Post #417054 by tongaroatom on Mon, Nov 3, 2008 1:36 PM

Hi, all! Tom Hofer here, at long last. Been an on-and-off lurker but after going to the awesome San Francisco Tiki Crawl a few weeks back, I've decided I should join up!

I'm glad you guys like my art concept! :D What I basically do is faithful large-scale reproductions of vintage matchbooks using art paper, tread tape (that stuff you put on your stairs so you don't slip and crack your head open like a coconut) and a coat hanger for the staple.

I got the idea after going through my dad's old matchbook collection in which there was one from the House of Lee, a great old Chinese restaurant in Pacific Palisades. I wanted to turn it into a poster, but since my background in newspaper layout relied heavily on Xacto-knife wielding and paper gluing, I did a collage instead.

28 collages (and dozens of ebay matchbook purchases) later, still having a blast!

I haven't quite yet determined how best to ship finished collages to potential customers outside the LA area, but check my website every so often or email me at [email protected] and I'll speed up the learning process!