Dressing the Golden Driller

The Golden Driller is Tulsa landmark: a 75-foot tall, 43,500-pound statue that has graced the Tulsa Expo Center since 1966. It’s the 6th tallest statue in the United States, so as you might guess, dressing the Golden Driller is a huge job. Where do you go to find a company to make a T-shirt for the largest and most iconic statue in the state?

You come to Oklahoma Custom Canvas, of course. We asked Jody Herrel, president of Oklahoma Custom Canvas, to tell us a little bit about what it takes to dress the Golden Driller.

Usually it’s once a year that we do the Driller T-shirt, and we fabricate it in-house. Generally it takes a little over a hundred yards of material. And then again we send that to a sign company to screenprint the logo, and then we can finish assembly of the shirt. So it’s quite a project.

It takes a couple of lift trucks for us to actually put on. We’ve got guys on the ground with lead ropes and stuff to make sure that nothing gets blown away. But yeah, it’s a unique application for sure.

Sunbrella. It’s not a fabric we use for any commercial applications outside of some awnings. For industrial applications, we use something that’s more durable. But this only needs to be up for a few weeks before it’s taken down, so it doesn’t get a ton of use.

Back in our early days of this company, one of the radio stations had a request, and they took the time to go out. And we had to rent a lift truck and to gather dimensions and measurements. And so it’s just kind of been a process since then.

At Oklahoma Custom Canvas, we work specifically to each client’s needs, whether that’s a boat cover or a T-shirt for a 75-foot tall statue. Give us a call today at (918) 438-4040 and let’s talk about how we can help your project succeed.