Every Australia Day long weekend for the last five years I’ve made the trip down to CRAKK. Officially known as the Canberra Rod and Kustom Kruise, it’s one of the best runs I’ve been to and I’m counting down the sleeps like a little school kid. This year word went out that they were looking for trophies for the pushies, so I decided to put my hand up. One I love bikes, but more importantly it was a great opportunity to support an event I love. Plus it was an excuse for another art project! Here’s a quick blow by blow from concept to finished trophy.
First step was some simple sketches to feel out some ideas. I figured a hacksaw was cool because it was the kind of tool you’d use to chop up a bike frame.
Make a template.
Cut up some steel.
Find an old ’90s mag to chop up. A razor sharp x-acto knife is perfect for this.
I purposely went for an old mag to get black and white pics. This will make them more monochromatic and make the lettering stand out more. I layed the pics out so I get a rough feel for how many I needed.
All decoupaged up, and drying in the sun.
For the text I wanted painted numbers. Lettering is a skill in itself, and I think much more difficult than pinstriping. I love street art so I took some inspiration from that and decided to go with a two layer stencil. First some red primer for the background and then a cream for the letters themselves. I used a clear overhead sheet, as this doesn’t curl at the edges like paper tends to. The end result is a cleaner edge with less underspray.
And I missed taking pics of the cream stencil (I was finishing it off and cooking a lamb roast at the same time!), so here’s some pics of the finished article.
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