UPSB v3

Pen Modifications / cut grip tutorial

the same i posted on fpsb, please help me to complete this topic!

  1. NEPTUNE
    Date: Mon, Oct 26 2009 01:15:52

    I asked on fpsb to find some one to translate my topic from fpsb in english. So there are mistake, but ll will be corrected tomorrow or after. Thanks.



    Hi everybody! Today I post a complete “How-to” topic on grip cutting. I know that many other people cut grips, so I would like you to take part in this topic to give your tips, and I hope this topic will help lots of people.





    1) What is a cut grip?
    It consists in cutting pieces of a grip, in order to create abstract or concrete motifs. Cut grip can have different aims: extending the design of a mod, or improving its twirling effect…


    2) What are the adapted tools for a good cut grip?
    If you want to have a good cut grip, you will necessary need those tools:

    http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww339/D...p/trucbidul.jpg

    1. A X acto knife, which is a “high-accuracy” knife.
    In fact it’s a sort of scalpel, which you can find in all the artistic shops, and which is essential for a good cut grip. Why not a simple cutter? Indeed a cutter has a sharpened blade, but is adapted for cutting cardboard for example, and not for cutting grips. A X acto knife costs usually 3 or 4$.

    2. Tweezers.
    Every civilized man or woman has tweezers at home. Tweezers are very useful to remove little pieces of grip which have already been cut, because if we use our big fingers, it completely destroys the grip…

    3. A grip.
    Sure. You need a grip.
    But which grip?? Lots of pens have grips, but not all the grip are adapted for cut grip.

    THE GOOD GRIPS.
    - Spoko’s grips: the official grip of all cut grips. It comes from a Polish pen. This grip enables to create various motifs, from the most abstract to the most difficult and concrete one. It has notably a wide surface. However, it is a bit too thick, and it seems to exist in only 5 colours: grey, yellow, orange, light green, and skyblue.
    http://nsa07.casimages.com/img/2009/08/10/...71610367231.gif


    - Impact / impact rt: A good grip, very similar to spoko’s grip, but it only exists in black colour. Less supple than spoko’s grip, it is a bit more difficult to cut, but has perhaps a better final look.
    http://nsa07.casimages.com/img/2009/08/10/...71931373980.jpg


    - Uniball knock, or uniball 0,7: an excellent grip from every point of view. It exists in 3 different colours: black, red and blue. It’s a supple and quite thin grip, and made of a good material. It enables very precise and complex cut grips. It’s the grip mainly used for cut grips.
    http://nsa07.casimages.com/img/2009/08/10/...72126984277.jpg

    - Uniball signo broad: there’s lots of different colours for this grip, and notably white, which is very attractive. Thin and resistant, its only default is its small size, which doesn’t permit wide motifs.
    http://nsa08.casimages.com/img/2009/08/10/...72243627500.jpg

    - Criterium: that’s a perfect grip to begin with. Very thin and supple, it is very easy to cut and we can find them in lots of different colours. However, they are often too thin, and they don’t have a “professional” final look.
    http://nsa08.casimages.com/img/2009/08/10/...72415702241.jpg

    MIDDLE QUALITY GRIPS
    - Pilot G2: A quite thick grip, with severall stripes which are bothering, and extremely difficult to cut well. However, this grip has a large panel of colours, and if you cut simple and abstract motif in them, you can obtain a cool overgrip effect (like for the red and black impact MX of kam).
    http://nsa08.casimages.com/img/2009/08/10/...73211745180.jpg


    - Pentel HGG: this grip is extremely resistant, and we can find it in every colour (pastel, normal, fluorescent…). It’s very easy to cut, but there’s already “motif” on the surface of this grip, so it’s hard to get a good final aesthetic.

    http://nsa08.casimages.com/img/2009/08/10/...00733593220.jpg

    - Uniball Signo dx: Good grips too, similar to the uniball signo broad, and with plenty of colours, but there’s lots of little points at the surface of the grip…
    http://nsa08.casimages.com/img/2009/08/10/...73737409391.jpg


