Tips and Tricks for Griptape

[chemicalanarchy]

There have been tons of threads with people showcasing nice tape jobs, but id like this thread to let people post thier own tips and tricks they have learned, bc lets face it some of us have trouble enough gripping a dh race with all the concaves and dips

[dcphotos]

I have always been into my tape jobs. I used to get a deck long before mine was finished off and when I was bored I would sit with an exacto knife and cut little designs out and put them in where they would fit together, then fill in between them. I had one board that I would sit around for hours and work on, and after I started skating it the designs would tear and I'd do new ones. I have always liked clear tape also. You can do artwork on top of your deck and then cover it. I have a Vision Aggressor that I got some guy to airbrush at the beach(it was 1984). It is still in the house, was a cool design he did. He was only going to paint a guy doing a handplant on it but had fun and did stuff on the whole deck.
My latest thing though is to paint my decks with glow in the dark paint before I tape them. It's great for a longboard, the glow doesn't last long but if you are doing downhill runs you could charge it up before runs. Here is my latest board:

I re-produced the bottom graphic with model paint and a little brush. I also painted it silver, if you try the glow in the dark thing put either white or silver paint down first and it will be brighter since it will reflect more than the plain wood.

[shapeshifter]

This is kind of a cool way to use up scraps and stretch out what all you've got...

[xnatex]

For the edges, buy a good file, it'll make your life a lot easier than just trying to only use a knife for the outline.

For graphics, you can draw or trace the mirror image of your art onto the back of the grip tape, with the paper backing still attached. Then cut with a sharp blade.