Community Involvement – The Buddy Bench Project

Buddying Up With Our Community

Recently we were contacted by our local radio station 91.5 The Beat to see if we would be interested in their latest School Tour project.  They were looking for a business that values community involvement to assist with their BUDDY BENCH initiative.  We were glad they came to us and we could help with the project.  This may have you wondering what we mean by “BUDDY BENCH” but we think the video below describes it best.

How A Buddy Bench Works

 

This 3 minute video is a great example of what a BUDDY BENCH can do. Many children often struggle with making friends, joining in and/or finding someone to talk to.  The idea of putting a BUDDY BENCH in a school playground assists the children that need a little help in this area.  They sit on the bench and a spotter will come and sit with them and strike up a conversation.  This little engagement can do a lot to improve the mental health and/or self esteem in kids.  It also assists with stopping bullying at school.

Bring On The Buddy Benches

91.5 The Beat is donating BUDDY BENCHES to 3 local schools.  Together with our friends at Fiddlesheads and Cedarland Lumber we assisted them with this important community project.

Our involvement was to engrave the words BUDDY BENCH along with the sponsors names into the wooden bench.  To do this we sandblasted the bench pieces to carve into the wood.  Yesterday the first bench was donated to a local school and as you can see it was all smiles when it was received.

 

Proud to donate this “Buddy Bench” to #MillenWoodsPS – All thanks to @Fiddleheads_HN @TheSignDepot & @CedarlandLumber for making this happen 😁🙌 pic.twitter.com/dMKOCMUYWw

— 91.5 The Beat (@915theBeat) May 10, 2018

Thank you @915theBeat for your lovely donation of the Buddy Bench for @MillenWoods. Everyone deserves to have a friend. See someone sitting alone? Go say HI. 👋🏼 Be their buddy. 😊 #WRDSBlive pic.twitter.com/nsLL9ZAEa0

— Waterloo Region DSB (@wrdsb) May 10, 2018

Sandblasting wood is something we have been doing for over 25 years.  If you want more info about our sandblasted wood signs please visit our portfolio and if you see something you are interested in please CONTACT US!

       

Damage Control – Where Menno S. Martin Contractor Ltd. Goes When They Need A New Custom Sign

Custom Signs Can Be A Hot Topic

It all began with a twitter conversation.  After both The Sign Depot team and the Menno S. Martin Contractor Ltd. team attended the Sign Painter Film we had a lengthy twitter conversation about custom sign making. This turned into a meeting in our showroom and plans to manufacture their sign when the time came.

Mother Nature Works Wonders

The winter of 2014 was a memorable one. Ice storms, lots of snow and hazardous driving conditions.  Unfortunately the mix of weather resulted in Menno S. Martin’s sign meeting with a vehicle.

@TheSignDepot looks like someone had it in for our old sign. Might need a new one sooner than we thought. 🙂 pic.twitter.com/AEPSwgJpWK — Trent Bauman (@trentbauman) January 4, 2014

This pushed the timeline forward for their signage requirements. Shortly after this incident production began on a new custom wood sign.  

Creating A Custom Wood Sign

  The Menno S. Martin Contracting Limited  custom sign began with cut rubber stencil for the raised letting and logo on the sandblasted wood sign. This process gives the sign dimension and shows off the natural wood grain.   After the sandblasting process the custom sign weas prepped for paint finishing.     Once the custom wood sign was finished all they needed to do was wait for spring to arrive.   When the spring thaw began their craftsman went to work on installing the new sign for the business.      

What is a Custom Sandblasted Sign and How are they Made?

What goes into making a Custom Sandblasted Sign?

We often have people popping in our workshop to inquire about the different types of signs we make.  We always want to give our clients a lot of choice and let them know all the signage products that are available to them.  Choosing the material that suits their style and their budget is what the sign experts here at Sign Depot pride themselves in.  A great technique is sandblasting.  Sandblasting allows for full customization of the sign.  This means that you have a lot of options when it comes to creating the sign best suited for you.

Materials

We have sandblasted several materials including stone, mdf and wood.  When it comes to wood we prefer to use western red cedar because of it being rot resistant.  Cedar signs have a long life and with a little bit of care your custom sign will always look spectacular.

Design

Here are some items that our designers will want to know when preparing your sign design

• Size
• Shape
• Colours
• Graphics
• Text

If you come in with some of these points ready, the sign designers can have some choices for you to pick from.  Once the design is ready you’ll be sent an image for approval.  After approval production can begin.

Pre-Production

There are few steps in the pre-production of a sandblasted sign. Once the stone has been selected or the wood has been cut to the desired shape, the rubber stencil made to match your choice of material.  The stencil is cut out on the plotter and then applied to the surface of the selected sign material.

Sandblasting

Once the sign is prepped for manufacturing the sandblasting can begin.  Sandblasting is a process when abrasive grit is pumped through a hose by forced air to carve the design and text into the sign’s surface.  The design is created through the cutout parts of the rubber stencil.  Those parts are sunk into the wood while the spots that are fully covered by the rubber stay protected resulting in a raised surface.  This Sign Depot block is a great example of the sandblasting technique.

The blue areas are the spots where the cedar was protected by the rubber stencil, and then natural wood showing through shows where the stencil was cut out allowing the sandblasting to cut away at the wood.

Finishing

After the sign has been sandblasted it will be sanded to a smooth surface for the proper finish to adhere to.  Finishes come in choices of stains, paints and vinyls.  The finishing is very important as it is the final step before your sign leaves the shop.  Finding a finish best suits the conditions where your sign will be placed is very important.  Whether your sign will be indoor or outdoor, if it will be in direct sunlight or a sheltered area are things to consider when choosing the finish for your custom sandblasted sign.

That is how a sandblasted sign created here at Sign Depot.  To see more examples check out our photo galleries on our main website and our facebook page.  Have additional questions about sandblasting? Tweet them to us, or leave a comment below.

 

Wholesale Wood Signs – Featured In SignMedia Canada

Sandblasted Signs To The Sign Trade

The Sign Depot was thrilled to featured in the January 2011 Edition of SignMedia Canada.  The article profiled the company starting from it’s humble beginnings and following how The Sign Depot evolved into a full service sign shop with a sandblasted wood sign wholesale department that wholesales to the sign trade.  This is want makes us unique to many other sign shops.  We are able to manufacture wholesale cedar signs here in our workshop.  Our wholesale wood signs have been shipped all over North America and our clients come back over and over. Hand-carved wood signs have lots of options so that sign retailers can customize the look they wish to achieve

The Five Steps To Wholesale Wood Signs

We always want to give our clients the best possible service and in order to adhere to the quick turnaround times required for our wholesale we ask that they follow these 5 steps.

1. Change all fonts to curves or line art
2. Send us vector file formats – .ai – .eps – .dxf – .cdl or .cdr
3.  Confirm overall dimensions
4.  Let us know if the wholesale sign is to be Single sided or double sided
5.  We will need to know if the sign is to be Finished or unfinished

By receiving the digital artwork design and following the guidelines for ordering with our wholesale sign department, the process is streamlined and your should receive your quote within one business day.  Please send the required info to sales@sign-depot.on.ca or visit our contact us page

*NOTE If you are a Designer and wish to learn more about The Sign Depot  request an invite to The Sign Depot Designers’ Demo Day happening Wednesday January 26th 2011 from 3-6pm.  We’ll be having live demos of how we manufacture signs here in our sign workshop and will be happy to answer any questions you have about out sign making processes.