LONGBOARD COLLAB “BIRDIE”

RAYNOR x JUSTBREE ART x DUST & FUMES

Well, here’s a photo of my -always forever- favorite part of a board... the rails... but before we get into the after photos let’s get into some process shots. (all shots by me or Bobby - except one photo by the D&F crew Jonathon)

Meet Birdie: 

First of all I want to thank our friend Matty Raynor for shaping a beautiful board. This is the fourth I’ve done with him for a good old paint job but this time Alex from Dust & Fumes gave me the opportunity to glass it. In the past I’ve acrylic painted the foam. Stoked to be able to do my first glass job in the hands of the nicest glassers on the island.

When you walk into any glasser/shaper studio you get hit with the smell of acetone, foam and of course the strongest/worst smell...resin. Instant headache but these guys are used to it. Countless masks on and laying around. Downstairs they have their shapers’ rooms and upstairs is where I spent most of my time on the glassing racks...where it also was 10-15 degrees warmer haha.

Alex taught me how to tape up the rails and prep the board to glass. I started with the belly of the board wanting to attack the most curved part of the board first. I battled with the idea of putting sand into this board but I’m glad I stuck to white fading into light blues, turquoise, then deep blue. These photos came from the second colored coat on the second day of work.

With my mask on, sweat dripping down my back, completely parched, Bobby and I were ready to go take a break for a few hours before the clear coat when I noticed dust settling from the sanding room nearby. Tweezers in the wet resin to pick out anything making its way in.

Ran some errands and killed time before the clear coat was ready to apply. My favorite. You can see a time lapse of the clear coat on the deck of the board on my highlights reel on my Instagram page.

It was now day three and time to glass the top of the board. I was really stoked how the belly turned out but knew the shape on top didn’t round  like the bottom so as I learned a lot of stuff that I kinda wished I had done, I am still really happy with the top of the board. I did the same color concepts but added some gold leafing to the dynamic movement I made with the light blue. Photo below by Jonathan (@j2twice)

Day four (last day), Bobby and I went in to take off the tape from the last layer and razored off the ridges/sanded it smooth. It was a lot harder than we thought haha but really fun. Wish I got photos of that part of the process. Four hours later it was time to photograph it!

Now I’m stoked to show you guys photos of this board as I worked really hard on it, but I put a lot of heart and my style onto it. I haven’t seen a board out there that looks like it and I’m excited to take it out to baby chuns reef.

The deck of the board:

My husband got ahold of it first and I had to snap a photo. Our favorite side: 

Thank you again to everyone that helped. If you need a board glassed or wanna be included in the process, the guys at dust and fumes have an amazing open door policy. Forever grateful for Alex and the guys there. Excited to see what’s in the future. 

Also if you are curious, I have a waiting list for boards. I haven’t felt comfortable to do them for others just yet, but am starting to feel more confident. Email me and I can add you to the list. I plan on glassing only 10 boards a year at most.