Back in time.

I took this picture in 2013.

Way back in the late 80’s and early 90’s when I was at school I would draw skate stuff all the time.

Logos and ramps.!

I turned those drawings of ramps into something more formal and sent it to the council asking if they would build something.

To my surprise I got a letter back and was asked if I would come in to speak to them. I went with my mum and we were shown the plans for this ramp at Westburn. Obviously I had no real impact but I was grateful that they entertained me. I walked out of there with the blue prints for these under my arm.

I think by that time the exhibition centre that briefly housed facilities was long gone so there was no purpose built stuff at that time.

And so despite any design issues this ramp might have had I was excited. I remember going there when it was opened, can almost still smell the soft bark that was put down around it.

I was sad to see it had been taken down a few years ago. This ramp had a twin nearer my childhood home in Northfield. The one at Heatheryfold was opened a little later if I remember right. It’s also gone. Heatheryfold I believe may have been home to an early concrete skate park. It certainly had a BMX track that’s ghost can still be seen I think.

Northfield now has a skatepark near Byron shops. It’s a bit of a mess but if I had that as a kid? Wow.

I have strange dreams about the skatepark at Byron. I’m a kid again and I suddenly discover this amazing place and it’s empty. But as much as I try to get there I can’t ever quite get in or I don’t have a board with me. Wonder what that’s all about?

Didn't See This Coming...

Well that’s not quite true. We had warning. Examples. Cautionary tails.

But it looks right now (24th March 2020) that the UK’s decision to go into lockdown may be too late to head off the worst? At least that’s what the experts and infographs say. And we all know how much people trust experts at this point in time. What do they know? More than my mate that’s watched some videos on YouTube from David Ike?

Aye probably. ; )

Anyways.

Where does this leave Doric Skateboards? Well i’m lucky that this doesn’t provide me with any income. Every penny goes back in, plus we always give donations to various causes and of course support a couple of skaters with our merch. Although like most folk i’m concerned about my day job - i’m working from home at the moment but who knows whats round the corner?

Sales have obviously been quiet. I’ve scaled back on sharing “sales” posts but i have to stay positive and look forward to whats next for us. So i’ll maybe see where i am in a week or so and start sharing some stuff again - new colabs etc. The only stuff on social media i am sharing is that stupid March Meet the Maker challenge.! Ha! I’ve started it so i’ll finish.

Any shares, likes, comments, recommendations and reviews online are very very welcome.!

Once this is all over we’ll be kicking off a celebration for our 3rd Birthday which is next week. Plans to follow in the coming weeks. Months?

For now i can still post stuff if anyone needs/wants something. All my stock is bagged and boxed up safely.

Until then - stay safe and i hate to say this BUT think twice about going for a skate. If you injure yourself and end up in A&E? Well this ain’t the time..

Finally - another wee nudge to check out our People We Like page. Perhaps someone there that could do with some support in any way you can.

Oh! And keep your eyes peeled on social media this week - i’ll do a live screen printing session and you can fire questions/insults at me.

Cheers

Gary

Part 14 - PLANS

Full steam ahead for Doric Skateboards in the coming months. Thought it was worth putting it all here:

Saturday 9th June Engage Gaming

I was put in touch with Andrew and Richard at Engage via my brother just on the off chance that a couple of new local companies could do something together. Its taken me nearly a year to pull my finger out but one day i just thought gaming + skateboards = Tony Hawk. So a wee back and forth and we have this event  - Tony Hawk on the PS2 competition being broadcast on the big screens to anyone that wants to watch or take part. I screen printed a deck for the winner with the Engage Gaming and Doric Skateboards logo on it. This kicks off at 6:30pm for registering and then 7pm the games begin - pop along to watch and have a chat and a beer! : )

https://www.facebook.com/events/247658615976725/

Friday 14th - Sunday 17th June - Etsy Summer Showcase

Etsy Summer Showcase as part of the Look Again Festival - St Nicholas Centre

Buzzed to be doing this. We will be there fully stocked - including a few new colours of tees and caps exclusive to this! 

