"Yank"

Mr Tiki Bars wild ride

2008-05-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

So, Mr Tiki Bar made it down to Westport WA for the CWC and was used as our chapters 'display table'. He was gingerly loaded into a truck, strapped down tight and arrived without a scratch. I was really happy to see him there and seems he was happy too. Then, he managed to end up in Bellevue, then in Everett, before he finally decided to come home. I really need to get those red 'rope lights' behind the head to light him up. A lot of people were really impressed by the combination of rusted and polished steel, the fiddleback maple top, the vintage beer labels, pinup playing cards, flying boat pictures and the PBR ad varnished onto the wood.

Clean Water Classic

2008-05-30T17:35:00.000-07:00

So, I've been preoccupied because I've been hanging out with our local Surfrider Chapter here in The Ham. We volunteered at the Clean Water Classic surf contest in Westport, all the chapters did, include the Vancouver Island chapter. We had stellar weather and I got SO sunburnt holding one of the 'timing flags' for the Saturday series. Yeah, that's me holding the green flag. I scored a great deal on a used Quiksilver wetsuit. sixty bucks, nice 4/3 and it worked great. It was really nice to be back in the water, even though it was WAY colder than the water in Maui. 58 degrees, encased in neoprene, paddling out in nasty brown/green water really made me wonder 'WHAT am I doing in here'. Huge change from surf shorts, 78 degree blue water in Maui. once I paddled out though, it was good. Even caught a few waves, but got really worked.

Long time no blog...

2008-05-30T17:32:00.001-07:00

So, been busy lately with non-related artsy stuff. Picked up a new toy - actually a guilty pleasure since I haven't owned a car in quite a few years (the Freaky Tiki was an exception). Found a nice little Subaru Impreza RS, slightly used but still nice. Not sure why I'm blogging about this, but still. I was finally able to use another one of my Maui Built stickers and it's perfect. I used the black diecut "Slow Down, this ain't the mainland" on the rear bumper. Works nice with the silver, tinted windows and black interior. Sure is a fun little car.

Another art piece

2008-04-25T16:06:00.000-07:00

So, these past few weeks Kharma has thrown some really nasty poo piles at me. My application to grad school was rejected, found out I was essentially 'hung out to dry' by the faculty person I had been working with since August, two cars that I was seriously interested in purchasing we sold while I was testing driving them, my Yoga instructor is moving, ugh.....

The Dalai Lama was just in the Seattle area and my little brother along with two other people I know (one my Yoga instructor) went to see him. I told the other friend about my grad school issue and she says 'the Dalai says to spin around 21 times'. So, later that afternoon, I spun around in my office 21 times. At about spin 16 I was thinking 'this is dumb and I'm getting dizzy'. Then it occurred to me that I knew 3 people that saw the Dalai, and 3 into 21 is......using higher math....SEVEN!!! Hhhmmm?!?! Isn't 7 a lucky number?? Sure as heck is......

And that is what inspired this interpretation of a Lotus flower and a heart on the ground aluminum panel. I finally used the metallic purple and thought the red heart fit well into the bottom of the flower.

The Cycloptopus

2008-04-06T14:42:00.000-07:00

Used some leftover aluminum from welding class for this one. I showed some of the 'scratched' aluminum panels before with the Testor's modeling candy red paint. I tore painters tape and then sprayer white over that, the tape peeling back and showing the 'torn' effect as well. The cycloptopus is just a taken on the Simpson's alien characters, because I like them. The Simpson's too.

Not sure who I'll give this too, some unsuspecting character I'm sure.

"Salsa del Diablo" dispenser

2008-04-06T14:38:00.000-07:00

Well, finished up the gold leafing and striping this weekend. Turned out pretty good and hopefully Mari Kemper will let it be displayed at the Chuckanut Brewery here in Bellingham, WA. It's slated to open on Memorial Day weekend, fingers crossed. It's hard to see the 'process blue' stripes outlining the flames, but it's the same paint scheme as the hot rod wheelbarrow I did last fall. The gold leafing is red tiger verigated and looks pretty good with the black outlines.

