# Decalgirl can now produce custom Kindle 2 skins



## srmalloy (Mar 3, 2009)

When I originally contacted Decalgirl about having a custom skin made for my Kindle 2, the reply I got stated that they didn't have a template for it available yet, but expected to be able to take custom orders by the end of the month. A few days ago, since I still hadn't seen it on their website, I emailed their customer service again and asked whether this would be available in the near future.

I got back an email with instructions and a zipfile containing a 3550x2650 .PSD file with three layers: art, mask, and overlay (image reduced to 600 high for posting):










The file with my artwork positioned in the template was 53Mb (42Mb zipped), which blew my ISP's email size limit, so I had to extract just the art layer (reduced full image below):










I got a reply back from Decalgirl today, they can produce it, and quoted me a price of $20 plus $7 priority-mail shipping. The order is placed, and now I just have to sit on my hands waiting for my custom skin to arrive... and look at the template and figure out how much to trim the part inside the screen cut-out to make a 'continuous' skin-and-screensaver pair.


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## kindle zen (Mar 18, 2009)

thanks for the heads up srmalloy, i'm going to order a custom skin from decal gal and will compare it to the custom skin i get from skinit.
regards


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## Cuechick (Oct 28, 2008)

Really nice.


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## klrodrigues (Mar 29, 2009)

oh.. the skins I have going through my mind  <3
lol, thanks for letting us know!!


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## magznyc (Oct 28, 2008)

any indication from dg if and when they will be posting the template in their forum template section, so they rest of us can start getting creative like you? nice job by the way


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## srmalloy (Mar 3, 2009)

I still don't see it in their forum; if push comes to shove, I suppose I could stick the template file I received somewhere and post a link to it. Have to wait until I get home, though; I don't have access to the full-size PSD file from here at work.


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## magznyc (Oct 28, 2008)

i'd appreciate the link if you have the opportunity - i've already designed something and i'd love to give it a try as a skin - thanks much


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## srmalloy (Mar 3, 2009)

I have put the file up here; Decalgirl still doesn't have the template file up in their forums. From their "What To Do With These Files" post in the templates forum:



> These files are meant for you to create your own artwork, then send it in to us to have a high-quality, custom skin made using the design you've created. They're not intended or meant for any other purpose.
> 
> Once you create a design, flatten the image (Photoshop versions) with the cut line turned off. Zip and email to the file to [email protected] so that we can review the image to make sure there are no issues (copyrights, proper resolution, etc) and one of our representatives will then email you a link with ordering instructions.


There are three layers in the .PSD file, 'Art', 'Mask', and 'Overlay'; put your graphics either on the 'Art' layer, or on a layer between 'Art' and 'Mask'. There should be none of the 'Art' layer's color showing inside the cutout of the 'Mask' layer. The 'Overlay' layer is there so you can see where the cuts will go so you can position your graphics better; when you are satisfied with the result, hide the 'Overlay' layer and flatten the image to a single layer.


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## jesspark (Jan 12, 2009)

Your design is beautiful, srmalloy! Wow! Do you have a Hokusai Wave Kindle cover from Oberon to go with it?  

I feel silly for being unable to find it, but does Decalgirl also offer a template for first-generation Kindles? I've designed a skin over on mytego.com, but I like to keep my options open.  =)


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## srmalloy (Mar 3, 2009)

The forum where they have template files posted is here; as of a few minutes ago they didn't have templates for either the Kindle 1 or Kindle 2 posted there. You would want to use the 'Contact us' form on their site to ask about the Kindle 1 template.


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## jesspark (Jan 12, 2009)

Thanks! I visited the forum earlier today and didn't see any Kindle templates, so I'm glad to know that I'm not going crazy (or blind).


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## srmalloy (Mar 3, 2009)

I also have the Decalgirl Kindle 2 custom skin template posted in this thread over in the Mobileread forums.


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## kindle zen (Mar 18, 2009)

i'd like to see how the hokusai wave skin turns out.  that painting was my first choice for a custom skin but i edited out the boats and the people so it would look like my oberon hokusai cover but then decided the painting was too busy and light colored for my likes so i didn't use it.  it does look like a nice choice for a custom skin though.


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## srmalloy (Mar 3, 2009)

I received the skin from DecalGirl today, and immediately applied it to my Kindle:










The quality of the skin is excellent, and I had no trouble applying it. Now I just need to cut a screensaver to size to link with the skin when it comes up in rotation.


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## jesspark (Jan 12, 2009)

Hi, I think there was a mix-up in the mail, and you accidentally got my skin--wait, what? Well, yeah, mine's a first-generation Kindle... what's your point? This is still totally my skin. No, really. Honest!  

...Absolutely gorgeous, srmalloy. Nicely done, and I'm glad to see that Decalgirl customs turn out well!


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## Cuechick (Oct 28, 2008)

I like it. I have a calendar of japanese wood cuts (I think that is what your image is?) it is a few ears old but I love the images and still have it.


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## srmalloy (Mar 3, 2009)

It's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" from Katsushika Hokusai's ukiyo-e print series "Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji".


