FAITH NO MORE IS BACK!!!!!!!!!

"Faith No More has always stood out as some sort of unique beast; part dog, part cat—its music almost as schizophrenic as the personalities of its members. When it all worked, it worked really well, even if the chemistry was always volatile. Throughout our 17years of existence, the mental and physical energy required to sustain this creature was considerable and relentless. Though amicable enough, when we finally split, we all followed paths seemingly destined to opposite ends of the universe.

Yet during the entire 10 years that have passed since our decision to break up we've experienced constant rumors and requests from fans and promoters alike. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, none of us kept in regular touch, much less to discuss any possibilities of getting together.

What's changed is that this year, for the first time, we've all decided to sit down together and talk about it. And what we've discovered is that time has afforded us enough distance to look back on our years together through a clearer lens and made us realize that through all the hard work, the music still sounds good, and we are beginning to appreciate the fact that we might have actually done something right.

Meanwhile we find ourselves at a moment in time with zero label obligations, still young and strong enough to deliver a kickass set, with enthusiasm to not only revisit our past but possibly add something to the present. And so with this we've decided to hold our collective breaths and jump off this cliff....
BACK, GOD FORBID, INTO THE MONKEY CAGE!!!

We can only hope that the experience of playing together again will yield results erratic and unpredictable enough to live up to the legacy of FNM.
Who know where this will end or what it will bring up...only the future knows. But we are about to find out!

FAITH NO MORE are:
Mike Bordin, Roddy Bottum, Bill Gould, Jon Hudson and Mike Patton"



I.... might actually be able to see the beast, the men, the legend, live, in concert. Oh sweet monkey jesus. It's almost too much to bear.

So, here's the design I finally ended up going with. Many thanks to those of you who gave me feedback and comments. It was really genuinely helpful. I still feel like the design was a little too rushed, and the drawing is kinda crappy. But ultimately that's my fault for putting it off as long as I did. The shirts came out really well, though :)

Printing them was a bit of an adventure. Printing with waterbased ink without retarder SUCKS. Printing waterbased ink without a heatgun or flash dryer SUCKS. I really need one or the other, preferably both, ASAP. In the end I was only able to get about six printed before I had to clean out the screens and start again. My boss has been really helpful and supportive though. He gave me a catalyst to mix into my inks which helps them stay in the shirt since I don't have a proper dryer, and he just tonight gave me a chemical I can mix in that--while not strictly a retarder--should serve the same function. I'll hopefully try it out later this week.

But I have to say, the registration is PERFECT! Absolutely spot-on. I couldn't have asked for better results from my little press :)

If anyone is interested, I've been uploading pictures of my various printing projects to my Flickr account, and I just uploaded a couple videos of my press to YouTube.




I know that I haven't spent much time on LJ lately, and I do miss it. I've not been keeping yall abreast of my projects, and I'm hopelessly behind on my f-list. But the simplest way I can put it is that things are good, things are busy (crazy busy almost!) but the things going on are exciting and positive.

I hope yall are well!
-P.

And now, here it is, 100%, COMPLETELY finished :)

Last night I affixed the final 2 pairs of clamps to the last two heads, completing this project I started almost two weeks ago. It's a huge load off my mind and I'm really excited to try it out :)

I think I was actually a little worried that I wouldn't be able to pull it off; a printing press is a precision machine, and I am after all just building this thing by hand out of shit from Lowes. But I'll be damned, there she is :)

Here are some detail shots. And again, I promise better pictures when my cardreader unfucks itself (or I get a new one).


I know as I work with it there will be things here and there I'll need to fix and modify. I sat and talked with my boss about it for a while and he made some suggestions about things I could fix right now--such as reinforcing the platen arm--which is admittedly a bit flexible--with a pair of 2x4s on their side bolted in underneath. The shirt platen is also unlevel, which I'm going to fix with some cardboard shims this evening.

