Surprise Mailday! Having friends in this hobby is awesome

[30ranfordfan]

This won't be a super long post, but I really need to thank a couple of members on here.

Yesterday, I grab the mail. There's what is obviously a card(s) in a bubble mailer - but I'm not expecting anything, so I'm a little confused. I open it up, and what do I find? THIS:

What do we have here? That would be a Bill Ranford "Future Star" cut autograph. It's a custom made junior card of Bill Ranford (who never had any junior cards) showing him with the New Westminster Bruins (still a teenager in the photo, I believe).

This fills a giant hole in my collection, as the WHL wasn't something that had a lot of collectibles back in the day, there's very little (to my knowledge) that exists as far as any "officially" released merchandise that would show Ranford with New Westminster (I do have a couple of early 80s team calendars, that have team photos on them).

You might recognized the work of Glenn (BigBarracuda), as he's the one who made the card. I have to say he did an amazing job with it. The colour scheme blends well with the Bruins' uniform. The faded action photo does a great job for the card's background.... the colour pose photo in the foreground is as good a quality photo as is out there, and really pops on the card. The cut window is crisp..... and even the back of the card was done really well. A faded out team photo, with Ranford still bold - and text that would be very appropriate if this card had been made in 1985.

In addition to sending my thanks to Glenn, I also must thank my friend Joe (primetimepawich). Joe and I have been friends for quite a few years now, and talk very regularly about the hobby, our collections, and sometimes even life outside of hockey cards! He had a custom card made of Larry Murphy a number of years ago, showing him with the Peterborough Petes. I had commented more than once that it's something I'd like to do (Murphy, like Ranford, never had any junior cards) but simply never got around to doing it.

Joe took it upon himself to work with Glenn, and have something tailor made that fits perfectly into my collection (he tracked down the autograph to be used for the cut too).

I want to thank both of you very much for this card. It's a 1/1, and definitely something that will be locked into my collection for good.

 

[manthis]

Awsome Stuff..

 

[creasecollector]

Now that is a very well made piece for your collection. Congrats!

 

[langway05]

A hearty congrats.

Glenn does great work. :beer:

 

[JTBeezer34]

Congrats Sean. An awesome card made by an awesome dude for an awesome dude! Glenn represents all that's good in this hobby.

 

[27Leafs27]

Kudos to Glenn and Joe for their collaboration on making an awesome custom
card of your PC guy.
Cheers.
Dan.

 

[spooner9ball]

Oh Glenn.

I always like to look at his stuff and say, "what kind of little thing has he slipped in here that makes all of the difference?", and I agree, the touch of the faded team pic on the back with Ranford still fairly bold is just..... smart.

Great stuff, enjoy!

 

[CeddieB]

Great work guys, this is what the hobby is all about.

 

[eishelges]

:thumbsup:So cool!

 

[BigBarracuda]

Hey Sean, it's great to hear he arrived in good order!

To be honest, that design is primarily Joe's work. I simply translated his thoughts and concepts into a physical piece. I think the design is a fun mash-up of 1968/69 OPC with an element of ITG titles and window!

Congrats man, I'm glad we were able to fill the giant hole in your collection! :beer:

ps - I'm guessing this Bruin didn't make it into the SlapShot movie wned:


Glenn

 

[primetimepawich]

Great work guys, this is what the hobby is all about.

You couldn't be more correct. Glenn and I both acknowledged that the hobby seems to be trending in a frustrating, negative direction at times, but the actions of Glenn, Curt and many others from this site go a long way towards generating goodwill, showing the potential of the hobby and what it "could" be. We can't all afford the big gestures, but it doesn't always have to cost a lot to do something nice for someone either, and this project was a prime example. I've been the recipient of hobby kindness from Sean and simply saw an opportunity to return some.

To be honest, that design is primarily Joe's work. I simply translated his thoughts and concepts into a physical piece.

While this may be true, I can't overstate how much fun this project was to work on and how great Glenn was to work with on it. Outside of a few comments here and there via Facebook Messenger, I didn't really know him at all leading into this. Like everyone else, I'd followed his work here over time and was impressed by his variety. A cool original concept? An old school throwback? A take on modern cards? Whatever the situation called for, it always seemed like Glenn was your man. When I got it in my head to commission this project, he was an obvious choice to pitch it to. I didn't 100% know what I wanted the card to be but felt whatever it was, Glenn would have the versatility to tackle it. And when I messaged him about it, he was more than happy to give it a try.

I will never be confused with a designer of any kind. I will never look at a blank canvas or empty space and see what the finished product should look like. That's where Glenn came in, and it truly was the perfect partnership. I had some strong ideas, mostly based around (as Sean noted) the Larry Murphy Peterborough Petes custom I had commissioned 10 years ago. I had the pictures, autograph and text I wanted, but the concept was very fluid. Sean makes his own basic customs for his TTM projects, and I knew I wanted something more detailed and complex. Something he couldn't make by himself for himself. Something that you need the talent of a Glenn for.

Right from the start, Glenn was quick to pitch his own mockups and talk me away from the Peterborough template. And once he started turning my abstract concepts into something tangible, we were off and running. By sending me variations on a concept, he opened my eyes to the possibilities and really helped me narrow down what worked and what didn't. If we were both on Facebook Messenger at the same time (which last month was rare) he would often make changes on the fly in real time and I would give him feedback. If our schedules didn't line up, you could rest assured I'd hear from him the next morning like clockwork with the latest adjustments for me to critique. Changes and ideas came organically as Glenn pieced it together and gave us a foundation to play around with.

