Themendous

The VERY first episode of winelibrary and the birth of VaynerMedia.

We just concluded a business development meeting here at the shop. After discussing several fun center related "things", the conclusion was this: "You can't have fun at the Fun Center, if the Fun Center aint FUN" ! Seriously... why would anyone, ANYONE, want to go to a boring fun center? It's not just the video games and rides that give the "fun center" it's meaning, it's the EYE CANDY. It's the THEMING. It's the SIGNAGE. It's the overall first impression you make on your clients and in today's economy, if you fail at making that first impression with a fun center, you will fail at keeping that client for your ROI. Theming helps to create a long lasting memory that is shared amongst friends and family.  It transports you to a virtual land of make believe adding to the center's attractions/rides stand out from the competition and thereby helping to make the fun center FUN. My worst experiences in fun centers hav...

We should be on the road again the second week of June, this time heading out to Melvindale, MI to install a nine hole blacklight course called "Play Atlantis". You can see sample photos here . This course is going to be a great success for owners Mike Kostrzewa and Eric Anderson. Indoor mini golf is the perfect year round sport that entire families can enjoy together. Children love the funny fishes and pint sized putters while teenagers enjoy the very cool atmosphere of playing in blacklight and parents' hearts swell with happiness at seeing the family together having fun. While we're motoring around Melvindale, we're going to check out the world's largest tire because we are the King of Huge, after all. We look forward to a fantastic grand opening for Play Atlantis opening soon in June. See you there!

The Android Robot was a mad rush job for Google in October of 2008. It was completed in all of four very long days and stands 13 feet tall and is 7' - 6" in diameter. We made it to ship out in four pieces and easy to assemble. Quick fact - the truck left our shop on a Friday at 7:30 pm and made it to the Google Campus that Monday at 5:30 AM. Now THAT'S service!!!!! (Not like Roadway who lost our Funexpo crates for a month. They suck and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. Unless of course you wish to lose your shipment) The trucking company we used for the Google Shipments was Jo-Ed Trucking. Back to Android: Google absolutely loved our work, and really, what's not to love? Even retired U.S. General Colin Powell loves our work - OR- he would never have agreed to a photo with the Robot. (as seen in the video & posted previously) BTW: He was reported to have said these very words: "Man oh man, if I had this Android Robot, created by no other than Custom Cre...

We just got back from Funtown Splashtown USA where we freshened up the giant Chinese dragon entryway we made for their Dragon's Descent ride. It's a fantastic sculpture measuring 31 feet wide by 18 feet high. We made this amazing sculpt back in 2001. It took us 60 days to complete at 18 hour days and earned us IAAPA's honorable mention award for "Best New Product". The dragon had 2,189 large scales each with 5 hash cuts, thats 10,945 cuts. The medium scales amounted to over 1000 and small scales amounted to over 650. It was delivered in 5 sections on 2 flatbed trucks You can see photos of how we made it here . Funtown Splashtown USA is a beautiful place and we wish we could have stayed through the weekend to enjoy the rides and attractions. Alas, duty called and we were off to our next project at Canobie Lake Park to repaint a shark kiosk that serves frozen ice. The weather was perfect for shark painting, bright sunshine and a nice breeze and the sound of p...

Order up! Did someone order fires and super size it for a little extra? You bet: Here is a looky look at the completed Canobie Lake Park signage! I think I need a biggie shake to wash that down!

Here is another fine example of an oversized prop built by who? Us of course! In the summer of 2007, we were asked to build a four foot 35mm camera for a Fathead TV commercial . We were given only FOUR days to build it. The result was both hilarious and HUGE !

As some of you know, I am a fan of Wine Library TV and its host Gary Vaynerchuk. Today, Gary announced the pre-sale of his new book "Crush It!". The announcement inspired me to re-post an old video of ours where I had the opportunity to thumb wrestle Gary (a self proclaimed thumb war champ). The event took place at a Tweetup hosted by Gary Vaynerchuk, (twitter @garyvee) and put together by @eva_abreu at the Wine Library in Springfield, NJ. I challenged Gary to a thumbwar. Knowing I would be confronted by the man, I had put much training into the challenge the night before (note the Rip Van Winkle style beard - I was up all night). I did not have this the day before, yet somehow the sheer physical drain on my body produced it. (Actually, I had grown it as a fundraiser for the great cause Give Kids The World - see prior videos) The result of my overnight cramming? EPIC, KILLER, SHATTERING, SHEER LEGACY! (for Gary, of course) Will I be looking for a re-match? YOU BET...

Dont hate us because we build great themed props for family entertainment centers, themed environments for amusement parks, black light miniature golf courses and 3-D sculpted signs! We work very VERY hard at what we do and after 18 years in the business, we just want to strut our stuff. Which is exactly what happens in this episode of our Canobie Lakes sign project. PS: Our new web page will soon be up. Stay Tuned!

On Saturday, May 9, all of America will venture outdoors to play a round of mini golf. This is a time honored holiday that some historians have debated goes back many hundreds of years and may have originated in Scotland. Others, believe it only began recently with the opening of the Paramus, NJ mini golf. What sets this outdoor mini golf course apart from others are the props. The props are creative, whimisical, original and were designed and hand made by Custom Creations (that's us!). This is not your old lady mini golf course with a couple of fountains and tasteful landscaping. This course is fun and unique for the whole family. Take a look for yourself here Besides fantastic outdoor mini golf courses, we also make blacklight mini golf props that are the hands down, very best, one of a kind, most creative, most incredible, just the all around best you'll find anywhere. Look here and be prepared to be amazed. In fact, we're so amazing - look who dropped by today ...

The number  5635  will soon bring on a TREMENDOUS meaning! This will be one for the record books.  Stay tuned... Also,  we are hard a work on our projects and have not since posted our latest webisodes, but I promise to asap!  The projects are Krazie cool and will soon be out for delivery!   To all our readers -and you know who you are-  please sign up to our RSS feed.  We would love to hear from everyone:  Amazon, Google, the Linkedin followers, the guys in London, Mass, Sydney, Broo-Ku-Leen,  and yes, even you up in Canada !!! A special hello to our good friends in Huatulco Mexico!  We miss you BIG TIME !!!

It's Cinco de Mayo and the festivities continue here at Custom Creations in pandemic proportions. But be careful, the swine flu is still lurking about in this 5th edition of our Canobie Lake Park signage project.

The Swine Flu is upon us and we have taken all steps necessary to protect ourselves, in order to get our project done without getting sick. This is just another fine example of the steps we take to make sure that our clients are happy with the results of our hard work and creativity. In these troubled times protection is key. Remember: No glove, No love!

When Ridgefield Memorial High School in Ridgefield, NJ needed a hero prop for their production of "Once On This Island", they turned to Custom Creations to get the job done. Here are a couple of photos of the tree at our shop . Gary Bonacci, self proclaimed "volunteer stage and theater construction advisor technician or something" knew that if he had to make the tree out of wood, mesh, paper and fiberglass, it would weigh a ton and take a month to make it. Having hero props for the high school made by Custom Creations in the past, Gary knew that they made things fast, lightweight and strong and approached owner Giovanni Calabrese, a Ridgefield school board member, who generously donated the tree to the high school. (Just in case the taxpayers were wondering- wink wink) The tree was made in one day and then the students painted it at the school. "This isn't the first time we have made hero props for school plays. Over the years, we have had several sch...