Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Custom Surfboard Inlay

It took a while to come up with the right material, an image that would fit and figuring out a few printing technical issues but once I did my idea of laminating an original photographic Giclee print came to fruition. The finish product is both beautiful and stunning.
The actual surfboard is a 7'6" Firo hand shaped 'fun board' by Steve Firogenis of West Palm Beach, Florida. Steve was instrumental in working through several problem areas including resining the print on the board, laminating fiberglass over it and pin lining the edges of the image. The finish quality lies in the detail and that's where Steve is at his best.
If you don't look at this as an art piece the board begs to be ridden, which makes the piece even more fun in that it's an actual handcrafted surfboard ready to be waxed and taken out in the water, but how can you? Or can you? That's for you to decide!
I plan to create more of these "surfboard art" pieces, working with various
shapers that still handcraft their surfboards. Different board designs will be ordered and I will use a variety of images that lend themselves to the shape of the board, making each finished piece a one-of-a-kind, fine art creation. Because of the custom nature of the beast no two surfboards will be the same though each specific photo design will be a limited edition series. Each print will be signed, titled and numbered on the image so it can be seen on the board. This first board is th
e prototype to future ones and as of this moment belongs to me. Before the idea of inlaying a Giclee print I had designed this board to ride. I'm dying to use it though for now I best keep my desires in check until a collector comes along!