TRANSFOOOOORM!!

Firstly (which, Mother, is in fact a word) I'd like to point out that the title is a reference to the Super Mario Galaxy. I feel obligated to do this because Super Mario Galaxy is one of the most innovative games I have ever played. I've had the privilege to play it and Portal in the same year. If you're even remotely interested in games you need to check those two out.

Like the Lumas in the newest Mario game, our little studio has transformed. We tore everything out of it, set all the junk out in the garage to donate to the Salvation Army, threw anything we could away, painted and I built the majority of my new desk in the span of 24 hours. It was quite impressive. I'm not sure if you remember, but back when I began screen printing I was working with what can only be described as a make shift set-up. Sam and I kept talking about "making the studio" but needed the right time and Winter Break presented the perfect opportunity.

With my incredible foresight, I snapped some pictures of the room a long time ago so when we finished I could post before and afters.

Here is my new screen printing area.

I know what you're thinking: "Is that a locker?" Yes, yes it is. I'm actually very proud of that locker. I salvaged it out of the old Mulberry Elementary school that was being decommissioned after new schools were built all over the district. They were tearing out all the old lockers while I was working for the school district one summer installing computers in all of the schools. There was a pile of probably a hundred lockers in the gym. A co-worked and I just grabbed a couple and threw them in the back of our cars. I'm assuming that was okay with everyone because we didn't really ask or anything. It's locker number 166 and you have to Fonzie it open because it's a little warped from years of 4th graders. The desk is a fantastic workbench my parents gave me for Christmas with the help of my grandmother. Stainless steel shelving and top, black glossy sheet metal and a fiberboard core top. Also heavy as all hell. I'm dieing to get some pegs for that pegboard. There's a few other things we need to finish up like Sam's sewing area and I need to get some covers for the outlets and switch.

This is the map we bought at an Antique store in Pittsburg, Texas, home of the first flying machine (those Wright brothers are liars) and the famous Hot Links. I'm starting to develop a taste for Hot Links, which is by no means good for my health. We're going to put up an arrow to every city we sell to in the United States. I'm going to have to get another map for Europe and the rest of the world for that matter. It is a map from above a chalk board, which I just realized goes well with the locker, kind of a school theme going on there. That's completely accidental.

In contrast, here is the old "studio."


I just threw up a little bit in my mouth. Now you see why we needed a makeover. You can even see Sam brooding in the corner, propped up against the mattress on the wall. Looking at this picture makes me feel kind of light headed. And to think that this was where I made every shirt that we sold. If people could have seen this I don't think they would have bought from us. Well let's hope that success is a mirror of the state of your studio. Once we get everything else set up in there maybe there will be even more pictures. It's kind of empty right now besides my workbench. I might go add some arrows to the map while I'm thinking about it.

I'm dieing to add your city, you should probably check out the shop and see if you can't help me out with that.