I have been airbrushing for a long time and have my own studio. People come into my place and admire my work and they ask me what kind of things do I do airbrushing on and the answer to that is very simple – anything and everything. If they want some airbrushing all they need to do is tell me what they want, where they want it and I will tell them how much. Once we have agreed on a price I get to work straight away airbrushing.

I have done airbrushing on a lot of motorbikes, helmets and cars, which are the bread and butter of my industry. But in all the years that I have been airbrushing there have been some pretty unusual requests. Here are a few of the more outlandish of the airbrushing requests in my career so far.

The unusual world of airbrushing

1.         Airbrushing toilet seats: when I first started my career I had not imagined that I would ever be asked to airbrush a toilet seat but I have many, many times and it is quite a lucrative side of the business. The designs vary and I am amazed at how many people want a piece of art for the smallest room in the house. Some of the more interesting toilet airbrushing has been:

• A fairy kingdom for a gay man and his partner. The fairy throne was the toilet with the woods and other fairies added on to all of the walls with the faces of the couple who had commissioned the work;
• An airbrushing of a naked woman with the toilet seat her thighs and her head appearing on the cistern;
• A wife organized this airbrushing, she was sick of her husband missing the seat so she had us add a cartoon bulls eye.

2.         Airbrushing appliances: I have also airbrushed a number of appliances in my career. Usually the bigger ones like freezers, refrigerators and ovens. One man a few years ago organized an airbrushing surprise for his wife. For their 20^th anniversary he bought her all new kitchen appliances and had me add his photo’s to them as a tribute to all the places they had visited so far in their marriage;

3.         Airbrushing Tools: the saw is a common tool that I often get asked to airbrush often as presents for loved ones or as trophies for competitions. From flags to landscapes I have airbrushed every type of scene imaginable on the surface of a common saw. 

However the airbrushing that I was asked to do on an electric drill was a bit more unusual. It was a present for the woman’s boyfriend and she posed naked while I did the airbrushing on the drill for his birthday. She wanted him to think of her when he was using the drill at work ;

4.         Airbrushing walls: I don’t do much airbrushing on large surfaces like walls and this one was more of a love job than anything. A friend of mine wanted to brighten his sick wife’s view when she was confined to bed for a long time. So while she was in hospital I did an airbrushing on the bedroom wall of a lake scene complete with trees and animals, the glass sliding door led out to a woods so I made them blend in it was like the wall wasn’t there at all.

 The only other time that I have done any airbrushing this big was for a restaurant. It had a gangster theme and they wanted a shootout scene on their massive brick wall, which was a feature of the restaurant. There was Al Capone and his men shooting it out with police – it became a talking point in town for all of the detail that I had added;

5.         Airbrushing Miscellaneous objects: So apart from the things that I have mentioned above there have been requests for the odd thing here or there that don’t really fit into a category like:

• Airbrushing a pen was a challenge because of its size. It was a special gift for a senior manager that was retiring from his company and the airbrushing had the companies logo and a picture of him as a young man when he had started at the company;
• Applying it to a laptop as a 21^st birthday present for their son. It was a scene from his favorite place at home – they lived on a mountain, so that when he went to college across the country he would be taking a little piece of home with him;
• Airbrushing a woman’s body for a promotion now that was a challenge and very, very interesting. She had to blend into a promotional banner that the company had especially made for the event and she would step out of the banner at key points and surprise people;
• Lighters, glasses cases, hip flasks – these are some of the other things that I have applied airbrushing to there is really no limit as to where this artwork can be used it is such a unique and specialized skill.

So if you are looking for a unique present for that special someone or want to express your company mission in a very different way. Join me in thinking outside of the square and think airbrushing and you will always stand out from the crowd.