One of the lighter shirts I own, that I got last summer here in Japan. Japan is brutally humid and hot in the summer so I wore it almost every day, it’s all torn up and ratty now, and my wife hates it. But I love the color and feel and cut so I decided to personalize it a bit with some embroidery. This design is based on the “Spider Glyph” from the mysterious Nazca lines. I’ve always wanted to see those things, they’re very strange and intriguing.
A shirt I made for my mom based on a drawing I found on a box of Japanese candy. I took me a really long time to decided what to put on this shirt, eventually, a coworker gave me a box of candy from her hometown and it hit me. I meant, originally, to do a bunch of different insects but I didn’t like how it was looking. Maybe someday I’ll return to that idea. This shirt also has two eyes of this style on the back.
An old friend of mine sent me a scarf to embroider a few weeks ago. I always love doing stuff for old friends and when I thought about my time with this person I remembered all the Skunks we used to see around. I knew this person in San Francisco, when I spent a summer there. We were both students at the university and, for whatever reason, that campus was (is?) crawling with skunks. Despite their reputation, we both loved these little critters and whenever I see one, even to this day, I’m reminded of this person and that summer is SF.
This shirt is one I’ve been fooling around with for a while. It’s a sort of “doodle” shirt, I’ve been adding things on to it without much forethought. There is sort of deep-sea theme on the bottom and a medieval monster theme on the two sleeves. I had someone react very badly to the eyes on the back the first time I wore the shirt. Some woman, deep in a mental health crisis, was following me around for a while, very closely, triggered by these unblinking eyes. I’ll keep adding and updating this one
Shirt I made for my buddy Brian who, being much smarter than I, graduated with a Doctorate in $. Even as a kid TheBaron had what seemed to be dozens of geriatric cats in his house. He’s continued this into adulthood so I decided to honor his love of cats as well as his taste for prescription amphetamines. The base shirt is from one of those Chinese websites that don’t believe in copyright law. Originally, this Adderall ad campaign was called “Be you but better” which I wish was on the shirt. There are 2 cats on the back of this as well
When my hair grows long it becomes nearly impossible to fit hats on my large, beautiful head. Fortunately, this hat appeared at the shelter I work at exactly as both the length of my hair and the weather mandated a hat. It’s nylon, 5-paneled, and pulled tight with an elastic rope. Plus, since it’s drab and Columbia, it fits right in here in Seattle. I’ve wanted to put the term, ξενία on a hat for a while. Originally, the idea was to put the term on a purple hat since ξενία is a virtue associated with Zeus and he is also associated with purple. I actually tried it on a UW hat but torn the hat up trying to rip off the embroidery that was already on the hat. I learned my lesson and didn’t remove the indigenous logo on the hat, I merely blasted over it with my shaky greek. I tried to match the color of the hat to make it more subtle and I do like the way it turned out, tho I wish more of the logo was covered. ξενία is an important concept to me. As someone who lives the way I do, it’s something I relay upon. I do believe it to be largely universal. I can think of Pashtun and Japanese versions, to name two far-flung examples. Likewise as our world becomes more interconnected and climate change renders much of this planet unlivable we’ll have to adopt a modernized concept of ξενία or really go full Black Iron Prison. It’s nice to have a hat.
A co-worker gave me this jacket, which is needs front pockets but that’s a whole other story (it also has snap buttons, which is strange on a military garment), and my immediate thought was to put the Ancient of Days art on the back. I’m always on some Wm. Blake shit but especially recently for whatever reason. Trying to get more into his personal, bizarre theology. For instance, the character on the back is technically “Urizen,” which is, to simplify, Blake’s version of YHWH. Deep stuff, I’d encourage you to read up. I initially wanted to embroider it but decided that the image was beyond my powers, so I did my other trick of getting a t-shirt company to print a shirt then put in on the back. I like that it looks like he’s measuring my ass.
Took this Tommy Bahama shirt from work, it’s the same style but a different color as the abstract shirt immediately below this entry. It’s all over jellyfish, there’s a bunch on the back and sleeves. I haven’t had many opportunities to wear this one yet due to weather.