Mixed Media

2008-03-26T19:15:00.000-07:00

No, not watching TV and listening to the radio!!! Using the other piece of Fiddleback Maple and a plasma cutout of the Texas Longhorn. Found the metal at welding class, someone actually threw it out!!! So, I ground the sharp edges down, salt sprayed it, and let it rust a bit more. Then used some gorilla glue to adhere the steel to the wood. This is a gift for a friends 40th birthday.

I hope she likes it.

Salsa del Diablo dispenser

2008-03-23T17:18:00.001-07:00

Well, a new brewpub is opening here in Bellingham, the Chuckanut Brewery Mari and Will Kemper. I've been working with them on a sign idea, but was able to pick up this old fire extinguisher from their site. They're doing a HUGE remodel in our Old Town District. I emptied it, sanded it down, primer and put the base layer of flame colors on it. I'm going to do the flame outline with fine line tape, the spray it with black, and then do blue pins, just like the wheelbarrow several posts ago. Then I'm going to use the red tiger verigated goldleaf for "Salsa del Diablo" along the bottom. We'll see if Mari might hang it in the pub area of the brewery. I think she will.

Piston Install Update

2008-03-23T17:12:00.000-07:00

Well, she's all buttoned up and running like a scalded cat!!

Lessons learned - two extra hands are nice to have around, four extra hands aren't. You only need a little tiny bit of Ducati bond on the mating surfaces, you don't want to clog any oil passages. I didn't, but I think I'm lucky. Ground the ECU and the PC3 on the alum/metal plate under the ECU. Patience is a good thing. Coors and Girl Scout cookies are a handy snack when you get frustrated. JD, Dan Kyle and David are Ducati Seattle were fantastic with Q and A's. The Bearded Wonder - Marty - at Ducati Seattle spent MORE than enough time talking with my and making my custom map on their dynometer. We ended up with 75bhp and 56ft/lb (with a 13 AFR). For those of you that care, add 10% for comparable numbers on a Dynojet dynometer. Marty said I'm running 190lbs of compression, which is kind of high for a street motor, typically these 2v motors are running about 145-160lbs. I've never ever felt the bike act like this and she's a screaming beast. I can't believe how fast she spools up and I can't imagine this bike with a lightweight flywheel and some lightweight wheels.

These are all shots of Ducati Seattle's new dyno room in a secret back alley underground bunker location. Marty treated her to a firm but gentle flogging while he created a custom map for the Power Commander. I will NEVER EVER go to the dealership that's 25 minutes away from me. I'll ride/trailer my bike the 1.5 hours to Seattle to David/Marty and work her over.

Now for some pics.

New 'art' piece

2008-03-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

Had this piece of 'fiddle back' Maple from my tiki bar laying around. Sanded it down, few layers of polyurethane and the grain really pops. I think having the 'live edge' still intact really lends to the earthy feel. Anyway, I had a great day snowboarding with a friend at Mt Baker, came home, picked up the new issue of SURFER magazine, and found a drawing that inspired this design. A few hours later here's the finished piece. I plan to give it to a friend for her birthday. Although I'm really tempted to keep it. I've never really done anything like this, but I'm sure there's more where this came from.

Monster of the time cont'd.....

2008-03-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

Then a new gasket and some Ducati bond and we're back on the way to reassembly. Everything was hooked back the way it was, no extra parts left over, but son-of-a-gun she would turn over or start. Long story short, we needed to have the ECU grounded (thanks to David at Ducati Seattle for taking that call) as well as the Power Commander module (thanks to Dan Kyle at Kyle Racing for helping with that one too). Lesson learned here, remember what wires hook back up to what and understand what it means for something to actually be GROUNDED!!!

Now she's running and I've heat cycled her twice. Weather is still crap here in the PNW, but I'm anxious to get her out for a ride. Hopefully down to Ducati Seattle and let Marty have his way with her on the dyno!!

I'm hoping to get about 10bhp and 5-6ft/lbs of torque increase. Which would really make for a some rides. It was previously dyno'd with 73 and 56, so......fingers crossed.

Monster of a time....

