We are blessed to collaborate directly with those who ride our craft. Their creative input informs our process both in terms of board design and aesthetic. We've decided to add a bit more documentation about the behind-the-scenes of our board making process to help educate readers about how board come to be; why they look they look and the conversations and mock-ups that go into creating our craft. We hope this provides a new perspective for current projects and inspires future collaborations.
Featured board: 9'2" Noserider
This board stemmed from an inquiry from Michael, who wanted something to suit his unique style. He rides parallel stance and likes to roam the deck of his longboad. We schemed that our noserider with a slightly widened out nose would do well for him. After ironing out the details of the board itself, we moved on to talking through graphic options. He drew out this rough sketch of what he was after; abstract black resin tint on the tail, moving into green, sprouting into a tree similar to our OR license plate, with the rest of the base as clear. He also wanted a dark colored top of the board, which we figured would wrap onto the bottom and frame out our bottom creation nicely.
Time to execute! First step, after shaping the blank, was to paint the tree. I mixed up some dark green resin and attempted to make a tree using one of those 1 inch foam brush deals. Had to let the resin cure before moving onto step 2.
The second step was pretty much just a standard abstract tint/ bottom lamination job. I mixed up some black, two different hues of green, and a bunch of clear resin and went for it. I was hoping the original tree roots would show through the lam tint but the color concentration was pretty solid so it mostly masked it. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to streak the black down over the roots, hopefully making it resemble the roots they were covering up! There are no second chances on tint jobs so, all things considered, I was happy with how it turned out.
Skipped a few steps here but here's how it played out- I taped off the bottom and then laminated the top of the board with a warmer green. The top color wrapped the rails and formed the border on the bottom. Michael wanted a knee patch to help with deck durability so we laminated an extra patch of cloth in there. Then all the normal processes took over- hotcoats, sanding, and finally a gloss job. The most surprising thing about the finished product is the depth of field that was achieved on the tree. The fade from black to green was done unintentionally but it helps to add that depth!
Super stoked on the finished product- Polishing the top of it was mesmerizing with the deep green color really popping in a unique way.