By Dan Sawatzky
Posted on Friday, September 12th, 2025
There is nothing quite like a theme park project that allows us as sign makers to pull out all of the stops and get truly creative. Our current project is all of this and much, much more. The owner encouraged us to simply go hog wild. And that we did.
The park is just over one acre in size and will feature wall-to-wall eye candy when we are done. The choice of materials is important. Theme park signs are often close to our viewers, designed and positioned to afford our guests the opportunity to easily pose for pictures and in the process create lifetime memories. The pictures they take will undoubtedly be shared with family and friends and posted on the web for all to see. In the process, the guests will be spreading the word about the park.
Every sign we are making for the park will be wildly dimensional and pure fun, of course. Because of their proximity to guests they must be sturdy and survive more than typical wear and tear.
The signs are created using a variety of materials, including steel, sculpted fiberglass-reinforced concrete, routed 30-lb. Precision Board HDU board and plenty of Abracadabra Sculpting epoxy. We create digital routing files using EnRoute Pro software, machine the pieces on our MultiCam CNC router, and weld up the sturdy steel frames to laminate inside. Once assembly is done we then hand carve, sculpt and paint. It is quite the process.
Once the digital designing is done we let the machine do what it is good at. Then we use carving tools to finish shaping the high-density urethane board—mostly on the edges and surfaces that haven’t been routed.
Once the main body of the sign is done, it’s time for the real fun: sculpting. With the freedom offered by our client we can simply have fun creating memorable and lovable critters for each attraction and building.
This appeared in the May/June 2014 issue of SignCraft.
The routing files for the signs were created using EnRoute Pro 5, then sent to the MultiCam CNC machine. Each sign has three to six layers. The outer layers are routed with textures and letters; the inside sections are often simple cutouts.
Most of the signs are routed from 30-lb. Precision Board HDU, which can take a lot of abuse. Welded steel frames are laminated inside with only the mounting points exposed for a secure installation.
Hanging hardware on all of the signs is heavy duty to say the least, for both strength and to keep with the theme. It will easily withstand some over-eager park patron doing a chin-up on the sign.
Once the machine routing was done and the sign assembled it was time for hand carving and sculpting. Care is necessary as the rapidly moving air-powered die grinder bit vaporizes the HDU board in an instant.
Some of the signs serve only to further the story of the park. The main building has three storefronts and was the perfect opportunity to have some real fun. Every old west town had an apothecary—a drug store that offered miracle cures, including snake oil. A rattlesnake was the perfect fit.
Most of the signs in the park feature a critter of some sort and so these carried that same theme. The hardware stores in old western towns were called dry goods. Dusty’s Dry Goods was the name that jumped out at us, and a tortoise seemed to be a logical choice.
The hotel is the largest and tallest of the three storefronts. This place of business needed the fanciest sign of all. Some curlicues add a flourish and go with the old west (and slightly worn) lettering style. The armadillo was a great deal of fun and was a joint project by Peter and me.
The horse obviously needed to be happy. The background was routed in two layers. I then cut the profile of the horse head in 2-in.-thick HDU board and sculpted him over that.
This sign will hang on the front of the building, which is tucked into the side of a giant mountain. The 3D graphic is a miniature version of the mountain peak that sits on the roof. An old woman’s face is sculpted into the rough bark.
Dan Sawatzky's shop, Sawatzky's Imagination Corporation, is in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. Dan shares his experience in his Sign Magic Workshops on 3-D sign making, and his Sculpting Workshop.
