Put a SPiN on It.

One of the biggest things I miss the most about my former place of employment, besides the awesome people I worked with there, was the daily 'Paddle Battles' between me and a group of co workers. I miss it man, I miss it a lot.

Over a year and a half ago I built my first table tennis 'bat' and shortly there after built a case to carry my weapons of choice. Since finding myself in the PNW I have not had any opportunities to play. Though this past weekend I almost brought home a very worn out table, but alas I passed for I know that there are better 'fish' in the sea. I have found a few local clubs here but they are little pricey. So I need to find someone that has a table so I can play! That is the biggest down side to this sport is you can not do it on your own you need a Challenger.

Recently there has been some hype about this beloved sport of Table Tennis since some dude up in a big white house on the east cost of this here USA decided to get a table for him and the family to play on.
Also the opening up of SPiN New York, a club/bar/Table Tennis Mecha, has got a bit of media attention with the support of Susan Sarandon and Fred Perry.
Rub elbows with the pretty people while getting hammered on by Pros from around the world! Sure why not! My next opportunity out to NYC I most definitely plan to hit up this place.
The concept of the place is also part of the brain child of a Jonathan Bricklin and crew,a few film kids from NYC that make, Um 'yoga' videos. They also have been working to make the 2012 us Olympic table tennis team. Not sure how they are doing but from a few web edits out there it seams like they are getting much better than when they started. If you live in the NYC area and have a chance to go, please do, and let me know how it is. It looks a little too 'hip & Cool' for me but still would be fun to check out.

If interested here a few links about Table Tennis.
Paddle Palace
ITTF
USATT

Now go do something fun!
Cheers.

Blue Table Time!

It is finally here! The Table Tennis competition at the Beijing Olympic games! i am so excited!
What i am even more stoked on is the fact that i can watch the matches. In the good ol' days before this high speed intro-net stuff you had to watch on tv and only the things that the producers thought would bring in the most viewers.(gymnastics, track and field, and diving) Now i go here and watch whatever event i want.... and i have. Not only am i stoked on table tennis action but i have been watching the battle for archery gold.

It was awesome to see korea women and men win gold for the team event. Korea women team archery have won gold every single Olympics since 1988 when they changed the rules! Now that is a feat!

Along with archery and table tennis I have been keeping up with
field hockey,
shooting,
(what the... can anyone tell me why shooting an air rifle you need to dress like that all padded up?)


and badmitin.

good times now go watch to your hearts content.

Custom Chop.

This week at Vans we had our product launch for Spring 2009 were all of the reps from all over the world come together and get educated on the new product. They usualy have some type of "give a ways", free stuff like tee shirts and hats and stuff. Well this time around they gave out lap top cases. So here is what it looks like.


Well I got a idea to make it more use full. So out came the scissors and the sewing machine and now it looks like this.


It is a new case for my table tennis blade!


I have been rocking my blade in the bubble envelope that my rubber order came in from Paddle Palace way back in February cause I did not have a case.


And now I have one, a one of a kind (untail some of the folks here who play at work decide they want one) Vans paddle case. Thanks Vans.

And Now We Battle.

I Finished the battle axes! Now I am waiting for the rubber to arrive and then it is play time.... In regards to the rubber I know that it is not the best but I am still new at this awesome sport so I figured I would learn to walk before I run, so I went for a good basic.

This was a fun project. Maybe I will do sum more in the future. (?) Only time will tell... and if anyone else actually would want to get one for them selfs.

Now it is time to go break it in!!!


Next up: I will be up in Washington for my brother-in-law's wedding for the next week. And then I am jumping into more tailoring projects and getting the Table Tennis uniforms made.
Also got a few art projects to bust out. So it looks like another busy month in February.

How are your projects coming along?
If you have not started any why not do it now.... Cheers.

A Paddle for Battle.

So this past weekend I worked on building myself my own table tennis blade.
I took a bunch of pics showing the process enjoy.


I have a bit more to do to finish it so I will update when compleate. Till then Cheers!

Ruff Sketch: RCo. CH.2

I have become madly in love with the game of table tennis! So much so that I have started to play as much as possible and regularly on Wednesday night. Well like most things that I get way stoked on I find that it influences my designing. I have started to put together a little collection for myself that I hope to begin to cut and sew in the very very near future (after I get all the other projects I am rocking right now off my plate) here is a little sample of a few things I have drawn up. But this is just a few ideas, still a work in progress.....


I find that, like most sports, the apparel options are really quite short of style. I know that when playing any sport that it is good to do so in functional apparel but come on do you have to look like a slob in un-fitting baggy clothing. Were is the style? And why does no one really offer any well cut and well fitting sports wear? I think sportswear fell apart after the 1960's if not before.
Anyway, enough ranting. So since I am doing this for myself I plan to do it how I want. Maybe I will not be the best player but I hope to be the best dressed! My big influence comes from the early days of sportswear (early 1900- 20 & 30's) Also form old gentleman's sports clubs and collegiate prep school team uniforms.


Along with the apparel side of things I also am working on making my own bat or paddle.
Here is a layout that I threw together with a paint scheme for the handle and logo prints that I am going to put on the blade (even thought it will be covered with the rubber) Also notice the logo that I came up with that pulls sum of the same elements from the main REDCROW logo I created. Fun times.

And of course I will take heaps of pics along the way so check back often... Till then.