...I don't want to set the bar too high, y'know?


Been far too long since I've gotten to work on this!

The more I tinker with lettering the more I think this is the way to go. The block/comic-book style lettering was too dominant, I think...

(For no profile overlap, go to the bottom of page 1.)

About an hour ago, downtown in my home town, there this was, walking toward me. Had to stop the guy and point out that this was the first time I'd seen it worn (other than on my son or wife) and he told me his wife had bought it for him online 'somewhere'. And then we kinda ran out of things to say.

Not that exciting a story, I guess.

Carry on.

Thanks just for looking at this blog!



I took this about a month ago in Golden Gate Park in SF.

If you have the time, and a Facebook account, here's where you can vote on it: contest by 4by6.com

As I write this, my photo is in the top 40!

Winner of the contest gets and iPad.

Fingers crossed...

Thanks! : )

I tend to vote on everything, good and bad.

I've also felt like I must be a jerk, since my average vote seems lower than a lot of people's average vote.

But maybe I don't use the Skip button when I should...

For the 3 Words Or Less Loves challenge, I think this has a shot -- but I need an artist superior to myself to render it...

Never Underestimate Pie.


The 'fancy' words are made up of nothing but wedges of pie, forks, and a bit of melty 'a la mode'.

I honestly think that if this can make it to being printed, it would be on the strength of the drawing, so if someone takes me up on this, and if it were to print, I think a 35/65 split with the larger part going to the artist is the minimum of fairness.

I just feel good about this one.

I Speak Entirely In Mid-Case Letters.

So far, I can't break 30% on anything. Most settle into the 'teens. I'm not sure that's a bad thing at all.

Overall, submissions are limited. I think that may mean that the staff can basically review everything that's subbed, or at least those with a double-digit score after a week of voting.

And realistically, out of however many people are visiting Threadless in any given time period to shop, if 15% of them liked a design, I imagine that works out pretty well for Threadless. I kept a half-assed eye on Pirates when they reprinted it: it looked like over ten a day sold, until lately when the sizes available became limited. I'm sure there are multiple hundreds of folks visiting to buy on any given day, if /everywhere is anything to go by (and I think it is). If there are 1000 shirts sold in a day, and Pirates sold ten, that's 1%. From peeking in on /everywhere, I'm fairly sure more than 1000 shirts are sold in a day, and yet it was worth their while to print Pirates. And then re-print it.

Getting scores for slogans in the 60-80% range under the old system was a nice ego boost, but it didn't mean something was getting printed (i.e. Jess' Time Machine, Courtney's slew of goodness, and others my brain is not conjuring at the moment). But I think, under the new system, maybe any slogan with a score above 10% has a pretty good chance if the staff likes it.

So how are your scores working out?

...FOR WHENEVER ONLY ALL CAPS WILL DO.

With a new submission and scoring system on its way, I just wanted to give these particular turns of phrase one last shot in the sun... They are some of my personal favorites, and also my highest scoring non-printed type thingies.

Haystacks Are Big, and Needles Are Cheap. Just Let it Go.

Chickens Cross Roads To Escape People Questioning Their Motives.

Woodchucks Want Us To Stop Speculating About Their Activities.

Whore you to say apostrophes are essential?

I was in an interesting hypothetical situation the other day...



And this one keeps sloooowly inching upward in scoring:

Optimists Think I'm Half Full Of It.
(I left out the word "Only", since that makes the joke more obvious, but if you like obvious then you can imagine it in there somewhere.)


If you care to shed any love on them, or simply to shed on them, and you haven't so far, you can find them here. Thanks.

moustache spoon

I know how important moustaches are around here.

I was looking up some antique spoons nobody in the family wants, to sell them on eBay, and came across that page. And I thought of you. The end (unless someone replies to this blog...).


P.S. These are the spoons I'm trying to dig up any info on, just in case you wondered. They are not moustache spoons, sadly.