Christmas Nativity Scene Refresh (fixing damage)
I brought my Christmas Nativity Scene to quite a few trade shows I attended recently as an exhibitor from trade to Maker Faires and this sign was getting scratched-up and looking old from the wear and tear so it was time to fix it up!
If this design looks very familiar to you, it’s because I posted a video and blog post about it a few weeks ago when I originally made it at CNCROi.com.
I really like the Christmas Nativity Scene refreshed look better than my original, again, trial and error help you discover new ideas and ways of making things more efficient and attractive.
You can see the Christmas Nativity Scene on the top left of the picture above and the scratches that have happened from transport to people touching it below, it’s the grey area revealing the metal under the gold enamel.
The overall design can be absolutely anything by CNCROi.com, here’s a similar process we used for a horse stall sign with a CNC waterjet metal surface and a laser engraved and cut wood background.
Of course, I tried fixing it using just some more paint as my first-try but that didn’t work at all, it was time to kick it up a notch to really improve the overall Christmas Nativity Scene sign.
Something I’ve learned repeatedly that I keep on forgetting to remember is that the more you try to fix something that’s broken, it generally ends-up getting worse and this sign was no different.
If you want solid and very thick wood signage, like the big Ash sign video below, that’s just as “easy” for us as a thinner Pine one, it all comes down to you what you want, that’s the power of on-demand custom manufacturing that my company provides to you.
Originally, I thought the CNC waterjet cut metal surface would come right off the wood, but after it being sand blasted, it really stuck on there incredibly strongly, so strong, I was actually bending the metal while trying to remove it from the wood… that’s a STRONG BOND!
CNCROi.com can also make straight metal signage for a wide variety of applications, residential house numbers through building signs out of solid metal with enamel, powder or anodizing depending on budget and volume.
After I got the metal part of this Christmas Nativity Scene removed from the wood, it was time to evaluate the work I did and you can see from the above picture, the glue really hung on incredibly well to the metal, even better than the wood which it grabbed a few pieces off of.
CNCROi.com can also etch onto stainless steel any mix of design ideas you may have for your own incredibly durable signage from thin to extremely thick metal, it’s all your choice whether we etch, cut through or even paint fill it.
I actually had to sand blast the back repeatedly between sanding it using an orbital sander just to remove the glue and wood that really didn’t want to part ways on the back of the Christmas Nativity Scene sign.
By comparison, the enamel came right off incredibly easily using CNCROi.com‘s industrial sand blaster, now I know why it got scratched-up so easily though for a sign, it’s generally never touched.
We can also make wood signage based on your favorite bible verses, any font, any size and onto any material, that’s the flexibility CNCROi.com offers you!
After sand blasting both the front and the back of the Christmas Nativity Scene, it was time to paint it, now that we have nice weather here, we can once again do this type of painting work outside the CNCROi.com shop.
I really like the look after the gold enamel, it makes the entire metal surface shine beautifully.
CNCROi.com also has extensive experience with Corian which is a great material for custom fabrication when it comes to outdoor work, again, everything to spec and material and sizing all depends on your budget.
Next step was a light sanding on the wood to remove the glue and make the surface flush for better glue adhesion between the metal and the wood of this Christmas Nativity Scene sign.
Before that though, I wanted to try something a little different this time around, actually scratch the surface of the enamel using sand paper in order to remove the matte shiny surface from the Christmas Nativity Scene and give it a more rustic scratched look so it looks better in the light.
CNCROi.com can also do paint filling, which is a different production technique than shown in this Christian Nativity Scene, any color you want!
I think the results of refreshing this Christmas Nativity Scene really came out amazing, adding some gold paint to the background actually made it way better than the original sign I made and I was really surprised at how well it all came together in hind sight.
Although it’s hard to see in the photographs, the scratching of the surface really gave it a far more visually appealing look close-up and helped the light bounce off the surface far more interestingly than just a matte surface would have produced.
Here’s a close-up of the sign with the scratches, they are there and add just so much more detail to the Christmas Nativity Scene signage.
Looking for custom signage?
Contact us at CNCROi.com right now!