Here to Make Friends

Mixing colors on the shirt

You might remember a test print way down at the bottom on this page of unjournaled photos from July. We’d just received new process (CYMK) inks to test in the studio and Tom experimented with thinning them down to provide translucency.

See, these inks are pretty much opaque liquid plastic that never dry out until you cure them at 320 degrees or so. You can mix them with additives to make them less opaque or soft to touch. Usually we mix a little of both because the ink right out of the container is hard to pull and feels thick on the shirt.

For this design, we started with a cup of thinning agent and added a teaspoon of color to achieve the effect.

The concept began to take form after watching this video by Rich of FourFour:

From our product description:
“Life is not a reality show; it is not a competition.
Though we may differ, there is always overlap.
At this intersection we find warmth, laughter, and friendship.”

The last bit of interest is the font itself. I first saw a query about it on Scott Hansen’s weblog. I didn’t think it was available until I was clued in by Frank Chimero. It is called Hellenic and it’s just lovely.

Oh yeah, the shirt. We printed up a whole bunch of different sizes for kids and adults.