For this issue of Stylin’ Strings Customs we are showing the cart before the horse. If you are too young to understand that than enjoy the article anyhow. This stick idea came from Trice Crawford from Alexandria Virginia. His brother Witt had given us a Fighter Jet Dye theme to do a month or so before. So in an effort trump his younger brother he wanted us to Unleash the Beast.

Trice wanted to have The Beast written in red on the back of the scoop, yellow eyes from the Jet Theme (yet to be released), and the entire outside of the head covered in hair. Other than the pink and black snakeskin we did, this was by far one of the most challenging requests we have ever received.

Dustin knew to pull this off it would take over 700 strands of hair and that was to just cover the outside of the head. You can see here a close up of how tedious of a job this was.

Every face of the outside of the head was covered, even the insides of the sidewalls of the head. The head had to be finished with Black to show the contrast of the brown hair. From 5 feet away you can’t appreciate the fine detail revealed when the sun hits this thing or “Beast”.

This STX Xcalibur was a great base for us to work with all the flat surfaces. This close up also shows the detail work under the right lighting.

Dustin thought this open angle was a great way to capture the infinite teeth & mouth vibe Trice wanted around the entire inside of the head. The over ambitious hair outside may overshadow how difficult it was to get the teeth around the whole inside of the head. The end product looks amazing but the hours on this head tally in the top 5 ever come out of Stylin’ Strings Lax and one of Dustin’s most impressive to date.

The mesh pocket was strung with white Top string & sidewall to flow into the teeth. The all red mesh and shooters disappear into the mouth of the dye. After a full season of play “Beasting” on a D-pole at the U-13 level Trice’s dad Tom Crawford followed up with SSLax and said Trice loves his stick. Stay tuned for more customs on www.stylinstrings.com and on www.facebook.com/StylinStringsLacrosse

• Tweet

For this episode of the new season of Stylin’ Strings Customs we wanted to come out of the gate swinging to trump the sticks of last season like the Goalie Houndstooth/Flag & the Inside Out Clover for Jake Byrne. We had some correspondence with someone inside the UVA organization. This developed into trading emails with head coach Dom Starsia. After he viewed the SS Lax website and understood what we do he invited us down for a very anticipated special day with the team.

Dustin & Justin decided to make three heads prior to making the trip to show the guys what the possibilities when it came to personalizing a stick for each individual. With the blessing of the University we were supplied the official logos to make this job legit. Our contact at UVA told us the guys like the Torque, the Flow, & the Showtime the best from their sponsorship with Gait Lacrosse. With our inside out dyes becoming popular we decided to do one of those with a navy to orange fade, with the full two-color V and swords logo at the top of a Torque 3. The second head design was an all orange inside, navy outside on a Show time. The last head was a Flow that we decided to make a special gift for Dom for his office wall that commemorated his 2011 National Championship, the roster, and his accolade of the coach of the year.

On the Torque 3 you will see from the side view that we snuck reversed orange swords on the top of the head just to increase the level of difficulty in the dye. The pocket Justin strung in it was our Pin Hybrid Traditional. You will see in the next photo Dustin decided to ghost Virginia on the inside of the head where it fades from orange to navy, and Cavaliers on the other side.

The Showtime all orange inside is highlighted at the top of the head with the Serif Virginia as tall as the head goes. The circle indent on the bottom face of the head was also perfect for white V, thin orange stroke, and the orange swords contoured to the ridge. The pocket strung in this is the SS Lax staple Mesh-X pocket with traditional outsides as opposed to the coils you are used to seeing from us. This option is available on all SS Lax pockets.

One of two surprises is revealed in this ¾ angle. Dustin used the bodylines of the head on the inside sidewalls to accentuate different size swords curving in and out. The next angle will show a very ambitious undertaking to pop out the natural V the Gait Showtime had in it’s sidewall of the head.

We thought the V need to be popped out in white and the flat back area in orange, which made it very difficult and almost impossible to stop any type of bleeding. But as you can see it looks pretty good. This angle also shows a nice drop in the pocket.

The third head for Dom was the Flow. It has the 2011 National Champions in white on the top lip and the same two color Virginia logo on the bottom as the Showtime. All the text was pulled out in orange. This view shows the top rail left to right (Dom Starsia USILA Coach of the Year, #4 White, #35 Kelly, #31 Glading, #7 English, #17 Price, & #25 Riley).

