Who has colored blades?

[treesprite]

Who has colored blades?

If you don't, would you get them if you could, if you were in the market for new blades?

If there are reasons for why you would not consider colors, even with blades that come in alternative colors, what are they?

[JHarer]

Me! Mine are pink.

[JSM]

Colored blades are great, but I'd never go for them personally.  I do think they are distracting when watching a skater, and the last thing I want to do is bring the judges attention to my feet!

Besides, I'm pretty basic when it comes to apparel choices anyway - my closet is full of black clothes because I don't know how to use color properly. 

But I do love looking at them!

[accordion]

Would love! Simply cannot justify in any way.

I'm still on learner blades with little toepicks, I have good skates, I do not need higher level boots, the list is endless!

But I would like a pretty blue pair... to match blue special order skates...to match my mostly blue wardrobe.

[sarahspins]

Me!  Mine are dark turquoise.. before that I had some very green ones (I still have those, they'll go back on my next pair of boots)



I think they're fun... I'm not competing so I don't really have any reason not to have a bit of fun with my blades.

[sampaguita]

I don't mind seeing colored blades, but if it were me, I'd prefer the basic chrome-plated one. I might be able to carry pink blades, but I guess I just like all my skating stuff basic. Besides, not every costume would match a colored blade.

[FigureSpins]

ITA - shiny silver chrome for me, too.  You can use permanent markers to change your blade color.  Rubbing alcohol takes it right off.  Skittl says nail polish remover works, too.

[Jenna]

I had purple Paramounts.  I always thought the color was rather dull on them, especially when you see the coaches who have them from when they first came out.  Someone said they dulled down the colors for competitive skating purposes.  I did like having colored blades, but Paramounts just didn't work for me.

[FigureSpins]

I thought Paramount had two shades of purple.  One dark, one light.   Might be thinking of another brand.

[jjane45]

Does black count? I love its slim look.

[sarahspins]

Paramount will do absolutely any color you want (mine were custom colored) - the "icy" stock colors are all fairly pale.

[irenar5]

I have had ice blue from Ultima and now I have gold from Ultima.  Both were not by choice- it was all that was available.
 I liked the ice blue ones a lot, though- they were very subtle.  I can't see myself buying blades that are more colorful than that. 

[aussieskater]

I'm a Plain Jane, and the chrome ones work fine for me.  The only ones I'd consider would be solid white ones, in the hope they'd disappear into the ice and make it harder to see what edges I failed to hit .  I don't think such blades exist yet.

[Skittl1321]

I had icy pink paramounts and now I have lilac ultima's. The lilac looks pink to me- which is fine, Ultima's pink isn't a pleasing shade to me.

Quite honestly, you can barely tell the blades are colored from a distance.

These are the paramounts- you can just barely tell they are a different color from the silver blade in the corner of the photograph.
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/3230_929189484744_3942874_n.jpg
These are the Ultima's- again, just a hint of color.
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/270421_10100946068443134_832845_n.jpg

For me, I love the color, it adds a bit of personality- but I used to color my silver blades with sharpies.  Honestly, I might even get a BRIGHT color next, except then you have to worry about costume. I've never really concerned myself with these clashing.

[sarahspins]

Quite honestly, you can barely tell the blades are colored from a distance.

Same with mine, and mine aren't subtle... I'm always a little surprised at how little the color shows up on video.

[TreSk8sAZ]

There were quite a few colored blades at PCAS and ANs. One girl had half yellow, half pink on each blade. There may be some that aren't noticeable, but those and another girl who had bright pink you could definitely tell.

[sarahspins]

There were quite a few colored blades at PCAS and ANs. One girl had half yellow, half pink on each blade. There may be some that aren't noticeable, but those and another girl who had bright pink you could definitely tell.

I should add that up close, yeah, it's really obvious, but say you are filming a group of skaters from the stands in an arena, no one can really tell... I know because in January I was part of a group performance and you can more easily spot my red hair than my blue blades

[Purple Sparkly]

The bright pink and the half yellow/half pink blades were VERY noticeable from the stands during their was skating.  My friend has gold blades and they were far less noticeable than the bright pink and pink/yellow.  The icy colors are not as noticeable.

[tazsk8s]

I have the Icy Blue Paramounts. Like others have said, the Icy colors are pretty subtle. Unless you're really close up, it's hard to tell that they're colored. I've seen the bright green and bright pink ones at my rink. They're....bright.  At least, close up they are. I've heard that some judges don't really care for the colored blades as they find them "distracting", but the girl I'm thinking of with the green ones passed her Senior moves on them, so it couldn't have been that bad.

[TreSk8sAZ]

I should add that up close, yeah, it's really obvious, but say you are filming a group of skaters from the stands in an arena, no one can really tell... I know because in January I was part of a group performance and you can more easily spot my red hair than my blue blades

I wasn't saying up close they were noticeable, I was talking about from the stands while she was skating! Like Purple Sparkly said, they were extremely noticeable during her program, as were the other bright pink blades.

[sarahspins]

It's possible they are more obvious in person than on video

[VAsk8r]

Me!  Mine are dark turquoise.. before that I had some very green ones (I still have those, they'll go back on my next pair of boots)

Those are GORGEOUS! I want!

[ChristyRN]

I should add that up close, yeah, it's really obvious, but say you are filming a group of skaters from the stands in an arena, no one can really tell... I know because in January I was part of a group performance and you can more easily spot my red hair than my blue blades

More power to the red head skaters! We have two in our LTS group--at least until I start my random-day-off summer schedule, then it's down to one.

[treesprite]

I didn't realize they came in dark or bold colors. My pinks are light and at first I thought no one would even notice them. But several people have commented on them to me at the rink, so they must be noticeable up close. Then again, that means people are watching my bad skating.

If judges are concerned about colored blades, I wonder what they think of custom boots with things like big hearts on the sides of them and different colors of the back strip. I asked a coach at the rink about the topic of colored blades - she said judges don't care and she has a lot of students who test and compete.

Last night I put some tiny pink crystals along the tops of the backs of my blades I haven't looked at them since then yet - hopefully they will look as good as I thought they did last night. I have never done such a thing - I hope the glue I used will hold them on metal securely (it's made for attaching crystals; it says  fabric, glass, paper, and wood with no mention of metal, but generally stuff that sticks to glass will stick to metal).

[Sk8tmum]

Do judges care? I think that depends.  All judges are human beings - they have personal preferences, and inevitably things will color perceptions.  However, a skater always wants to present an appropriate "persona" on ice - and region to region what is "appropriate" will vary. Colored blades aren't used where we skate.

That said ... will a judge fail you for colored blades? Wouldn't think so! However, if you have less than perfect edges, turns, etc, then, blades that draw attention to your blades will draw attention to your edges and turns.  So - that's a consideration. 

I don't like the way the colored blades are constructed myself: the shape seems klunky.  Maybe if they were constructed more like a traditional blade I'd like them better ... such as if they were colored all the way to the sharpening edge?