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2c Kahika Rd, Birkdale, North Shore, Auckland |
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(Miss Death alter ego) Too many comics, ha ha!
Erika Bernardette Armstrong
This is a little introduction to the solvent abusing, tyre smoking, pain inflicting life I lead today....... Welcome
Flossy
I started out painting cars with Coastal and Classic Panel Beaters of Whangaparaoa in 1994. During my apprenticeship, I had the novel experiences of being baked at 60°C for 10 minutes, taped up in a bumper repair box, thrown into our insanely massive car parts bin and yes... thinners in the balls???
I gained a few nick names along the way. One was ‘Smurfy’. As a result of painting a truck in bright blue enamel, I came out of the booth completely blue apart from the triangle around my mouth where my face mask had been, and you guessed it, resembling a Smurf.
I also learnt the finer details of the automotive refinishing industry (flashy name for car painting) and taught myself how to airbrush and mask out flames. This is where I gained My nick name X Flossy X. The local sign writer, ‘Stripe Co’ printed me some little Floss Art stickers for car quarter light windows. Every car I had the pleasure of ‘Kustomising’ got a sticker... here’s the honest part, ‘Flossy’ originated from our shop foreman, who used to refer to his pies as maggots and his dog, Flossy fly bottom! I was shy as the proverbial, and when I was called ‘Flossy fly bottom’ I would get sooooo embarrassed. My boss and parents referred to me as Flossy, as did the local Hot Rod club. Now it’s a bit of a shock when someone calls me by my real name, it’s like they're talking to someone else!
I have to add, in my time at Coastal, I learnt how to line lock in my ‘63 Dodge dart, with a 383 BB (yes, I was 17). I owned that car for 6 years! 5 and ¾ of those years were spent putting the car back together, mmm - I'll stick to painting, Yar.
My intro to tattooing was about 8 years ago with Rob Krause of K’ Road, Auckland. I haven’t looked back since. Thank you. Since then, I have had the awesome experiences of working for various companies in S.O Cal, U.S.; Qld, Australia and N.Z. I have been inspired by the events I have experienced and the artists I have had the opportunity to work with and meet. You're all awesome, Thank you.
I am currently working on Skin & Steel, a new event for the New Zealand public. I ran a show in August 2008, unfortunately due to the financial hit I took, and lack of support for the 2009 show we could not move ahead with it. I’m not giving up on it yet though! If anyone is interested in helping out with getting this up and running, let me know. Hopefully over the next few years, events such as this and more will be organised.
See you there
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