This view top left to right is the back right sidewall rail (#28 Melzer, #21 Cockerton, #43 Swankowski, #33 Ghitelman, #14 Van Arsdale, #39 McGee, #36 Lantz, #22 McLinden). The front right face of the head (#6 Stanwick, #10 Bocklet, #34 Briggs, #44 LaPierre, #24 Emery, #15 Ince, #29 O’Reilly, #32 Kugler, #36 Hill).

This view top left to right is the back left sidewall rail (#41 Cockerton, #18 Fortunato, #27 McWilliams, #19 Landon, #8 Ghitelman, #12 Haldy, #5 Prevas, #26 McDermott).

These two views are the inside faces of the heads by the sidewalls top let to right (#11 Harbeson, #30 Malphrus, #42 Geisler, #9 Faiella) & (#37 Benincasa, #2 Clements, #40 Lovejoy, #16 Puzes).

The next few pictures show a limited view of how amazing our trip to UVA was and the time spent with the players and coaching staff. Everyone was very welcoming. After speaking to three sets of players in the locker room to explain what we do in detail, we stopped into the equipment room to throw some Gait Ice shafts on the two sticks we did for the guys. The shafts bin was in a separate room that had this awesome old Lacrosse Assembly sign we just had to take a picture of. It looked like it has seen many championships teams, players, & staff with its worn appearance.

While we were in there we were intrigued how much of an operation it is for a Div. 1 college equipment manager. Here we got glimpse of the jersey stash to authenticate our visit.

The hallway walls of the locker rooms were covered with huge framed pictures of championships teams from across all sports to create an environment of winning. This 1996 undefeated Lacrosse team photo caught our eye on the way to the old Basketball field house.

We went in there to have the guys throw around with the two sticks and the bag of broken in demos of all of our pockets, some dyed, all on complete sticks.

Here we discussed pocket styles, string theory, analyzed dye jobs, they asked questions on the capabilities of custom stringing & dyeing for each individual. Some guys had us take pictures of exact top string, sidewall, & pocket placement so we could replicate their favorite stringing styles.

After we were inside for a while the guys could only let loose so much. So we had the privilege of getting some field time on the practice field.

While groups were trading on and off we made our way on to the Boise style blue Field Hockey field so the guys could rip shots with our demos with no mercy. Here is where we got some guys converted to our Hybrids. Our base styles are only a building block to get exactly the throwing criteria that you want out of a pocket. Then we customize the pocket placement, amount of whip, and actual pocket choice to the player. Some guys had us replicate mesh styles as well. We do offer a standard SS Pro mesh pocket and a build your own mesh pocket on our website.

After the guys were done we soaked up some of our own time ripping shots and taking some time for Dustin to get some sick photos.

Before leaving and dropping off our gift to Dom Starsia to hang on his office wall we grabbed a few final photos in the sweet setting of the athletic offices.

So there you have Part 1 of the Virginia series, stay tuned for Part 2 & 3 over the next couple weeks for over 10 more sick specialized pockets & dyes. Again, we at SS Lax would like to thank The University of Virginia for the opportunity and the contract naming us The Official Stringers & Dye Artists for 2012. Stay tuned to our facebook page for unposted content and our website for newly available dye jobs. Use discount code LPGUVA1 to get 10% off any pocket or dye. Our twitter page will be live all season giving status updates on the BIG new projects while they are in progress at .

• Tweet

• Tweet

In this festive episode of SS Customs, Stylin’ Strings brings out the holidays in all of us. Dustin brought the creative idea to Kumar to turn an STX Av8 upside down to make it resemble a Christmas Tree’s shape. With that in mind the guys knew the dyejob needed to feel like the pine needles were all used to seeing, minus the sap.

To start the head was dyed a very light green to make way for this 6 color dyejob, including 5 shades of green. The body lines on the head were also used to accentuate the contrast between the different shades of green for the needles. The bottom of the stick was dyed brown between the leather holes to pronounce the stump aspect of the tree.

Dustin then gave Van a piece of forest green 8 diamond mesh to string flat into the stick. The top string was ran thru the leathers to lock it into place. Dustin then weaved the leathers thru the mesh to resemble the stump getting smaller toward the top of the tree.

After a short trip to a local Christmas store Dustin found a perfect strand of 20 led lights, 6 mini Xmas balls, and a star that could be customized to the top of the stick. A few hours later the stick was strung up with a full set of lights. The balls were also strategically tied into the stick balancing between the lights. The star at the top was cut in half and attached using a custom SS ballstop.

Mission complete: now the SS headquaters finally has its own LaXmas tree. Only problem now is finding presents small enough to sit under it. Stay tuned to more SS Customs on www.stylinstrings.com.

