Screen images

These are the shapes that I will be burning into my screen and printing over some parts of the shirts that I showed you all on Monday. I didn't have a chance to get to the print lab tonight due to homework overload and a terrible migraine. I'm also waiting to buy two t-shirt sized screens from Darek so I will end up using those to burn these images on as well as a few others. They're formatted on 11x17 sheets but will be cut out into separate shapes before I burn them into the screen. They're very large shapes too, I know they'll look very interesting once they're printed!

Unfortunately, I don't think that my stamp will be here in time for my evaluation. But I ordered a 2x3 inch rubber stamp with my official logo on it. I plan to stamp the sleeves of the t-shirts and either under the size tag or on the bottom waist part of the shirt.

So I went to the print lab.. and 6 hours later.

I printed a bunch of patches, I used old cotton t-shirts and printed the patches in black ink and cut them out carefully into 1.5 in x 1.75 in. squares. They're the perfect size for beanies and strap back hats. My plan is to sell these hats and use that money to buy new ink, photo emulsion, and shirts!
Beanies are $14.
Strap back hats are $25.
Patches are $1 each. I applied them onto the beanies and strap backs with a very high quality iron-on glue. It works great and the patches stay on very well.

Also, here is where I left off while working on my official logo. I finished shading it in, scanned it in, brought it into photoshop and have been adjusting and moving some of the letterforms around on Illustrator after converting it to a vector:

Experimenting with pieces of an image

So I decided that I am going to burn these two images into a screen and print them onto a shirt. I plan to print not only on the front of the tee but all the way around. It would be interesting to see how it would look wrapped around the shirt. Then after that I might take some of the fabric dye that I have and dye sections of the shirt and it'll look like a big collaged t-shirt. I am just experimenting with images. Here is the collage that I subtracted some of the pieces from.

PS: I'm still currently searching for an article / topic to discuss in class on Wednesday.

My weekend of progress.

I wrote the language for my proposal and I started printing my collages.
See Liv Varney page at right for updated proposal and objectives.

On Saturday I scanned one of the collages into the computer and brought it into photoshop. I chose to use one of the smaller 4x4 inch collages that I made recently. I printed two copies of the same image but they were both at different levels of contrast and texture. One of the images was formatted to a full threshold layer (making it look similar to a high contrast photo copy) and the other was formatted to have a halftone texture to it. Once I printed these two images out on paper I was excited to prepare the screen and burn the image into it. I printed a few proofs on canvas and a few on pieces of scrap cotton that I had.

This is what the two images look like before they're burnt into the screen.

After I washed the screen out it provided the two collages next to each other. This is what the screen looks like with the images burnt into it, (ignore the old YFC design on it, it may be hard to see the collages).  

I chose to print some proofs today and this is what a few of them came out to look like.

This is what the thresh hold layer looks like when it's printed with black ink. 

And this is the halftone layer by itself in red ink.

This is what that layer looks like with the halftone printed on top of it in a different color. I chose red because at the time, I felt that it would show the difference between the two layers. You can see that the red layer is over lapped because the print must have shifted on accident when I put the screen down. It looks kinda trippy. 

I decided to play around a bit and print a halftone layer on a threshold print but I rotated it to the left. I thought it looked pretty cool I really like the textures and details that it created.

I think that this was a good start to experimenting with the collages. I'm really happy with how these came out. I plan to spend some day this week burning another collage into a screen of mine and seeing what I can come up with. I also plan to try dying some shirts with fabric dye.

4x4 in. collage studies

So last time we met I said that I was going to work on a few collages this weekend and also a language / biography for my company. So far I have made a few collages, these are 4x4 inches, they contain paper that was discarded / donated by print making students. So far I have made three:

1. "Recipe for Disaster." Collage, used newsprint, screen printed scraps, ink.

2. "We're all a little lost." collage, used newsprint, copic marker ink.

3. "Constant Conversations II," collage, used newsprint, ink, copic marker ink.

I'm still trying to figure out a way to make a connection between my collages and Young Fellow Clothing. The only connection that I have made is that they're both hand crafted works of art although they lie in different categories.

Young Fellow Clothing Branding Development

As of lately I decided to change the direction that I was going in. I know that I am very passionate about collaging and mixed media art, I absolutely love it. But I am also very passionate about my clothing line, Young Fellow Clothing. I started this line last winter while taking Design Factory. I did not expect YF to become as popular and hectic or even keep me as busy as it has been since I began. I've also had some very stressful times but it has been such a great experience.

I decided this because this clothing line consumes most of my free time, especially because I have just recently released a new design for the fall line so business has been very hectic and I have been printing a lot.

I have decided to focus on the branding part of this business. I still don't have an official logo for my company yet, or a business card. I also really want to have a better quality online shop. I have made several drafts of what I thought would be the logo but I wasn't entirely pleased with it. This company has come a long way, especially because I have been doing it all by myself (designing, printing, the whole sha-bang).

I plan to make this project last for a long time, I am very pleased with it and beyond impressed that I have been able to manage it by myself. I know that with a small business like this, it won't come to an end any time soon especially because it is very well liked and has become quite popular at Montserrat.

Here are a few photos of logos that I have made since I started.

At first it was just the YF logo, but I added the cat next to it because both of those logos are in one of my t-shirt designs that I printed last spring (see print):

As time passed I became less interested in the YF logo so I have been trying to figure out something new to make. My second thoughts were to use this as my official logo (or something like it):

..and that totally could work but I'd have to make it read as not only YFC but "Young Fellow Clothing" so that people know what the initials stand for. I do love this design because its very clean and simple, and not to mention looks great printed on pocket tees and patches:

As of recently, I developed an interest in hand drawn type. I made this design about two weeks ago. I've thought about having this be my official logo, or something like it. The hand drawn quality is very interesting to me. I have been drawing on tracing paper and then scanning it into the computer and manipulating it in Illustrator and Photoshop.

I still look at this project as being an adventure. I just want to go with it because it is my passion and I love doing it and I know that I will gain a very strong experience in working with the branding aspects of this company by the time that I graduate. Especially because I want to pursue a career in branding and marketing.

If you're interested in looking at shirts, check out https://www.facebook.com/youngfellowclothing/

Collection of photographs

I took a short walk down to Half Moon Pond this weekend with a few friends. My original goal was to collect a few things from the beach to bring in to class and use as inspiration for a collage. Unfortunately it was extremely windy and chilly out shortly after I arrived so I wasn't able to collect anything, but I was able to take a few photos. I wanted to share these photos so that my seminar class can see the beautiful view of the lake. I am going home again in a few weeks so I will try and collect some articles from the beach then.

Half Moon Pond is located on the town line of Barnstead and Alton, NH. The part of Half Moon Pond that I live on is a small community called Fernhill.