Hmm, I really want to give it a name. And, I've been kinda daydreaming about giving it an awesome nautical/maritime theme paintjob--turn the tabletop into a treasure map, paint a big nautical star on the top crossbar, affix chair legs to the rotating platen to make it look like a ship's steering wheel, and then give the legs a sort of water-like paint job. Heh, and the name should be the name of either some famous ship or ship's captain, maybe a pirate. Was there a pirate named BlueBeard? I seem to remember there being one, that might work ;)

Man, this weekend is really going to be whole big printgasm as I break in my new press, and probably print a new batch of business cards, too :)

Happy weekend to ME :)

-P.

As of right now.

Yesterday I affixed the rotating platen and did some prep work for the next few steps. Today I attached the platen arm, platen arm support, registration/off contact blocks and most importantly, the print arms.

And I am proud to say that it is completely precise :) The arms lock snugly down into the blocks, hitting the exact same place every time with no give or play. PERFECT.



Umm... I think this is all pretty much to spec of the original plans, except the order in which I attached everything. I have to admit, I was really skeptical of their registration method (the two rectangular white blocks the arm is sitting between in this picture). I was skeptical enough that I even designed and built alternate parts just in case. But my hat is off, they work perfectly.

What I did differently is this: they have you assemble the arms, and attach them to the rotating platen before you attach it to the lazy susan (and after you affix the registration blocks). That seemed dodgy as fuck to me. If you hadn't gotten everything perfectly straight, you were EFFED. So, I built the arms, attached the rotating platen, attached the registration blocks, and then I mounted each arm to the rotating platen INDIVIDUALLY, as it was being held in place by the registration blocks, thus assuring a tight fit every time.

Oh, and I promise better quality pictures when my computer recognizes my card reader again.

Gotta jet! But, should only be a couple more days till it's totally done!! sweet!!!
-P.

Hm, I really should have been making these updates more regularly, but let's see if I can catch up a bit. This was as of a few days ago. At this point, I hadn't made any modifications to the design.

Oh, and I really should have posted this one first as [Press Build] #0, since it's really the first image of the press, still at the hardware store, heh.


[Press Build] #3

At this point the only change I'd made is that I've shortened the press by 3" from the original design. The plans specify that it was built for a 6' tall person. Well, I'm 5'8" and when I put the platen arm on to see where it fell, it was way too tall, so I brought it down to my size. Obviously I had to adjust the diagonal supports, too. I think I placed that shelf such that I can slide a tupperware thing under it.

Aaaaand real quick before I go, here's a shot of the shirt platen. (At the time this picture was taken, I'd only put 4 of the 8 small wood pieces on.) I heavily modified how this is assembled. I created a jig to use with a drill press to ensure that each 1/2" hole was in the same spot along one axis for those small wood pieces, and the 2x4 platen arm. I then fed a 1/2" hex bolt (the instructions called for a 3/8" bolt--asinine) through all three pieces, glued and screwed the small wood pieces into place, thus ensuring that a) the fit of the platen to the arm would be snug and b) that everything would line up when it was go time.

If you ever try to build this, understand that their instructions for the shirt platen DO NOT WORK as they are--you'll need to refigure them to ensure accurate results!

-P.

I'll try to update again later if I have time. The press is already further along than this.

Oh, maybe I never clearly stated.

I've decided to build this.


BOOM.

-P.

Holy crap!!!

So, this is one of the gifts I got back from the art meme from earlier this year. Lisa handmade these ROCKIN little day of the dead dolls! Thanks so much Lisa, they're badass!!

I set them up on that little 'island' on the middle of my press today at work. They probably won't stay there, though; they'll get covered in spray-tack, which'll make them look grimy and like they're covered in spider webs. Hm... that might be awesome, though.....

So dig me, a week or two ago, I got an email saying that Laurence (the lead guy of the band who played at the Arts Market back in December) was organizing a regular art event at Salvador Deli (a fucking FANTASTIC sandwich and beer shop) in NoDa for first fridays, and it was kicking off this weekend. So I called him and reserved a spot. Basically, 12+ local artists crammed themselves into the parking lot and patio at Salvador Deli hawking our delightful wares whilst a couple local bands played on stage. It was a great fucking time!