One of two shirts I made for my gf’s brother and his partner. I “thrifted” these shirts at the shelter, this yellow one is a Tommy Bahama “Relax” shirt, and put on this abstracted design that’s based off of a style of doodle I’m fond of creating. This is the first non-figurative item I’ve made and I do like it, hard to part with them honestly. I choose the colors to be the reverse of one another. This took much longer to create than I expected.
See above. This one is a Ralph Lauren shirt and, again, I like it but it took a long time.
K8 and I switched families for holiday presents so I choose these two denim shirts to go to her parents. Based on her advice I put the Crested Crane on this one for her mother. I thought of doing the version that is on the Ugandan flag but It didn’t pop enough in the plumage. She (and k8 and her husband) lived in Africa generally, and Uganda specifically, for a long time and she’s a birder.
This is the matching denim shirt for K8’s dad. He wanted an elephant. At first I considered putting the version that was on the Dahomey Kingdom’s flag to go with the Ugandan flag inspired shirt for his wife but then decided just doing the head was better and his connection to the, truly fascinating, Dahomey is tenuous since he nor them ever lived in West Africa. Either way, I’m pleased with this, though slightly concerned the tusk is too short.
Ouroboros Shorts for a good friend. In theory, I exchanged this for jewelry, tho I haven’t received it yet. Which makes sense, she’s a much more gifted jeweler than I am an embroiderer. The shorts have some spandex in them, which made this a bit tricky, but otherwise I like the way they turned out, lots of pop with this color combo. I choose this particular alchemical symbol since it reminds me of the friend, who has always struck me as particularly attuned to the cyclical nature of time. On the back I stitched ZONE11 over both back pockets, since I’m quasi-obsessed with zones and she’s committed (to the point of tattooing it) to the number 11.
A jacket I embrodered for a co-worker. She asked for the laurel and told me I could add whatever I wanted. She’s Eritrean so I was originally going to add some Eritrean bird, but in doing research I noticed the National Seal of Eritrea which features a camel. I went ahead and did that, in a sort of hunter’s orange to offset the camo.
I’ve had this coat for years. It’s full of pockets and straps and whatnot, which, in addition to being waterproof, makes it a great Seattle winter jacket. Confusingly, it’s huge on me but is, apparently, a medium, at least according to the tag. It’s from a Korean clothing company. Are all Korean clothes this large? Is Korea a land of giants. I've lived in Koreatown and this didn’t seem to be the case, perhaps shorter Koreans are encouraged to immigrate. Who knows? Anyway, the Baba Yaga thing is from a t-shirt I found on Etsy. At first I wanted to embroidery this image but I don’t think I have the skill. This worked out well, I get stopped about it a lot. Everyone loves Baba Yaga.
These pants began life as a counterfeit or stolen pair of Pull & Bear, a Spanish chain that doesn’t have USA outlets, jeans I bought at a market in Mexico for very cheap. This same stand also sold me a sweater that I really cherished for a long time before giving it to someone in Madagascar, also Pull & Bear. The jeans began life white. White jeans are a lot; there are a few pictures of me on DF rooftops, looking beautiful and young, but I almost never wore ‘em. Therefore, I dyed the pants themselves green and embroidered the bottom. As for the color, I was hoping for something slightly darker but I’m pleased with the subtle marbling. For whatever reason, this problem is compounded in the photo, the pants are darker IRL. As for the embroidery, this time I went purely decorative and ornamental. Small triangles, in red, wrapping around the cuffs. I was going to fill them in, but I did a few and I didn’t like the way they looked so I stopped.
Sadly, since in live close to the poles, a long-sleeve thermal is as vital layer during the cold, dark, wet months. I copped the classic. White, stretchy, waffle-knit material, you know the one. Very Heroin Bob. It’s been sort of a pain since it’s white and I’m sloppy but what can you do? Anyway, I wanted to fancy the shirt up, so to speak, so I settled on an Egyptian theme. First, I put 2 Eyes of Horus on the cuffs. I had considered doing one Eye of Horus and one Nazar since they’re both protection amulets from the near-east. And they’re both eyes. But round images are harder for me to embroider and so I settled on two Eyes of Horus. Maybe another thermal shirt will get Nazars on the cuffs. Due to the sketchiness of the shirt, especially the cuffs, I embroidered the images on canvas that I then sewed on the cuffs. One eye is slightly larger than the other, but I’m right handed so it feels fine. Also, due to the fact that they eyes are oriented inward, I can hold my hands slightly in front of my waist and form the image of a face, with my dick as the nose. I’ve read before that Russian prison gangs have been known to tattoo eyeballs on the lower stomachs of prison sex-slaves to achieve a similar visual effect. Something to think about.