• Tweet

For this episode os SS Customs, Stylin’ Strings Lax got a call from Terry Lamb from Williamstown, Massachusetts to do a full custom stick for her grand daughter Bridget. Her grandfather Renzie Lamb was the lacrosse coach at Williams College for 35 years. Bridget’s nickname was “Bee” so she wanted a yellow n black head with a cartoonish Bee. Dustin sent her a few Bees he had designed and with her approval was off to the dye races.

With the DeBeer Fierce head in hand Dustin wanted to put a few bees on the head. After he dyed it yellow he put one on the top, one near the ball stop, and a third one on the top back of the head. As a surprise to the client, Dustin took creative reign and decided to add some honeycomb patterns to the head for extra flare. Some places he used the positive and some places the negative to give the head a real visual impact.

The pocket was strung with an SS LAX Girlstring Pocket with the Runway center channel. All the string was strung in black except for the outside channels. They were strung in neon yellow since the regular yellow string didn’t match the yellow dye very well. To finalize this sweet custom rig SS matched it up with a Harrow Title 9 tapered shaft in black and yellow. A yellow Gait end cap was put on as the final touch.

Stay tuned for more customs on our site or our facebook page at www.facebook.com/StylinStringsLacrosse.

• Tweet

For this issue of SS Lax Customs, Stylin’ Strings “Honored the Game” by completely customizing a Gait Torque to match the insignia of the Army’s Tenth Mountain Sustainment Brigade serving in Iraq.

This concept started with one of the shops local lacrosse clubs, Eastern York (PA) Knights and there commitment to the Positive Coaching Alliance. PCA’s goal of teaching life lessons through the sport of lacrosse meshed perfectly with the mission of America Supporting Americans. The Knights adopted this Army Brigade serving in Iraq and provided over 800 pounds of care package items this spring in addition to sending letters and cards.

The result of this relationship brought Stylin’ Strings Lax, PCA, ASA and the troops together thru the sport of lacrosse. “Reaching out to help others and serving those in need are invaluable life lessons that the Knights experienced thanks to this partnership” Head Coach Bob Rhein shared. The custom dye job represents more than just cool colors on a lacrosse head. It symbolizes the international relationship that can develop when lacrosse teams/clubs reach out to help those who are serving our great nation. For more information on how your lacrosse club can help those serving abroad contact Linda Patterson and mention where you read this article by Stylin’ Strings Lacrosse.

America Supporting Americans
www.asa-usa.org
(310) 459-5625
Linda Patterson
President & Founder

The Dye Job
This four color dye job was very intricate and challenging for Stylin’ Strings. The idea was to represent the Brigade logo as close as possible on the head. Dustin wanted it to have a gritty hand cut feel so he outlined the creative approach with Kris Kumar the old school dye master from SS. The base was white so the first task was to hand cut some mountain highlights on the inside sidewalls of the head. The head was then dyed all yellow. Pin striping the head and starting to add the intricate details was the next mission. Supporting the Climb was aligned on the top corners of the head. Then the outside of the mountain shapes were masked, the outline of the swords crossing at the bottom was set, and the Muleskinners Mule was placed on the ball stop.

After some details were cut into the mule, the head was dyed all gold. Tenth Mountain Sustainment Brigade was lettered on the outside and some very intricate detail was cut into the head to have it appear like the rope texture of the brigade logo and the axe on the top of the head. It was then dyed navy because Royal would not cover yellow and gold properly. The final step was the red dye to pop the swords out. We will leave this process a mystery for all the heavy dye enthusiasts. The all mesh pocket was the best choice for this head making its way overseas.

This was the first of many SS projects for our military and amazing causes. Stay tuned for more customs on our site or our facebook page at www.facebook.com/StylinStringsLacrosse. Also spread the word about this article and visit www.asa-usa.org for more information how your organization can get involved.

• Tweet

This dye job is from the SS Dye Li Lama Kumar who paved the way for Dustin to take custom projects to the next level. Keeping in mind that when Skaggs and him hosted the convention interview video for E-lax they would have as many professional lacrosse players and coaches sign it to make it a one of a kind stick that would raise awareness.

With most of the head having to maintain white for signatures, while keeping a feminine feel, this dye would have to maintain very simple accentuations. The guys happened to notice by accident that this STX Nova had a natural ribbon shape at the bottom of the stick and decided to mask this off to be a bright fuscia ribbon. Kumey then started one strip around the back peripheral of the head in a reverse cut technique, which would end up with a vine look with a few custom leaves attached.

What made this two color dye job so difficult was covering the entire stick with glue so no air bubbles would let fuscia or a lighter pink called rose to leak thru when dipped in boiling dye. It’s a minor detail but a second color pink was used to add to tiny ribbons on the inside of the head.

