Steady Stance: Griptape
Background:

Many people asked me how to cut graphics in griptape and how to apply it...Griptape comes in many sizes and colors...and more important: many qualities !!!
The stuff helps you keeping your feet onto the deck, even in (not advisable) wet conditions...it's fun stuff to work with and with some small effort you can create awesome graphical compositions
First:

Try to get griptape that is sold from a roll of tape...that's the easiest way to cover your longboard deck from front till end...Mostly you will bump into standard length tape for shortboards...this can be used also but will limit your possibility's...it's not that wide also...
Try to use a good design program like CorelDraw to print out mirrored letters or words, it will make things look professional and clean...Drawing by hand can also be done on quite transparent paper or with a waterproof marker that becomes also visible on the other side of the used paper...
Here's a impression of how I do griptape work...
1: Do some design work on paper:
Ollie's Supaflex Dragon 120...with like wise dragon griptape grafix done by himself...must have been quite a laborious job!...
In this example I'll stick to a simple word...not easy but do-able to cut out
Print out a mirrored example of the wanted word...it's mirrored because we will stick it at the back of the griptape...
2: get your gear together:
You'll need some stuff to get things going...
Griptape, mirrored design, some heavy cardboard to cut on, a ruler, some tape, and a knife of the type you can snap of every time the tip of the blade goes blunt...a.k.a. a cutter knife?
As you can see...I did cut the griptape in half length wise because it was just not wide enough...so I decided to do some center striping on the deck...nice to see some varnished wood peeping through all that griptape...
The tape has nice straight edges...I used those for the striping in the middle...cut your tape length wise and position it on the deck...figure out where you want the word...I placed it at the back, where my feet aren't to often ;-)
Mark the spot where to add your stuff and stick the print at the back...place the lot onto the cardboard and take the sharp knife...
This is the tricky bit...ALWAYS CUT AWAY FROM 
YOUR HANDS AND BODY !!! ...it can't be told enough...those knifes are plain deadly when not used properly !!!
Start cutting, following the lines on the print-out...you'll notice that the knife gets blunt quite fast...snap off a piece whenever you think it doesn't cut well anymore...try to cut through the griptape also...but don't over do it straight away...
Here I've done the job...don't throw away the inner sides of O's A's B's...etc...you'll need them to get the right finish...
Sometimes you have to cut a bit more to get rid of all the interiors of the letters...again...watch your fingers...take your time and be precise...
I always draw a line on the center of the deck...that makes it easier to stick the griptape on the right spot...start sticking the stuff on the front and aim for that line...it's not easy as you will have to be right at once...
I always remove the protective paper completely...there's no turning back anyway...
Indeed...the text looks a bit different than the example...it's all in capital letters...much more easy to cut ;-)
Stick the other piece of grip on there also...
I'll add some pictures on how to cut around the deck...this is also quite a heavy thing to get right...but that's for later...
Bye now ;-)