Produced a faux belt buckle of the Tony’s Pizza logo. Made using an etched metal plate and hand texturing the recesses. Also hand aged the belt to make it look like its been worn for a few decades.
On this campaign for Print It, A Navitor company, we fabricated the Idea Helmet. Initial design of the helmet and campaign was developed by Hunt Adkins. The final image photography by Curtis Johnson.
Below is the where it all started. After receiving the initial layout from Hunt Adkins. mnfx did the following basic rendering before starting any construction.
After the drawing was approved. We started fabricating the basic shape and components of the helmet. Here the major parts are primed before getting painted. Then some of the finer detail components are added and test fit along with guitar cables, electrical wiring and circuit boards.
Once all the parts were produced and test fit. We pulled out the spray gun equipment and paint. The shell of the helmet has a black lacquer finish. While the gold parts had a 5-step paint system applied.
All the components painted, fastened together and ready for a trip to the photo studio. Rub down graphics were applied for additional detail. A construction helmet was embedded for fitting the Idea Helmet onto the model. The Idea Helmet was then put on display at various tradeshows.
This was one of those tough, grueling photo shoots. The kind where you spend the whole day at the beach playing in sand. Here we made a smashed sand castle by carving the various wrecked castle components from EPS foam and applying sand to them. Then it was set up on Lake Nokomis Main Beach with a pneumatic sand cannon buried behind the castle to launch the sand plume into the air. The ad is for Arctic Cat snowmobiles with photography by Kyle Johnson-MacPherson of Periscope.
This image was for Metro Transit, which serves the Minneapolis and St. Paul region. We created a miniature parachute with a harness that could be fastened to an apple. It also had rigging so it could be suspended from overhead. The parachute is fabricated from a thin transparent plastic that we vacuum formed and then painted with translucent paints. Also did a second version that was crumpled a bit for the apple that has landed. We also supplied plastic grass for the image. Photography by Kyle Johnson-MacPherson of Periscope.
A pair of props done for Purina Hi Pro dog food. The first image was created by making a custom printed bag so it had structure to stand upright and capable of having the gas pump mounted to it. The second image is of the packaging as a battery. The battery was built about 18 inches tall with machined terminals and custom applied graphics.
This is a #1 that was machined and finished for Yoplait, Frozen Colombo Yogurt. Both are now separate brands under General Mills.
For this magazine advertisement we created a UPS delivery man trophy. The base sections were cut on the lathe. The delivery man started as an artist maquette. Shoes, clothing and hat were then sculpted on using an epoxy compound with a milled shipping box added. The gold plated effect was achieved through a 5-step paint application. Photography by Greg Slater.
This is a cup with a figure for Caribou Coffee. Used in promotional materials for the introduction of the Skinny’Bou Latte. The cup was machined from a solid piece of prototyping board, it only holds about an inch of liquid.
We’ve produced many fake weeds over the years. This Velvetleaf happened to cross the line receiving a concrete shoe and took a little swim. The plant was made with a posable wire armature and was actually submerged in a water tank for the picture.
This Tin Rocket toy is made entirely of plastic components. The fuselage and fins were made by vacuum forming the shapes. The nose cone and pilot were partially machined with some post hand work. It was then painted to look aged and worn with metal showing from years of play. Photography by Tom Connors.