2008-03-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

Had the opportunity to pick up some high compression pistons for my Ducati Monster from JD at Hord Power in Ohio. Solid Midwestern guy that was patient and answered a TON of questions. These pistons would give my little baby a bit more OOMMPHH. Scary thing it was going to require me to completely disassemble the motor. I can barely even get my lawnmower to start, so what am I even thinking about doing with my bike?? Well, one thing lead to another and my friends Denny (Dr Speed on Truckblog) and Matt decided that it was a good thing to pull the bike apart. So, off came the seat, tank, battery box, airbox, throttle bodies, heads and cylinders.

While the heads here off I thought it would be a good idea to clean all the carbon build up after 24K miles. They were pretty gunky, so I VERY gently scraped the stuff off and used a scotchbrite pad and some 2000 grit wet/dry paper to really smooth things out.

21 gears to 1 gear - Part Duex

2008-02-25T12:54:00.000-08:00

After about two hours of masking and watching Storm Chasers on Discovery, the singlespeed conversion was ready for some metallic purple paint. It's always amazing how long it takes to mask and how little it takes to spray. Labor of love this one is.

After the tape came off I did a bit more wetsanding to knock the edge down on the paint, then sprayed the whole thing with clear. Like on my friend's bike, I left the nicks and scratches in the original paint so the bike would still be weathered. Then added some sublime green stripes around the metallic purple. This was really hard as the tubing is just so darn small. Even with a Mack brush cut down to about 000 it was still hard to hold a consistent line. I tried my scrolling brushes too, and it seemed to work ok. This was again, another great learning experience.

Time to ship it out!!!

First real ride of the season.......

2008-02-17T19:32:00.000-08:00

Got the Duc out with two other boys today. Matt on his Triumph T-Bird Sport (fresh fork rework and carb tune - she moves now and sounds like a P-51 Mustang) and Scott on this new Yamaha R6s. It was a bit cold, Chuckanut was PACKED, but we still have a great time just being able to ride. Hoping the weather finally breaks for us. 40 degrees and raining just isn't cutting it anymore. The Duc is running great, but I need to get her down to Ducati Seattle and have Marty tune her up on the dyno. Just ordered some high compression pistons and am anxious to get those installed. I think I'm ready to pull the trigger for a set of lighter wheels and front rotors. Once "Angelina" (named after the Louis Prima song - not Brads wife) she'll be the hottest thing on two wheels.

Man I just love this bike.

Birdbath Stand and candy panels - update

2008-02-17T19:02:00.001-08:00

One of the birdbath stands is finished and ready for delivery. The semigloss paint helps bring out the backtwisting to the square steel, but should detract from the rhubarb leaf 'bath'. I think it came out nearly as good as powdercoating, but powdercoating adds a softness to the pieces because of the baked on layer.

Those red panels are 'testers' for a sign idea for a new brewery coming online. I followed an idea in one of my striping books about texturing aluminum and clearing over it with candy paint. I bought some Testors model paint in candy red and sprayed it over the freshly ground aluminum panels I had laying around. The texturing is pretty cool. I'll be adding some white pinstripe designs to this soon.

Striped a panel the other day with polar white, have one in gold too, but no pictures yet. The second birdbath is done too, and delivered.

21 gears to 1 gear

2008-02-17T18:24:00.000-08:00

So, first shots of a mountain bike conversion from gears to singlespeed. Found this old KONA mountain bike frame with a busted rear dropout at a local pawn shop. It was ....... CCCCHHHEEEAAAPPPP. Ordered some singlespeed dropouts from Paragon Machine Works. I little heat to burn out the brass from the original frame build, shaved down the tabs on the new dropouts, used the MIG welder and right back to a rideable frame. I ground down the welds (I'm still a little sloppy, but MIGing these weren't exactly easy. A TIG welder wouuld have been the better choice, but I haven't built those skills...yet. Girls like guys with skills, nunchuk skills, internet hacking skills, TIG welding skills...........

I also shaved the cable eyes off on the chainstay and downtube, relocating an eye near the seat tube so the lucky recipient can use V - Brakes as this was a frame for canti-brakes. Old School.

