During a late night North Carolina thunderstorm I got a call from Edge, the Commander of the Smoke Out High-Security Team. He caught me just as I was finishing the last savory drops of my double Jack on the rocks. With Edge, you never know what alley a conversation will take, so I shook myself like a dog coming out of a rainstorm to free the cobwebs from my charcoal clouded head.
To my surprise he jabbered about a Smoke Out 14 video. I thought it was a good idea especially since he had enlisted Zack Coffman of Choppertown and the Sinners fame. We batted around using a crowd-funding site like Kickstarter or Indiegogo to secure funds for the project. A long story short, the Indiegogo project was a total failure even though the Smoke Out DVD is on schedule and looks outstanding.
Edge, the magnificent event producer cut a 5-year deal, with a vast non-compete clause, for Jillian to provide pinstriping clinics during the Smoke Out and you will see her work in the new Smoke Out DVD. Here’s an example of her craftsmanship.
Striping the THBSC Lid
Before she came out to the event she created the Horse Backstreet Chopper helmet. She started out with a flat black Bell Custom 500 lid and removed the trim molding with a razor blade. Then she used 3M Green tape to mask and re-mask the helmet and upholstery.
Next order of business was prepping for paint. It requires primer and sanding. Once ready, a silver metallic basecoat paint was applied.
Then the HOC-KK01 C02 House of Kolor Brandywine candy layers were misted over the smooth surface. They were selected to complement the Horse logo.
Jillian’s friend and fantastic airbrush artist, Yuliya, put down an amazing replica of the Horse logo on the backside of the helmet.
The Pinstriping started with a black base, and a basic design. Then Jillian flowed on a bright red stripe and delicately scrolled it to the top and along the sides of the helmet. Then a third color, peach, (Are your peaches sweet?—Wolfman Jack) was used to compliment the bright red on the helmet. These three colors play very well with the color of the candy.
The whole basis of the design was to layer on a ballistic pinstriping style, to cover the whole helmet from top to back.
“It’s a geometrical, wild style of pinstriping,” said Hell Cat. “Very fine lines are overlapping one another to create the overall design for the helmet.”
Jillian did the pinstriping; her father laid down the paint and Yuliya handled the airbrush.
Pinstriping, and the art of the line, is as old as the very idea of creativity. For thousands of years – going back to the Roman Empire – pinstriping has adorned objects of nobility. By the 1800s, pinstripes decorated the intricate bodylines of coaches and carriages.
In the early 1900s, everything from buggies, fire engines, safes, salon windows, doors, furniture, and much more was decorated with the art of fine lines.
The use of pin striping on motorcycles as it is commonly seen today was pioneered by artists Kenny Howard, (aka Von Dutch) and Dean Jeffries, Dennis “Gibb” Gibbish and Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. These artists are considered pioneers of the Kustom Kulture lifestyle that spawned the early 1950s and are widely recognized as the “originators” of modern pin striping.
Today there are pinstriping competitions all over the world, and you can be sure you will find a master pinstriper at any auto or motorcycle show. Seen mostly on Hot Rods, Motorcycles, and high-end custom cars, pinstriping has found it’s comfortable nitch in the vehicular world.
