I'm behind

Hey guys. I've been not feeling well for several weeks due to the heat. I've been pulling days from 9AM-4:30AM with a 1.5 hour break at 7PM to catch up on orders.

There's a bunch of good things happening and some not so good things in my life. However I press on. Please be patient as I am behind(but not super behind) on the Acid Spiders. These boards take a lot of work, about 1 day under ideal conditions to do one board. They start life as an uncut blank, are shaped, drilled and rounded. They have to be cleared and stored for 14 days before I can use the wood. My under-estimation was 2.5-3.5 weeks, I'm at that point so it will be 2 weeks more. Realize the hold up is the weather, it is more hot during the day, and cooler at night then last year.

There has been some changes.

Finishing coats: I am now using a poly clear, this takes 2 coats. I could use a rock hard acrylic clear, however it makes my boards look to showy. I like a realistic finish that doesn't blind you. Due to the use of poly clear, it's temperamental to environmental changes in heat, moisture and cool. It takes 2 micro coats of poly, then wet sanding, then full coat clear, then buffing then clear again. The end result is a dappled semi gloss. The reason for this is it will look better on a wall and last longer if you ride them.

Shipping: All orders are now shipped twice a week, Tuesday and Friday. This is due to the heat and the wet cold nights. It's just taking longer to make boards. Simply put.

- As well, all my stains and inks have to be reformulated since in the heat inks and paints are drying in the cup and on the screen. This is a major pain in the ass.

- For the delay in the Acid Spiders, if you choose to do business with me again, I will cut you a good deal. I wont forget patient people.

Commitment to quality: Please remember, these are not slammy-whammy shit silkscreen jobs and rattle can paint. I am using premium paints, premium inks of my own design. What I am making is something you will hopefully realize is a deal for the time and materials put into it.

Custom Orders: Custom orders take time, any change, such as a different stain or paint you might want doesn't always work. There is no one across-the-table solution. So bare in mind, I will do it, I will take the work but be patient. I charge well below what my time is worth because I like a puzzle and I want to make you happy.

Shipping quotes: Due to weather and accumulative custom orders I can no longer even make a guess-timation as to accurate shipping dates. Till the weather cools I am working most days from 4:30PM, to 4:00AM. All orders unless marked 'ready to go' are 3-6 weeks till delivery.

Thank you for reading.

Argggh pinup hell

Backorders on pinups are nearly completed. I had a bad batch of wood in December and took 5 months to sort out Being the small guy I had no choice but to wait till resolved. Now that the wood has been delivered, they are painted awaiting printing. This was only a few boards, 4 to be exact. Dedication to quality prohibits that I fail.

Dead Fuselier decks are coming. In fact tomorrow. These are the same shape as the Ipod Kamikazes, proportionate portrait to the Kami as well and is board no. 2 in the series. They are in high gloss black, semi flat white super clean print atop. Limited exclusive 1 time only top graphic...Wha? Huh? on each board Kray you're crazy!!! No I just like to have fun and this was fun, though time consuming. If you read this blog, special price, otherwise pay a higher price for not reading this at least once a week.

And each deck has 2 hours of unique art atop each board!!!

What a deal.

Pretty pretty purple

There was a few custom strings board, this one cost $320. The customer paid 1/3 that because that was the price however it took 3 attempts to get the purple right. If to lightly applied comes out as burgundy/wine colored, if to heavy it becomes opaque like a paint and the grain is obscured. In the middle there is various intensities. This is a red base, blue base is to dark. There is two purples in the RGBIV, one is Red, the other is Green and Violet doesn't count.

What lays beneath

This idea illustrated has been in my head for a while. The model is my pal Miss Conduct and the ink was for her. The idea comes from the fact I'm not only fascinated by the female form but attempt to explore some of the social pressures that are placed on women. Beauty is only skin deep, what lays beneath and what makes us what we are? Besides the obsession with exploring the female form(That and dimensional doorways inspired by H.P. Lovecraft)... I like provoking images that get your attention.

Are we the sum of all our parts?

-K

This is Miss Conduct.

Strings boards are now extinct, thank gawd!

Tonight/this morning is the last day of the life of the Stings board. It's just another board that is part of XXX history. It is by far the most straight forward yet most complicated technically board I've ever offered taking some 14 hours per board to make. Yikes. It's been a 3 month ordeal, thanks for being patient. I enjoyed making the boards but despise the weight I put everyone through. Besides some customs being completed, this art will never be offered again.

(pours out 40 oz. on shop floor), "R.I.P Strings board, you'll be missed homie."

Thank you for ordering and being patient.

Working on it

First off, I am never ever ever ever ever again offering the method of stain on the Strings deck. Though beautiful it's time consuming and holds things up.

1. sand butt smooth.
2. brush on stain.
3. let dry 1 day.
4. remove stain till pores are clogged.
5. spray stain let dry.
6. wet sand with water.
7. clear coat.
8. wait one day to dry.
9. dry sand.
10. clear coat let dry 1 day.
11. wet sand again.

This goes on for like 3 days till so will skip 12-18

19. scuff with scrubby.
20. print black let dry 1 day.
21. print white, let dry 1 day.
22. spray micro coat clear.
23. airbrush in black.
24. micro coat clear.

The end product brings the grain up, the print floats between clear coats and catches light defusing it. If you appreciate something nice, this is your board. More then likely this is your board in the batch.

Total time, 12 working hours per board. A bargain and I love making them.

And they said to kill migs.

The Korean war was the first jet war pitting F86's Sabre's against the Russian made Mig 15. The American Jet jockeys fought over a stretch of real-estate that connected China to Korea, this area was called Mig Alley. To those American pilots that stepped onto the tarmac, there where makeshift signs they passed, "kill a Mig, make mom proud", "Mig alley 200 miles north" and my favorite cryptic message, "And to kill migs."

It's skateboards in Southern California, not jet warfare above the 32nd Parallel. Cutting, sanding, sealing, painting, staining, printing, airbrushing and clear coating. To me it's a flight check before take off. From start to finish your board may have more time then I would charge. I must perform, I must do the work no matter the cost. I don't shoot down migs, I make boards and ship them out. I work hard and long hours. Often enough fall asleep on the couch at work covered in sawdust, my respirator on and fingers ink stained and softly snoring under the glowing orange light of the air compressor I left on that slowly bleeds of air.

And can't sum up the experience, since it's only making skateboards right? Yet if you own one of my boards, my prints you know that the work maybe the finest thing executed. If it wasn't, I'd hang up my hat and go back to wearing a suit. It's hard work, I love it and it's a day in day out test to perform. I identify with giving your all, worst thing that could happen to me is cutting off a thumb, not having my body stitched with Russian made metric bullets above Korea.

And as I sleep the compressor kicks on and I dream I'm flying a Saber jet; the roar of turbine, the uncomfortable airmask is really my paint resporator I was to tired to take off, and in my head I hear the static of radio chatter, "And to Kill Migs...." and it's really the drone of the nightly news.