    - Star gel max / dong-a : Extra-supple and flexible grips but which are rather reserved for cutting rings of grip, because their surface are covered of stripes.
    http://nsa08.casimages.com/img/2009/08/10/...74008199989.jpg

    GRIPS THAT CAN’T BE USED FOR CUT GRIP
    - Dr.grip: a beautiful grip, often used for mods, but NEVER for cut grip!! Made with silicon, 1.5 mm of thickness, cut grips on this grip are really difficult and often ugly… (don’t speak from the challenger to me ><)
    http://nsa08.casimages.com/img/2009/08/10/...74730172702.jpg


    - Pentel R.S.V.P.: 0. DON’T USE IT. Completely stiff, it’s impossible to stretch it, or it breaks. Very small, and with a surface similar to the surface of the moon, this grip is the grip of the most famous pen in the world, but shouldn’t be used for cut grips.
    http://nsa07.casimages.com/img/2009/08/10/...75518606776.jpg


    - Hyper jell / jimnie… Much too thin in wideness to be well-cut.
    http://nsa07.casimages.com/img/2009/08/10/...75844294294.jpg

    - All the other grips that you can find ^^

    4. A pen with gel ink: for example, a pentel HGG or a uniball signo broad. Depending on the colour of your grip (dark or light colour), you will use white or black ink colour. This pen is used to draw the pattern of the cut grip. It’s necessary to use gel ink, in order to erase the drawings when the cut grip is finished.

    5. A stock barrel that you will never use again. For example, a felt-tipped pen. You will cut the grip on this barrel, so it should not be too thin, or the grip will move and turn, and it shouldn’t be too wide, or it will put out of shape your pattern. The grip must be well-held, but not over-stretched.

    6. A little screwdriver or a needle: When we cut the grip, sometimes there are lots of microscopic pieces of grip between the holes of our cut grip. This tool enables to pick out those little pieces of grip, in order to have a perfect cut grip.

    Well, now, you have everything to do a great cut grip!


    3) Tips for cutting your grip
    Okay, you’re ready, everything is done: the grip is ready, the pattern is drawn on the grip, and you have the X acto knife in you hand… Wait, wait! No too fast Here are some pieces of advice for your cutting:
    I) Always cut the grip on the top of the barrel, and not on the side of your barrel, because if you slip, all your cut grip will be destroy =/
    II) The way you will cut your grip depends on the type of motif that you have to cut. If it’s a big straight line or a curve over 1.5 cm, go go go! But take care not to pull down your knife too much. Cut the line from an extremity to the middle of the line, and then cut from the other extremity and join the two cuts.
    III) NEVER FORCE! Forcing is the sign of an imminent massacre of the grip! If you feel a little resistance, the only good decision is to stop cut the grip, to breathe deeply, and to analyse the situation. Change the position of the grip, of the scalpel, and then continue in a cool-headed mood.
    IV) For the little line, around 5 mm, use the point of your knife, almost perpendicular with the surface of the grip.
    V) You need to hold the scalpel on the blade, and not by the handle, in order to keep your fingers extremely close to the grip, and to limit important slips of the blade.
    VI) OMG what a disaster! You have slipped… Don’t worry, breathe, breathe, life is cool, try to make up for you error, and modify the initial pattern in function of the size of the cut.
    VII) Try to cut always in the same wise, thereby if you slip, you will not damaged what has already been done.
    VIII) BE PATIENT!! A simple cut grip with abstract motif will take almost 20 minutes, a complex motif 1 hour, and a concrete motif (like a bee, a lion, a monkey ^^) between 3 and 5 hours (or more…)
    IX) For microscopic cuts (1 mm or less), here is a technique: put the blade of the X acto knife in several locus of the line, in order to punch holes in. After a while, half of the line is cut, so you can lightly pull out with the tweezers the little piece that you want to remove, and you finish to cut as neatly as possible.
    X) When the grip around the locus you’re cutting is already “jagged”, don’t forget to hold back the blade with a finger (warning: don’t cut your finger, thank you ><). Thereby, your scalpel has less chance to slip.
    XI) When you cut a micro-curve in your grip, put the scalpel orthogonally in the grip but don’t force, and hold it tightly. Then, turn the grip, yes, the grip, not the scalpel, with your other hand, and follow the line of your pattern.

