These are two signs that I recently made for a client in Hawaii. They are both made from salvaged old growth red cedar that I have hand split. The address sign is in the Japanese torii gate style with mortise and tenon joinery. Notice some joints are through tenons with hardwood wedges, and the top piece is pegged. The sign board itself I glued together first and sanded smooth. Every once in a while I find this darker, almost blackish cedar while beachcombing… I think it may be caused by metal that was in the wood for a long time and slowly coloured the cedar wood around it. (but thats only a guess…) but I really like the look of the darker cedar in contrast to the nice rich reds and oranges of the regular cedar colour. I like to taper the posts like a tree, slightly wider at the bottom, giving it a real grounded feeling. This sign like one I did a couple years ago has the Japanese characters for ‘Welcome’ at the top and the address below. I took this picture in front of my pond before I mailed it. 
The second sign is simpler, and is meant to be hung on the wall beside the entrance to the house. It is the traditional family name in Japanese characters. I used some of the darker cedar again for the frame, to continue the look of the sign from the road to the front door. I would like to thank my neighbours, the Kikuchi’s, especially Kenta, for helping me find a good paint brush font style for the name sign.
