Hydrodipped Skateboard

A couple of years ago, I created a longboard. It was sexy. I’m still quite proud of how it turned out. If there were one downside, it would be that it was too dark. The stain made the wood grain in the already dark wood even harder to see. For this art project, I decided to go to the opposite side of the spectrum, and go for colorful.

Hydrodipping is usually performed by filling a bucket or tub with water, then laying a special film along the top. The water dissolves the paper backing, leaving the ink floating on the top of the water. You then dip something into it, and the ink will stick to the object, instead of the water. The white trash option, however, is to replace the special film with spray paint. A lot of spray paint. It’s the same basic concept, but you just spray a fuckton of spray paint onto the water. I have all the spray paints, so I went this route.

Balerion just helped with the setup, I kicked him out before I sprayed the paint.

 

I got a blank deck on Amazon, and then painted the top blue, and the bottom black. I wanted the colors to really stand out, and thought the black would be perfect for that. Then I put a tub in my bathtub. When hydrodipping, you need a container that’s big enough to dip the object at an angle, and completely submerge it. I put up some trashbags so overspray wouldn’t get onto my bathroom tile. I was doing this in the winter, so I couldn’t do it outside.

 

 

 

One thing I quickly learned, was the water should be colder. Warm water causes the paint to dry too quickly, leaving me with this gunk. Both otherwise, just spray a ton of paint into the container. You have to assume that some paint will dry too quickly, so put more paint in, and that way some of it will still be wet. Then you can use a stick or nail or whatever and drag the paint around. But you don’t have a ton of working time, so be quick.

 

 

 

Next, you slowly, SLOWLY, dip the skateboard deck into the water at an angle. I used some zipties as a handle. You don’t want to go so fast that the paint doesn’t have a chance to stick to the object.

I couldn’t take photos because my hands were occupied, but just in case it’s not clear, you want the bottom of the deck pointing down. Let the paint dry.

 

 

 

Next, since it’s me, I wanted to paint my logo on it. First, I cut out a template of the outer edge of my logo and taped it on. I chose silver for this because it’s metallic, and I’ll never use it for anything else. I like shiny.

 

 

 

 

For the detail of the logo, I basically did the same thing, but cut out just the cells. I used the same green from my car wheel project, because I had like half a can left. I really wanted to do a “dripped” graffiti look, but couldn’t figure out the best way to do it.

I put a few layers of clear coat on the bottom. I should have put some on the top, but forgot until after I had put the griptape on, and didn’t want to clear coat the tape.

 

 

 

Next was the griptape. Going with the colorful theme, I found some space griptape. I cut my logo into it, using basically the same process as above. I glued a mirrored copy of my logo onto the backing paper of the griptape. Then I cut out the outer edge. Then I cut out each individual cell. Peel off the backing, and stick to the top of the deck.

Use a file or something to mark the edge of the deck. Then use a box cutter to cut off the excess tape.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, I wanted to paint the trucks. This failed, but here’s what I did. I found this gorgeous metallic red paint. I love it. Sadly, it’s not meant for painting metal. It’s meant for painting something to look LIKE metal. Maybe if I had applied some etching primer first it would have worked. But I took the truck apart, to remove the bushings. I also made sure each piece was painted separately, so the paint wouldn’t “glue” the parts together. I put a few coats on. It dripped. I sanded the drips off. Tried again. Then gave up. If you’re close, it looks bad, but from a distance, it looks amazing.

It also turned out that the truck holes didn’t line up with the deck holes. There are two different hole paterns in skateboarding. It’s not a big deal. Just drilled more holes. I wish I had noticed before I did the hydrodipping, but oh well.

Last was final assembly. I found some cheap wheels that had blue swirls on them. I got some colorful hardware, and put it all together.

It cost me less than $100, because I had all the paint already. I think other than the water being too warm, and a few other mistakes here and there, it turned out fine.