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## Candace (Apr 14, 2009)

Oh, wow! I have the Oberon wave cover and would LOVE to have this skin! Is that possible? Do you have to give permission, or do you have some type of exclusive right to it, or what? I'll bet there are lots of others who would love to have this gorgeous skin. I'm guessing it's part of public domain, although I'm certainly no expert on patentable artwork. Anyway, I would greatly appreciate any information you could give me on it. You did a MARVELOUS job on it, BTW!


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## srmalloy (Mar 3, 2009)

The art I used for the skin is in the public domain, so anyone can use it for a skin. If you're happy with the way I have it laid out, I can email a copy of the final image that I sent to DecalGirl so that you don't have to do any of your own setup, and can send it to them already prepped for printing.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Beautiful! It turned out so pretty.


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## BruceS (Feb 7, 2009)

srmalloy said:


> The art I used for the skin is in the public domain, so anyone can use it for a skin. If you're happy with the way I have it laid out, I can email a copy of the final image that I sent to DecalGirl so that you don't have to do any of your own setup, and can send it to them already prepped for printing.


If you aren't worried about making your skin less custom, you might want to contact DecalGirl and let them know that you have no objection to them making it available to all customers.


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

srmalloy said:


> I received the skin from DecalGirl today, and immediately applied it to my Kindle:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's gorgeous! It would be nice if they sent a screensaver, I've been playing around with mytego & some pics I have and/or found. Then again I have so many custom screensavers already it doesn't much matter. 
Think I'll have to send them a request to do screensavers for the K1. Maybe if enough people ask...


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## kindle zen (Mar 18, 2009)

it turned out absolutely fabulous, congrats


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## srmalloy (Mar 3, 2009)

BruceS said:


> If you aren't worried about making your skin less custom, you might want to contact DecalGirl and let them know that you have no objection to them making it available to all customers.


Except that I deliberately left off the button labels to preserve the art better; I'd want to send them the flattened version with the label text. I'll have to email their customer service and find out if they'd prefer to have me send them the one file rather than getting it from several different people.


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## srmalloy (Mar 3, 2009)

Meemo said:


> That's gorgeous! It would be nice if they sent a screensaver, I've been playing around with mytego & some pics I have and/or found. Then again I have so many custom screensavers already it doesn't much matter.
> Think I'll have to send them a request to do screensavers for the K1. Maybe if enough people ask...


Since I've got the original art, I can easily do it myself... (glare at top due to sloppy setup of the shot on my computer desk). I want to fiddle with the image a bit more, see if I can get a better match at the bottom right corner, though.


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## Candace (Apr 14, 2009)

I'm the one that wrote asking if I could use your art work and you very kindly said you would be willing to email the art work so that I wouldn't have to do the prepping. That would be fabulous, and I really appreciate it! However, I'm pretty computer-stupid, so how exactly do we go about that? Do you email it to me at my personal email, or what? Just let me know, and I'll do my best to do whatever is necessary. Again, it's SUPER nice of you: thanks so much!


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## MarthaT (Mar 3, 2009)

this is great news


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## Kind (Jan 28, 2009)

Sweet Jesus!! This is awesome. I got some pics I may wanna use.


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## LCEvans (Mar 29, 2009)

Your design is beautiful. I'm going to look through my pictures and see if I have anything that would work for a skin. Have to get my Kindle first, though.


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## shk246 (Mar 6, 2009)

That is gorgeous!  I love it.  I would love to get one too.  I hope they will make it available to the public.

How do you make a custom screensaver?


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## srmalloy (Mar 3, 2009)

shk246 said:


> That is gorgeous! I love it. I would love to get one too. I hope they will make it available to the public.


According to their customer support, they can't accept a file on hold for someone else, so I'll mail my template image to anyone who wants their own Hokusai 'Great Wave' Kindle 2 skin.



> How do you make a custom screensaver?


The image is just a 600x800 4-bit image with the shades grading from white at index 0 to black at index 15. For getting that image (and any others you want to have rotating as power-off images), you need to install the screensaver hack. Over in this post on the mobileread forums is a link to the zipfile with the mod in it. The zipfile contains two .bin files and a readme with instructions; basically, you connect your Kindle 2 to your computer and put the install file in your Kindle's root directory, then disconnect it and do a manual update. This creates a 'screen_saver' directory in the Kindle's 'system' directory and copies all the standard screensaver images to it, and points the power-off code to that directory. You can then add or remove images from this directory (the original screensaver images are not harmed, these are copies), then do a manual reset of your Kindle 2 to make it rescan that directory for images, and the new images will be used.

*Note:* While the mod is in place, your Kindle 2 will not accept updates from Amazon, so what you will need to do when an update comes out is to use the other .bin file, putting it in the Kindle's root directory the same way and doing a manual update; this uninstalls the mod, which will set everything back to where an automatic update will work. Afterward, you can reinstall the screensaver mod, reset your Kindle, and you'll have your custom power-off images again.


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## Wisteria Clematis (Oct 29, 2008)

srmalloy said:


> Since I've got the original art, I can easily do it myself... (glare at top due to sloppy setup of the shot on my computer desk). I want to fiddle with the image a bit more, see if I can get a better match at the bottom right corner, though.


Is this what you were thinking of


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Yes, thank you!

I wonder if DecalGirl will do a custom skin for the DX?

L


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

I am also not very expert in photoshop to set the whole thing up...sigh...

L


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