Koi-Dragon Steps

Well this post is going to explain how I work. I usually dwell on a idea for quite some time before I even lay a single line down. Sometimes hour’s maybe even days. After I have the whole idea down and I know what I want to do I start off with a blue COL-ERASE pencil made by Prisma color. For the paper I use thin 12 Fld velum animation papers that are punched. I use this type of paper because it is easy to erase over and over and really doesn’t leave ugly indentions on the paper after I'm done with the pencils I will tape down a 55lb Vellum made by Canson and go over the lines with a Micron pen. I usually use a .005; it's the smallest they have and gets the job done. I definitely suggest the vellum by Canson I went cheap one time and the other vellum doesn’t hold the lines as well and you end up smearing it. After the ink part is done I go down to the nearest Kinko’s and get it photo copied onto ECO card stock. It’s a thicker paper that loves the markers and soaks them up without them bleeding all over the place. Most of the time I make 4 to 5 copies of each design so if I mess up or Austin wants to draw next to me I have one waiting. After the Kinko’s run I sit back down and throw down the colors with of course Prisma Color Markers. They might be expensive but there the best and probally the only thing I'll color with except of course the computer. -----Erik

Golf Day!

Well ok for those who don’t know this, I volunteer my time quite often for different events and fund raisers. So this annual golf charity event happened to roll around, and last year I was brave enough to take Austin with me and he loved it. So Mike and I were hanging out shooting ideas around for firefighting and I had this brilliant thought of dressing up for the golf tourney. Let me just say the hat is an original and I had a few people want to buy it off me. They don’t sell this style any more, speaking of which thank you Lindsey for making the fuzz balls (pom-pom) for us. Life Saver! Plus I just have to say Austin can easily sink the 4-5 foot putt. He might not have the correct mechanics but it goes in. And yes that is a sasquash we are standing next to. This is the home of the original Bigfoot sighting. Go Team Argyle. -----Erik

Trip to the Kwik-E-Mart

Well nothing too much to say here just had to take my son to one of the ten 7-11's that actually got the exterior and interior changed for the Simpson’s in the nation. And yes this blog is still art related due to the fact that the Simpson’s is one of the coolest cartoons of all time.-----Erik

Making a SkateboardER !

Well like I said in the previous post the kid uses the board more then I do. He has his own smaller board but that gets no play. The board is in its 2nd year and doing pretty good I haven’t broken anything yet and the boy has so much equipment on him that he can barely bend a joint. So far so good is all I have left until next time. -----Erik

Making a Skateboard

So for some reason last year I wanted to start skateboarding again, and when I mean again I mean when I was 8. But I had to have a cool design on my board. So I had a friend pick me up a blank deck from a local skate shop. Sanded off the little image that was about 4in by 5in then sanded the entire underbelly to get the factory coat off so the 2 step polyurethane would bond better to the fresh untreated wood. I wanted as much of the plain wood to show though so I copied my drawing onto a nice card stock and I also made it a little bigger so it fit the board a little better. When I got home I had to cut just the image out which took quite awhile. I did a quick coat of the polyurethane (sealer) placed the image where I wanted it and but one more coat on. I let it sit for about a day and a half and then but another coat of sealer on. I repeated this step a few more times. I had to drill out the holes again for the trucks but that wasn’t all too hard. I then made my way to the grip tape on the top side of my new vessel. I can easily say that the grip tape could have been done nicer. But it was my first time. Then as I was looking at it I thought how people are going to know I have this great design underneath. So I needed to add something to the top. So I had my friend at Jiu-Jitsu write "Living Legend" out in Japanese. I then scanned it blew it up and skewed it to my liking. Then again printed it out on some thick card stock, cut out the design making a template for the spray-paint. After a few sprays of white it was looking pretty stellar. I then thought I needed some help picking out the hard wear to get this thing moving. So thank you Quik Silver Seattle for giving me the great deal (discount) on the supplies. Oh and thank you to another helper also that was right there for the whole creation and probably rides it more then I do, Austin my son.-----Erik

