Ott Mit Uns Finished!

Here is the final product of the Gott Mit Uns/Otto Dix mashup I started about a year ago. The border rope was touched up, and an inner circle was added, as well as the sunburst lines inside the leaves and lettering. The first post can be found by clicking on the "german" label link at the bottom of this post, which explains the background of the drawing. I have transparencies made to expose a screen and start making shirts, but I threw on a little too much emulsion on the first go around, so I'll have to strip the screen and try again. Until then, you all can enjoy the digital version.

CL450 Scrambler Progress

Late last Spring, I bought a 1972 Honda CL450 Scrambler off craigslist in Boise. It was my main project this Summer, and I was able to get a decent amount (for me) of work done on it. The top pictures show it the day I bought it, though they don't show the dent on the top of the tank very well, nor the rough condition of the tires. The first thing I did was put new skids on it, which greatly improved the ride and the look of the bike. Next, a problematic fuel issue was solved with help from my buddy Steve (for whom the drawing in the last post was done) in the form of a twin carb rebuild and petcock kit. Now that the bike was relatively reliable and roadworthy, I moved onto cosmetic issues. I had pulled the dent out pretty well earlier in the Summer, but now needed to complete the body work with some Bondo to smooth things out. I was up in the air about leaving the tank badges on until nearly the moment that they were removed and their holes filled, but I'm happy that I did it. I went to my pal Shaky for help with the body work (meaning he just did it for me while I stood in the garage eating popsicles). Then, after many test panels and much debate, the Green-on-Flake-on-Pearl paint scheme seen in progress in the final photos was decided upon for expedience and style. I was hoping to replicate some of the candy on pearl fades associated with 60's show bikes, and simply couldn't exclude metalflake in some capacity or another. Shaky's expertise was again brought in for running the $15 Harbor Freight paint gun, and the tank was set on the ingenious stand of my design seen 6th from the bottom photo. For the flake, Shaky recommended we try a very primitive technique perfected by the likes of Ed Roth in the olden days of Kustom Painting. Normally, one mixes metalflake in with a clear coat and shoots it through a large capacity gun onto the tank, car, nazi helmet, whatever. For our experiment in Neanderthal painting, however, a coat of normal clear was shot onto the tank by Shaky, after which he held the tank up on its side while I delicately sprinkled the metalflake into the wet clear. Done over several layers, the method actually worked quite well, but I would never want to flake anything larger than an MC tank this way.  Sorry for the blurry/odd contrast photos, but they were taken quickly for documentary purposes, and with little time to fine tune. I have NOS 60's handlebars anxious to be installed, but must wait until I can find the necessary extended cables to do so. Hopefully photo updates will be posted before Thanksgiving. Engine rebuild and bore to come this winter!

Hoppin Honda!

Here's my latest Monster Shirt design. The initial purpose of the piece was as a gift for my good buddy Steve as thanks for his generous help on fixing some issues on my motorsickle. This is why the bike in the design is my favorite of his collection, his 1966 Honda cb450 "Black Bomber". The subsequent purpose of the drawing (with adjusted text and title) will be to screen shirts of the design, Roth studios style. Above you see my process from conception to completion, with the initial inking, reworked final inking, photoshop coloring experimentation (the purple one), and prismacolor/white gouache touchups hand colored and lettered version for Steve (who I guess acquired the moniker "Carburetor" sometime in the 60's). Since the cb450's of the 60's share a main motor block with my own ride, a '72 cl450 Scrambler, it was simple to take the proportion sketch of the cb450 (seen directly above) and convert it into one of my cl450 (seen directly below) for use in deciding what kind of handlebars I wanted to change out for the goofy stock desert racer bars. All inks were done with my trusty #3 sable. I'll be giving the original of the top image (a hand colored print) to Steve this weekend, hoping to win him over enough that he'll help me with the handlebar install. I'll post the adjusted T-shirt design ASAP, at which point anyone interested can get in touch with me to get one. 11"x17" posters with personalized text are also available.