Anyway, I wetsanded it down, added some primer and will paint certain areas a metallic purple and then add some "Sublime Green" stripes to it. Stay tuned..........

Fun at the 2nd Annual VooDoo Ball!!!

2008-02-16T18:17:00.000-08:00

Good Times last weekend in Vancouver, BC with friends and Big John Bates and the VooDoo Dollz. Lil Miss Rick, Lil Miss LuvRoc, Camero Luv Roc and Cherry on Top gave a great show. Big John Bates, sCaroline and JT Massacre had yet another great show. The burlesque girls are always such a fun time to watch.

Can't wait for Round 3 next year!!!

Redline

2008-02-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

Some thin red lines on the white panel for (shocker!!) Persnickety Design bags. This will end up being one of their smaller Cabio bags. I trimmed down a Mack 00 brush to probably 000 and tried that out. Seems to work pretty good for such a small area.

Twisted Steel birdbath stand

2008-02-01T17:49:00.000-08:00

So, one of the few posts about the steel work I do. Another friend commissioned me to make two birdbath stands for her and her mother-in-law. I used some cold rolled square steel and backtwisted (a la Indian Larry on the Wild Child bike) to form the legs. Those were welded onto a small piece of round pipe, then heated and bent out. Then I heated the ends for the bath to sit and beat those down to round them out, leaving the opposite sharp to help hold it in place in the ground. She made the bath out of qwikcrete and a rhubarb leaf. They are just about done, but I want to add a bit more twisted accent pieces to it before it's ready for the powdercoater.

New striping work

2008-02-01T17:44:00.000-08:00

Lightly striped a bottle of Captain Morgan "Voodoo" rhum for a friend of a friends belated Christmas present. I wanted to make sure the tall ship embossed on the back was highlighted so I surrounded it with some light stripes. The dark rhum really helps accent the white and red. Figured those were good pirate colors. Then got another black panel from Persnickety Designs for their 'cabrio' bag. Thinking (and hoping) that spring is almost here I decided to use the new One-Shot "Sublime Green" and white for the butterfly.

A friends singlespeed mtn bike frame...

2008-01-28T20:07:00.000-08:00

Well, KRN needed a little TLC for his Kona UNIT, since the ultra sweet custom paint job was getting pretty bashed up. So, he asked me to do some extra for it and this is how it turned out. I wet sanded the original paint and some of the chipped edges to smooth them out. Added the crossbones and heart to the headbadge area, then a little orange stripe with some white spiderwebs. This was a pretty tough bit as the bike tubes are so small and round. Tough to keep a 'flat' brush. I then just used some industrial weight rustoleum clear coat over the stripes. Turned out pretty good and even brightened up the metallic clearcoat from the original job.

Booze Fighters MotorCycle gift...

2008-01-22T07:59:00.000-08:00

So, awhile back I was reading in an issue of The Horse (backstreet chopper) magazine, about the book "The Original Wild Ones" - Tales of the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club. This was after seeing Wino WIllies restored Crocker here at the Bellingham Museum. Well, I happened to find a used copy and snatched it up. I read the thing in about a week (which is really fast for me). I then started doing some online research and made contact with Jim Quattlebaum (BFMC National Historian). I asked him if I could send my copy down for his signature. "Sure", he said, "I'll take it to the club house next time." Well, a month or so later this package arrives from Texas and I was stunned. Jim sure enough got a few signatures for me, it covered the first six pages, with the majority in green sharpie!!!

Anyway, I felt it was time to send a proper 'thank you' and this is what I did......

Actual Persnickety Designs bags....

2008-01-21T14:48:00.000-08:00

Well, they are all sewn up and on the shelves and online at Persnickety Designs, in little ole Bellingham. http://www.persnickitydesign.com/bhamshop.html
Just give Rebecca or James a ring and they'll tell you what they have left. Better yet, check out www.yankbags.etsy.com and order one from there!!!

I gave the blue passenger bag with barbed wire and heart to my lil wifey for her birthday.

More Persnickety Panels

2008-01-09T18:50:00.001-08:00

Apparently I wasn't able to upload some of the photos of more bag panels, some of which has already SOLD!!!!!! The blue Passenger bag with barbed wire went to my wife, Toro Tiki went to Rebecca at Persnickety and some lady bought two bags, the cat tiki and one of the cherry bags. I'm pretty happy about that.....