Darren's Tattoo

Darren the friendly neighborhood Jiu-Jitsu man wanted to get one of my drawings done as a tattoo. So of course I said sure, because this guy would be the one to actually get it done. All he needed was a copy so sure enough I email him a copy of the drawing, next week he comes in wearing it on his arm. Had to say it looked pretty sweet. Kris is the tattoo artist that did the job which I also know though jiu-jitsu. He works out of Emerald City Tattoo located in Lake City. So to all my friends out there in this neck of the woods that are thinking about getting a tattoo done, highly recommend Kris. I’ve seen quite a few of his tattoos and have been impressed with everyone of them. -----Erik

Birth of a Retainer: Step 6

So after all you’re smoothing and grinding steps and the image is finished. You then have to make sure the retainer sits down on the model correctly so it matches the mouth it’s going into, and yes it matters if it is slightly off. Then you take sand paper cut into thin strips and place it in the sanding mandrel (hand piece bit that hold the sand paper) you go over it first with a rough 100 grit and make sure all the scratches are out. The next step is going over it with the 300 grit which is a lot finer and makes your job at the pumice station easier. So of course next step pumice the retainer. Pumice is very fine sand that gets all the little scratches out then you wash it off and polish it to give it a nice great shine. There you go and it’s done. -----Erik

Birth of a Retainer: Step 5

Well I’m going to skip forward a little bit. So here is the retainer after I just added some green to the wings, and I will also skip the step with the black body of the design too. It's basically the same steps smooth the retainer down grind in and add the color until you have the design you like. I just feel that I don’t have to repeat it over again. -----Erik

Birth of a Retainer: Step 4

Ok after the 10 minutes in the pressure pot I then take it out and spray of the wax. Take it back to the lathe and smooth it out again for the next color of the design. Pencil in what you want to grind in and repeat.
-----Erik

Birth of a Retainer: Step 3

So as soon as I get the retainer smooth and ready for the design I then draw the design on the actual retainer with a pencil (regular or white colored pencil depending on the color of the acrylic) after that I choose what size bit I want to use in the hand piece. I then grind in the design about 2-3 millimeters down though the retainer, with out going though the other end. As soon as that is done I then brush it off with a tooth brush and wax it down to the model so that no acrylic seeps i in-between the model and the retainer itself. I then mix the color I need to fill in the body of the design and pour it in. Take the model and place it in the presure pot again. -----Erik

Birth of a Retainer: Step 2

Well this is what it looks like when it comes out of the pressure pot. After this I have to separate it from the model so I can then shape the retainer to the mold of the mouth. The top picture is the retainer shaped and ready to get its design.------Erik

Birth of a Retainer: Step 1

Ok so for those who don't know how this works. While your at the orthodontists and you have to bite into those lovely impression trays, and you almost gag (some do, because some of the doctors offices don't clean the impressions off fully).Well they send those to us and then we make the model (picture shown above) out of the impressions. After that is done we have the wire benders, shape the wire to the design that the doctor would like. When that is complete it is then sent to me and I pour the acrylic, stick it in the pressure pot and let it sit for 10 minutes.
------Erik

Da Bears!!!

Ok back again, and for those who don't know what I do for a living I make retainers. Yes those things that go in the mouth of the poor souls that think there free of braces, and then in return get a retainer jammed in their mouth for years to come. If you’re thinking of those lame clear and pink ones you are wrong. Here is a picture of a Chicago Bears logo I did a few days ago to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about. The paper work came in as "Chicago Bears Logo" cool something interesting to make the day go bye. ....Then I thought.....is it the orange C they have on there helmets or the bear head they have else where and then what is the background color going to be? So I call the Dr. up and ask. He pauses for a moment with no idea then responds with can you do both! "Sure no problem." This is what I came up with. -----Erik

Butter What?

Hello everyone, Erik here. I just got this blog up and running. So I thought I would add some art to it since this is what I will be discussing here, and what not to start things off with "Butterflies" who dosn't like butterflies. Hope you enjoy and please feel free to let me know what you think. ------Erik