This week I’ve been busy with stamps and linoleum cuts. It was my first attempt at a lino-cut and it came out pretty damn good. I did a postcard size one to start (4×6) and printed it on card stock paper and stickers. The one I rolled gold ink down and then printed black on top and they came out good also. The thing I was really digging about this is all of the imperfections that happen. They really make every print different and unique. Holding one of these in your hand is great too because you can really appreciate the hand made quality of them. You can see and feel the layers of ink and textures which I think makes it a lot nicer than anything a expensive digital printer can spit out.

The same goes for the custom rubber stamp I got this week. Even though a big expensive digital machine did make the stamp when you apply the ink to the paper you get similar results as the lino-cut. Depending on how much ink you apply, how hard you push, which surface you stamp all makes the final result different and unique. Also, the detail that can be achieved with the rubber stamp is far better than the lino cut. There are some things computers can do better than peoples brains and hands and this is one of them.

You can get some of these prints by ordering a shirt. I’ll stuff a few in there along with stickers, pins, and zines. A lot of free stuff to give away and you only get those extras when you order through this site. Here are some more pictures. Click to view larger.

Bootleggin’ Volume 2

2KOOL 4SKOOL

The second volume of “Bootleggin’” is now available.  Pictures of the inside can be seen under the “Zine” page above.  You can get this FREE with the purchase of 2 or more shirts or mail me a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope and 3 Bucks.

“I was always 2KOOL 4SKOOL”

OLD DESIGN.  NEW COLORS

Available this Friday March 11, 2011 are two new color ways of the BSB™ Phlyers™ design we’ve all come to know and love.  Just in time for the beginning of regular season baseball and hopefully a long Flyers playoff run comes a new color for each team that the logo represents.    They will be available for purchase in the online store on 3/11/11.

Check back soon.

I was messing around with Photoshop filters tonight trying to achieve the look of an old letterpress offset print.  This is what I came up with on my first attempt.  Not too shabby for an amateur.

I really like the look of the old prints from the 1920′s, 30′s and 40′s, and it’s funny how back then jobs came out looking like this because of variables printers couldn’t control.  Clients and printers alike were unhappy with the final results being that the registration was harder to control on these old machines and the prints were not quite in the right places.

These old letterpress’ and cylinder presses could weigh upwards of 20,000 pounds but properly maintained could run for 100 years if need be.

Here’s an example of an old smaller scale cylinder press:

Nowadays we have the technology to control every last detail so we can get the printing perfect and know exactly how everything will look even before we print it.  Although this technology is great for countless reasons some people/designers/companies are striving for a look of days passed.  I find it amazing how certain things in this world really do come full circle.  How 70 years ago clients would be upset about the poor registration on their job that they were paying for but now people spend hundreds of hours developing software, plug-ins, and filters to mimic this old look.  And now people are actually seeking out this “old fashioned” look and spending lots of time trying to create something that used to be a mere mistake.