January 2011

First off, yes, I realize this post is being made on February 1st, but I'm calling it January. Deal with it.

2010 was not the year for Sukduk that I had envisioned that it would be a year ago. It was a fairly busy year for me though, and that's why I let Sukduk falter. I suppose this is the spot where I say 2011 will be different, but 2011 is already really busy for me. Halfway through January, I left the company I spent the last 5 1/2 years at and joined a firm with a much higher commitment to sustainability, and way more opportunities to use the information I've been culminating. I've also picked up some contract work here or there. The contract work, after some initial costs, will be going almost directly to Sukduk.

There are a number of things I want to do this year with some of the graphics I've created.

1. Buttons. Anyone that was around me around the Christmas season will know that I was campaigning fairly heavily for people to chip in and buy me a button maker for Christmas (it didn't work).

2. Press. If I can muster the money for it, a silk screen press will make it much easier to make shirts and also lends a lot more easily to making shirts with more than just one color of ink on them. The other part of the problem here is the space I'd need for it.

3. Cushions? A friend is really interested in having the Jon Hamm poster I made for her put onto a cushion. As it stands, I think this is going to require the press to make. The picture is 6 colors right now, that would mean 6 screens (3 if I can just divide each screen).

4. Starting over. I don't mean quitting or anything here, or that I've done anything I'm not proud of. Basically just a note to myself to take all the screens in and have them cleaned out, then bringing them home and re-emulsifying them all with images. At the very least the Winnebago needs to be done, and last time I looked the logo needed it as well.

5. Enforcing the brand. I'm very attached to the Sukduk logo. I'm very proud of it as well. Not proud in that it's something I created, because I didn't create it, but proud that I was able to do something with it. I'm thinking of getting a vinyl print of it to put on my car's rear window. I'm also thinking of getting it tattooed on my wrist. I'm sure that's a wicked painful spot.

6. The website. At the time of writing, the website is down. I want to redesign it to work a little better than it was before. I also have to renew the hosting, which means I'll be looking at difference options this time instead of just going with the first place I see. I also want to see if I can figure out how to also get sukduk.com, in addition to sukduk.ca.

7. Posters/Artwork. The posters I've made have been some of the most fun I've had. I think my last post here was back when I first designed up the Lee Marvin and Bruce Lee ones. Those two are now hanging in my living room. I ended up just printing them off on some heavier stock paper and putting them on wood frames. They look pretty good as long as you're not right up in it and seeing that it's just paper.

I'm sure there's more to add to that list, but I'm going to cut it short there. I'm still never sure if anyone reads this. I think at least one person has it in their subscription list. As it stands it's mostly a to-do list, and hopefully I'll be able to cross a couple things off this year.

Here's hoping it doesn't take me another 6 months to post.

Yikes?

Ok, so yeah...

It's been a year down to the day, and I haven't updated this blog. A lot has happened in a year! This isn't a personal space, so I won't get too far into it here.

Sukduk.

Where's that at? Well I've made a couple shirts here and there. I've given quite a few out for free in the hopes of spreading some word of mouth around out there. To this day I've only received like 3 calls from people wanting shirts, but I was never in this to make money or anything.

Going forward:

I've recently moved into a new house. Only this past weekend did the Sukduk stuff (light box, inks, screens, etc.) find a home there. I plan to do a lot more with it this coming summer. I'll try and keep this blog much more up to date with what is going on, and I hope I have a lot to talk about. Still working on getting some sort of business card/tag thing going on to attach to shirts I give out so that people know where they come from and how to get ahold of me. Still working on some new designs. One of the new designs I'm working on even requires two colours, so that has the potential to be exciting and/or tragic.

I don't know how many people are actually reading this blog anymore, or even how many people read it a year ago when I was actually doing more with it, but if you're out there and you're reading it feel free to drop some feedback and let me know.

Coop/Chuck Lumber

First!

It's official.

There's a blog about Sukduk, so it must be official.

If you've stumbled here by accident before anything else has been put up, sorry about your luck. We're a group of people who are designing shirts right now. Hopefully we'll be actually making shirts soon. As soon as I get off my ass and finish building the necessary equipment and make the first screen. My dad will be so proud. He should too, after all, he's the inspiration for my first design and also the inspiration for the name.

The logo on the page here was designed by Mathew Schmor. Real stand-up guy, that one. He's my partner on this journey thus far, although there are many others offering to help.

And what else is there? Not much really. I'll end this first post with a taste of the first shirt design.