When it came time to string the head Dustin gave Justin (Skaggs) the idea to go against the rule and put white mesh in the stick so a pink shooting string could be woven in a ribbon shape since it would not be used in actual play.

The stick was an attraction at the convention receiving notable signatures in Lacrosse.
Joe Walters • Matt Danowski • Nick Polanco • John Gagliardi • Quint Kessenich • Paul Gait •
Mark Millon • John Grant Jr. • Ryan Boyle • Matt Zash • Kyle Sweeney • Max Seibald •
Brendan Mundorf • Ryan McClay • Brian Dougherty • Mike Pressler • Kyle Dixon

USA Womens
Sarah Albrecht • Michi Ellers • Caitlyn McFadden • Michele DeJuliis • Amber Falcone

• Tweet

In this episode Dustin got a call from Bill Hanrahan from Cradle for the Cure to design a stick to raffle off at the annual tournament in October down in Flagler Beach FL. The stick was used to generate donations toward the Susan G. Komen Passionately Pink for the Cure Foundation.

Dustin started with a white DeBeer Envy 3 after he prepped the ribbons and custom font logo of the organization. With a tight deadline like usual they decided to go with a two color fade using petal pink and fuscia fade from left to right. Ribbons were randomly placed on the head. The inside top of the head has the organization fonts reversed out of white. Some of the ribbons were white and some were put on after lighter shades of pink to give the appeal of layers of color.

The back scoop of the head Dustin made the logo a little more complex with a ribbon in the middle in a light pink. The head was made to go on a Harrow title 9 pink straight shaft. The pocket was strung with a Stylin Strings Gripper Pro Girl String. The side walls were done in white. The crosslace was split, petal pink on the petal side and neon pink on the fuscia side.

Another custom job completed by the dye lab at SS. Stay tuned for more custom dying & stringing projects.

• Tweet

For this episode, we were Lax were contacted by Julie Good from Liv Lax Lacrosse Training & Fitness Company. Liv Lax specializes in training that is specialized for acrosse athletes. Workouts and training programs are designed to help a player get ready for the task at hand by focusing on speed, agility, strength, and their overall lacrosse skills. Located in Encino CA, Liv Lax is owned by JUCO all-American Brock Livingston. Brock’s lacrosse resume includes two years with the Baltimore Thunder (NLL), and one year with the Bridgeport Barrage (MLL). Keep a look out for Liv Lav’s camps, club teams, and clinics.

The Liv Lax logo was sent to us by Julie and Dustin went to work using the rough ideas given to him by the Liv Lax team as an outline. We decided to use a STX Proton Power as our canvas. Space is limited on a STX Proton Power so Dustin took his time to make sure that all of his stickers were scaled to the correct size. After the first round of stickers was done we dyed the head Carolina Blue. Working within the space allotted, Dustin tweaked the Liv Lax logo at the bottom of the head so it would fit. Once all the stickers were in place, we hit our blue head with a double black fade.

The white outline was revealed as we peeled the stickers. We were very satisfied with how well it illuminated the logo. We strung a simple pocket into the head as to not take any attention away from the dye. A black topstring was used so that it would blend into the dye, while a baby blue double sidewall was used to amplify the fade.

Stay tuned for more custom jobs from Stylin’ Strings Lax or on Facebook. Check out Liv Lax especially if you are a California native at www.livlax14.com!

• Tweet

For this issue we teamed up with 1 Lacrosse, and the charitable Team Jesse Foundation. Brian over at 1 Lacrosse manufactured a sweet custom patriotic designed shaft to match the Foundation’s logo. Brian called Dustin at Stylin Strings to complete the full stick to expose this great cause, which is detailed more below.

Dustin grabbed a Gait head of the shelf and took the Team Jesse logo and started deconstructing it to see how it could fit on the top of the head. He knew the red ribbon with “For The Families Of The Fallen” had to be the focal point. To complete the logo Team Jesse had to be up there as well. The most difficult element to figure out was how to get the small folded custom blue flag with the tiny stars up there. Especially when any experienced dyer knows that blue & red flat out do not cover each other without turning purple.

With that in mind, Dustin decided to go with an Outside In theme so that all the logos would pop off the white head. The outside would be our SS LAX custom blue to match the shaft with stars repeating up the head as close to the shaft pattern as possible to make it appear as one. The ribbon was placed on the top of the head and stretched a bit to miss the top string holes. Team was placed on the left and Jesse placed on the right. And the head was dyed red. Experienced dye masters will figure out how to deconstruct our process but for the rest of you it will have to be a mystery of the trade. We put a red stripe also at the bottom of the head under the ball stop as well just so dye enthusiasts knew we had to dip the entire head red not just the tip.

