Carrabelle Saga: Part 5, Old Carrabelle Hotel/Shop By The Sea

Commerce, Myths & Better Angels

Conceptual art presented to Mrs. Harris

Vicki and Gordie Harris have the entrepreneurial spirit. For sometime they have sold jewelry and other items on a weekend basis in the "old brick" building ( an indoor mall of sorts) on the corner of 98 and Tallahassee St. They wanted a shop of their own. With prayer and patience, waiting for providence to present the right opportunity. 2012 would be their year. 

I learned of The Harris's  as I was finishing up Carrabelle's World Famous Police Station/Phone Booth. I cannot honestly say who contacted who first. That does not really matter but what this project meant to me was a Carrabelle breakthough. Up to this point, the wonderful jobs that this town had presented us with, were all public sector. The Harris's Shop By The Sea, would be our first job for a privately owned business in Carrabelle.

Starting a new business in these times must be done wisely. At a power lunch meeting with Mrs. Harris (at a local McDonald's), offers and counter offers were made, and the Shop By The Sea would soon have two windows hand painted on site, along with full rights to a new logo.

When Mrs. Harris gave me her thoughts on a design approach. She told me that she liked mermaids and sea shells. She also told me that although the shop would be small, she really wanted to sell fine products to a discriminating clientel.  Since there are so many beach shops in the area I felt a less direct approach should be taken to differentiate her shop from those selling beach gear. That is why I chose Poseidon's Trident as an iconic device rather than sea-horses and sand-dollars. 

The Shop By The Sea logo was painted in reverse on the inside of the glass, some paint masks were utilized.

Painting multi-colored graphics in reverse on glass has to be executed in a layered front to back approach. I was particularly pleased with the airbrushed gradient on the shaft of the trident. The teal color was mixed with a clear varish and lightly sprayed on. After drying the metallic brass "back-up" paint was applied.

On a humorous note: Vicki is an active Southern Baptist, as am I ( this gives me the footing to tease her a little). She was unfamiliar with the trident as a symbol for the Ancient Greek, God of the Sea. She saw the trident as a pitchfork and had some concerns.

We both agreed that if the proposed ground sign is eventually erected. We will be sure to get rid of the bronze finish and use a bright, shiny, metallic gold on the frame/post. So there will be no confusion about who's side we are on...

He Knows Just What He Wants

Arial view of Carrabelle, courtesy of The Old Carrabelle Hotel website

Hotel pictured on the intersection near the lower right hand corner of image.

On one of my trips to Carrabelle, I passed out some brand new business cards. Those cards were double sided. The entire back of the card featured the Get Hooked/Carrabelle entry signs that had been up for just over a year by this point. Any one who has ever tried cold calling can attest to the fact that unasked for, sales calls can indeed feel chilly. I used the picture on the card as an icebreaker. They may not know my name but they are already familiar with my work. The fact is in most cases the response was a warm...Oh, You made those.

 One of my cold calls was to a local real estate office where I was asked to take a look at the condition of the sign at the Old Carrabelle Hotel.  Later, I was contacted by Skip and Kathy Frink the owners of the century plus, old hotel.

A view of the court yard taken from the Old Carrabelle Hotel website

Skip has his hands full, he is busy at the hotel, so it really came as no surprise that he would be a very hands on client. Mr. Frink knew exactly what he wanted as far as design. He wished to refurbish the existing structure replacing the old worn out panel himself. I am sure that Skip has ordered a sign or two in his career and had a firm grasp of what would do the trick.

Nancy and I enjoyed our tour of the hotel. Kathy and Skip are understandably proud of the place. On another pass through town, We were delighted to find the reburbished sign completed with the new panel that we had provided. Skip made us look pretty good!

Please visit their official website.

http://www.oldcarrabellehotel.com/index.htm

To be Continued...Lord Willing

Carrabelle Saga, Part 4: World's Smallest Police Station Gets a Makeover

Every small town has at least one landmark which makes it completely unique. These special features are a source of pride to her citizens. Altering them in any way is a big deal. It was with no small amount of care that I undertook the task of refurbishing Carrabelle's beloved claim to fame with a new design.

Above is a small history of display that we placed inside of the booth.

 The old computer-cut vinyl letters on the WSPS were "potato chipping" away from the glass. Something had to be done. I really had few reference photos and perhaps none were of the original graphics. Honestly, I suspect that the original may have been homemade if any. There is always the possibility that a local sign-painter might have lettered the booth by hand, as that was the most common method in the 1950's. It was with that mind-set that I proceeded. Being unsure of the original I chose type faces that were very utilitarian and used by the common sign-painter.

