The Complete Video Guide To Kustomizing Bowling Pins

Reviewer: Richard H.

Hi I think this is a very creative item to custom paint. I also believe this video would serve as being very useful for anyone interested in air brushing Thanks Richard

Reviewer: James L.

If you have to ask why ‘customizing’ is spelled with a K, you are not the target market. Think Hot-rods with painted flames, Big Daddy Roth customized cars, the art of Coop: that’s Kustom Kulture.

If you have to ask why a bowling pin needs to be kustomized, it is possible you are not an American, and lack the understanding of such matters. Bowling = 50s cool. Kustomizing = 50s cool. Therefore Kustomized Bowling pins adds up to 100, which is twice as cool. Let’s proceed.

The disk begins with the artist’s previous non-pin kustomizing work, most of which seems to involve painting skulls on motorcycles. Because chicks dig skulls. Well, guys dig skulls. But chicks dig guys, so, it all works out in the end. The skull-related work is very good, if you’re into snarling bone-heads and assorted damnation iconography. Since nasty horned demons do not exist, this is almost the grown-up equivalent of running around in Superman pajamas, if you ask me. But the technical achievement is impressive, and right away you know two things: 1) this guy can airbrush with a skill that makes Playboy retouchers look like Jackson Pollack, and B) there is no way you will be able to duplicate anything that follows. But at least we can learn how it’s done.

Step one. You have to get a bowling pin. Advice is provided.

Step two. Since the paint is toxic, you need to learn how not to kill yourself. Advice is also provided.

Step three. Examine the pin for imperfections. You’d be surprised how close inspection of the average pin reveals seams, as well as ‘high spots’ that have to be ‘knocked down.’ You’ve just learned your first pieces of jargon!

Step Four. Vince applies sandpaper to a dual-action orbital sander. Really. Close-ups and all. It’s pretty graphic. You expect to see the scene blurred with a mosaic, but they just show everything.

Step Five. Mixing and applying the Bondo to fill in any imperfections. The host recommends a 50 to one ration on the hardener. If you had no idea what the hardener is, you shouldn’t be doing this. After the Bondo is hard, you shave off the stuff you don’t need. Warning! The Bondo stuff gets in your nails, says the host, and it’s also toxic. So wear gloves. When scraping it off, however, you can use your bare hands and get the shavings all over your pants leg.

Step Six. An important tip is revealed here: You’re going to want to use an adhesive promoter. D846 or D820. I know that goes without saying, but you can’t assume everyone knows everything.

Ten minutes into the film, I believe I could do any of these things. I know I would probably remove a good portion of my own flesh in the sanding process, and I am also sure that by the time I finished sanding off the imperfections the top of the bowling ball would have the asymmetrical aspect normally associated with Cubism, but that’s why my pin would be in a museum and this guy’s pins will be in a display case. Mine would be fawned over by thin reedy-voiced aesthetes who appreciate the ironic repositioning of a middlebrow icon; his would be appreciated in terms like ‘Wicked’ and ‘awesome.’ Mine would be a result of mistakes and pretension; his would be a result of actual talent.

No one said art was fair.

Step Seven. Spraying. Did we mention you need a room draped in sheets and you have to dress like a ninja? Because you do.

Steps Eight - Forty-two. Sanding and degreasing and painting and sanding.

Step Forty-three. Draw your design with a Sharpie. WARNING: TALENT REQUIRED. TALENT NOT INCLUDED WITH DISK. Use an Exact-O knife to peel off parts of the design. Insider hint: pull towards the tips. Spray-paint the rest, peel off a layer, add red highlights to give the impression of molten lava.

At this point you suspect the average viewer has stopped taking notes, and is sitting with his hands in his lap, just watching.

Step Oh, Who Knows: an eyeball is applied to the design. An eyeball that is flying through the lava. It’s technically impressive, but at this point you realize you’re learning how to paint a bloodshot eyeball flying through lava on a bowling pin. You’d be surprised how infrequently that needs to be done in the normal course of things.

Instructional Grade: Four Stars. If you have some experience with an airbrush, this has to be helpful. Production Quality Grade: Three Stars. Hey, you try lighting glossy bowling pins. Entertainment Grade: one star. Informational Grade: Four Stars. Ability of the disk to make the viewer feel like he should get a tattoo and hang out in a bowling alley and smoke Luckies and get a little choked up thinking about Eddie Cochran and how he died: Nine stars.