This afternoon I went on 3.65 mile hike, then delivered my blanks to Jimmy at Downtown Screen Printers so they can print me a new batch of San Jose (EMNSJ) shirts. Later, I went to Meeting of the Minds, the collaborative paint party, and painted a fun piece with my fiends Catrina & Eddie. When I got home, and in bed I started sketching out the design for a new mural I’m working on. Tomorrow night I’m DJing & hosting karaoke for a high school graduation party at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk from midnight till 2 AM. Busy, busy, busy…
The SubZero Street Fair is next weekend. Friday & Saturday. It’s an art festival that I’ve been vending at for a few years now. Today I went online to order blanks to print more San Jose tees but they were sold out at all the places I shop at. Luckily, I have 45 blank tees sitting in a box that were originally going to used for my original Eyes, Mouths & Noses design. EMN will have to wait because the San Jo’ tees sell better. I’m waiting to hear back from my screen printers to get the ball rolling and drop off the blanks. I hope I can get them back in time before next Friday.
I just finished inking what Im going to paint at Viva Calle Sunday morning. My car’s already loaded with paints and everything needed to live-paint and my t-shirts, which I’m hoping to sell a few. Now I just gotta get some sleep before my alarm goes off in a few hours. Should be fun!
I and the rest of the TWC (Together We Create) crew will be setup in Japantown on 5th & Jackson from 1- am to 3 pm. One of the reasons for making a zine is to sell merch. I’ll need at least one page dedicated to my t-shirts, prints & stickers. Tonight I was trying to come up with a cool layout based on the alien/space theme. It’s not quite there yet.
About a week ago I got a DM on Instagram from someone who bought a couple shirts from me at an event a few years ago. He's a photographer and is about to release a new magazine and asked if I was interested in putting an ad in it free of charge. We talked on the phone a bit and he seems like a good guy so I said yes. Tomorrow is the submission deadline so of course I waited till the last minute to get it done. This is what I sent him
​My friend Amy was interviewed by NBC Bay Area at Viva Calle yesterday while she was skating around. She was also wearing the custom purple V-neck 1.0 t-shirt that she bought from me last month! She told me about the interview when I ran into her yesterday, and I found the video this morning. Amy is totally rad! On Sunday, she ran the 5K that morning, roller-skated, and biked at "Viva Ca-yay!
Holy shit, Viva Calle was fun as hell! I drove downtown and started biking at First Street, then went to the Mexican Heritage Plaza on the east side, Japan Town, and the Alameda before returning to my car. On my ride, I saw some friends wearing my t-shirts and a couple who bought their San Jose shirts at a recent First Friday event. I didn't do the whole route but made sure to stop at all four locations where my friends, TWC (Together We Create), were live-painting. I had to walk my bike through the crowded areas, but I did over 13 miles today! My legs are crazy sore after biking today and hiking yesterday. I'll see if I have Lieutenant Dan legs tomorrow.
Today I organized, and put away, the tubs of gear used Friday night for my vendor booth. I also counted my t-shirts, updated the website inventory, and figured out how many I sold in each size & style. Besides counting & cleaning up, I started preparing for an upcoming exhibit I'll be announcing very soon. This is on top of the mural I'm currently designing and the new job I recently started (both of which I haven't made public yet). One thing that has been announced is that I'm DJing & MCing Local Color's Estate Sale on Sunday, September 26th.
Another great event! My booth was in between two of my friend's booths, Jodi & Francisco, and it was a lot of fun talking and hanging with them. There was an adorable baby girl who walked into my booth and danced when I had my party lights on. I gave her a couple buttons and a high-five. I sold my last Medium San Jose shirt off the display and the rest of the black & blue ones so it's time to print some more. I'm considering doing something similar to the custom & pre-orders I recently did with my 1.0 shirts. A few friends & family received their t-shirt orders today and I started sketching ideas for a big new project coming up! More on that later!
I DJ'd my friend's birthday party today and during dinner my buddy, Robin, texted me that he received the t-shirts he ordered. I dropped all the orders off at the post office last night, right as they closed, and thought it would take a few days before they reached their destinations so I was surprised to hear to hear that he got his already. Later I saw my friends Amy and Alondra both got their packages too. In the pics below you can see the cards I drew for them and the candies I threw in each order, Pop Rocks and Cry Babies! Both are candies I used to love when I was a kid. I'm still holding off on showing the surprise gifts, inside the brown envelopes, till more people receive their orders, but you can see one on my Instagram stories right now!
That's right! After countless delays and being 2 weeks behind schedule, all the custom & pre-order 1.0 t-shirts are now on their way to their new owners! Each order includes some throwback goodies, a hand-drawn Thank You card and an extra special surprise gift! After everyone receives their order and opens their gifts I'll share what the surprise was! Stay tuned! I've been saying the shirts are shipping out tomorrow — all week. This time it's for real tho! The shirts and the individually sealed surprise gifts have been put in mailers along with some extra goodies and hand drawn "Thank You" cards. (I realized when I was almost done sealing the mailers that I forgot to sign most of the cards... Doh!) All I have to do now is pay & print the postage and drop them off at the post office. The home stretch!