The WSPS is a must see for tourist traveling along Florida's Coastal Highway 98. Thousands stop to have their picture taken here, it has become the stuff that legends are made of. http://mycarrabelle.com/index.aspx?NID=62  The old phone booth/police station really needed to be polished up a bit and remain quaint at the same time. We developed a globe with lettering around it in order to take a bit more of a branding approach.

By TAMARA ALLEN

Special to the Times

The number one tourist attraction in Carrabelle got a facelift last month

The World’s Smallest Police Station was looking tired, faded and the old stick-on letters were even peeling off, so the city of Carrabelle used Tourist Development Council tax money to spruce up the famous landmark. They hired Bob Sauls, of Sauls Signs in Tallahassee, to do the job the old-fashioned way, by hand-painting

lettering on the glass as it was done it in 1953 when Police Chief Albin Westberg had the first sign painted.

 Sauls was tickled pink to be included in the police station make-over. “This town has

been very helpful to me. The old school hand lettering that was implemented for the History Museum sign and now the World’s Smallest Police Station allowed me to get back in touch with my roots as a sign painter,” he said. “It was all hand skills and knowledge, not computer generated graphics back then. All of the methods and typefaces chosen were what you would have expected to see in their day.”

 A bench with a little landscaping under the shade of the chinaberry tree will complete

the project, along with a sign explaining how Carrabelle got its famous police station.

Tamara Allen is the director of Carrabelle

CARES.

I do wonder just how many speeders have been pulled over by Carrabelle's finest in the shade of that chinaberry tree. At least those who were, had a very short walk to make the obligatory phone call that they were entitled to.

To Be Continued....

Carrabelle Saga: Part 3, Get Hooked

 I was delighted to hear from Carrabelle's Beautification Committee about their interest in a proposed Entry-way sign. I had always wanted to create one of these signs. In my view it would be a very prestigious project, designing a sign that would play such a pivotal role in defining the first impression of a town for visitors. I was grateful to even be considered for this project.
 The committee was interested in a sandblasted sign similar to one they had seen in another coastal town. When I asked about their targeted budget I knew that we could step it up another notch or two and go further with dimension.

  I was given only two directives at the beginning of the design process. It should reflect a fishing town and have a roped border.
We did several conceptual roughs one which featured the Crooked River Light, another with a local shrimping boat, The Miss Carrabelle and a final design with a fishing lure behind the lettering. The committee suggested going with a plain fish hook instead. That was a good decision. A tagline was added, "Get Hooked"

After my proposal was considered the committee asked a strange question. What would my price be if they purchased two more at the same time? I had never made a single entry-way sign. Now I was faced with the very real prospect of three at once!

I have done some really creative things with high density celled urethane or HDU. Yet I knew so much more was possible with this amazing product. It can be sandblasted, hand-carved or machined. With an ample budget we could do some interesting things, but the fact that there would be three meant that some mass production methods should be considered. For the carved rope borders and planking some automated routing or CNC routing was called for. Aaron Taylor a 3D sign specialist in Pensacola, Fl was instrumental to me for this phase of the project. Enabling me to focus in on the design and specialty finishing effects.

Texture:

Even though the layout was simple it would not be plain. I would rely upon texture and color to enhance the whole.
 The plank shapes started out flat. I wished to carve incised grain into them. So I created a tool which could do many at a time. The graining had to be done in a reasonable amount of time and still be very organic in appearance.


This was my solution

A dry-wall mudding blade with holes drilled along the end. The holes were dented along the trailing side of the holes. In theory when dragged backwards across the HDU the dents should act similar to a cheese grater. As you can see it worked perfectly.

The hook was cut out of HDU and then rounded by hand with a rasp. Again texture was to be featured I wanted an extremely smooth hook to play off of the coarse wood grain of the planks.

Painting Technique:

 The planks would have a weathered appearance, achieved by coating the planks with a suitable blue. Then tinting the same blue paint a bit lighter and rolling it on selected areas with a rubber brayer that is used for print-making. The firmness of the roller would allow me to only apply this lighter tint on the surface not into the darker incised grains. This tinting and rolling was repeated three times.

Applying the Mica:

The smooth brilliant hook was achieved by sanding and multiple layers of sprayed on high build primer. The finish coat would not be mere metallic paint. They would be coated with mica powder.

 This was a technique that I had heard about from others. It is actually a type of gilding. A yellow tinted coating of slow drying varnish (called size) is applied to the hook. When the size tacks up some, ground mica is dusted on to the surface with a soft makeup brush. Mica is a mineral, these sparkly powders are the metallic flecks in many paints. This technique proved very effective. It is a little less brilliant than actual gold leaf but more so than gold paint.