The back is an image of Aten that I drew with fabric markers then affixed to the shirt. It was surprisingly hard to sew on straight (it still might not be straight) given the sketchiness of the material. I’m also concerned that the colors aren’t vivid enough, I worry that it’ll fade or isn’t visible as yellow on a white background. If it fades all the way I might get an Aten t-shirt made then cut it into a patch. Irregardless, you gotta give it up to Aten one time. I believe his worship is the earliest case of monotheism available to us. In fact, I’m very into the religious history conspiracy theory that Akhenaten is Moses. That’s a pretty fringe but no one less than Freud has a whole book addressing the similarities between Atenism and Judaism. Akhenaten is also always rendered in a way I find very androgynous and, to use a modern term, gender-queer. In general, I consider monotheism a terrible mistake. It flattens divinity and is not in line with the actual experience of being alive. That being said, I understand the compulsion to worship the sun, especially here in Seattle where it’s such a rare treat. Either way, I like the shirt, might do a few more of these patches.
Pant I made in a class at Stitches. The woman who taught the class was, predictably, off the wall. She looked at me when I walked into the store the first time with surprise. She apologized and said that her dog hated men. Her dog was a small purse dog sort of thing that did growl and bark at me both 3 hour classes. She held the dog in her hands, even when showing us how to use the machine. It was like meeting Cruella de Vil. Anyway, making these was harder than I though. They turned out well but they don’t have pockets or a zipper. They comfortable but it’s hard to imagine how pants can possibly be so cheap at the store. I plan on getting a machine and remaking these but with a nicer fabric. The limiting factor with this seamstress thing seems to be how many practices or samples I’mma have to make before I get good enough to make something I really like. Oh, well, the task of a lifetime.
The first thing I’ve sewn. I took a class to learn how to sew and cut fabric and use a sewing machine. This is what I came up with, hopefully I’ll be making all my own everything soon.
Coho Salmon on the front of this soft, long-sleeve shirt.
Turkey Vulture shirt for my brother. This is the first one I’ve ever made expressly for another person. Asher selected the shirt and the animal and the colors. Also, there was a much nicer printer available to me in North Carolina which allowed me to print a larger image of the vulture (a Turkey Vulture to be specific, my brother insisted it not be an Old-World vulture) which I think makes it look better. Tried to do some of this in a moving car (on a road-trip where I saw no shortage of vultures) and it was totally unsuccessful. Makes since that embroidery would oppose cars. I have another shirt lined up to sew for someone but they haven’t given me guidance on what they want. We’ll see how that goes.
I got this shirt at a thrift store. The tag says it’s custom made in St. Paul by a company called “HALANCO” and the shirt itself has a sort-of mechanic or nurse feel, given the large pockets and zipper up the middle. The color of the shirt made me think of the ocean and my desire to channel SEAZADDY/POSEIDONREALNESS. Ergo the seahorse I put sort-of near the heart. It turned out better than I was expecting, frankly, I thought the yellow ribs wouldn’t show up in a space that small. Now the big questions, should I put another Seahorse on the other side or put an octopus there? UPDATE: The people have spoken and octopus it is. I would call this one slightly Minoan.
In 2008 I went to Ulaanbaatar, nominally to see the Naadam (three games of men) festival, but mostly to see what Mongolia is like. As you can imagine, they care very deeply for Genghis Khan, which, apparently, is better transliterated “Chinggis”. During their period of influence, the Soviet higher-ups suppressed what they considered local, nationalistic icons and figure-heads, people like the Great Khan, in an attempt to cultivate a more communistic and international set of ideals. Mongolia was the second country to have a successful Communist uprising in the 20th century (1924) so Temüjin had be official suppressed as a symbol of Mongolia for some time when the Mongolian People’s Republic fell in 1992. Almost overnight Chinggis was back in style. His image is all over the capitol. There seemed to be endless varieties of vodka with the Great Khan’s face on them. There is both a “Hollywood” style sign outisde the city, depicting his face in stone as well as a seated Temüjin directly in front of the Mongolian Parliament that more than half a dozen people pointed out to me is taller than the Lincoln memorial. Anyway, I bought this shirt that despite being an XXL never fit me; it wasn’t long enough. Eventually, almost a decade later, I finally accepted this fact and sewed it onto a sweater. No one has ever approached me about this piece of clothing but the actual history and legacy of the Great Khan is certainly tough to defend. I suppose there aren’t alot of “founding fathers” who aren’t drenched to their throats in blood.
