the clay to make it soft or are you using a low density clay? The stuff I have here is fairly stiff until you really start tempering it by hand and warming it up.

Great work!

-B

[fleinbach]

Mark,

Excellent work!

You are right about the foam Depot is carrying now. It is scored so deep if your not careful it literally falls apart just handling it. This new run seemed to just show up around here in the last few months. The previous stuff was scored but very difficult to break on the score lines.

[foamcarver]

Hey Brady

Your scan worked perfect!!! we are cutting the files and they are working ouot better that expected. Our customer came in Sat. to take a look and said its the best he has seen. We are quite happy and he says they have alot more work for us. So thanks for the effort...

We will post more pic tomorrow.

Mark

[Brady Watson]

That's great news, Mark! Thanks for the opportunity to work on such a fun & exciting project!


-B

[foamcarver]

Here is a picture of the monkey from yesterday.
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[foamcarver]

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The parrot is glued but not ready to stand up for the picture

[srwtlc]

Unbelievable Mark!

Is this thing going to be around yet when "Camp" day comes around? That would be worth the price of admission by itself!


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[foamcarver]

Scott-

The camps are free, the monkey might still be here

Nikki

[paco]

I can't wait to see this finished. Great work Mark!

[foamcarver]

Here are some pictures of the parrot and the frog and the iguana's head
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[foamcarver]

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[jsfrost]

Mark ans Nikki,

Wow! In the hands of good people the Shopbot can do amazing things, but this project raises the bar.

On something of this scale, what size bit do you use for cutting?

See you at camp soon.

[foamcarver]

Jim
Thanks. We've been using a 1/2inch ball nose, then an 1/8inch to cut out the shape.

Nikki

[jhicks]

Mark & Nikki, It just keeps getting better and better. Keep up the good work and post more along the way but be careful with those tape measures.
Hope all is well and sorry I'll miss the camp

[foamcarver]

Here are some more pictures Hope you enjoy!

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Thanks Jerry, I don't think I've touched a tape measure close to the machine since then!

Nikki

[jhicks]

There are always interesting discussions here and with customers about signs, their budget, the price, and value. As I look at this I can't help thinking about how a company justifies the expense of such an extreme sign. This is a great example of how a signature piece commands attention and attracts customers like a magnet.
It's pretty obvious to me that a sign can make all the difference between an establishment that just blends into the blur and one than commands attention and draws them in.
Guess the value is a bit hard to really calculate but clearly there is a difference between one that REALLY works and one that doesn't. So the sign design and implementation can really determine ones business future.
A Terrific example of the price of success vs the cost of failure?
This is quite a testimonial for all us making premium impact signs when it comes down to "what a sign is worth" rather than what's the price.

GO Mark and Nikki. Keep up the great work and don't forget to submit it to any of the sign magazines for great publicity and probably several awards.

[foamcarver]

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[foamcarver]

Here are some pictures of the animals painted, they still have some more work, but it's been awhile since we posted. Been very busy trying to get this all done.

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[paco]

Awesome!
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[jsfrost]

Paco picked the right word!

Promise you won't finish before the camp.

[harryball]

I've been watching this project with great interest as have my kids... I'm impressed.

Robert

[foamcarver]

Thanks- Unfortunately they will be long gone by then, we wouldn't have any room for people. But we'll have some small ones (maybe). We're glad you guys have enjoyed watching it. We've enjoyed making it and looking at how fast we've actually got this done. Lots of long days and weekends. We'll have to send some pictures into some magazines like Jerry had said. Thanks for all your comments. We'll post them all finished by the end of the week!

Nikki

[myxpykalix]

I hope you have taken plenty of pictures during the birth of your monsters! I would like to see more pictures on some photosharing (or your) website. Very cool!

[foamcarver]

Here are the animals completely finished and ready to go out today!! The panther and the iguana need to be painted they'll go out by the end of the week.

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[jhicks]

Looking Good Mark, are these shipped as components and assembled on site? Are you doing the rest of the background details or only the creatures?
Did you end up painting these in house?

Great stuff

[foamcarver]

Jerry- They'll be shipped as components. Yes We're doing the leaves. Not the lettering though. Yes we ended up painting them here, but now that half the animals are hand painted they don't want them hand-painted so we have to airbrush them. People these days!

Nikki

[myxpykalix]

Well as long as they are willing to pay for the changes...so be it! This sign is probably going to be 20-30 ft in the air i imagine, do you think the average person looking at this will see the difference between hand painting and airbrushing or give a *carp*? Will you have to strip off the other paint and redo it with airbrush? Beautiful work so far!

[rustnrot]

Wow! Will the lettering be in English or Arabic? When it gets to the painting aka artsy part....well, let's just say this old engineer would never master that. They look just great!

[jhicks]

ARGH@%##$^& I hate it when that happens.
Beautiful work times 2 but hope it makes sense in the end.
Its quite an impressive bit of work by all involved.

[foamcarver]

Jack I said the same thing! But the big boss of the Rainforest wants them to be just like that at the mall of America. No we don't have to strip off the paint. I think they said 40 feet in the air, and not only that it's going to be thousands of miles away.

I'm assuming the letters will be in English.

Thanks for all your comments!
We'll get some new pictures of the new paintings soon

Nikki

[foamcarver]

These are the "new" finished animals. We are missing the bird and the monkey- we forgot to take their pictures first, hopefully the other company will get us those pics soon

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Nikki

[foamcarver]

Here is the iguana.

P.S. All the animals are gone and our shop seems empty without all the huge animals
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[rookie432]

Mark,
I know you had a lot of time hand painting these but I have to say the aribrush work really does make them POP. WOW... Fantastic!

So what is the super secret coating you used to coat the foam before painting???? The pic of the gorilla above looks like your rubber molding it?

You should really be proud of this one.

Bill

[gwilson]

Mark,
Great job, hope you get pictures of it all together. My son saw the frog and freaked out, he loves frogs.
Gerald

[foamcarver]

Thanks- We were hoping to get a picture of it all put together, but they took it out in pieces, we have 2 "small" rainforest signs that are 11ft so hopefully we'll be able to take a picture of one of them.

Nikki

[gene]

Hi Nikki & Mark,
How long did it take yall ( yep im from the south) to learn to do the beautiful work you do? I couldnt immagine making the things you do. Its probably a good thing i dont know how or i would have them in my yard just to goof with people. Gene

[foamcarver]

Gene
It's been a trial and error process for the last 3 years. It's been a fun one and this turned out wonderful!

Thanks
Nikki