There will be a load of cracking sellers there too including Honk and Small Stories! Come along and support small and or local folks trying to get there stuff out there. These events are pretty critical for me - its a great chance to meet folk that have bought stuff from us. Nothing better than that!

https://www.facebook.com/events/884322288395012/

Collaborations

As previously mentioned on FB. IG etc we are collaborating with local loon Chris Bissett aka Jetpack Dinosaur! Really excited for this - I've been a fan of his work for years without actually knowing who he was. Once i put 2 + 2 together i sent him a wee message and now we are good to go! As soon as the design is finalised we will crack on with screen printing the decks and getting some tee's done. Exciting stuff! 

Couple of things bubbling for me and Justin aka Honk. Tees for one image and decks/tees for something else! We'll get around to this soon..! 

Also  in the midst of testing out a design from an artist. If they are happy with how it looks then that will be good to go too - most folk in Aberdeen will recognise this one and it's firmly in the Doric Skateboards wheelhouse too.

We also have one design with a difference that is a colab with a couple of local skaters - keep yer eyes peeled for this. This is going to be a big one- August 3rd is the locked down launch for that....

Speaking of this date - we have this event planned for August 3rd and 4th. More details to follow very soon! 

Wheels......

Found a supplier to do Doric Skateboard wheels. These will be happening this year for sure.

Banners! !

You'll start to see our presence in a few different places around town very soon. Keep yer eyes peeled - i'll be posting pics this month to show them off.

Other Stuff

Its been a busy 4-6 weeks. We've added new graphics for decks - skyline and 4 bottles - new hoodies, new long sleeve tees, tote bags, caps, enamel badges and loads more stuff on the way! 

Also nice to see a couple of parks in Aberdeen revamped (reramped?). Torry looks good but haven't had a chance to skate it yet. Did go out to Cults and it was fun! Really well made and ample room and scope to expand. Work looks like its cracking on at Westburn - repairs look like they've taken a hit already though - lets hope the local committee that steered it all is on top of it and the new part is built correctly. My degree was Construction Design and i had a particular passion at one point for concrete, so its always interesting (for me anyway) to see the process. 

That's about all for this post people, thanks for reading this far! Pics below to go with word!

Thanks to everyone who's been a support in any way - appreciate it massively.! 

Part 13 - Happy Birthday!

So March was an exciting month. Our second deck colab came out - to get to work with Small Stories was amazing. So chuffed! And even better that its been so well received. Thanks to everyone for their support and to Small Stories for the colab! : )

But March was also the Doric Skateboards Birthday.

March 31st 2017 was when we launched and to celebrate we set up a free skate at Transition Extreme to any and all. We also ordered cake (in the shape of a massive rowie), made up wee party bags and generally tried to encourage all sorts of folk to come down and have a blast! 

I spent most of the day of the bash feeling sick that no one would turn up - happy to say that wasn't the case! Really can't thank folk enough for turning up from all over the North East and beyond. And a special shout out to the folks that took gifts! Never saw that coming! : )

Really hope everyone enjoyed it! 

So that's now all over with its back to the drawing board. Whats next?

• New deck design? Aye.
• New hoodies? Aye
• New tees? Aye.
• New "other stuff"? Aye.

2018 will be another exciting year for us and if we can pull off some of the stuff planned i hope it can cement Doric Skateboards as a skate brand that's honest, fun and inclusive. 

Check out some of the pics from the bash below or check out the video from the day on the FB page and IG! 

Cheers for now - off to get my thinking head on! 

Part 12 - Where was I? Oh aye!

When i started this blog it was supposed to follow the story roughly speaking of where we got where we are, and then very conveniently dovetail with now. Then i could keep it more relevant. 

But i've dipped in and out of a few things since the last part which was Part 9 - Whats a Bon Accord?

I'll nip away and re-read that to see where i was. 

Ok, read it. Sorted. Ready to go. 

So the design is locked down - kudos to Nicola, my pal Craig and my brother Mark for their input. Worth mentioning here that you very quickly have to accept criticism and suggestions. Sometimes its right! Even though i think its important to have the courage of your convictions - you need to be flexible and honest. If something works better another way - do it. 

