Vintage car gauge decals - same same but new!

I've been commissioned to create new (but old - vintage looking) car gauge faces for a neighbour who's fixing up his old Ford truck. I believe it's a 1936 or 37 truck. Beautiful machine and he's doing some amazing work on it. But he hasn't been able to find new gauge faceplates that look like the original ones. So I've recreated them for him and will have them printed as decals which he can place right over top. He's very happy with the results. He has talked to many people at car shows and they have either left in the old bedraggled faces or replaced them with new modern ones. Neither of which look right next to the pristine condition of their old cars.

So, I'll be working on creating more....

here are some pics of the gauges so far.....

this is the original amp faceplate. Notice the dark stain - it's bumpy and sticky and I've been told it's old tobacco! Yuck.

new faceplate

this is the original speedometer faceplate....again with the tobacco!

new faceplate (the colour isn't exactly what the final product will be).

So, if you happen to come across this post and you need new (but vintage) faceplates for your vintage car drop me a line and I can re-create it for you. www.intown-creative.com intown@shaw.ca and quote vintage car gauges in the subject line.

or, click here to purchase the ones I've already created.

a painting I did for Ben

working on my soapstone

This started out as a 50lb piece. I mainly used handtools but once in awhile I got brave and used a dremel (what I'm doing here). My tool of choice (and the first one I ever used) is the small black-handled paring knife I got from Walmart for a buck. You can see it on the table just in front of me.

still lots of work to do....mainly sanding and polishing now

images of my past

As a kid I spent hours rifling through my mothers dresser drawers. Like a magpie I examined (and coveted) the shiny bits in each drawer. Imagining myself to be the richest, most beautiful girl in the world I tried on each piece of jewelry thinking it had to be worth millions. It wasn't until many years later that I learned the diamonds were just paste and the gold was just tarnished silver plate. But I still dream about being that little magpie and, to this day, am attracted to small, shiny, bright, intriguing things.

Last week I decided to look for and collect the gems (not including the people gems) in my life. Here are some of the things I found (and put a number of them together in a collage):

• shells and stones from my daughter's trip to Costa Rica
• my old doll collection
• beach glass
• old black and white photos that I took and processed years ago while studying photography and communications at school
• my paintbrushes
• fridge magnet collection
• tiny old sewing machine
• tiny lead figures
• wooden spool of thread
• old tea cups
• textures
• paintings from my kids
• old leather-bound books
• a picture of my great great Aunt Hannah
• my coloured pencils
• a wooden giraffe
• baby pictures
• a painting my gf painted

I intend to collect many more...

Sketchbook Project

I've just signed up for the Sketchbook project! Very excited. Now I (im)patiently wait for my red Moleskin book to arrive. I've chosen the theme "down your street" and I already have several images in my head.

check it out:
http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject