Books, Life and Other Flights of Fancy
This week brings a lot of new things to the DD shop. Namely, tote bags and shirts for the menfolk! (see pictures below)
Now, these two particular tote bags have already been claimed, but I have some more blank bags in stock and will be printing them up soon.
Also: shirts for the guys! Below is the first of the men’s t-shirts on offer in my shop, featuring the first print of the new Four Elements screen (all sorts of firsts in this one). More menfolk shirts to follow as designs and stock allow.
Bridge of Birds By Barry Hughart This was a surprising find. I’m not huge into the traditional Asian/Chinese style of storytelling, so the subtitle ‘A Novel of an Ancient China that Never Was’ made me hesitate just a tad. I’m glad I ended up picking it up. This is a rollicking good tale. It’s got the flavor of a Chinese folktale, but told in a kind of tounge-in-cheek style that makes it fun to read, and rolls you right along with the adventure. I mean, you know it’s going to be a funny read when one of the main character […]
My rough (but now ready to be screened) sketch-up of the four elements, the next design I’ll be doing prints of.
The Devil You Know By Mike Carey This book started out so promising. It had a wise-cracking protaganist with a great name (Felix Fix Castor). It had good pace, good mystery, and some interesting characters, and of course a dash of the paranormal, as Felix is an exorcist. Even Felix’s approach to exorcism was unique (he plays a whistle, of all things). And then the story goes and gets itself wrapped up in Eastern European crime and an unbelievable choice as the ‘bad guy’ and it lost my interest. There was also some confusion due to UK slang, and the […]
Are you only going to be doing women’s t-shirts? Nope, certainly not. The shop is all women’s right now simply because my designs so far have had a more feminine slant, and because most of the stock I have is women’s shirts. I have a few men’s t-shirts in stock, too, and am brainstorming ideas to put on them. So, eventually I will have clothing for both genders. Also, I will probably eventually branch out into printing things that aren’t shirts/tanks: dresses, skirts, tote bags, scarves, etc. We’ll see. This whole venture is a trial-and-error work-in-progress. Are you ever going […]
Or at least the physical labor. A quick, one-picture tour of where I make all the goods: 1. Ever-present roll of paper towels. Screenprinting is a messy business sometimes. 2. Gauzy material that will eventually be stretched over hoops to become a screen. 3. Finished screens that have been removed from hoops to make way for new ones. 4. Blank apparel awaiting creative genius. 5. Handily placed trash bag, out of reach of #15. 6. Small jars of custom-mixed ink colors I’ve used. 7. Various utensils necessary to the screenprinting trade: sponge brushes, ruler, scissors, paint knives, pencil, Sharpie, painters […]
Misspent Youth By Peter F. Hamilton The book jacket description led me to believe this would be my kind of science fiction – the kind that uses the sci-fi element to explore human psychology and sociology, rather than just being an adventure story set in space or the future (though those can be enjoyable too). And it could have done that, if it hadn’t gotten sidetracked by male hormones. Apparently the author feels that the only thing a man suddenly made young again will want to do is have sex with as many women and girls as possible. Admittedly, this […]