Well, as a Gshock fan, especially the Frogman line, the Murakami became a grail as it was announced.
Sadly, I don't have $3800 retail, or $6k on ebay to drop for this Gshock.
Let me introduce you to my new baby Murakami Frogman.
So after seeing many dye mods done by other guys, finally got around to doing my first gshock dye mod.
my dye mod
I tried for this.
But its more like this minus the black lettering.
I'm a big fan of Murakami's art. So it was easy to really like this one.
I love the whole design for the Murakami Frogman. So I decided I wanted one by way of making one.
I rounded up the supplies necessary to get this project underway.
You can see I started here with my GW200-TC Frogman, aftermarket Glorious Gold band/bezel set.
At first I thought I'd try to remove the black text on bezel with some acetone. That didn't work out too good, just made a mess.
So I abandoned that idea and left it as clean as can be. I'll paint over it later.
I took apart the buckles and screws and now ready to dye.
I'm using RIT dyes, mixed in a pot of simmering water. Mixed my color to my choosing.
I tried to get a close color match, but I'm off as you can see. I should have diluted more and get a lighter cherry red as original.
But I just too eager to begin the dye process.
It didn't take long to dye, maybe 30 seconds, since it was a dark red, I didn't want it to go even deeper red than it already was.
This went fast.
Then into a bowl of vinegar, I think this sort of neutralized the process and cures it.(my logical guess)
You can see some color does come off a slightly in the vinegar process. Its good, as I wanted it lighter.
For a minute in there, and into the sink for a water bath.
You can see it looks really sexy all wet in the water there. Very Murakami me thinks.
Now to to dry them off.
You can see the dye process did dye the white painted text on bezel. So I will paint the white over.
I used model enamel paint to fill the grooves. let it dry for 20min and then remove extra paint with tissue and acetone.
Starting to look really nice. Coming together nicely.
The original GG band I'm using in white, is very opaque. so as its dyed, its also opaque and matte.
On the real Murakami, its a clear jelly type, quite a difference between the two.
But my dyed mod gets wet it takes on the clear jelly characteristics.
In conclusion, I really didn't get the color to make perfectly, but I do like the end result still.
Its similar, I might try again to really match it up. But for now, its pretty cool.
I find myself finding any excuse to get the Frogman wet, to see its sexy glow and let the Murakami shine through.
Here's more pics. Enjoy.
I'm really digging this Murakami mod.
cheers,
Dave.