I had work meeting that ran long then had to catch up on other work so I didn't ship all the t-shirt orders today. I did deliver one though. It was for a friend and it was exciting to watch her open up the bag and pull out the surprise gift I made! Can't wait to get the rest of the orders out!
I folded all the custom & pre-order 1.0 t-shirts and sorted them out. I also finished assembling the surprise gifts. Tomorrow I'll package everything, pay for postage, write short Thank You notes to everyone and drop them off at the post office. Hopefully they'll all reach their owners by this weekend.
The shirts are ready to go! The only hold up now is finishing the work on the surprise gifts that are going out with every custom & pre-order 1.0 shirts. I did the last bit of painting today and tomorrow they'll be assembled and maybe individually packaged. I can't wait to show everyone the gifts but it's a surprise to the people who bought the custom & pre-order 1.0 shirts and I don't want to spoil it. After enough people receive their t-shirts and open their gifts I'll post the pictures I've been taking during the whole process. Today was all about trial & error as I worked on the surprise gifts for the 1.0 custom & pre-orders. Plan-A didn't work, neither did Plan-B, now everything is riding on Plan-C. I'm almost done. The gifts and t-shirts are being mailed out Monday. After people receive their orders and see the surprise I'll post the finished products as well as process pics. The gifts are gonna be so much cooler than the actual shirts and I can't wait to share!
I dropped off one package (a couple prints) at the post office this afternoon and was reminded that the mailers don't fit inside the mailbox slot in the drive-thru so I had to go inside to drop it off. Then I went to deliver a t-shirt order across town. (Usually if the shipping address is close by and I can leave the package in a safe location, by checking Google street view maps first, then I'll deliver the order myself.) Today I left the package on a front porch behind a statue. I took a pic (obviously) so I could email it to the customer and let them know their order has been delivered and where to find it. Today I dropped off the remaining blank shirts at the screen printers for the custom 1.0 orders. I think they'll be done in a day or two. I also started working on the gifts for everyone who purchased custom & pre-orders. I'm not gonna spoil the surprise but here are some teaser pics of what I'm making.
I went to bed real late after the Street Mrkt event on Friday. Only got a few hours of sleep. Didn't drink any coffee. Was really tired from working and hiking so I stayed in bed and watched tv, and soon after I was out. Zzzz... I don't know how long I slept for but it had been 4 hours since my first missed call. I didn't get shit done today! I still have all the gear from Friday to organize & put away, and I need to count all my t-shirts and update my inventory online. I guess it'll have to wait till Sunday.
Another great event! I sold a few shirts and prints tonight, but most importantly, talked to people in person! I talked to friends (some who I haven't seen in years), people who had never seen my stuff before, folks who have. I even saw a guy wearing one of my pink & black San Jose shirts and asked if I could take his picture! I had missed vending so much! I can't wait to be back out there again, choppin' it up with folks, at the next two First Friday Street Mrkts in September and October! Tonight I got all my black 1.0 shirts back from the printers, finished, and a few of the pre-orders & customs too. I'm still waiting on a shipment of blanks to arrive before I can take them to get printed. Today I also picked up the Frankie Mcfly USA maps I reordered in every colorway. I also printed some Frankie Mcflyers at home. All this is for Friday's Street Mrkt & Art Walk where I'll be vending my usual gear.
The second shipment of shirts arrived today! I took them, and the shipment that arrived yesterday, and dropped them off at Downtown Screen Printers. I'm still waiting on 5 more shirts to arrive but they're gonna start printing, the ones I already dropped off, tomorrow. I'm pretty stoked because now I'm back on track and should have my shirts for Friday's event and be able to ship out the custom & pre-orders next week.
The first shipment of blank t-shirts arrived today! I'm still waiting on two more orders though. I might be able to restock my black 1.0 t-shirts and have them ready for this Friday's event and have the remaining shirts (customs & pre-orders) printed afterwards. I'm going to talk to my printers tomorrow. Hopefully the remaining shirts arrive tomorrow too.
Tonight I updated the neck label artwork for the 1.0 shirts. They're less cluttered and easier to read, especially after dropping the "wash cold - hang dry - have fun" line. I got an email this morning from one of the two t-shirt vendors I ordered blanks from saying that 7 of the 9 shirts I ordered from them weren't in stock. Is kinda pissed off but didn't have time to argue, nor would it have helped the situation. I spent the rest of the day emailing back & forth, looking for alternatives and contacting buyers. I think everything is good now but I really doubt I'll have the shirts ready by this Friday like I originally intended.
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Frankie Mcfly's
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