    4) Patterns for cut grips.
    Two-thirds are already explained for cut grips: one third is you, another third is the grip, and the last third is the motif.

    For an abstract cut grip, choose a motif that increases the twirling effect. That is to say straight and polygonal cuts, such as rectangles, parallelograms, or even crosses… You can also do “great jumble” method. I explain you: with the help of your gel ink pen, you can draw lots of geometrical figures that are perfectly juxtaposed, until it doesn’t remain a “hole” in you grip. Then, you suppress or add some lines to obtain a sort of global geometrical motif that looks cool. And then, go cutting my friend!
    You can also (and it’s rather a good option) draw the pattern of your grip on a sheet of paper before drawing it on your grip. It spares your grip to become as sketchbook, covered with white (or black) splashes ><. It also enables to have a global vision of your motif. Some simple motifs are really good-looking, like lightning. If you draw some sorts of curves with “commas” and so on, it can be very nice, but you should already be a good grip cutter

    Let’s talk about representative motifs, quite complex. The aim here is to draw something concrete on your grip, that you will be able to cut after. First, we can quote the example of the flames that were the first non-abstract motif to be drawn (ayatori mod by Tek). What is the most difficult here is to do a drawing that looks like flames ^^’ The cut is quite accessible.
    Then, let’s talk about the real representative motifs… For example: Mr Turtle, Mr Leaf, Wasp mod, Mr Spider, Scorpion kuzu… (photos are coming)). You have to now that you’ll need lot of PATIENCE to succeed in those cut grips.
    How to find the idea for your motif?
    Personally, I found my inspiration in the creation of origami for beginners. However, all the motifs are not good for cut grips. In origami, if you do a circle with eight legs, everyone will say you that it’s a spider! Nothing more is needed, but if you want to represent an okapi, it becomes lightly harder ^^’ In cut grip, it’s impossible. So you have to choose a drawing that can be easily recognized with minimum of strokes. Let’s take the example of a dauphin.
    The aim is to draw it under is most famous angle. We can think of the jump of the dauphin out of the water. The cut grip has to follow those criteria:
    - He must be resistant, if you want o spin with it
    - He must be linked as much as possible to the rest of the grip, without modifying the drawing.
    Here we can link the nose of the dauphin to the top of the grip, its dorsal fin to the side of the grip, and its tail to the lower part of the grip. That’s enough, 3 links are a minimum for a solid grip. Then you have to respect an aesthetic aspect: for the representative cut grip, the portion of grip that you remove must be more important than the portion of grip that remains. So try to remove as much grip as possible. When you have finished one side of you grip, you can do the other part, because for a representative grip, we should see the entire drawing without turning the mod. So think at another drawing for the other side of the grip.


