I just finished building a custom board with a wooden ledge handle for a customer’s birthday. The shape was inspired by the families 11’2″ x 30″ Starboard Blend that they loved but was looking tired. The board’s coolest feature is my opinion is the artwork was done by the recipients 4 & 7 year-old daughters. The children’s artwork will ensure this board remains special and is cherished by the family for a very long time. This tutorial will teach you how to add a custom logo to your board.
The first step is getting your image. In this case the girls were given a black Sharpie marker and some white paper. I usually just use Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator.
This hand drawn artwork was scanned so it could be resized and flipped as a mirror image. It is best to use a mirror image so your squeegee won’t scratch the ink off the transparency. You can print your image with a standard LaserJet printer on acetate film. (Acetate film is also called overhead projector film).
It is helpful to put a white paper against the fresh ink to protect it from damage or transferring to the next piece of film.
Trim the white paper and the film together. This method helps to prevent the scissors from scratching the ink.
Try to trim the acetate film as close to the ink as possible. Aim for about 1/16th of an inch. The left side of this logo will get a bit more trimming before it is ready.
Here is the completed bottom. The 4 year-olds starfish is my favorite!
The start of this video shows me adding a logo to a board. Note how I pour a small puddle of epoxy to lay the logo on. It is important to squeegee all the air bubbles out from under the logo be fore laying the cloth.
