im sure there are great shapers in New England. The only professional shaper that i have ever heard of is the guy down at nor’ easter surf shop. Ive only spoken with the guy over the phone about blanks never actually met him. The store owner told me about his Aloha surfboards past not the man himself. They do have an interesting setup down there, if i remember right the bay they have is a deep purple.
Deep Purple ROCKZ
Weve gotten to the point where we need to start making choices on the glssing. My buddy wants to do a swirl type bottom with a white deck. I was thinking a cut-lap but hes leaning more torwards a foam stain. Im not sure if a foam stain would give him the look hes going for. Ive never done a foam stain before. It seems simple enough but i thought i would run it by you guys before we jump into anything
Thanks
Angus-
No! Do the resin swirl. There’s vids on YouTube that teach you step by step, so just do it. I’m pretty sure you tape off the deck w 2 " band perfect, completely paper off the deck with painters paper w out any openings…get your cloth, resins all setup, and swirl the colors… this would be for bottom of board. Watch a good vid first tho…
If you want an abstract, do it in the lam.
With a foam stain you a still going to have to tape off everything and actually do more work then just a cut lap. Your rails will probably come out looking pretty muddy as well, do to having to squeegee the resin all over them. - if you plan on a gloss and polish your colors will look better in the lam too - In my experience a heavier cloth also picks up colors better.
An abstract is all in the technique. The right size bucket, how you stir and how you lay down the resin (how much, where and when).
you can also just have at it and get something cool too…
Do you have a picture of what your buddy is trying to go for?
Here are a couple simple 2 color ones I have done recently. Both a little different in how the resins are working.
What dims/rocker did you wind up going with?
Final Dims are at 8’ x 23" x 3 1/4" Tail rocker is at 2 1/2 in (however we are not quite done with the tail yet so this can change) and the nose is at 5" of rocker. We decided to leave the rockers a little lower to help make catching our mushy waves easier. Hes stocked with the shape and foil so far.
wideAWAKE
He saw a Walden Tie-Dye longboard on the net a few days ago. You can see his post on here under the user “Mulone” and the threads name is “Tie Dye Board”
Hes not made up his mind yet but I think hes leaning more torwards a sky-ish blue and white swirl on the bottom, and a tie dye deck inlay. Ive never done a cloth inlay before so its very new territory. Not so sure where to start.
Angus-
Do a search for “how to glass a board”. I did a post that covers how to do a resin tint and a cloth inlay. Lots of pictures.
Its not that difficult.
His tie dye looks like rice paper but can be done with cloth. For that much area try to find a real light weight cloth.
Ive seen that post in the past, Very helpful!
When you say “baste” do you mean paint sanding resin into the lap to make it easier to flatten and sand?
Those dims are similar to my mush killer model. I think you will be pleased.
very nice work!
Yes. I will do a baste/ skim coat at the same time. Take a hard bondo type squeegee and skim the whole surface of the board - you are trying to fill all the little weaves in the cloth. If you dont, your hotcoat will not be flat and it will have all sorts of voild in it. After the skim brush the rails, lap and nose/ tail areas. You do all this with the same batch of resin. Its just one step that has 2 parts to it.
You can then hotcoat once its tacky.
just realized i never posted about finishing my friends board. Sorry about the late post to those who were following this, and a big thanks to everbody especially wideawake for the help with the cloth inlay. It was my first go at this and i think it came out pretty nice. There were some rough patches along the way. I have the deepest and upmost respect for anybody who can pull a clean pinline. Art in and of itself. if youd like to hear about the final stages id be happy to share. Friend is stoked, im stoked.
Thanks again everybody
Angus-
Your board looks clean! And the first " Tye Dyed" board I ever seen! Pin lines are cool. Sadly I ran low on $ so I ended up doin a foam stain. But it’s actually kinda cool. Lol. Peace man! 
Nice board. Dig the purple micro-dots.