276ccm - Pinstriping, Gold Leaf/Gilding, Leathercraft and Airbrush

Pinstriping - Gas tank

2012-01-29T11:18:00.007+01:00

The chopper which I pinstripe the flaked flame tank for.. today I´ll start on the back fender, which will fit a 300 wide tire. Next week I´ll do the front fender and oil tank.. the oil tank will also have the number "50" gold leafed on the side..

Pinstriping - Cross Helmet

2012-01-25T22:47:00.004+01:00

In return for the Harley Davidson AMF Rapido gas tank I got, I pinstriped a pretty scratchy cross helmet for the owner.. you can see by the helmet, he´s an active driver :-)

Leather craft - Stool in progress..

2012-01-15T19:24:00.002+01:00

The top of the office working stool is more or less finished. A little more coloring when the sides are done, and then.. That Barry King Maul was really a good investment.. Got so much more control of the tooling, at least for me..

Harley Davidson AMF Rapido Gas Tank

2012-01-14T21:39:00.000+01:00

I finally got a Harley Davidson AMF Rapido gas tank, which I will eventually use at my own bobber build... I have been looking for this gas tank for years and a while ago I found one for sale together with a rigid triumph project, and contacted the seller to ask if he wanted to sell just the gas tank. At the time, it was only for sale with the project, but it ended up with that I got the gas tank for free, if I pinstriped the old owners helmet.. :-)

The Rapido was built between 1968 - 1972 (the year I was born). Gas Capacity: 2.4 Gallons with 1 Quart Reserve. I need a gas cap for this one tho, so if anyone come across an old Rapido gas cap that fits.. let me know :-)

Biker Journalen - Issue 1, 2012

2012-01-12T22:37:00.006+01:00

My work was mentioned twice in two different articles in the first issue of Biker Journalen, 2012. The first is of my good friend Gert´s bike which I pinstriped, and the second is from the Motörhead / Victory Motorcycles, which I made leather seats for.

For subscription, check out http://www.bikerjournalen.no/ or buy the magazine at Narvesen kiosks. Morten Andersen has the text for both articles.

New Office...

2012-01-10T20:00:00.002+01:00

Probably found my new "office" today... a little clean up, and there will be a nice environment for my leather craft, pinstriping, engraving activities etc.. Pretty sure my townhouse neighbors will appreciate it as well :-) Also the room next door is pretty well equipped with an english wheel, welding equipment and all sorts of stuff for customizing bikes and parts..

Leather craft - Stool in progress..

2012-01-01T18:51:00.006+01:00

Just some progress photos of the stool I´m working on for the upholstery shop.. I will be using it as a work chair, and as a "show off" for upholstery customers at the same time.. and also it´s a good way to check out how the coloring and motive will last with a lot of usage.. That Barry King maul on the first picture is really a great tool.. my old "hammer" is hammered to pieces and obviously not ment for leather craft, so I´m really happy about this Barry King Tool!

Barry King Tools

2011-12-31T13:08:00.004+01:00

Finally my Barry King maul and hammer style mallet arrived today after two weeks in the mail and a few days at the Norwegian customs... which made them even more expensive, but wort every penny and now they are here.. so this is like Christmas eve on New Years day.. :-) The leather piece they are "posing" on is my new project. Tooling a kind of round office stool..

Leather craft tools..

2011-12-28T04:50:00.002+01:00

Some of my new leathercraft toys.. my Christmas gift from me to me.. Actually Motörhead was the reason I could afford this lot.. also waiting on one Barry King hammer-style Mallet and one round Maul, which I´m really exited about to check out.. and some rare eBay finds, that hash´t arrived yet.

Searching eBay for leather craft tool is dangerous!!! So much rare and cool vintage stuff, but also so much expensive and overpriced stuff.. Many of the punches are bought at Skinnlåven in Norway.

Leather - Sheridan style...?

2011-12-27T17:00:00.005+01:00

Trying to figure out the Sheridan "country & western" style on some scrap leather.. which I will be tooling on an office stool.

Airbrush - Skull

2011-12-27T16:36:00.001+01:00

A while ago I airbrushed this skull on the wall at Knut Olavs garage, but after the garage was relocated, he cut out the piece from the wall and placed it at his kitchen at home instead. it´s nice to see when my work is valued that way.. :-)

Online articles about the Victory / Motörhead leather solo seats I made..

2011-12-19T16:22:00.003+01:00

BikePort.no, Bike.no and Varden.no have all written about the Victory/Motörhead collaboration, which I made leather solo seats for. I know also a magazine or two will write about it as well. The bikes will also be shown at a Motor show in Sweden, then shipped to each of the guys in Motörhead..

It´s no secret that Lemmy is a thirsty guy, but he said he would drink less, so he actually can ride his bike! Time will show.. :-)

Proud moment, meeting the guys of Motörhead & Video of the unveiling..

2011-12-08T17:03:00.005+01:00

A proud moment meeting the guys after unveiling the bikes.. Lemmy shaked my hand and said "fucking awesome" about the leather seat I made for his Victory signature model... :-) They where all very exited about the bikes.. great guys!

The photo at the top is taken by Morten Andersen of Biker Journalen motorcycle magazine.

Video of the unveiling at Hard Rock Cafe in Oslo after the concert at Sentrum Scene, December 5th.:

Victory Motorcycles / Motörhead - Leather Solo Seats

2011-12-06T20:30:00.004+01:00

About a month ago or so, I was contacted by CBP (Custom Bike Parts) in Skien and asked if I was able to, and wanted to make four custom solo seats with motive in leather, in only one month!! Usually I say I want at least three weeks to make one seat (of course I don´t work all the time then, but with an upholstery job beside and other projects as well, things take time).