Plate for my Mom....

2008-01-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

So it's been awhile, last post was on Dec 5......whew. After a flurry of in-laws, parents, being sick, I'm back to post only one thing this time. A birthday present for my Mom. I striped and leafed this plate for her. I think it turned out really well with the green verigated gold leaf and the blended One-Shot Green and Chamois colors. Tends to flow with the very subtle green hues in the ceramic glazing. Regardless, she loved it and that's all that matters.

Final run of panels for bags/purses.....

2007-12-05T22:14:00.000-08:00

So, this and the next post will be pics of the latest panels and such. The bags will hopefully be ready sometime next week, just in time for 'guys night out' shopping here in The Ham. So, in this post we'll have the Green Catiki, Martini Time, Cherry Bomb, and White Lines.

More Persnickety Panels.........

2007-12-02T21:50:00.000-08:00

Yep, so here are s few more panels for future bags to be sewn up just in time for Christmas, Kwanza, Chanukah, Festivus, whatever. So, there's "Double Vision", "Eye of the Heart", "Swingin' Tiki" and "Flying 11 Ball".

Have a few more drying up. Just spoke with someone that wants some stripes on his groundup resto of his scooter. nice.

Finally, some new Persnickety panels....

2007-11-28T13:19:00.000-08:00

Yep, got rollin' on these panels during various bouts of Turkey-itis. Just a little cleanup work and these will be ready for messenger bags and clutch purses. Tried out a 'new' style for me after reviewing some Von Franco and SHAG work, OBVIOUS influences there. I'm really stoked about the purple tiki, that one came out so good. Toot Toot my own horn. That is going to make a stellar bag for a very fancy lady. I think I like this one better than the Toro Tiki.....yeah, I DO like this one a lot.

Newly striped shoes......

2007-11-28T13:16:00.001-08:00

Just some simple orange stripes on a pair of brown shoes. Fu Fu might like these. Need to get crackin' on her other stuff too.

Finally The Bench is done.....

2007-11-13T23:12:00.000-08:00

yep, it's done, did some green stripes around the orange flames, bolted it down to the black frame with some nice stainless steel bolts (it will be outside after all) and there it sits, even weathered it's first Northwestern 60+mph windstorm on the back deck. While our fence was being blown over, the bench sat there quite comfortably.

As any depressed artist would do....

2007-11-13T22:23:00.000-08:00

I started in striping to take my mind off stuff, that really didn't happen, but this is the result of just not paying much attention to what you're doing. Finally figured it was time to stripe my 'striping' box, a classic metal Craftsman black tool box. I had put the stickers on when I first got it a few years ago. Time to add some lines.

Vintage Motorcycle Jacket

2007-11-10T09:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been looking for a vintage motorcycle jacket, found this one at a local shop, but once I'm on the bike it's a little to small. So, I was waiting for some design ideas and remembered seeing some Evel Kenievel type stunt rider with a skeleton style leather suit. So, I took that idea and just did the arm bones, but added the grey barbed wire woven though them. Added the skull and spiderweb on the front then waited for another design idea for the back. I wanted room for the future owner to add a back patch if they wanted, but if not, then the design would stand alone. Pretty darn pleased with this one. Wish I could keep it, but there's another one out there......this one will also got to FuFu's ETSY Store.

Motocycle Helmet

2007-11-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

Got this helmet for my 40th B-day, it's been sitting around (I'm not into 'skid lids'), so figured I would dress it up a bit. The purple might not sure up to well in the photos, but it's actually pretty nice blended in with the red and orange. Might even put this one on FuFu LeDuex's ETSY Store or ebay and see what happens.

My turn this time....

2007-11-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

While I was working the clutch purse, my Boeri snowboard helmet looked like it could use some help. So, laid on the white stripes, with the White Stripes playing, mixed up a dirty green and surrounded the Deep Cove and Pay Up Sucker stickers. Come on Mt Baker!!! Bring us some magic this year!!!! Just need to finish the liner for "Blew By You" and pad that helmet.