If left to my own devices, could I have come up with that card? Could Glenn have? Doubtful on both counts. It takes a village, and in this case it took both of us to get to the finish line. I added my flair, he added his, and you saw the end result. I could hardly contain my excitement as it came together and looked better than I ever could've imagined.

Glenn, I tried to make it as painless as possible on you, and thank you for bearing with me, deciphering my thoughts, accepting my feedback and coming out on the other side with something like this.

Sean, thank you for your friendship (hobby and general) and I'm glad you like the card. I had no way to know for sure if it looked like the kind of custom you would've commissioned if you had your way, but I was damn proud of it and knew you'd know it was made with care and the best of intentions regardless.

And if anyone out there has thought about getting a custom made but is on the fence for some reason - don't be. The Barracuda is your man and the proof is in this post. You won't be sorry.

Joe

 

[Maple Leaf Sports]

That's a real beauty of a card, congrats.

 

[30ranfordfan]

Hey Sean, it's great to hear he arrived in good order!

To be honest, that design is primarily Joe's work. I simply translated his thoughts and concepts into a physical piece. I think the design is a fun mash-up of 1968/69 OPC with an element of ITG titles and window!

Congrats man, I'm glad we were able to fill the giant hole in your collection! :beer:

ps - I'm guessing this Bruin didn't make it into the SlapShot movie wned:


Glenn

lol. I thought it was an odd question to ask (particularly, because I didn't think you were any kind of Bruins fan) but I tried to answer it as best I could. When I opened this package, it made a lot more sense

You couldn't be more correct. Glenn and I both acknowledged that the hobby seems to be trending in a frustrating, negative direction at times, but the actions of Glenn, Curt and many others from this site go a long way towards generating goodwill, showing the potential of the hobby and what it "could" be. We can't all afford the big gestures, but it doesn't always have to cost a lot to do something nice for someone either, and this project was a prime example. I've been the recipient of hobby kindness from Sean and simply saw an opportunity to return some.



While this may be true, I can't overstate how much fun this project was to work on and how great Glenn was to work with on it. Outside of a few comments here and there via Facebook Messenger, I didn't really know him at all leading into this. Like everyone else, I'd followed his work here over time and was impressed by his variety. A cool original concept? An old school throwback? A take on modern cards? Whatever the situation called for, it always seemed like Glenn was your man. When I got it in my head to commission this project, he was an obvious choice to pitch it to. I didn't 100% know what I wanted the card to be but felt whatever it was, Glenn would have the versatility to tackle it. And when I messaged him about it, he was more than happy to give it a try.

I will never be confused with a designer of any kind. I will never look at a blank canvas or empty space and see what the finished product should look like. That's where Glenn came in, and it truly was the perfect partnership. I had some strong ideas, mostly based around (as Sean noted) the Larry Murphy Peterborough Petes custom I had commissioned 10 years ago. I had the pictures, autograph and text I wanted, but the concept was very fluid. Sean makes his own basic customs for his TTM projects, and I knew I wanted something more detailed and complex. Something he couldn't make by himself for himself. Something that you need the talent of a Glenn for.

Right from the start, Glenn was quick to pitch his own mockups and talk me away from the Peterborough template. And once he started turning my abstract concepts into something tangible, we were off and running. By sending me variations on a concept, he opened my eyes to the possibilities and really helped me narrow down what worked and what didn't. If we were both on Facebook Messenger at the same time (which last month was rare) he would often make changes on the fly in real time and I would give him feedback. If our schedules didn't line up, you could rest assured I'd hear from him the next morning like clockwork with the latest adjustments for me to critique. Changes and ideas came organically as Glenn pieced it together and gave us a foundation to play around with.

If left to my own devices, could I have come up with that card? Could Glenn have? Doubtful on both counts. It takes a village, and in this case it took both of us to get to the finish line. I added my flair, he added his, and you saw the end result. I could hardly contain my excitement as it came together and looked better than I ever could've imagined.

Glenn, I tried to make it as painless as possible on you, and thank you for bearing with me, deciphering my thoughts, accepting my feedback and coming out on the other side with something like this.

Sean, thank you for your friendship (hobby and general) and I'm glad you like the card. I had no way to know for sure if it looked like the kind of custom you would've commissioned if you had your way, but I was damn proud of it and knew you'd know it was made with care and the best of intentions regardless.

And if anyone out there has thought about getting a custom made but is on the fence for some reason - don't be. The Barracuda is your man and the proof is in this post. You won't be sorry.

Joe

I'll just add to this: You're 100% right. Doing nice things for people (hobby or otherwise) can be easy, and doesn't have to be costly. Plenty of people have helped me with my various PCs over the years, and I try to do the same when I'm in a position to do so.

I have enjoyed hearing about the process (us chatting about the card, and the post here). I totally get your point about lack of design skills, as I'm also totally lacking. Make your own custom cards? Sure.... I posted my Slapshot autographs recently. I didn't have to design anything though..... just took an old OPC card, made it into a template, swapped out a logo & name, and then dropped the template on top of an image. Had to get a little creative with the back - but not with the design.

I wouldn't have been able to come up with anything like this, even if I had the means to produce it (which I don't).


Thanks again, both of you!

 

[Srt4gurl]

Awesome Card done by Glenn.. As I have also been a recipient of his work!

Very nice Card Sean Congrats on added it to your PC!!!

And that Joe guy is meh alright!! Nah. Just kidding....He is great guy!
He has helped me out with getting a few cards..! His generosity
and kindness goes a long way!! two great men there..working together!
To help out another!! Gotta love this Hobby!