This job was for Victory Motorcycles which planned four Motörhead signature models customized by CBP, painted by Terje Aspmo and seats by me if I wanted, so I just had to say yes! No doubt, even tho I had no idea how much time this should take... anyway, Motörhaed was coming to Norway, December 5th. so it was better to start focus on how to pull this job off!

I had to make templates for seven parts which had to fit perfectly on each seat, and then they had to be laced together. Lacing is kind of sewing by hand, only twice as far to get the cross stitches with a leather strap. Also three of the seats had to be dyed black with the motive in vintage brown, which takes time...

I´m not complaining, just forgot how much time these things take, so I worked almost 24/7 for a month, and was finished Monday morning Novembre 28th at 05:30 AM. A couple of houres before the promised delivery!

They where picked up by a courier early the next morning, and I was a little concerned about how they would fit. Not that I thought I had done anything wrong, but when things have to be perfect, and without an Victory 8 Ball model available to check the fitting it´s a little scary with no time to make changes. Later that day, I got a message that the seats was awesome and the colors was perfect with the custom paint.

Yesterday I was at Hard Rock Cafe in Oslo for the after party, after the Motörhead concert and the bikes are unveiled with a press release, and it seems like everyone is satisfied!

Below you´ll see some photos of the process of making these Motörhead skull seats, if you aren´t exhausted and have moved on...

Motörhead / Victory Motorcycles - Soon to be unveiled at Hard Rock Cafe Oslo

2011-12-05T18:18:00.003+01:00

Check back tomorow, for a lot more pictures and info...

Leather/Pinstriping - Carving

2011-11-21T22:40:00.003+01:00

This is the under side of a leather solo seat I sold to Mr. Yazid of Brunei. I was planning to pinstripe it, but got a new leather tool to make nice edges a while ago, and found out it was very cool to carve motives with it.. so I carved a motive instead of pinstripe it :-)

Triumph Bobber - Pinstriping & Gold Leaf

2011-11-06T23:11:00.003+01:00

"Jon 47"´s Triumph bobber, which I pinstriped and gold leafed earlier this year is getting close to be road ready.. unfortanly the winter is near, but I guess he´ll get an awesome autumn. Kristain Sabel from KS lakk did the great flake job!

Oslo Motor Show 2011

2011-10-24T20:23:00.003+02:00

Finally it´s time for Oslo Motor Show again! This year you will find some of my hand made custom seats at Lucky 7 Tattoo´s stand, among some custom cars, bukes, roller girls and of course live tattoo. Also there will be shown off a Redneck Engineering framed bike, built on a Harley Davidson Sportster by my good friend Bønna, finished by Joar Øverdal og Geir Egil Hellebust. Paint by Micah Clémence and leather seat with pinstriping motive by me..

Pinstriping..

2011-09-29T04:13:00.001+02:00

Pinstriping on a front fender for a Harley Davidson bagger.. Still needs clear tho.

Andors Bagger..

2011-08-27T21:41:00.001+02:00

The bagger is done.. The bike is rebuilt by my good friend Bønna which unfortanly was never able to see it finished. It´s silver leafed with 276 in STP style as a racing number and pinstriped by me, and painted by Kristian Sabel. There is also a pinstriping skull on the gas tank and pinstriping on back and front fenders and on the back of each side bag..

I´ll try to take som pictures of it next weekend when I´ll visit the owners club party at Høyangbjørn MC :-)

Leather - Solo Seat in Progress

2011-08-20T17:26:00.002+02:00

Added some contrast color..

Not only work..

2011-08-15T22:51:00.011+02:00

Even tho customizing bikes is a whole lot of fun, there must be time to saddle up and do some riding as well, so a little while ago I visited my good friends at Lowbrows MC in Hicktown.. A strange little place with a pig farm, saloon and a festival with international names on the west coast. It was a great weekend, a good party and I have pinstriped two of the bikes, and gold leafed one of them, so it was cool to see them in action as well!

A little further...

2011-08-11T19:10:00.005+02:00

A little further.. Momento Mori.. don´t mix it up with the famous Latif phrase Memento Mori (remember you should die)

Leather - Solo Seat in Progress

2011-08-10T18:00:00.000+02:00

Started on a new custom leather solo seat for a motorcycle.. No one specific, so it´ll be for sale some time when it´ll be finished I guess. Wanted to try out the engraved type of scroll design.. Not sure what to put in the text field yet, so if you got any good ideas? :-)

Still haven´t decided if there will be lacing or ordinary stitches either..

Singer 29k-4 Cobbler for Leatherwork

2011-08-08T01:26:00.006+02:00

Got my self yet another Singer 29k sewing machine I´m thinking to use for some leatherwork.. the other one is a Singer 29k-3, and now a 29k-4.. the other one skipped a stitch here and there, oh and guess what, so does this, obviously a common issue.. hmm, that´s the back draw of buying unseen, but I got it pretty cheap tho.

It is pretty cool exept the stitch skipping. I just found out that can be fixed by replacing some small gears, so now I just need to find out what gears, where to get them or who can do it for me..

I like them original with the gold scrolls and stuff on them, but this is repainted black, so I guess it could be cool to pinstripe and gold leaf it since it´s already unoriginal..