Workshop Sign

The skills!

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Excellent!

Wow! I really love this sign and your Dad is going to love it even more! Yes, please do share more of your work!

Fantastic!!

This is beautiful!

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Geez that’s gorgeous!

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Awesome job!

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Gorgeous work!

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That is very nice, and creative! Good Job!

Love it! Very nice!

Absolutely perfect!

I apologize if you already answered this - I didn’t see it on the comments however - what did you use to connect the pieces of word, and any tips/tricks for alignment of the layers after the cuts?

Thanks in advance,

~ Jason

Gorilla glue. I re-read it. :man_facepalming:

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One question as I’m doing something similar for one of my departments at work - did you etch anything in the walnut to help align the letters on top? I’m thinking I can eyeball them (my sign will be bigger at 19x11) but I think it would be nice to have some kind of etch to help with alignment. Just curious.

Thx!

Hey there: Yep, I scored the outlines of the birch letters on the walnut. Thinking back, I think I reduced the outline using my typical kerf setting, that way there was less chance of the lines showing along the edges of the letters once they were mounted. It was almost like the letters “snapped” into place when I mounted them. The slight score line really made it SO EASY! I believe I also scored the outline of the walnut plate on the birch background using the same kerf adjustment as the letters on the walnut. I used Gorilla clear super glue to assemble everything. It’s pretty forgiving to slightly reposition until you firmly press the surfaces together. I’d love to see what you make! Hope that helped!

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Thanks! My first attempt at this completely stole the font / look of your sign above (hey imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?) and then created my own design with other sign attributes. Just starting the cuts this weekend as I’ve been working on the CAD file for a bit.

Then I got inspiration as I was looking for Illustrator corners and found a REALLY cool “technology” background that I’ll be etching into a 2nd sign and doing essentially the same stack with letters, although a different font. Still designing that one, but should be cool.

And I run IT for an Engineering firm, this sign is specifically for my Software Developers - they requested it once they found out I had a GlowForge - how can I say no!

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Gorilla clear super glue, not the brown stuff that needs water activation…it sets pretty quickly, too.

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Hi…love the sign…great design. I’m trying to design a sign for my granddaughter’s room. Could you explain a bit more when you say…“I accessed the alternate swoosh glyphs through the Adobe Illustrator interface when I was designing it.” Accessed it how exactly? Thanks for the help.

The problem with the traditional Gorilla Glue is that it often foams and needs clamping or weight. So if you are not right on top of it you have that glue foam to cut back out. It is my go-to for fixing chairs, and a number of other woodcraft projects, but I would hate it for this application.

@joe12 Yeah - I agree RE: original brown gorilla glue, That’s why I used their clear super glue on this project. Works great on their veneered stock and their draftboard, too.

Gorilla Clear Super Glue

@royb94 Thank you so much, that’s so nice of you to say! RE: using the special characters, or “glyphs” - here’s an article on Adobe’s site that shows you how to access them on fonts that have them (not all fonts will have them).

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/special-characters.html

I have an older version of Illustrator (CS6) and I just open the Window > Type > Glyphs menu. The flourishes on some of the letters were accessed through that window. I believe most font sites will indicate if there are glyphs designed within the font. I specifically chose that font because it has such nice glyph alternatives.

Hope that helps!

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