Skateboard with PIC microcontroller and LEDs

Step 6 Adding the Artwork

This step was easily the most labor intensive and time consuming. I have been told by everyone that has seen the board that the pictures I sent them really don't do the final product justice. The skateboard is covered with pages from a comic book and artwork created with Photoshop and Corel Draw printed out on sticker paper. Note: I tried several different papers for Ink Jet printing for the artwork. The one that I had the best luck with was full page labels from Office Depot. All artwork was attached using Polycrilic from Home Depot, then an additional 15-18 layers of Polycrilic were added. Finally the board was sealed with an Acrylic Sealer from Hobby Lobby and Tread Tex from Ace Hardware was added to provide grip. Below is step by step of how it was done.

1. Cut the comic book pages into manageable sections.
2. Soak the sections in Polycrilic.
3. Apply to the board using a flexible plastic spreader.
4. Wait two hours then apply the Ink Jet Stickers. Stickers are sealed with Acrlyic sealer before Poly is added.
5. Apply coat of Polycrilic.
6. Wait two hours then sand the Poly with 220 grit sand paper.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until you can no longer feel the edges of the paper. Note: In several places I sanded through the Poly and damaged the comics/art, this "accident" added character to the board and if I did it again I would not avoid sanding through.
8. Once the edges could no longer be felt, I switched to 320 grit sand paper, then added two more layers of Poly.
9. A wet layer of Poly was added to the top of the board, Tread Tex was sprinkled onto the board using a salt shaker.
10. Two more layers of Poly were added to the top of the Tread Tex.
11. The entire board was sprayed with a clear gloss Acrylic sealer.

This entire process took almost two weeks.