    5) Inventory of the main grip patterns




    FROM THE RIGHT TO THE LEFT, AND FROM THE TOP TO THE BOTTOM:
    1) Dreambaby mod by tek, cut into a uniball knock grip. Difficulty, 3/5, Time needed:30min.
    2) New mod by Zw332en, cut into a signo broad grip, difficulty 3,5/5, Time needed, 30 min.
    3) Ayatori mod by tek, cut into a uniball knock grip, difficulty 4/5, Time needed, 90 min.
    4) Dr tiki by neptune, cut into a criterium grip, difficulty 4/5, Time needed, 90 min.
    5) Mr spider by tek, cut into a knock grip, difficulty 4,5/5, Time needed, 120 min.
    6) Kuzu mod by tek, cut into a knock grip, difficulty 4/5, Time needed, 60 min.
    7) Scorpion kuzu by neptune, cut into a spoko grip, difficulty 4/5, Time needed, 120 min.
    8) Wasp mod by neptune, cut into a criterium grip, difficulty 4.5/5, Time needed, 120 min.
    9) Mr turtle by tek, cut into a knock grip, difficulty 5/5, Time needed, 180 min.
    10) Kuzu mod by tek, cut into a knock grip, difficulty 4/5, Time needed, 120 min.
    11) Mr leaf by tek, cut into a knock grip, difficulty 3/5, Time needed, 90 min.
    12) Ayatori mod by tek, cut into a knock grip, difficulty 1/5, Time needed 20 min.
    13) Ice kuzu by neptune, cut into a spoko grip, difficulty 5/5, Time needed 200 min.
    14) Spider cut by neptune, cut into a criterium grip, difficulty 5/5, Time needed 200 min.
    15) Target mod by neptune, cut into a criterium grip, difficulty 2/5, Time needed 30 min.

    6) How to well-place a grip on the mod?
    First, you have to adapt the size of the grip to the wideness of the barrel.
    You want to place a cut grip on a barrel, or on other grips that are too wide for it? First, look if your grip is a bit flexible.
    WARNING: you should never do the cut grip BEFORE stretching your grip. You need to place your grip on a stock barrel that as the right wideness, and then, you let it on the barrel during one month. Yes, one month. Thus so, the grip will slacken, and will be adapt to its new wideness. After that month only, you will be able to cut your pattern, the grip will be ready.
    If you cut your grip before, the thin cut that you will do in your grip will become enormous holes, because the grip will get back its initial tension.


    That’s it for the advices by the moment! This part is to be completed...

  2. Eric
    Date: Mon, Oct 26 2009 01:22:18

    holy f**k... that pic of those grip cuts are beautiful (*wallpaper*).... thank you for the tutorial bowdown.gif

  3. Nachoaddict
    Date: Mon, Oct 26 2009 01:40:30

    Great tips. Haven't heard some of em before. Very nice.

    But I don't really understand the locus part of these steps.

    IX) For microscopic cuts (1 mm or less), here is a technique: put the blade of the X acto knife in several locus of the line, in order to punch holes in. After a while, half of the line is cut, so you can lightly pull out with the tweezers the little piece that you want to remove, and you finish to cut as neatly as possible.
    X) When the grip around the locus you’re cutting is already “jagged”, don’t forget to hold back the blade with a finger (warning: don’t cut your finger, thank you ><). Thereby, your scalpel has less chance to slip.

  4. NEPTUNE
    Date: Mon, Oct 26 2009 01:46:12

    i'll try to change it for you can understand this part sorry ....

  5. Glamouraz
    Date: Mon, Oct 26 2009 18:03:42

    Great tutorial. At least I know now that I'm not alone sitting in my room drawing on grips and taking eons to get one cut.

    The picture of the gripcuts really gave it a nice touch.

  6. Pieniek
    Date: Mon, Oct 26 2009 19:56:53

    Spoko pens is also avaible in black - i found a sub of it, its exacly the same grip biggrin.gif



    I have some, if you guys want them (specialy NEPTUNE) biggrin.gif

  7. Nation
    Date: Mon, Oct 26 2009 20:02:54

    Hmm, I remember reading this through google translate... It helps a lot.
    (when he finishes it)
    smile.gif

    EDIT: the pics are down (moved or sumthin...)
    Fix plawx?
    Thanks

  8. Prince
    Date: Mon, Oct 26 2009 20:20:32

    Yeh me too. I found this on fpsb and translated it cool.gif glad its for everyone else now. good job neptoooooon smile.gif

  9. NEPTUNE
    Date: Fri, Oct 30 2009 18:56:06

    i posted the second part! Thanks for your comment^^"...