New Persnickety purse

2007-11-02T07:29:00.000-07:00

Finally back from 'island time' and back into the brushes. Still working with the Persnickety folks and they've been ultra-supportive and great to work with in designs and ideas. This one is a start on one of their clutch purses. Hope to have some ready by Christmas, but on 'special order' only.

Few more pics of my new home....

2007-10-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

Surfing at The Cove, Mai Tai at Voodoo Lounge, Hibiscus at Garden of Eden.

Paradise found......on Maui

2007-10-21T20:02:00.000-07:00

So, haven't been here in quite awhile. Been spending some time on Maui. First time to any of the Hawaii'an islands and this one was amazing. First feeling, rather smell, off the plane in Kahului was the warm, sweet, salty air. It was mind stunning. I knew I had found 'home'. Everyone we met was friendly, the sand was warm, the water was warm and blue, the mai tai's always had a float of dark rhum and a slice of THE BEST pineapple the mainland has never seen.

Jeff and his wife at Big Kahuna Adventures were great with renting me a 10'2" longboard and even though the waves were small, it was still great to ride waves in the place surfing was invented. Something to be said about 10 days in shorts/surfshorts and flipflops.

The Hana Hwy was fun, great views and very lush on the wideward side. Also, NEVER drink a whole coconut full of milk. Just trust me, you don't want to know the details. We had a little swim on a 'red sand' beach complete with a nudist lady doing tai chi.

Kihei was the placed we stayed and Kam 2 beach was the main beach for us. A morning walk across the street lead to warm sand, warm water and the best way to start a morning with kona coffee and a nice swim. Then down to grab a board, have a morning session, then late breakfast of pineapple/coconut waffles, POG, coffee and warm eastern breezes.

Then off to whereever for snorkling, more beach and more mai tai's.........Kaanapli/Kapaula area was like entering Bellevue, WA or Rochester Hills, MI......just a bunch of rich snooty people. Lahaina was cool, but stay away when the cruise ships roll in and give birth to their young that roam the streets in plaid shorts and mumu's. The HUGE bayan tree is simply amazing.

Wish we would have snorkled at Black Rock with the sea turtles, but the phrase becames "There's something to do next time!!" Molokini crater was great and the crew/captain on Fourwinds 2 was fantastic. The Old Lahaina lua was really great and the roasted pig was melt in your mouth fabulous.

All I can say is I'm saving my vacation and next Oct I'm going back, even if I have to camp on the beach.....wow....that sounds harsh doesn't it. The people at Maui Built/Tropix were also great to talk with and they have some killer gear. Bought a longboard skate deck and LOVE it, had the guys at Edge here in Bellingham, WA put the trucks, wheels and tape on. Lots of fun.

Man, I miss Maui with a passion. It was EVERYTHING I imaged a hawaiian island to be.....I can't wait to try Tahiti or Fiji.

Handbags for Persnickety Design

2007-09-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

So, working collaberatively with Persnickety Design I've been striping some bag panels and now some bags. Here's a few starters.......

Vintage Motorcycle Helmet "Blew By You"

2007-09-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

Found this nifty lil jobber at the Style Shack, in Waco, TX. Thanks Ralph!!! And to Rob at Rob's Chop Shop in Dallas, TX for telling me about the Style Shack. Found a few 40's ties too. Anyway, spent the weekend gold leafing this one and adding the white and my own color "Blue Tar". Working on stitching up new fabric for the inside. I'll post that when it's done.

Final 'blue purse' for FuFu LaDeux

2007-09-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

Just added to accent lines to the flying eyeball image on the purse. FuFu was quiet pleased with it...and I have to say that I am too. Should be posting some more stuff later this week, but then off to 'secret holiday' for two weeks, should come back with some fresh ideas though, and a more relaxed mind....aaaahhhhh.........

Purse the 'dutchie' to the left hand side.......

2007-09-11T12:32:00.001-07:00

Fu Fu LeDeux decided she HAD to have another bag, and found a really nice vintage blue one. Suede inside and everything. We chatted about ideas, then I said "what about the flying eyeball? Seems appropriate as Ken and the eyeball are icons..." I think my hearing dropped to levels from her excitement!! So, finding some images sure wasn't hard and it fits the bag really well. Just add some singleline stripes and it's done.

