As I mentioned in my first post here, I’ve
decided to print my own t-shirts for fun at home and after reading many sites
and articles on t-shirt printing decided to make my own screen and print using
water based inks. However my next problem was how to approach it and where to
get the materials. I posted up on Threadless and Creative Ireland and got loads
of feedback. One of the members of Creative Ireland invited me to see their
studio if I wanted to see how they print t-shirts, this was an offer I couldn’t
refuse so heading up to Dublin tomorrow morning to visit and hope to learns
loads. My youngest sister Roisin who wants to get into fashion design (she’s
currently in a one year portfolio course) was also supposed to come up but has had to cancel at the last minute as she has to work she's disapointed as she really wanted to see the studio and would have learn loads which will help her too.
Thursday 1 November 2012
Its Happened...been a strange day
I’m so happy right now. Just checked my e-mail there and I
had one in from Threadless which said
Hi awesome designer, and congratulations!
We’re excited to let you know that your submission ‘Jump Into’ for iPhone cases has been accepted by our discerning panel of snobby judges. Your design is now up on the scoring block, and ready for voting and sharing. When the voting process is over, maybe, just maybe, yours will be the one! Aren't you just giddy with excitement? We are.
So good job… and good luck!
I have been successful in my submission to the i-phone case competition,
finally..lol. I've had a number of rejections, yes I know they weren't up to scratch
but I longed for that first one getting in…but the wait has been worth it
because I’m at a stage in life where I can actually make something from this
great news and over the next few months the guys at Threadless will be
bombarded with my designs. Its been a strange day for me, I was up at the
Alcohol Action Conference today in Dublin, it was something I felt would help
me to help others, I took time out of my job and life to attend but I have learned
loads to bring back to my club where I’m the ASAP officer, plus I've met people
today also from Cavan who can help us with educating the younger and older
members about how to enjoy alcohol without doing damage both long term and
short term. It made me feel good to think I was giving back, but when I got
home I was feeling down a bit, brought on with things which have happened this
summer, it made me question is what I’m doing here with the T-shirts worth it
or just a fad that nothing will come from…amazing what a piece of good news can
do to change your outlook on life. Funny thing is this morning on the bus up I
got an e-mail from the minimalist website with their new essay on guess what?
Overcoming Self Doubt…someday soon I can feel great things going to happen.
Wednesday 31 October 2012
Threadless I-Phone Submission
So finally got my head down and worked on
an idea for a Threadless competition. There’s currently one running for artwork
for an I-phone case. My idea is different from what I originally was going to
do. Thought it would be cool to incorporate the slot for the camera into my
design and was thinking of an American footballer stretching to catch a ball
one handed. I don’t know how I got round to the idea of someone bungee jumping,
maybe it’s me trying to express how I fell about life at the minute, that I've been free falling I thought it would be cool to have it as a black line work and
then have an almost offset line work in other colours to give it a cool effect.
Its currently in for review so waiting to hear back if I’m successful in my
attempt to get it published. Images attached below so hope you like it.
White Version
Blue Version
The Start of the Journey
I've always had a grá (love) for T-shirt
art, especially when we go to try it out in Secondary school in art class. I
thought it cool, and would be a great thing to do every day but had no clue
about how to get started, was a bit naive in the world and was just floating
along. Then in my last year of college in 2005/06 I stumbled across a site
called Threadless and I was hooked. I loved going on the site and seeing the
different designs and dreamed about entering the competitions but didn't know
where to start, how would I know what to put on a t-shirt that would win. It
was like that for years, some days I would take down the info of the various
competitions and start thinking about it but usually they went nowhere. For a
few years I just forgot about it, occasionally checking out the site and
dreaming. The at the start of this year I decided I needed to do something
about it and worked on a few submissions. First one got turned down and I
forgot about it for a few weeks, but back I came and tried a design for the Sesame
Street comp, again I got the needs more work. (Funny thing is I seen a design
very similar to mine in a local music shop later in the summer). Anyway I sort
of gave up hope and forgot about it, but then I had a life changing experience,
my girlfriend of two and a half years broke up with me and I was just lost…I
gave up on everything in life, pushing away design and other things, cleared
any reference to design from my life, I read books, looked for inspiration, why
had this happened, something told me when it happened it was for a good reason.
Eventually I stumbled across a site The Minimalists with essays by Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus, two guys who had left their six figure corporate jobs at 30 to follow
their passion. The next few weeks I had every different type of idea with what
I wanted to do with my life flash up. Become a medical designer, maybe move to
San Francisco to work for IDEO, forget design altogether and go work for a
charity or a group working to make people’s lives better. I think at the end of
the day I want to be able to say I’m doing something worthwhile with my life to
make others better. T-shirts may not be the final part of the journey but a set
in that direction, they may not help make people’s lives better like a
well-designed medical device or a water pump in Africa or by working with
people from disadvantaged area’s but when you see a great cool design it brings
a smile to your face and makes you want to share it with the world, if you can
make someone smile and be happy even if just for a moment then maybe it’s worth
it. So I've made a decision, It may not become a full time job but always be a
hobby but it will bring happiness to a lot of people’s lives I hope. I’m
starting at the bottom, and have another design in for submission, fingers
crossed it gets picks, I've plan’s to get my own screen printing frame made up
by myself and have some fun printing t-shirt. But most importantly I know that
it’s the journey that makes life worthwhile, not necessarily the end product and I've got to make every second count to get to where I want to be:)
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