  10. buhryan
    Date: Sat, Oct 31 2009 01:24:31

    Noooooo wheres the wallpaper of gripcuts bawling.gif

  11. NEPTUNE
    Date: Sat, Oct 31 2009 11:04:55

    sorry, mistake with photobucket^^""

  12. kuhfi
    Date: Sat, Oct 31 2009 18:45:04

    The image of the tools is down sad.gif

  13. Milk
    Date: Sun, Nov 1 2009 07:25:42

    Wow very detailed tutorial thanks heaps NEPTUNE.

  14. Nation
    Date: Tue, Nov 3 2009 02:03:06

    Alright, i've been looking at the mr leaf in photobucket and your pics and layout, and I think i know how to make something very similar..
    I'm rather new to grip cutting, but my other grip cuts turned out quite nice...
    Thanks again for the tutorial, I'm also wondering about the design, is it actually a question mark?
    Or you don't know?
    thanks.
    If not i'll try it anyway.
    tongue.gif

  15. Kam
    Date: Sun, Nov 8 2009 01:15:21

    very nice tutorial Neptune ^^

    I'm not pro at grip cuts, but I have a few tips I use that I didn't see on the tutorial:

    - for the hand cutting the grip, always put pressure on the blade using your FINGERS, and not your hand/wrist. Your fingers have a lot more control than your hand and arm. To ensure you are not forcing with your hand, always rest your hand on the pen, or your left hand (the one holding the pen).

    - to finish sharp corners, I suggest using your left Thumb's fingernail (or anything the blade won't cut through) to act as a stopper. Just align it perpendicular to where the cut needs to end and hold tightly. This gives you more control where the cut ends, and prevents slipping.

    - always cut under proper lighting ^^ Seems like a dump tip, but sometimes I start cutting in the afternoon and don't notice the room getting darker as the sun goes down. And obviously, if you can't see the grip easily, it's easier to make mistakes


    PS: I fixed link for the pic of the tools

  16. Colin
    Date: Thu, Nov 26 2009 00:47:02

    QUOTE (NEPTUNE @ Oct 25 2009, 05:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    6) How to well-place a grip on the mod?
    First, you have to adapt the size of the grip to the wideness of the barrel.
    You want to place a cut grip on a barrel, or on other grips that are too wide for it? First, look if your grip is a bit flexible.
    WARNING: you should never do the cut grip BEFORE stretching your grip. You need to place your grip on a stock barrel that as the right wideness, and then, you let it on the barrel during one month. Yes, one month. Thus so, the grip will slacken, and will be adapt to its new wideness. After that month only, you will be able to cut your pattern, the grip will be ready.
    If you cut your grip before, the thin cut that you will do in your grip will become enormous holes, because the grip will get back its initial tension.


    That’s it for the advices by the moment! This part is to be completed...

    I agree with that COMPLETELY.

    I left it for around 2 weeks, easier to cut and MUCH MUCH cleaner ^^)

    Thanks for the awesome designs and tutorial NEPTUNE!

  17. Penwish
    Date: Thu, Nov 26 2009 06:35:17

    I've only experimented with gripcuts and it seems that heating the grip put it on barrell then freezing the barrel+ grip then let it thaw quickens the process of making it cleaner


    QUOTE (Colin @ Nov 25 2009, 07:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    I agree with that COMPLETELY.

    I left it for around 2 weeks, easier to cut and MUCH MUCH cleaner ^^)

    Thanks for the awesome designs and tutorial NEPTUNE!

  18. Colin
    Date: Thu, Nov 26 2009 19:40:28

    QUOTE (Penwish @ Nov 25 2009, 10:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    I've only experimented with gripcuts and it seems that heating the grip put it on barrell then freezing the barrel+ grip then let it thaw quickens the process of making it cleaner

    LOLWUT

  19. Twine
    Date: Mon, May 31 2010 08:45:15

    Bump for wellbeing of thread.

    Thanks Neptune. Awesome tut! I don't know if I can last a couple of weeks with a grip just sitting there waiting to be cut xD