Hey everyone:)
So I’ve been recently thinking about how yo-yos made in like the past 5 years or so usually aren’t as visually appealing in terms of anno compared to more old school yo-yos like early clyw and earlier one drops. For example, lately I’ve been a bit disappointed with Clyw’s colorways and I kinda wish they would return to their roots or maybe take inspiration from their past designs. I’m curious as to what you guys think about this topic or to why this is happening! Let me know what you think:)))))
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This is more just because of a change in anodizers
Clyw went through pioneer anodizing originally who didn’t put out the quality they wanted
Then we got gruntbull
Now they’re using whoever in China but I’m unsure which group they’re going through
Each anodizer has their strengths I feel.
Oh I see! But why would the colorways/designs change based on the annodizer, because wouldn’t CLYW show them what they had in mind and the annodizer just recreates that vision?
Like for example if they wanted to do the clown town colorway on the peak 2, would it matter what CLWYs current anodizer is, couldn’t any anodizer just recreate it?
They can’t replicate the old finishes exactly - see the evolution of the 28 Stories colorway for example.
I guess the best analogy is that it’s like ordering a nice steak at two different high end restaurants. They’re both going to be good, but not EXACTLY the same. Too many variables involved for them to recreate it exactly.
Anodizing is more of an art than an exact science, it’s not like “do/follow this and it will turn out exactly like the old ones.”
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Oh okay yeah that makes sense, thank you for the reply!!!
I guess I’m just a fan of the older colorway designs lol
It would matter
Gruntbull couldn’t even recreate the original 28stories from pioneer but they again pioneer didn’t get the colors right
There’s a science to the colors and when you’re doing splash, acid wash and other affects you will not always get what you want
I believe with solids it’s a big easier to replicate colors but remaking certain colorways isn’t that easy.
Especially unique styles like maple drip. It may be possible but you also take a risk of ruining a run trying to recreate the old style instead of going with something you know your anodizer is comfortable with.
I think monkey finger ray is the last of the anodizing artists. Today’s colorways are blah
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C3 seems to be an outlier. Most brands might have 1 or 2 splash/acid wash color ways per model (if that). C3 produces multiple zany options all the way down to their sub-$40 models.
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I think Yoyofriends does a nice job, most of the time, particularly with the acid washes. Not as complicated as some of Ray’s throws, but still nice. I’m assuming that FPM does them, but I’m not sure.
PS I also think, by some of the horror stories that I’ve read about work from so-called “top self” anodisers, that maybe they don’t want to be bothered by small runs of yoyos. I’ve seen pictures of some piles of crap from this one well-known anodizer. I also know that OD has said, repeatedly, that they can’t find anyone to do consistent A-grade splashes. The last splashes I see on the OD Flickr page were from a year ago.
big honor to Simpson Wong! I also posted this video a few years ago.
Pioneer’s anodizations of the first Caribou helped create the myth it is today… but Caribou didn’t think they lived up to its expectations… too bad not to be able to recognize the art!
Since it anodizes in China, historical colors, such as BBB, 28 stories, Clareview Station, Hulk Smasch, are nothing short of ridiculous, look at the 28 stories of the Klondike for example … it should be an acid wash of a light blue and instead it is almost a purple… no longer has any sense or connection with the cover of the book “28 stories of Aids in Africa”…
Anodizations with splashes, acid washes etc, really worthy of note… Monkey Finger, G2, C3, YYFriends, Top-Yo and little else.
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for me seeing the capstan by yoyoworkshop is incredibly reassuring. I might have been wrong the whole time and i hope so, but i somehow got under the impression that the last of the anodizers would be more willing to move on from yoyos.
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when i saw the capstans then, the important thing was that they were still using the exact same shop.
in my opinion the complexity of those capstan colorways were not far from this one. And even if it were, from my experience it does not take the manufacturer much longer to produce and is only a matter of preference from the designers end.
the only thing that does cost significantly more is swirls, which i ended up having a full batch scraped last release.
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to make sure this is what we are talking about:
it is from the same manufacturer as the red/black one you posted, as well as these ones i did before:
back in ~15 you could see quite a few other brands using their anodizing, but gradually most stopped at which point i thought they were out.
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My response (for my YYWS yoyos):
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Big props to @kadabrium for figuring out that we’re still using the same ano methods. Good luck!
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