Heh, and apparently, I was on Fox News (local) friday night, hahhaah. As we were setting up Friday afternoon, two young guys, one with a camera, one with a mic, came into the patio and started talking to people. They were trying to do a story for the news that night about how social networking sites affect businesses. So I got interviewed about that and about whether I thought they were a distraction at work. I don't have internet access all day at work, so it's kind of a non-issue for me, but I tried to get across that sure they're a distraction, but so is ANY website.

Gotta tell ya I feel a little dirty being on fox news, ha.

And, at some point during the night, a guy named Brennan came up to me and asked if I wanted to come back out for an event they were throwing there saturday night and set up again. I was pretty socially exhausted but decided to do it. So, saturday I drove back down and set up again. It was a different crowd, but still a lot of fun people to hang out with, and I sold some stuff too, so score :) There was live hoola hooping too!

I'm finding that I really like the 'art festival' context for displaying my art. I dunno, there's no pretense, trying to make things seem fancier than they are. Everyone's there, relaxed, having some beers and having a good time. It just feels right for what I guess I'm trying to do. Props to Jen H, Chris, Katja and Ben, Laurence, Swink, DAG, Stuart (of Salvador Deli) and everybody else involved! Thanks Chris, Becca, Rachel, Devin, Boyd and Billy for coming out!


In related news, I almost ran out of business cards Friday night, and figured I didn't have enough for saturday. I tried to get geared up to print a new batch saturday, but setup time was at 5 and I just didn't have enough time. But I didn't want to be the jackass with no business cards, so what did I do? I made a rubber stamp business card. Hahaha!

"Rubber Stamps™! When you absolutely GOT to have a business card in no time flat!" Hot. Hand Printed. HAMazing. Hehehe, this makes me chuckle. I probably drew and carved the whole thing in under an hour. It was super rushed and not as nice looking as it could have been. Maybe I'll do a nicer linocut version at some point, scan and screenprint a batch of 1-color cards from it.

-P.

And I haven't even gotten around to writing about how awesome my girlfriend is, sheesh, tons to post about!

Hey guys, so, you remember the All Arts Market fest I was a part of back in December? Well there's a mini one tonight (Friday Night) in NoDa at Salvador Deli!

There will be artists exhibiting their work from ~6-10pm and great live music throughout the night. Salvador Deli has a great selection of beers and AWESOME sandwiches, so it's guaranteed to be a good time :)

I'd love it if you charlotte folks would come out and check out my booth, and bring your cameras 'cuz I'd love to have pictures of it! Salvador Deli is right at the corner of 36th and N Davidson.

Come out, bring friends and support local art!

-P.

I think twitter is pretty stupid, however, Fazed.org posted a link today to Nick Nolte's twitter account. Within 10 posts, I was laughing so hard tears were streaming down my face, my lungs were burning, and I could neither breathe nor speak. Please, enjoy responsibly.

Humor like this makes the world a better place.

Gary Busey's is pretty funny, too.

Enjoy,
-P.

Howdy yall! I'm very pleased to announce that I've finally worked my iPod cases up to the point that they're ready for the general populace. And I now have four of the li'l beauties available at my etsy store--3 skulls and a cupcake. So go check em out!

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade flameswithin.etsy.com

And hopefully sometime soon I'll have cases available for other versions, such as the iPod Touch/iPhone and iPod Nano! If you'd like me to custom make you a case to fit your device, just let me know!

Cheers!
-P.

So, about a month ago, I signed up for a meme committing me to make something for the first six people who signed up. I ended up doing a little more than that, but it's ok. These are the results.


First up, for Jenn pac, a new headband, since her manfriend Richard vomitsaw stole the last one I made for her. This one's a little more fancy than that though; I took the opportunity to redraw her horns, and add a decorative stitched border around the front. Er... and ignore that huge spot in the hem where I clearly fucked up, lol. Modelled by my roommate Jen.





Next up, iPod cases for four lovely people: Ali mckenzee, Josh joshtothemax, Laura alethalruby, and Aubrey spookyelectric1. Note the custom hand-screenprinted designs on Josh and Aubrey's ;) Fun stuff :) And, I fixed the tops on Josh and Laura's so they don't look quite so fucking bobo now.



