Your thread, your rules hombre. I like the updates.
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Decided that the text would take away from the design so I’ve chosen to remove it. Will need to rework the tongue a bit now.
Spent a few hours trying to figure out how the fuck a snake actually works. Turns out anatomy is studied by artists for a reason. Trying to wrap (no pun intended) my head around how to create the scales to give the illusion of it being 3D has taken lots of time.
The perfectionist in me isn’t happy with a lot of things so far. Firstly how inaccurate my linework is and how inconsistent the line weights are. Secondly, the way the snake butts up against the top edge but has a huge gap at the bottom. Thirdly, some of the proportions of the snake are still off.
However, I’m trying to embrace the imperfections, accept that it will never be exactly perfect without sinking in an excessive number of hours practicing pyrography and refining my artistic skills.
Besides, I haven’t seen any other esk8 decks with hand burned custom artworks. If mine is the first I think it warrants a unique tag under my username 
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You going to weight it using the hot iron too? I.e. longer darker burns vs lighter browner burns?
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Yep, not excessively because attempting realism is well outside of my skill level but just to add some depth
Begun shading last night, not sure if its ruined it or made it look more 3D but theres no going back now…
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Hi all,
I need some advice on how to grip this deck. Originally I was planning to use glass frit, as it looks like my existing longboard uses it and it looks good. However after watching different videos and seeing it close up on peoples builds, I worry it may look too glossy and “chunky”.
Here is how it is on my current Globe deck, and it grips better than any grip tape Ive ever used:
From what ive heard, people say fine frit gets caught in the resin and is barely noticeable, and medium frit is best. However this deck looks like it uses fine frit as far as I can tell and the adhesive is so thin it’s completely un noticeable.
I dont want to resort to clear grip tape because ive used it before over a graphic ive burnt/paint into the top of the deck, and it ends up looking crap:
I am also unsure as to whether i should coat my deck with a clear topcoat prior to glass fritting, because at the moment its just raw sanded maple, or will the epoxy/spar urethane provide sufficient protection, and if so, do i then coat the entire deck with the stuff so it also acts as the clear coat or just the top or bottom?
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Clear vicious grip tape is way better than any frit I’ve ever touched. And it’s on sale.
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I dont mind the look of this board at all tbh, your woordburning skills are super nice! Definetly love the 3d.
Also the imperfections make the drawing look more alive too.
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Tempting, but im worried itll obscure the drawing too much…
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Thank you I really appreciate it. I can be a huge perfectionist and beat myself up over the smallest mistakes 
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It definitely makes it a foggy glass look, good thinking.
Personally, the medium frit board I had was dog shit. It cut my hand, my car, my house… Everything it touched got scraped up bad.
Fine frit done right is much better. Comes down to sprinkling it on at the right time so it sits on top.
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Today is a sad, sad day.
Yesterday I experimented with using a blowtorch to even out some of the shading, and maybe speed up the process a bit.
Unfortunately it became much darker than I had hoped in some places, and looked awful. On top of my already messy shading, I made the decision to strip it back and rework most of the snake.
As frustrating as it is, after having spent many hours on it so far, I’d rather get it right than have to look at a deck where all I see are mistakes.
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I know exactly where you’re coming from, the frustration will last a week but the deck should last a lifetime. Press on my dude 
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Damn that’s super frustrating but at least you’re willing to redo it. Not sure I’d have that kind of patience lol.
Fine frit sounds fine to me but I’m no expert. I used that spray on stuff and did a combination. Medium near the edge of the board and fine in the middle. Pinging @Kai tor frit stuff
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We have all been there at one point or another, it’s just a right of passage 
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O i got the frit stuff.
But i just cracked the 11th of this 12 pack and its past 3am here so tomorrow kai will read why the appreciated shoutout was necessary<3
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Cool you already look, the pyrograving the deck is pretty cool !
Experience I have no doubt will come quick too if you stick on this forum !
@Jamie could you gave this nice fellow the title “the other Jamie”, that would help him look even cooler until he reaches regular, and it will prevent other the week of doubt I had while reading his posts XD
@longhairedboy
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