‘Not only are standard polyurethane/polyester boards made from petrochemicals, but the production of them releases incredibly harmful chemicals into the environment. Put this with their typical lifespan and it is clear that there is definite room for improvement on how boards are made.‘

It looks like the James Otter approach to this problem has been without compromise in all repects, the finished boards look amazing and have now been thoroughly tested on our Cornish coastline. In addition to producing an incredible product there is (at the time of writing) an invitation to the customer to be a part of the creation process. In my opinion it would be well worth making the most of this opportunity.

I would like to think that one day I might get to own one myself, although this would require finding the time to use it, getting back in the water again is high on the agenda but screen printing, right now, seems to be taking up every waking moment. Speaking of which the T shirts….

An obvious choice, Earth positive Organic T shirts screen printed using water based inks. Only the best for Otter Surfboards.

Friday to Sunday, 13-15 November in Falmouth

As well as showcasing Cornish shorts, the festival will include National and international Film past and present, professional workshops and lectures.

Feature Films include the classic Eraserhead, and a south west premiere of Glorious 39 from Stephen Poliakoff, there are a number of short films on offer too, and Board shorts is taking place at the Stannary Bar Tremough for all those interested in UK surf film.

Another cover shot from surftwisted photographer Tony Plant. Taken in the dead of winter on the south coast in freezing temperatures, Tonys commitment to photography from the water paid off. Take a look at the surftwisted web site for more surf photography from around the cornish coast.

This years Screen Actions, is a two day event for young people, combining workshops, screenings and partys, last year saw 300 young people take part from schools all over Cornwall.

Board shorts is the Festival’s board sports film event, held at the Sandsifter Bar in Gwithian on the 8th November. As well as screenings there will be live music from Mark Kermode’s skiffle band The Dodge Brothers and local DJs Sir Vinyl of the Fattest.

This is a great event and although I am unable to make any of the screenings this year, we were fortunate enough to be able to supply some printed organic T shirts, we used water based screen printing inks for all the designs. The designs were created by A-Side a graphic design and illustration studio based in Falmouth Cornwall.

Suftwisted are in the process of a radical change, an interesting site is threatening to emerge from twisted towers in the very near future. The killer site is going to take bevel, emboss and shadow photoshop filters to the next level, no text or photograph will be left untouched.

In depth profiles of team riders can be found at the site already if you are willing to take the time to find them, but no sign of any merchandise for sale so far, the twisted merchandise is becoming very exclusive kit, and as a result the price is being driven sky high.

2011 update: Surtwisted remains in limbo, merch as illusive as ever, Tont Plant currently in Sumatra meditating on what the next incarnation will be. Can’t wait to find out what it is.

You can visit the twisted blog and have a go at name this spot Competitions, which are run on a semi regular basis, or even enter the tri annual shelf fest if you feel up to it. Better still, buy yourself a surftwisted T shirt! If you can figure out a way to purchase the Twisted merch, there is presently no online shop or retail outlet, you will need to track down Tony Plant, and if you are lucky, he will give you a screen printed organic T shirt in return for some cash. Good luck if you choose to pursue this.

Although indexing is not recommended for a subtle gradient, it does eliminate the problem of moire or screen clash, and when we are using coarse screens for a waterbased print this is very useful, we processed this design at 160 ppi and placed it on a medium mesh so we do not put too much ink down, but if your screens are coated well you could put the same half tone on a 34 mesh count if required.

The random dot will go on any mesh count with no moire, but how smooth is the gradient when printed.

Well take a look, obviously where the colours are similar in tone the transition is barely perceptible, you can see the dot on the dark blue to light blue gradient but we think it is still a very good result, it would have benefited only very slightly with the addition of another blue, we do not think it is worth the extra screen on a shorter run of shirts.We are certain the crew at global surf adventures will be more than happy with their T-shirt print.

index separations for waterbased T-shirt printing

A break from T-shirt printing for one moment to congratulate Tony and Troy on a fantastic cover shot. It seems a while ago now but finally some pictures from the Surftwisted Indo trip are starting to emerge. Apparently there was some doubt as to the true nationality of the twisted team rider, the name Troy Sinclair and Tony Plants surreal approach to all things, sparked a search for the supposed ‘Scottish’ surfer in an effort to ensure an authentic british rider was on the cover. More details within the pages of Pit Pilot. As yet this is all unconfirmed babble from Tony Plant, I look forward to a realworld perspective when I buy the magazine.

Despite all the rain, general gloom  and the end of summer things have remained busy, so a the second installment to the epic waterbased articles project goes on hold, and in its place a late arrival outside the workshops, nearly all the sunflowers here are long passed their best, and then out comes this little beauty, and a little blue sky to top it off. Looks like Tony Plant may get the Pit Pilot cover with an Indo shot too, well done Tony and respect to surftwisted. Catch up soon.

T shirt printers loving flowers.

Zest series of St Ives Cornwall introduce new designs to the range, these brightly coloured T shirts and bold designs from young designer Kieran Whitefield are already in demand, visit Zestseries and buy the T shirts on line, you can also take a look at some of Cornwalls homegrown freestyle BMX video.

Waterbased T-shirt printing was used for all designs.

With the current weather and surf situation set to continue a little retail therapy could be required, Empire are creating custom surfboards that take a different path. We like the look of their shorter boards. Designed to produce speed effortlessly and promote powerful and controlled turns, these handcrafted boards look like they will bring new lines to your surfing. All that is required to compliment these creations are waves. Which seem to be a little scarce of late.

A breath of fresh air. In contrast to the weather we are having at the moment, some bright and sunny T shirt colours are going through the workshops this week. Screen Printing in water based inks of course.

T shirt printers

Spin bodyboarding have more hoodies printed to meet demand, we love these designs by Nancy Meaney. The bold colours work well and are a pleasure to work with.

The royal Cornwall Show is under way! but sadly I can’t see myself making it down there, nothing to do with the rain! It is just busier than ever and not enough hours in the day. There is now a fox taking an interest in our chickens, we chased him off today and made lots of noise and he was gone. Needless to say the chickens retired early tonight.

Organic T shirt printers

Just as expected I am finding it near impossible to make 10 minutes for the Blog, it seems the more things that happen that are worth writing about, the less time you have to write about it, and as blogging is all about whats happening today it seems a lot of interesting jobs will go by unrecorded, it could be time to introduce guest bloggers? Hijack someone from design or Admin… Taking a break from the T shirts for 1 second to catch up with the chickens, and it seems they are getting into places they are not meant to, found themselves a couple of secret laying spots which we have yet to find, and one of the elder chickens, Emily, got clucky. So all being well Advertees will have a new generation of chicks. The factory is running at full speed to deal with demand for events, and to top it all a good swell came through giving us a couple of days of great waves.

Organic t shirt printing

Grey skies and no swell to speak of in Cornwall today, there seems to be a mass of blue and yellow boards on the fistral webcam, and they seem to be having a really good time, it is quite tempting to invest in one of those big bouyant bomb proof boards and join them, but a day like this is a perfect oppotunity to catch up on a bit of printing. I will seek out a couple of brightly coloured screen printing jobs and hope for a glimpse of the sunshine tomorrow.

Organic T shirt screen printing