I'm really happy with this one and I can't say enough about the Virus brush. Going to order up a few more of those.

New passenger bag panels

2007-09-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

Finished these panels up late last night for some 'passenger bags'. Really enjoying the Japan Drier added to the 1-Shot. A few drops is all it takes and the paint sets up faster. I'll be away in Dallas eating steak, drinking Lone Star and (hopefully) listening to BOTH kinds of music - country AND western will help me take a step back, get some fresh ideas going and see what happens next. I'm really happy with the Toro Tiki and the 'pink bows' in the spiderweb, kind of fun to just have ideas pop in the little noggin'.

Jake and Katie - first timers

2007-09-11T12:08:00.000-07:00

So my little friends Jake (9) and Katy (6) decided they had to try their hand at rattlecans and 1-Shot. Sunday afternoon was spent determining colors, layout, design, masking, and for Jake, his first ever attempt using my new Virus (thanks again Fu Fu). He's doing great for first time and being in grade skool!! Gotta start them early. Katy and Lisa were really going to town on the Montana rattle cans.

Final Flames on the bench....

2007-09-06T07:42:00.000-07:00

Painting lesson #2 - lighter colors required more coverage over darker colors.....two cans of 'mango' Montana Gold were needed for the final flame layer. Pulled the tape/mask and some overspray, but this is mighty bright!!! Need to wetsand the thick mask edges, drill out the 'bondo' filled bolt holes, and put it all together. I'm going to let it sit awhile and think about outline stripes for the flames. Maybe just lighten some 1-Shot to get similar colors, just shading differences. The mango colored flames have some of the flame licks overlapping, so to get that effect they need the outlining stripes. But, now I can get back to completing the tiki bar.........

Designs for handbags....

2007-09-03T17:21:00.000-07:00

Working with a handbag maker so work on some ideas for her fabulous handbags and such. As mentioned below, then Naugahyde takes the One-Shot, but her other material doesn't. Working on an additive or primer for that stuff. Happy with these designs and I tried to use a grid pattern and free hand the design, just eyeballing. Pretty good.

Spidergirls new boots........

2007-09-03T17:16:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out. I'm finding that some 'fabrics' aren't real compatible with the One-Shot (or vice versa), but Naugahyde seems to take the paint, rather the paint actually dries on the material. No idea what these boots are made of, some kind of rubberize vinyl, but the One-Shot does have some 'give' to it when it dries.

Anyway, enjoy and look for these on an ETSY webstore new you!!!! Thank you Air-ink for the use of you lllleeeggsss......

Bench Update

2007-08-30T12:59:00.001-07:00

Yeah, kinda busy lately, but finally started back in on the bench. Primered, wetsanded, Montana Gold Vivid Blue, wetsanded, Red Orange flames, just wetsanded and need to get more tape and masking for the final 'mango' flames. So far so good, I'm fairly happy with it, I have new respect for the REAL painters out there. Masking, taping, sheesh that takes TIME......

New Shoes and Clutch Purse for a friend

2007-08-22T21:40:00.001-07:00

So, here's another pair of shoes and purse ready for any event. The green stripes are hard to see but I lightened the paint with white to give a very slight color change. These thin lines are pretty darn tough and will probably wait until I get some proper scrolling brushes to do much more work this fine. Learning every day.

Random Pictures

2007-08-16T23:24:00.000-07:00

Just some pictures - My motorcycle and my dog, that's all you'll see of me. That sign was in lower Manhattan.....hilarious. How do cops enforce THAT ONE????

Custom Mtn Bike Handlebars

2007-08-16T23:16:00.000-07:00

I've been messing around with 'back twisting' steel in a welding class. Decided to try round stock, but using three smaller diameter rods. Turns out pretty cool, but I have to quench between heat cycles or it untwists itself. Had a spare piece sitting around and thought 'huh, this would make a pretty cool cross member for my townie bike (A baby blue Kona Huhunukunuku apua'a single speed - killer ride). So, I used my new favorite tool, a handheld band saw, cut the tube cross member out, split the sides, spread them, stuffed in the twisted stock, welded the seams and there it is. I wirewheeled the black powder coating off and sprayed some gloss clear heavy duty Rustoleum on there.