For Lisa mishmashed, who requested not an iPod case, but a woodcut, I made this, heh. I haven't had a chance to print it yet, but I should be doing that one night this week. Once it's printed, I'll watercolor it or tea paint it. The image is flipped, so you can read the text. This was a hell of a lot of fun to make actually. I haven't worked much with wood, and when I have it's always been a nightmare. But I carved pretty much all this in the "proper" way, using a single blade and carving out each line individually, rather than just using U and V gouges like I would with linoleum.






And, for my friend Tim, I drew up this pretty wicked skull and screenprinted it to some purple fabric and sewed up him up a case. I've gotten a lot better at making these. In the end, it turns out that while machine sewing is fine for the inner and outer linings, to stitch the top in place, I pretty much have to hand-sew it if I want good results. I discovered this doing Aubrey's, which was too small to even attempt machine sewing. I've got some more cupcakes and skulls printed to a couple different fabrics. I may sew up some more of these and try selling them on etsy.



Anyway, gotta run to work, but wanted to share these.

Later, yall!
-P.

At last! New, from The Shallow End Press--the When You Are Squeezed shirts are NOW AVAILABLE at my Etsy store!!!

The prints came out really well--all the fine details of the original linocut printed true. The shirts are high quality Anvil raglan 3/4 length sleeve shirts, and they're printed with high quality waterbased ink, so the print is SUPER soft on the shirt; you'll never know it's there!

I hope you enjoy wearing them as much as I enjoyed making them!

-P.

What up y'all. Having car trouble this morning. Seems the battery's dead. I hope that's all it is.

While I wait on the tow truck though, thought I'd post this. Went to the Flying Saucer saturday night. Place was packed. I ended up sitting on a trunk in a corner, sketching while I waited for an actual place to sit.

While I was doodling, a waitress came over to me. She'd served me and a couple guys from work when we ate there one day, and she liked the chili pepper and smoke I was drawing on the back of a coaster, so I left it for her. Well, turns out, she'd taped it securely to the front of her receipt/order book. It really brightened my day :)

So, while I was there, I drew this up on the back of another coaster and left it for her. I had some colored pencils with me, so color this time. I thought it came out pretty well. And I like the design, too. I might do this up as a larger piece sometime.

Later,
-P.

Happy new year everybody!

И для вас в Россий, с новым годом!!!

-P.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Heh, it seems that ghetto-fabulous carpentry is getting to be a bit of a habit for me ;)

So, one night back in Bama, I found a whole stack of mohawk drawing paper and some wood that once was someone's bed sitting outside a dumpster. I kept the wood around thinking I would build an exposure unit with it. Since my boss lets me make screens at work, I haven't needed one, so the wood sat. Then, just a couple weeks ago, I got the great idea to turn that wood into a flat file! And, I realized I could just build it right into the underside of my kitchen/work table!

So I did, and while it's not the sturdiest thing in the world, it came out pretty well. So far, the major design flaw is the shelves are big enough for my roommate's smaller cat to get into. I don't want him shedding his nastiness all over my nice clean paper, so I'm gonna have to find some way to securely cover all the sides before I start really using it.

Oh, and if you find you don't have the right tool for the job, IMPROVISE, LOL.

In other news, I'm trying out flickr as an alternative to LJ's scrapbook. Scrapbook is disappointingly underdeveloped, and I really like the social networking aspects of flickr. We'll see how it goes. If you've got a flickr and want to be friends, then let's!

-P.

What up y'all! I kinda wanted to keep this under my hat until I was further along, but I'm way too excited for that, SO, dig it:

Ever since I made those screenprinted patches a while back, and found out about ThreadBanger, I've sort of had sewing on my mind. So, while I was home for xmas, I got my mom to show me the basics of using a sewing machine, and she lent me an old singer machine she's not using anymore.

For my first project, I decided I want to make iPod cases, for myself, to give to friends, and to sell on Etsy.

