grip ’em good if ya got ’em

sue me, i get bored…

…and i’ve got a bit of a creative streak. couple that with shitloads of free time (viva la trabajo no! or something like that – i’m sure leia will correct me) and a rebirth in my former skater kid self and you get this…

NOTE: the board on the left was before i found my utility knife, so all that cut grip tape was done with an old pair of SCISSORS! the one on the right was done this week with my utility knife, which is why it took only one (rather than three) days to complete!

in the olden days (i.e. “the 80’s”) i used to really do up my grip tape with paint marker (f.y.i. – nothing kills the felt tip of a paint marker quite as quickly as coloring sand paper with it) but i decided to go another way on this stuff. last year i found a longboard i REALLY wanted for my birthday, the girl i was “dating” (used in quotes ’cause we still disagree as to whether the term fits or not) couldn’t take a hint, so i bought it this year for myself, customized it, and since the graphics were inspired by old school tattoo flash (sacred hearts, sparrows, nautical starts, etc – see pic below) i decided to cut out old school tattoo designs (skull & crossbones, dagger with the banner, spade with “13”) into the grip tape itself (cheaper than paint markers, but a MUCH bigger pain in the ass) and that’s how we got the dogtown for life board you see above on the right.

a few years ago, around xmas, i scored a mint (still in the shrink wrap) lance mountain skate deck and did some very SLIGHT customization on the grip tape, which is what got me all into this in the first place. i decided the deck was too pretty to ride (i’ve since decided that’s the fate of ALL boards so now, if can convince JAB to sell me his old indie trucks (they changed the hole pattern mid-ninties…a sexual joke should probably be inserted here) then the mountain will ride again!) so i bought a used tommy guerrero who’s grapics were already fairly thrashed (i added the orange rails you see below to help curb extra damage when i rode it) slapped the trucks and wheels from the mountain (i’ve since changed the wheels) and started to ride that bad boy around a bit – but with a used deck came used grip tape, which was sucky, so i re-did it on our first rainy day in for-ev-uh inspired by my first tattoo…which is how you get the deck above right (and below right, for that matter)

so, when i took the longboard into the local skate shop (they wanted to see it when i was done) the guys there (both clerks and customers) were blown away by the cut grip tape job…one of the guys even mentioned people might pay me to do this. think there’s any market for this crap? or is it just one of my fun (but essentially useless) skills?

(kinda like my writing here, i mean…)