Glass and skateboarding don't exactly go hand in hand, in fact you might actually die if you combine the 2. However if you love the idea of the skateboard as a canvas and love the way art looks on glass then well, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve combined 3 things that have been part of my life for many years and

now I’d like to share what I’ve learned and created.

If you’d like to see your art or logo or collaborate on a glass deck then it can be as easy as sending me an

image. If you’d like to paint or design your own then it’d be as easy as sending you a blank, either way

if you’d like to talk about it feel free to email.

And don’t forget to subscribe to the email list to be the first to see each new creation before anyone else.

HOW THEY'RE MADE.

Each piece is hand cut, drilled, ground down and shaped by me. They are then placed on a handmade mold and fired in a kiln over night at about 1250 degrees as they slump with a nose, tail and concave. Being that they are done by hand they are not without flaw, maybe I would be the only one to notice but very small chipping is possible. Until I start having a machine cut them they will be like this, so they may not be perfect but hey, it's art.

HOW TO DIY.

There are a few ways to get your art onto glass.

-You could use the ancient technique of reverse glass painting, which goes way back, look it up. I’ve used some pretty basic acrylics being careful of what color I lay down first, but honestly you can always scratch it off if you mess up. And if you clear coat it when done then it’s less likely to scratch but then again who touches the back of any art?

-If you want to paint a bit on the front too then I suggest enamels. Some of them take a couple days to fully cure but they won’t scratch off.

-You could use stencils and spray paint. I love spray paint and it works great on glass, sticking well and not scratching easily, although I only recommend using the good paints like Montana, you can get them at almost any art store.

-In the same vein as stencils you could trace your design on the front, adhere a whole piece of clear vinyl to the backside and cut your design.. Then color by color peel and paint with spray paint, I did this for my "Statue" piece.

-You could send me an image and I'll have it cut out on a machine that will allow me to sand blast your design directly into the glass making it textured and permanent as can be.

DIY blanks come in a custom wooden box that is wrapped in bubble wrap and easy for you to re-ship if you need to. They also come with mounting equipment and a light with remote control.

MY STORY.

Short Story

I’ve lived in Louisville, Kentucky all my life and picked up a skateboard in 1987 and of course picked up a crayon earlier than that. So art and skateboarding have been a part of my life almost all my life. I never really thought anything about glass but when I accidentally got a job working around it in 2007 I began to learn a lot about it and knew I had to create one thing.

Long Story

I've been doing art for as long as I can remember and skating since 1987, those are 2 things that shaped who I am and I am thankful for them both.

I've lived in Louisville, Kentucky my whole life and for the longest time I had regular, crap jobs like dishwashing and years at UPS, I thought all jobs were the same..at least here I did. Then in 2007 I kind of accidentally got a job working around glass which I thought would be another crap job, I didn't care about glass, I just needed a job. But this place was different, it had equipment to make almost anything out of glass so once I saw the possibilities I knew there was one thing I just had to make..or at least try. In just about a year I learned to cut glass, drill holes in glass how to get colors/ images into glass and how to form it, that's all I needed to know, it's all I wanted to know.

So when I had a chance to stay after work and use anything that was going to be thrown away, they had a ton of scraps, I got right to it. I cut the shape of a "flat" skateboard, drilled holes, made a mold for it to "slump" or take shape into, set the kiln at about 1300 degrees and waited ( it takes 24 hours to cool). I got to admit the first few were wonky like too much nose or tail not enough concave but with a few tweaks they got better and so close to the actual shape of a real skateboard.

There are several ways to get art and design onto glass but you need a kiln and fire it really hot if you want to shape the glass. The first ones I made were just ideas I had, imagery I thought would be meaningful and look good but not too long after I made those the company I worked for shut down, I thought that those may have been the only ones I would ever make.

I didn't have a job anymore and decided to go full-time artist doing mostly murals which you can check out below. Thankfully my buddy Bob had a little kiln in his super packed small garage, it was so hard to work out of but most of what I made was there. This is where I created my most personal pieces to date and actually had lined up an art show for them back in 2014. These pieces and the show meant a lot to me because they were some of the first skateboards (and album covers) my brothers and friends had when we were kids and I wanted to recreate them in glass so I did and I actually still have them hanging around the house almost 10 years later. You can check out the video for the show here.

In between doing murals and art commissions I was able to make a few more but the glass really went on the back burner for years. At the beginning of this year I was able to make time and get back in the kiln and made some of my best ones yet. This really inspired me and I decided to launch this website where I would make pieces and blanks available to anyone.

A LITTLE MORE ART.

Iv'e always liked to just make stuff and I've been known to hop around from thing to thing. I just like trying different and new things all the time, I think that's what art is about is exploring. When I paint I try different subject matter and find different ways to paint, I love combining and mixing styles like a collage. Spray paint is actually my favorite medium and I feel like I'm always learning from it. My murals are done with spray paint, it's kind of perfect because it allows me to go big pretty fast.

I also started making these skateboard sculptures a couple years ago and have a lot of fun doing them. I think it's pretty important to be able to laugh or be silly while making certain art, it doesn't all have to be serious.

Anyway, my buddy makes some really nice furniture out of used and broken skateboards and usually has tons of scraps that go into the trash. I save them from the trash, so I guess they're re-re-cylced, and I take other used skateboard parts and create these little Scrappers that talk and skate! It's a lot of fun animating them and making them skate places that people here in Louisville actually skate.

You can check out some murals below or follow here and skating skate sculptures videos below or follow here if you'd like to see more, thanks if you do. -Chris