Shifting Clouds

Life has taken me in an unexpected direction. I started qhgraphics in response to a friend of mine, Drew Bott, and his headstone company, Bott Monument. It was an exciting adventure, and I really loved doing what I did, only I am about 10 years too early as far as others being ready for the technology.

Not only that, but I came to realize how little I knew about monuments, and as I have worked for Bott's the last few months, I have come to love everything about the business. I am now a full time graphic designer for Drew. I am also currently building his website, www.bottmonument.com. We are trying to take monument design from being a car mechanic business to something more of a respected artistic venture. Drew has that vision, and I love working with him.

You'll see me around however. My goal has always been to get others involved with newer types of technology, and to think outside the box. I'm sure in the future I will be doing presentations on web and graphic design at future Monument Builder's of North America Conventions(that is, once I pay my fees!).

Feel free to email me anytime. There are a zillion import companies that try to do something cheaper than the next person, and skimp on quality. You all know the type I am referring to. If that is your cup of tea, then so be it. But you will not last if I have anything to say about it. I am for the companies that truly care about their craftsmanship, and enriching peoples lives. Yes I work for Bott, but I care about any monument company that strives to the standards that I have seen Drew exhibit.

If this site is up in a few months, it will be a community forum for smaller businesses that care about craftsmanship and technology. In the mean time I have a lot of work to do!

Best Wishes

Lee Crook

upcoming changes

The site is going to continue to function as normal, but I will be making some changes to it.

I have received a very positive response specifically for portraiture. I flood of questions have come in. As many of you know, you adapt as you learn. I am going to change the website to curtail primarily to making custom graphics for portraits, etc.

I am redesigning the website from scratch. The new site will include and address the following:


Member login: I want members to be able to login to their own profile, where they can submit orders of work that needs to be done.

Monthly Invoice: my current site is built of "add to cart" architecture. I am going to redesign the site so that clients are billed on a monthly bases, with the option to pay that invoice online securly.

File Support: I am going to do extensive research into Monucad, signlab, gerber Omega, and the other programs that clients use to plot their stencils. I am learning that there are a lot of technical snags when it comes to software programs and what files will import and export successfully. So far I have come across these files:

Adobe Illustrator (ai)
CorelDraw(cdr)
.dwg
.dxf
.plt
.pdf
.eps
.emf
.wmf
.mcd(MonuCad)

For this to succeed I must know the ins and outs of all of these programs and related extensions so that I can guarantee the fidelity of line plots when they are imported.


Promotional packages: Many people have responded positively to my graphic test of "Kadie" Clients want these graphics available along with original photos. I am going to build a promotional package built specifically around portraiture that will have a variety of styles and individuals to choose from. This package will have files necessary for clients to add these graphics to catalogs, webpages, and showroom models.

Thanks!

Successful Etching

Now whether to call it engraving, blasting, etching, or whatever...You're just gonna have to roll with the punches. I did printmaking in college and from my experience I am more inclined to call sandblasting etching. Engraving was when I would gouge a copper plate with a steel-tip tool. Well it is what it is, and I will try to get use to the change in terminology.

For now Good News! We etched the stone today, the stone that had a series of different styled portraits(see below post):

 Here is the original photo:

Update on Custom Portraits

Dear Clients,

We have had some setbacks in providing you with photographs of sandblasted portraits on granite. The company I work with has been very busy this time of year.

I made a vector graphic specifically designed to show you qhgraphic's capabilities. I am happy to learn that my friends at Bott Monument will be cutting the stencils soon with the computer, and I may be able to engrave as early as Monday.

In addition to the more precise line test (posted below) Here is the graphic I am going to engrave:

Click on image to see detail. Each unique graphic is 10" in height, with no lines falling under 1/16" in width.

This graphic will be 48" wide by 12" tall, and will exhibit three different portrait styles; outline, two-tone shaded, and cross-contour.

We have had a lot of interest expressed in our portraits, and many of you have expressed wanting to see these graphics on a final product. Thank you for your patience, and I will try to have the final product available to see as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Michael L. Crook
Quality Headstone Graphics

New Line Test

I have made a new line test template. This one is much more precise, and gives me a better example of exactly when a engraved line fails. I made it to show also the point of failure for "white lines"- the lines of stone not engraved.

click to view larger image

I will have this available soon for download via pdf and dxf.

Roaring Fork Meadows

I had to make an early exit to my fishing trip. I have a foot injury that I have to watch. I was able to hike a good six miles, the scenery was incredible, I cooked the perfect sirloin steak on a slab of granite in the middle of the fire. It was some nice R&R. Most of all I had time to think. Actually my favorite time to hike is in the middle of the night. I can see how most people are spooked by being in the forest at night, but for me it was really peaceful. For some reason when I walk late at night I get a lot of thinking done.

Roaring Fork. Mountain streams have the clearest water.

After hiking a few miles through a thicket of lodgepoles, I always get excited as I approach a clearing.

Cocoa. He wanted to jump in the lake, but decided that from 10 feet, it was a little too high.

This photo is for my Mother-in-law. She always teases me when I don't catch anything...which is often. Take that Barb.

The next day I went to the Sweetwater River. No luck. Some places you have to fly fish...at Sweetwater the fish were jumping like crazy....some sort of green caddis. They were not interested in my lures.

I was actually hoping to catch some bigger fish to photograph and study for making graphics. The fish were just too small. For some reason they don't grow that much at high altitudes. 

Fishing Trip

I will be on a fishing trip the week of July 25th.

A major monument convention is happening this weekend in Cody Wyoming. So we are postponing the engravings until next week. I figured now would be a good time to get in a little fishing trip. Still send me an email if you need anything, and I will get back to you asap.

See you back on the 1st of August.

Lee