La Concha Motel

The last motel in our series is for sure the most recognizable. As the front of the famed Neon Muesem, La Concha is one of the few motels that had more than its sign saved.

I really wanted to lightly (see what i did there) pay tribute to the neons of Las Vegas. I originally had multiple colors in the design but eventually settled on orange and white. I terraced over 50 strips of wood to create an outward glow effect reminiscent of the old moving neons. I used the white of the Hard Maple to act as negative space so I made them slightly thinner and narrower than the active orange of the Chakte Viga.

This was a lot of pieces to get together. All had to be sanded before glueing to ensure once together they all stayed lined up in the miters and didn’t have dips. I continued the pattern into the mat choice and found an “imperfection” in the shape of a shell in the wood I used to make the orange mat. I was able to get all 4 mat pieces from this piece, so there’s one on each side, top, and bottom. They are a little hidden, but see if you can find them!