AAarrrggghhhh......no rationing here....

2007-08-16T23:11:00.000-07:00

I peeled the back label off this bottle of Sailor Jerry rum (one of his sailor girl drawings was on it and it was quickly laid onto my tiki bar.....another project) so I could stripe the back. I gave this to my (now ex) boss for a trip up to Alaska. He's a big fan of MaiTai's and this rum would work nicely. It's hard to see the black stripes here and this was about the fourth thing I tried to stripe after picking my brushes back up after a year. I learned to roll the brush along a round surface and to keep the brush full of paint.

Another gardening bit, the watering can

2007-08-16T07:42:00.000-07:00

Had this sitting around and just couldn't resist putting some lines down. Used the 'process blue' One-Shot and added a little white to get the baby blue. I think the sunflowers like it.

Did you get the memo about the TPS Reports?

2007-08-16T07:32:00.000-07:00

One of my co-workers needed some special attention to keep her stuff from 'walking off'. Seems she couldn't keep track of her tape dispenser. I also did some work on a few clipboards. The flame job came out pretty darn nice and made a great gift for a friend who really shouldn't be with us anymore after a horrific motorcycle accident. He's doing great and I had a nice chat with him the other day. The spiderweb clipboard didn't work like it was supposed to. I had black black primer on the back with the black One-Shot. Well, after putting on a coat of (supposedly) "flat" clearcoat, it came out 'semi-gloss'. Oh well. live and learn, hey??

My 'living room' bench

2007-08-08T22:54:00.000-07:00

Another 'found' object that made it's way to a new home and a little extra attention. This is a work in progress, but aren't we all. I added the spiderweb 'gussets' in the frame then sent it to my friend Quitin at Advanced Powder Coating. The boys there never fail me. I nice low gloss black powdercoat adds a nice touch. I've reglassed the soft spots on the bench, added some plastic filler and smoothed it out. It's ready for rattlecan primer. I've decided to use some graffiti artist paint that I found (Montana Gold) for the final layers of paint. Yeah, it will be a flame job, but colors choices are still not set.
Just did some final prepping for colors, got some primer sprayed on, filled some small cracks, and wetsanded the whole thing. Hope to get a colors chosen soon, tough decision.

A 'keeper' - My vintage cooler

2007-08-08T22:48:00.000-07:00

Found this little gem at a garage sale. A little Simple Green, some scotchbrite, few coats of Rustoleum flat clear and on go the stripes.......I'm thinking that the line thickness is needing some work, but what's a beginner to do??? It's mine, so that's that.

Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.......

2007-08-08T07:46:00.000-07:00

So, as tricky as it was, I think my first pair of pumps turned out pretty good. At least the wearer is happy, which is all that matters, hey?!?! This project taught me t hat I need to pick up some Virus brushes for the really small, tight work. The Mack 10's that I'm using and have cut down are just to big for such small work.

Striping a work trailer

2007-08-05T23:47:00.000-07:00

This is starting back at striping again, taking some tips and just striping everything and anything I can. As I said above, I'm working on a vintage cooler, doing a friends shoes, already have two other friends lined up for a truck and boat motor, so it's going to be a busy fall!!!

Secret Hill Rd

2007-08-01T18:32:00.001-07:00

BurpeeHillRd, originally uploaded by tonupyank.

almost tipped over......great little road that twistes and dips and is a nice little stretch.

Custom Wheelbarrow for friend...

2007-08-01T18:25:00.000-07:00

For the gardener that likes to grow Scotch Bonnets, Jalapeno's, Ancho's and Chipotle's, here is the hot rod wheel barrow. Turned out pretty good I think for first time masking, fading and using the Mack brushes again. There are a few 'in process' pictures. Some of the flame work was covered up by the handles, but it's all good. Working on a vintage cola cooler for myself right now. Have in 'process' pictures of that too.