I saw Young Thug when his tour stopped in LA in 2016. The show was great. For someone who’s so famously hard to understand, he very frequently did that thing where the DJ cuts the music to get the crowd to sing the second half of the line. The only downside what that his merch was/is boring. Thugger is such a unique artist and a unique dresser that it’s quite a confusing shame that his official offerings don’t represent that. Oh well, I suppose Thug has much more important things to occupy his time. Anyway, I wanted something cooler so I got this shirt from one of those Chinese websites that don’t care about trademarks/copyright law. I’m not sure Thug really has a Grateful Dead vibe, though he might have a Garcia-level drug habit in both intake and variety. But anyway, I bought the shirt then tie-dyed it, making it the laziest piece of clothing on this website. I did once have some express confusion when the found out that Young Thug was a real person since they had assumed I’d made up the rapper and the shirt as a sort of parody. What a strange thing for a hypothetical me to have done.
The first and my favorite in a series of birds/things with wings. My grandmother had a real deep thing for Giraffes. She had a whole house full of Giraffe stuff and one room in particular that was overflowing with various likenesses and depiction of these noble ungulates. I love their their long eyelashes and strange coloring. I love the way they seem to have come to visit us from a world with less gravity and how their gait reflects this. I love their silence (though I recently learned they hum to one another at night, at a range beyond human hearing, for unknown purposes). The idea of a Pegasus-Giraffe appealed to me and I think turned out pretty well. This one is probably still my favorite.
This was the first shirt I embroidered. The word I choose, “Soatsimanampiovana” is a Malagasy word that means something along the lines of “immovable beauty” or “unchanging goodness”. The word appears on the grave of Jean Leborad, a French adventurer. Leborad shipwrecked in Madagascar in 1831. Despite being only 26 he had a background in engineering and was able to establish a modern manufacturing system that could produce iron, blown-glass, muskets, cannons, etc. He gained favor with the Merina Queen, Ranavalona I, and was possibly her lover. Ranavalona I expelled all foreigners but Leborad, persecuted Christians and sought to insulate Madagascar from foreign influence. Eventually he was found to be involved in a coup and banished, only to return under Ranavalona I’s successor, Radama II. Leborad lived the rest of his life in Madagascar, eventually becoming the French Consul after France colonized the nation (in fact, issues surrounding Leborad’s compensation by the Merina court were one of the flimsy reasons the French gave for the Franco-Hova war that ended with Madagascar becoming a colony). The only reason I know all this is because the town that contains his grave, Mantasoa, is also the location of the Peace Corps Training Center in Madagascar and thus the first place I visited in the country. The town itself is typical of Highland towns. Small, cut through with rice fields, hilly and beautiful. However, it also boasts the ghostly wonderful remains of the factories that Leborad help build for his Queen. I used to visit these ruins alot when I lived in Mantasoa and think about what his life must have been like and how much he must have loved Madagascar and how much damage he ended up doing to it.
The first to break with the “birds/wings” theme the other shirts have going for them, this rabbit and moon shirt was inspired by a few different things. First and most obviously, the time period around when I created this shirt I was seeing rabbits constantly. For whatever reason, rabbit season 2018 was flush. Elmer Fudd would have not needed to work so hard to kill one particular rabbit. Also, I saw an exhibit of Japanese clothing and textiles in Portland that centered around rabbit/moon/wave imagery which is apparently a connection made in several East Asian cultures. On top of this, I know that in Aztec Mythology, the moon is also a rabbit (as are the 400 gods who represent drunkenness and revelry). So a rabbit and a moon seemed like a natural fit.