The Fishing Line Dingbats:

Within some layouts there are blank areas or negative space. These are important. They allow the eye to fix upon the dominant message of a sign. This does not mean that they have to remain entirely empty. Often a designer will make them more interesting by adding subtle items of interest that should enhance but never compete with the message. These decorative devices are referred to as dingbats by old school sign-folk.

Here I have carved a trough for the nylon rope to be embedded into. The lengths were carefully measured and fitted in them. After protecting the planking and hook with painters tape the thin rope was coated with fiberglass resin and tacked into place before priming and painting. The final coating on my dingbats were a very shear iridescent blue. I wanted the line to shimmer as some mono-filament fishing lines do. As you can see the loops fill up the negative spaces and direct your eye completely through the message but not away from it.

A fourth sign was also ordered about one year later that would replace the sign in the town itself. It would be a bit more formal yet follow the same styling. 

To be Continued...

Carrabelle Saga: Part 2, Carrabelle History Museum

 After completing The RiverWalk sign project, Tamara Allen ask me to take a look at another one of her passions, The future Carrabelle History Museum. This museum would be a testament to the rugged individuals who endured, making Carrabelle what it is today. The building itself was the actual municipal building from the 1930's.  Within its white block walls, would rest the permanent home of fossils, artifacts and documents of her rich history. All donated or on loan from the sons, daughters and grandchildren of their forbearers. This was to be a true labor of love and community spirit at its best.

Tamara's two main concerns were that the new sign be appropriate for the museum/architecture and also fit within a modest budget.

The Design:
The signs made 80 years ago in North Florida were rather plain and hand-painted. The nicer ones may have pulled out all of the stops and would have been framed. I selected a vintage looking typeface that reminded me of the 20's-30's era. It was a time of innovation and industry. Carrabelle's industry had been both seafood and timber. I took a very clean simple approach that would enhance the Museum project while not going over the top with design bells and whistles. A few painted borders and a drop shadow should do the trick.

The landscape format

And stacked

Tamara being a good steward of the project simply could not feel good about the added expense the Frame would bring. They would have to get by without it. So many had given so much to the project already and interesting jobs like this need to be savored at my end too. The fascia sign, to better reflect that era needed a frame for the sake of authenticity. Tamara was pleasantly surprised to find that the museum sign had an appropriate frame upon picking it up at my shop in Tallahassee. The next challenge would be helping Cal fit the 10 footer into the old family van for the jaunt back to the coast. I pushed he pulled.

To be Continued

Carrabelle Saga: Part 1, The RiverWalk

 When I was contacted by Lee Norris of Environmental Consulting & Technology, Inc. about creating a sign for their soon to be completed RiverWalk project in Carrabelle, Fl. http://www.ectinc.com I was clueless to the happy string of circumstances which were about to unfold over the next few years. But I am getting ahead of myself. ECT had just cleaned up a neglected stretch of water-front right on the Carrabelle River in the heart of town. Restrooms, board-walks, boat-ramps and covered pavillions were then added and are now a source of pride for the entire community. This project was funded by different public agencies and a sign that acknowledged their participation was in order. Mr. Norris relayed to me that this would also be a place for Carrabelle's visitors to enjoy. The sign should be appealing enough to make a photographic souvenir, as the town's guests document their visit.

 Since I am very visual, I knew that a visit to see the RiverWalk was in order, before I even attempted a design. I was delighted to find that my assumptions about it were correct. It absolutely had to be Nautical.

I presented this conceptual rough to Lee and he trusted where I was going.

Fortunately, I was given a budget sufficient enough to take an illustrative approach and add some dimension rather than a simple flat panel.
 Creating vector art from the rough was time consuming but the results were well worth the effort.
Colors were chosen that would compliment the projects architecture. Pelicans were added to the design to create an interesting shape and reflect the care that had been taken to preserve the environment.

One of the features that made this project more inviting were the "bronzed" accents. The 5 institutional logos that had to be included carried with them the potential of making this sign bureaucratically stuffy. By building faux portholes as a framing device we made the logos a unique element which tied in perfectly to the overall theme. The patina effect was achieved with a metal based paint followed by an acid wash.  Lee was astonished when he held the light weight PVC thinking it was actual metal.

This project was one of the first signs that we went all latex for the paint. 

The day that Nancy and I delivered and installed the RiverWalk sign, we were greeted by many of the citizens of Carrabelle. Two of which were Cal and Tamara Allen. We enjoyed a beautiful day, a boxed seafood lunch from the Fisherman's Wife (at that time still a roadside stand). Before we left Carrabelle. Mrs. Allen invited me around the corner to the future Carrabelle History Museum.
To be continued