The majority of the time on this full custom came from covering the inside too stay white, making sure that other parts were completely covered to prevent color mixing, and the tedious star application which topped about 6 hours to make sure it followed the shaft from the bottom up at every angle. The SS Dye Lab prevailed as the custom blue mix was sprinkled n dipped, n sprinkled n dipped to reveal a sweet flag on the lip and enlarged version just on the outside of the head. Stay tuned to StylinStrings Lax on our website at www.StylinStrings.com and our Facebook Page.

Here is a quick background on Team Jesse. The Team Jesse Foundation is an IRS recognized, 501(c)(3) charitable organization which was founded to honor the sacrifices of SGG Jesse L. Williams, who died on April 8, 2007 in Balad Iraq, of wounds suffered from small arms fire while conducting combat operations in defense of our nation. Williams was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA. To provide education and support for families of fallen soldiers and to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of September 11, 2001, Team Jesse Founder, Kevin Mincio and Entrepreneur and Philanthropist Matt Sauri are cycling across America on a 95-day, 4,200 mile journey that began at the gravesite of SSG Jesse Williams in Santa Rosa, CA and will end at Ground Zero in Manhattan, NY where Kevin Mincio stood on 9/11 as a Vice President at Goldman Sachs before giving up his career and enlisting in the Army to defend our freedom.
Before SSG Williams was killed, he and Kevin served together as members of the 5-20 Infantry Regiment where they were deployed to Iraq. Before Jesse left for his 2nd tour of duty, after earning 2 Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and 3 Army Commendation Medals during his 1st tour, he asked Kevin to “look after” his daughter Amaya in the event Jesse didn’t make it back. Kevin obliged and Team Jesse is one of the ways Kevin is fulfilling his promise.

To support Team Jesse, readers can donate online at www.teamjesse.org, Their will also be a Stick raffle soon of a replica of the one above in a Warrior Evo. This can be seen this weekend 8/27/11 in the Team Jesse Booth depending on the upcoming hurricane certain events are rescheduled. Anyone interested can go to the MLL Ticket Sales Site or call Major League Lacrosse at 1-617-787-6638.

Be sure to mention or enter the promotional code “JESSE”.

August 21, 2011 – The Team Jesse Foundation Ride Across America Nears Annapolis; Stopover, arriving on August 25, 2011, will honor the families of the fallen. On August 25, 2011, Kevin Mincio and Matt Sauri of The Team Jesse Foundation will arrive in Annapolis, MD as their 95-day, 4,200-mile bike ride across the country draws closer to its finale on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The Ride is a remembrance and fundraiser for families of our country’s fallen soldiers and first responders.

The two close friends will visit with the community, meet with families of the fallen and raise funds for their mission to provide education and support to families in honor of SSG Jesse Williams who was killed while serving in Iraq. Mincio, who quit his job on Wall Street after 9/11 to join the army, served alongside Williams and has vowed to keep his spirit alive during this mission to support and acknowledge the sacrifice of the families of fallen soldiers.

The Team Jesse Foundation hopes to raise $15,000 during their visit to Annapolis and asks that local citizens act now to support this important cause. To date Mincio and close friend Sauri have cycled nearly 4,000 miles, leaving June 9 from Williams’s gravesite in Santa Rosa, CA. During one gruelling stretch in the middle of the country earlier this summer these brave riders were averaging nearly 100 miles a day – in 14 straight days of 100-plus-degree heat.

Mincio says: “We hope that the residents of Annapolis and the lacrosse fans visiting Annapolis for the MLL Championships this weekend will rally to support families of the fallen, in honor of my friend Jesse. Though we are nearing the end of The Ride, Team Jesse will not stop working on behalf of these families whose loved one made the ultimate sacrifice so that we may safely enjoy our freedoms each day in this great nation.”

The Team Jesse Foundation will be participating in the Major League Lacrosse Fan Zone exhibitor area throughout the Championship Games and will be introduced to the fans during the first semi-final game on Saturday August 27, 2011. Team Jesse will also host a Fund Raising Meet and Greet that is to take place at Armadillo’s Bar & Grill, 132 Dock Street Annapolis, MD. Starting at 6pm, this evening of drink specials and fund raising will feature MLL and lacrosse related appearances and raffle prizes. Team Jesse invites everyone to come along and join in the fun at the fundraising event to raise money for families.

• Tweet