This was my prototype. I can't fucking believe it went this well! It's a little snug, but it fits like a GLOVE! I also can't believe that in the span of... probably 2 hours total (over a few days) I went from not knowing how to use a sewing machine, to making a fucking iPod case, complete with soft cotton lining!!!

[Edit: After sliding it in and out a few times, the case has stretched out (*juvenile chuckle*) and the fit is absolutely perfect :)]

I LOVE MAKING SHIT!!!!!

-P.

Hm.... something is amiss. Could you leave a comment and tell me what LJ icon you see with this post? It *should* be Sam from the shallow end as a Zombie, seemingly screaming or roaring or something. What *I* see on my screen, is some dude's face I've never seen before with the text "what the fucking fuck."

This has actually happened once before, where one of my LJ icons was switched with some stupid anime icon I'd never seen before. After a while, it switched back on its own, then it switched again to the same icon, and I just deleted it.

This is dumb. What's up?

-P.

Hmm... it's fixed now. Dunno what the deal is. Given the evidence, two things come to mind. 1) temporary database error on the part of LJ, or 2) someone--a friend or stranger--has access to my LJ and is fucking with me, in a very subtle way. Obviously I hope it's not the second.

[Edit: Nevermind.]

All Arts Market!
Phew, gonna be tired tomorrow, but I really wanna get all this out :)

So, the art festival was December 10th, and holy crap it was AAAWWWWESOME!!! Shannon (of NoDaRioty) had the Neighborhood Theater PACKED OUT with 90+ local artists who did all kinds of different work. It was an absolute blast to get to walk around and see what kind of work my peers here in town are doing. We've got some good stuff going on!

I left my table several times and went around meeting the folks whose work I liked the best. I gave out a ton of business cards (more on that in a sec), but unfortunately, I only got like 2 or 3 in return, so I don't have a way to get in touch with most of the folks I met :( I still need to email the cute hippy chick I met who had a bunch of print work and was wanting to learn how do more. These folks were pretty friggin awesome. Oooh! And to top it off, there was a cash bar, and my favorite deli (Salvador Deli) was there selling sandwiches to boot!


The event had live music the whole time--a local band was there playing the whole time, and I actually really enjoyed it. It was pretty eclectic as there were a lot of members that sort of came and went as they pleased, so a lot of different styles were represented. They were playing a lot of funk, almost hip hop towards the end of the night. The only downside was that there were artists packed into the theater all the way up to the stage, meaning that talking to patrons was almost impossible for artists close to the stage-----like I was, hahaha. It's all good, though. It was disappointing to have that hindrance, but I really enjoyed the music, and danced right there at my booth.

I really enjoyed this particular festival and will absolutely participate the next time they do one, but I also really enjoyed the festival context in general as a way to show my work and meet people. It's something I'd like to do a lot more often :)


( A bunch more awesome stuff--Cameron and Becca helping me do business cards, and the movie party, with pics! Cut for length. )

-P.

I'm sorry ElJay, I've been neglecting you (though I'm pretty caught up on my f-list!) Let's see if I can unload some of the stuff I've been wanting to post about.

So, I made Christmas cards again this year. And, though they didn't come out much better than last year's I am sending this crop out :)

Er... shit, looking back, man, I should have sent those out, they looked AWESOME. But I digress...

So yeah, I made crimmas cards. They're screenprinted, 3-colors on the outside, 1 on the inside, and all from hand-drawn films. Now... I think they look a little busch league (though apparently in about a year I won't, lol), but they're pretty. Basically, when I had the idea, I was so stoked on it, I executed them really fast. I wanted them to look hand-drawn... but I didn't want them to look like a five year old drew them, which they do, lol. But así es la vida.

The images are "ojos de dios," or "god's eyes." I've no idea their religious significance, but I remember that as a kid, we would make them every year and hang one at the top of our christmas tree. It's part of my puerto rican heritage, and they've always reminded me of christmas time, so I thought they'd be pretty good fodder for a card.


Pretty much each one is unique; I printed them 4 at a time, and switched colors a few times each layer, so almost every one is individual.

Hope everyone has a good holiday :)

-P.