Although the Annie Street Dreams deck had a few colours in it, there was a degree of flexibility with the design. A millimeter here or there didn't really effect the image. However with this one i had to line up 4 screens with 4 different colours to create one image. Easy eh? 

So some of the first things i discovered was that overlapping the images was the way forward. No overlap means you have to get it BANG on. i.e. line up the screen to the image each time and ensure that its millimeter perfect. Not easy. Especially when screening on a curved deck! 

Also needed to think about which direction to screen. You pull (or push if you like it that way) the ink through the screen and that deposits the ink onto your deck. A squeegee is used but they aren't really soft enough (that i've found) to take on the curve. So i screened width ways - this has its own issues. The contact between the deck and the screen can be an issue and the pressure you put on makes all the difference. Too much pressure on the part closest to the screen means you are going to make a mess - not enough pressure on the part furthest from the screen means you arent going to deposit enough ink.

So its a balance. 

Overlapping images for sure - i'm in the midst of re-doing some of the images so that i can get the next one bang on - Irn Bru colour fyi.

Then i thought - why can't my squeegee be curved? 

So i chopped one up and......it kind of worked a treat! 

Still some work to do to make one perfect but its the way forward for me. 

Whatever works eh?

Some images below of the process - this doesn't include the ones of me crying when i messed things up..look out for the one i did upside down. Ha! : )

Part 9 - Whats a Bon Accord?

So its around June/July time and i'm beginning to get the anxiety that can be best described as "2nd Album syndrome". 

Its around this time that i think about my youth and the joy of Bon Accord ale. For those not in the know - this was a drinks company that rolled around the housing estates in big flat bed trucks shouting "bon accord". Occasionally you would convince your mum to buy a bottle of their finest Limeade or Red Kola! Great days. Bon Accord is of course (i say of course in terms of those from Aberdeen!) the motto of Aberdeen, and is French for Good Agreement. I won't get into a history lesson here but this also involves Robert the Bruce and Wars for Scottish Independence. Interesting stuff! Doric Skateboards also happens to reside on land gifted to Aberdeen by Robert the Bruce. 

And so the cogs turn.

Many a skateboard design has incorporated a bottle.

Maybe i could do that too. I take the idea to Nicola and she runs with it and comes up with an amazing sketch that incorporates the shortened Doric Skateboards logo whilst still keeping the Bon Accord label face - see some early pics below!

I can tell early on that this is a step up in terms of complexity to screen. Screening onto shiny curved wood is a challenge. Screening 4 colours and lining each screen up precisely is a tough nut to crack! 

Next time in the Doric Blog - multi screens & multi colours!

Part 2 - Learning

Where was I? 

Oh aye. Got the name, got the thinking behind it, got the idea for the first graphic. Logo is being designed. 

Need to learn to screen print. Just a small minor detail eh? ; )

Lucky for me i have a brother who has experience in it and a fantastic facility in the city - Peacock Visual Arts Studio. For a very small fee you can use the equipment there for a variety of artistic endeavours. But first you need to know what you are actually doing. 

I set up a one to one session with a chap there called James - he's patient and answers questions without you feeling daft for asking! After a 3 hour session i walk away in a bit of a daze trying to remember everything thats been said and done. He promises to be on hand to shadow me when i'm ready to go with my own designs. I fear it will be a less shadowing more me clinging to him for dear life..

One thing is clear and its something i suspected from the beginning - i can't screen print decks down at Peacocks. The shape and size of a deck and the method of lining it up to print (or "registration" as i would learn to call it!) means i need to build something bespoke. 

In the meantime I've also ordered the first batch of blank decks.

So, like the threads of a complicated film things are beginning to come together. Or so i think at the time but like all good films things are not always what they seem, and there is a Marvel-esq post credits sequence waiting to bite me on the arse for this first part of the journey.

Join me for Part 3 - Setbacks, where i'll consider why the lack of a window in my loft space was a good thing.