Sacramento has a little historical district on the western edge of the city called "Old Sacramento". It is about 10 acres of wooden sidewalks, restaurants, candy stores, souvenir shops and museums. It is worth checking out if you are visiting Sacramento.

The other day I noticed this building with huge wood-framed windows and stone columns. On either side of the window there were nooks carved into the stone for a cornerstone or plaque.

I theorized that two brass plaques had been pulled out of these spots and were now decorating someone's basement bar.

I decided to help update the spot with some new concrete cornerstones!

I've been experimenting with molding plastic letters into cement for a carved stone look, but what would be the funniest thing for a fake cornerstone? Established 1270 A.D.? Rob Cockerham, builder? Shaquille O'Neil Saddles and Tack?

I settled on Rick and Morty because their formal names sound perfect for a building built in the Old West: Richard Sanchez and Mortimer Smith.

The first step was to model the names in Blender and print the plastic letters in 3D. The 3D printing process takes hours, in this case about four hours per name. I printed the names in mirror image.

Next I prepared two molds which would yield a concrete block exactly the right size to fit into the cornerstone nooks.

Richard Sanchez mold ready for pouring!

Drying cement.

These blocks weigh about ten pounds.

Once the concrete had hardened, I stripped off the cardboard. The plastic letters were cemented in place, so I attacked them with a heat gun and pulled out the molten hunks of plastic. A line of sharp carved letters was revealed below.

Success, but actually failure. The Rick block was too long for its nook, and it had a crack down the center.

The Morty block fit its nook, but the concrete had proven to be too fragile near the recessed letters. The stone crumbled and made it hard to read.

I tried again, with cement instead of concrete.

Concrete has sand and gravel mixed together with the cement. Cement is just the smooth glue of the mixture. I hoped, by using pure cement and keeping the pebbles out, I'd be able to keep the edges of the letters sharp.

Attempt #2, the plastic Rick and Morty letters locked into the cement.

Once again I heated up the plastic letters and carefully extracted them from their cement beds.

Success! On the second try I had the size correct, and the two blocks slid into place with some gentle coaxing.

The dried cement had a much higher resolution finish than the concrete mixture. This gave the letters sharp edges, but it also revealed the plastic print seams and artifacts around each letter.

Pursuit of perfection aside, these two babies look amazing and I really hope they enjoy a long life in these nooks. I love to imagine a Rick and Morty fan spotting these two stones and being dumbfounded as to their origin.