September 25, 2011 - We made great progress on the 3D ACM (Aluminum Composite Material) wall this week, and only have a couple of panels to go to finish the entire east wall. Each of these boxes has to be carefully measured, scored, folded, and held together using corner clips. The box then has to be installed on the wall exactly 3/4 of an inch from the panels all around it.

What makes it really challenging is the east wall of the building is not perfectly straight. As the wood used for the walls dried out over the months, it has changed shape. This has made it even more difficult to get the panels aligned. Adam and Alan are doing an excellent job on a wall that will help make this building even more special then a simple steel building. One example is our treatment of the large studio doors.

Posted by on September 26, 2011

September 20, 2011 - What does it take to start and keep a small business going? This is just one of the many questions that Stephen J. Blakesley host of the internet radio show Entrepreneures-R-Us asked Vic Cherubini, President of the epic software group on this weeks show. If you have not yet tuned in, Entrepreneurs R Us is a gathering place for anyone who wishes to succeed in a business start-up. Blakesley, a Serial Entrepreneur, Author and Speaker has interviewed a number of successful entrepreneurs and provides the listener with ideas they can put to immediate use. 

Click here to listen to the interview with Vic Cherubini.  You can read a transcript of the show below.

Blakesley: "Good Afternoon Vic and welcome to Entrepreneurs R Us. Glad you can join us today."

Cherubini: "Thanks Stephen - I am happy to be with and appreciate the opportunity to be on your show."

Blakesley: "Tell us about your background before launching the Epic Software Group."

Cherubini: "I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and attended The State University of New York at Geneseo where I got a degree in Photography. I worked as a professional photographer and taught Photography at Illinois Central College in Peoria Illinois in the mid-70's; I got interested in Industrial sales, and spent 15 years selling for Johnson & Johnson, Nitto Denko, and Shaw Industries. In 1987,I completed an MBA at The University of Houston, and launched the epic software group in 1990's; We are in our 21st year in business and operate epic from a state of the art production studio in The Woodlands, Texas."

Blakesley: "What does Epic Software actually do? "

Posted by Vic on September 22, 2011

September 17, 2011 - The last major construction item on the epic Creative Co-Op is the trim work on the exterior of the building. We got almost 50% of the Aluminum Composite Material (ACM) panels built and applied this week - and they look great! In the last blog post we took a look at how the panels were fabricated, so this post will focus on the east wall and application of those panels.

The panels we are using are manufactured by the Mitsubishi Company under the trade name ALPOLIC. Aluminum and Metal Composite Materials (ACM) offer superior flatness, vibration dampening, durability and ease of maintenance. ACM is produced by continuously bonding two thin sheets of aluminum on either side of an extruded thermoplastic core. The aluminum surfaces have been per-finished and coil-coated in a variety of paint finishes before bonding. ALPOLIC ACM offers the rigidity of heavy-gauge sheet metal in a lightweight composite material. It is an awesome material to work with.

Posted by on September 19, 2011

September 10, 2011 - Well, we are down to the last major job on the building - the creation of a 3D sculpture wall on the east side (front) of the building. This wall will be made from a series of aluminum panels arranged in a pattern similar to a Mondrian painting. We wanted to make a statement on the front wall , and worked on literally dozens of patterns until we came up with one we all agreed was the winner.

Before we go into more detail about the wall and the panels we are building for it, our good news this week was the completion of the Cyc wall. The most difficult part of any infinity wall is the corner where all walls meet. It has to be perfectly round, that is not an easy task to achieve. In our case it took 5-6 coats of Sheetrock mud applied over several days. Before a new coat could be applied, the previous coat had to be sanded. The results were worth the work - we can't wait to shoot video and photos in the studio.

This week we also installed 3 interior doors, completed some work on the exterior walls, did some interior painting and got to check off several items on our punch list.

Posted by on September 12, 2011

September 5, 2011 - With the record high temperatures through the month of August behind us (30 out of 31 days over 100 degrees F), the first week of September continued with much of the same. The good news was by the end of the week a cool front has (finally) broken through a stalled high that has made working outdoors miserable for most of the summer. 

The work remaining on the building is now mainly decorative. This week we got most of the Cyc wall built, taped, floated and painted. Yesterday, we got the most difficult part of the wall built - the corner area where all the walls come together. It is very tricky, but Adam and Alan did a great job getting the angles perfect.  Two coats of white primer was used to seal the wall and Sheetrock/ This wall is going to be awesome to shoot against - no seams - a real infinity wall.

Posted by on September 06, 2011