Pink Is Less Frightening…

Probably my all-time favorite moment as an artist was when a hoodoo shop displaying some of my art requested that I remove one of the pieces because it was freaking out their clients. I figured, if it's too scary for the hoodoo shop, I must be doing something right.

Another happy coup was when the bottle at left was used by Haitian houngan, Saveur St. Cyr during ritual trance while visiting Chicago. He chose it from among the thirty-odd traditional bottles on my friend Marilyn's Ghede altar. Made me feel like I had the chops, you know?

Of course, being completely erased from all documentation of the Howl show at the Hyde Park Art Center wasn't bad either. The show was based on a tradition of burning emblems of stuff you don't want to carry into the New Year, and I showed up with a life-sized effigy of a Klansman, stuffed with newspaper and parafin…

I know they were a bit put out when the thing erupted into thirty foot flames and had to be held up with poles until it died down about 45 minutes later. But I think what really did me in was when the camera guy asked me what the piece was about. I kinda thought it was obvious that the idea was to let go of intolerance, but I said something stupid about eradicating intolerant people. Not really PC, I guess. Anyway, history will show that I wasn't there, but I doubt anyone who was there will forget the wave of fear that swept through the crowd when it looked for a moment like the figure was going to topple into the audience.

So, yeah, sometimes I freak people out more than I mean to. Occupational hazard or personality disorder, depending on who you ask. But one of the most common comments about the paddles has been that they arre just too freakin' scary for a lot of people. Of course, you needn't hit any harder with my paddles than you would with an oak or leather paddle, but the prevailing notion seems to be summed up really well in this snippet of email from my pal Sam Sugar:

I definitely think there's space for a much 'cuter' product. Lessthreatening, more finished, softer. Most of the women I know like a bit of slap-and-tickle but aren't interested in anything too hardcore. They like stuff that looks'friendly' and makes a big sound without doing any real harm. I think the issue is women thinking, whywould someone hit me softly with something that looks capable of real brutality. I think it's what the piece says about the motivation ofthe buyer and the look doesn't say 'nice-guy' right now.

So, I'm thinking of expanding the line to include some new, groovy, beautiful paddle sthat have a softer look and approch. I'm still sourcing materials, which is beginning to look like it could take some time, but I'm enthused about some of the ideas I have for new products. Imagine making some paddles with cast silicone rubber resin like the stuff pictured at left… way hot. If it were layered over sandblasted aluminum, it would just be gorgeous. And might even look a little friendlier. Stay tuned for some fresh new designs!

Comments

[cgeye]

One trivia question:

When you purchase whole tires, what is the most common size? Yes, I am asking for a friend....

[BadAss]

cgeye,

Actually, I don't use whole tires because the reinforcing wire is too hard to cut and sticks out the edges. I've been buying the rubber they use to put new tread on old tires, which is much easier to work with, as well as cleaner and safer.

I tried working with used tire rubber on the first prototypes and found that it also had a bad habit of curling in both directions... so I couldn't get it to lay flat for the paddles and it didn't flex for the floggers.

In case you were just wondering in general, it looks like P235/75R15 is the most popular tire size for sport/utility vehicles. It took me a while to get that from google, 'cause all the articles that talk about popular or best-selling tires seem to refer to bikes or specialty vehicles like race cars.