Surfin' USA

[tugrik]

Not many folks know this, but I actually did grow up a California beach kid. First down in SoCali (Huntington Beach area) and then a few years up in NorCali (El Granada, just by Half Moon Bay) before getting shipped off to the midwest to become a farm kid.

While I never did become a surfer with a proper board, I did love the waves and bodysurfed when I could. I'm notably envious of those who can surf and wish I'd been able to stick around Cali to learn how.

In any case I find myself getting a good grin out of this year's FC theme: "Surf Safari". I'll be there doing photography as always. This time, though, I wanted to bring some other creative things to give away, sell or both. The idea hit me to use the new tools to make some little, wooden surfboard trinkets. They could be keychains, tags or necklaces pretty easy.

Once the idea was mentioned to Dusty, he came up with a quick little doodle with a stylized "FC09" that I liked. From there I added some board stripes, a yin-yang and then worked out a decent little vector art bit for hibiscus flowers. My goal for the trinkets was threefold: a cool surfboard, a way to exploit the laser's ability to do intricate cutting shapes and a way to personalize them. After a beautifully idle weekend fiddling about, this is what I came up with:



Click for a much bigger version showing the wood detail. I highly encourage this. The boards are 4" x 1.75" and made of 3/32" alder wood. I tried some ink rub-ins to see how well they worked but the result wasn't very good for the amount of effort spent. Besides, proper surf wear should be all-natural materials... even if carving them with light isn't the most naturalistic way. :)

The personalization on the front can be in any font and a variety of sizes, or left off entirely. I just picked a font at random for this test, but need to find something more brush-stroke-ish. I'm still not fully sure what to do with the back. For now it's just a copy of the text style of the official convention logo. It works well enough that I'l most likely ask them for permission to use it as-is. Other suggestions would be appreciated, though!



To be honest I'm quite surprised to have gotten this far with a design, considering my utter lack of design skills.

I can make nine of these out of each sheet of alder wood (4x12) and the sheets come 20 to a pack. I could sell them for $3 each ($4 personalized) and have them pay for themselves. Think anybody would be interested in these at the con? If not I'll just do them as souvenirs to give out at the photo shoot and to friends.

Comments

[quoting-mungo.livejournal.com]

Those are so cool! Makes me wish I was going to the con just for those. All the stuff you manage to knock out with your machines is incredibly impressive to me.


-Alexandra

[hakeber.livejournal.com]

Oh cool! Those are so neat!

[twentythoughts.livejournal.com]

Those are pretty danged neat, they are. Though one might want to make the names stand out more on the first one, if the intent is to be able to read it at a glance: I didn't even notice that the first board said "Tugrik" until the third look at it.

For some reason, that first one also makes me think of tribal shields in certain parts of Africa. Then again, surfboards would anyway :)

[ladyperegrine.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think people would be interested at the con! I would buy one myself and *want* to go to FC regardless, but these make me want to go even more! Really nifty.

[theassassinnox.livejournal.com]

Oh neat! I really like the look of the first one. <3

I think folks would buy them.

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

That's the same 'board, front and back, in two pics. :) Heh! Next time you drop by I'll make you a Shadow one if you want.

[theassassinnox.livejournal.com]

That would be so cool!


Actually, I would love a key chain type thing (even one of your metal tags) with my name and phone number, along with "SJSU TRFT". (I have keys for the theatre building, but nothin g neat to add to them. Right now they are just clipped to my ID, but I want to improve that soon. *nods*


~S

[dracosphynx.livejournal.com]

Nicely done!

[yasha-taur.livejournal.com]

I would definitely take a couple at that price.

lookin nice!

[tcreynolds]

These would be nice award/gifts for contest winners, or sponsors.

Maybe the convention could pay you to do a bunch.

Re: lookin nice!

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

I'm going to take a grab-bag of them to the next 'con meeting and ask if they'd like such a thing for official give-outs or such. If not, though, I'll still probably just make a bunch to give to friends.

Any time you want fun little wood trinkets of your own works, just holler. I'd be more than happy to send some your way.

[diadexxus.livejournal.com]

I would TOTALLY buy one!!!


-J

[selasphorus.livejournal.com]

Those are exceedingly cool! I'd go for one!

[synchra.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I totally want one!! that's really awesome! :D I need to come by and pick up my moth cat thingy still too. XD

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

Please, any time! And bring some design ideas to play around with. That's the fun part of having a laser. Just noodlin' about with all kinds of crazy stuff.

[synchra.livejournal.com]

Okay! :D thank youu! :3 I'll tell you when I figure out a time I can drop by.

[cobaltie.livejournal.com]

I've got a friend who would, I'm fairly sure, /love/ to have one of those. Considering that her current character/fursuit is a surfer-dude board-short-wearing mutt, exceptionally suited for this year's FC theme, that's the perfect thing to go around a collar!

I like the board design with the symbol and all that...also took me a moment to realize the flower section is actually see-through. Very pretty, really!

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Very nice work! I think at least a few people would be interested. Can you actually personalize them at the con with a portable machine or would you be doing that ahead of time?

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately the machine is way too big and thunky to take to the con. As much as I'd like a desktop unit to take to shows, that's a weee bit out of the budget (additional $8k). :) Therefore I'd have to take pre-orders.

Any design elements you would change?

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

The backside (second) picture looks better than the frontside, I think. Try this for the frontside pic:

- turn the letter sideways so instead of a vertical stack of letters, it's your name written sideways
- make the personalized name be italic
- change the double stripe to one thick and one thin stripe
- thicken the little doodad white areas in the small oval FC logo, they aren't very clear right now
- move the Yin-Yang symbol down a little farther away from the hole for the chain

[kryphos.livejournal.com]

I was born in Huntington Beach.

And those things are cool.

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

Shore Circle, represent! :) (that's the street I was on as a 5 year old)

[paka.livejournal.com]

Su-weet!

I think ArakinUK would be interested, but I don't know who else. I wonder if these would be rugged enough to be worn on fursuits? For some reason I think the suiters would dig them.

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

It's just a chunk of wood, so it'd work just fine, no worries. I can make 'em notably bigger for fursuits, too, if wished.

[spotweld.livejournal.com]

Um.. since this is behind a filter I can't pass the post along to others, but there are some con heads I'd like to show this to.
Are there any links I could use?

As for what to do on the back.. have you considered a stylized Tiki God?

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

Un-filtered. Sorry; my posts filter automatically unless I remember to turn them off. I hope to change this someday, but a few things in my daily life need to change first.

Yes, I'd definitely thought about a tiki god, but I was unable to draw one on my own. I may still try.

[dustykat.livejournal.com]

DUUUoooodddeeeee!

I want one big enough to hang around my fursuit neck!

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

How big? It's all vector art, so I can scale all the way up to a big ol' 24" x 7.5" x 1/2" thick. :)

[dnellin.livejournal.com]

Beautiful!

[zeeth_kyrah]

Y'know... if I could come up with a design, I might want to take advantage of your super-printer to make posters of a certain litany, to sell and to give away. I'm pretty sure that with a little marketing, they could be popular with all kinds of folks.

[darklilith69.livejournal.com]

That is wonderful! I love the second side best. Much more easy to read and the graphics are really pleasant on the eyes. The only thing I feel might be missing is a paw. *grin* And I'd certainly buy more than one! Unfortunately I won't be attending this year. Too much chance of getting waylaid by something fishy considering the theme. I'm a little paranoid by my anaphylactic fish allergy. But I'd still order some from you if you *do* make them! (I for one KNOW that Ben Camacho would love one. *grin*)