Websites, and Twitters, and Facebooks!

Hey Team,

I will be doing a full follow up post about the launch night later this week!! For now, I just wanted to tell everyone that I now have a website:

www.hintsandspices.com

Currently it is just a splash page but I am releasing a full website soon! Jumping into more social media, I have also setup a facebook page, so please become a fan!

Hints and Spices Fanpage

Other than that, I still generally use twitter and twitpic to post quick updates and photos. So don't forget to follow me on twitter too!

There are so many online social mediums and I don't want anyone missing out. To deal with this, I am developing a website that intents to blends everything together, while also making it easy to navigate to a single section. Please keep a lookout!


Oh, my!

Monster Kolor invades Australia!

Malls balls, Rundle Mall

Monster Kolor, by Dead President Designs, is a high quality custom paint for all of your vinyl, tin, pvc, resin and die cast toy painting needs. It is packaged ready to spray from an airbrush, making it the most usable toy painting products on the market.

With over 16 years experience in the automotive and motorcycle painting and chemical industry, Matt Walker couldn't find a paint for toys that would give him the result he was looking for; “I love the metallic and specialty finishes that can be achieved with automotive paints but were unavailable for the toy painting market” - Not being discouraged, Matt developed his own paint variations to work privately on his toys.

After Matt’s pieces started to get more attention in gallery shows, many people wanted to know how he managed to get the painted finish he was achieving on vinyl. When Matt told them he had developed the paint himself, they immediately wanted to have some for themselves; thus Monster Kolor was born!

Matt hired a couple of chemical engineers to help him develop a range of metallic and specialty paints to stick to various types of plastics and Monster Kolor officially launched on March 1st 2010.

Matt Walker pinstriping a boy karma in the Max Toy studio

To celebrate our launch, we have teamed up with Dead Presidents Designs to present a limited edition release of Monster Kolor paints. I am very proud to announce the “Hints and Spices – Monster Kolor Sample kit” which will only available at our launch event*.

There will be 10 ½ oz kits available, each one unique with some never before seen colours and lab only variants!

Each kit contains 2 colours, 1 pearl, 1 c-through and comes with a clear coat setup and mixing cups.

The intent of making every sample kit unique was to introduce everyone to a variety of Monster Kolor paints while encourage people to setup meets for swaps, trades and colours mixes. Knowing what will be in these sets, I think I will be making friends with anyone who buys a kit so I can try out all the colours!

Speaking of community spirit, Matt has also setup an online painting community at www.monsterkolor.com that has developed into a very friendly group of beginners and professionals willing to help with any inquiries or have a general chat about toys. Tell them I sent you :)

For futher reading you can check out my previous post on Monster Kolor - Paint Buckets
Also, check out my Photo albums on the Monster Kolor community boards - Shane Haddy

Look forward to many more Hints and Spices x Monster Kolor projects!

*Any kits not sold during the launch event will be offered online after the 4th of June

Adelaide won't know what hit 'em!

Dol Roffo - Amigurumi collaboration

I am proud to announce the Hints and Spices x Dol Roffo Collaboration!

“Amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ‘ami’, meaning crocheted or knitted, and ‘anuigurumi’, meaning stuffed dolly.” – Wikipedia

I first came across Dol Roffo through Mark Nagata. Mark had posted an amigurumi version of ‘Eyezon’ on his twitter by a Japanese artist Dol Roffo. I was impressed, Dol Roffo had managed to create something adorable in another platform while keeping the overall form language of ‘Eyezon’. After seeing a few more images, I immediately checked out Dol Roffo and found a whole world of funky characters he has designed.

Dol Roffo has a unique design styling that I highly enjoy and I really wanted to see what Hints and Spices characters would look. I contacted Dol Roffo with the collaboration proposal and he agreed to work on my characters. This made me very happy!

“Hello My name is Dol Roffo, Japanese AMIGURUMI creator. I began making amigurumi in my college days, under the influence of my little sister and mother. I love booze, cute girls, AMIGURUMI, metal music, art and kaiju. Thank You!” – Dol Roffo

Currently Barrelmon and (unnamed) have had amigurumi transformations! I am also very grateful of Dol Roffo working so hard to make them in time for my show. Especially considering he had his own event on at the same time! That is dedication for you! Thanks so much Dol Roffo!

Sneak peek at Barrelmon amigurumi by Dol Roffo

Sneak peek at (unnamed) amigurumi by Dol Roffo

You will be able to see the full selection of these adorable amigurumi creations by Dol Roffo at the Hints and Spices launch. Keep an eye out for future Hints and Spices x Dol Roffo collaborations!



Kampai!

Meowf Head - Keyring/phonestrap prototype

All ready to be customised by TOVI

New toy sculpted by TOVI – Intended to be a full size toy, which will be announced later in the year. TOVI sent me the unfinished sculpt for my opinion. I loved it and suggested we make keychains from its head.

Each one is hand casted, cleaned, then painted with Monster Kolor paints by Shane Haddy. Selected few have been further customised by TOVI.

Custom heads hand drawn by TOVI

Only a limited amount of these prototypes will be avalible at the launch event which will be followed by a production release.

Production of the Meowf heads will begin in the coming months and by using a pressured pot it will produce a smoother surface and allow for a faster production at lower cost.

So derpy