Circus T-shirts!

[photographermolly]

So, I know we've been talking about this for about a year, but I think we should finally make t-shirts for circus folk unite!

I can design them over jan term or something and we can make them for spring. Any ideas for what to have on them or what they should look like? I think Tara had a list of ideas at some point, a long time ago.

Silhouette of an acro position, or juggling or poi or something?
Keep staring I might do a trick?
I think someone had the idea at some point of having the names of the shows you've been in on the back.

thoughts?

[acrobaticmisfit]

Sounds great. I'll buy one. I did this with Fel for the umass juggling club way back in the day - expect the price to go up considerably if you individualize the shirts (e.g. naming the shows you've been in on the back).

They make a great prize to give away at shows and conventions too. Not to mention income if you sell enough.

My only real suggestions are keep it simple and legible. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you artsy ladies cook up.

[contactsarah]

If you need anything drawn I'd love to help!

[Blue Hair Sar]

I definately want one: I think it should either be juggling or acro: juggling is probably the most widely associated thing with circus, but acro is something that practically everyone has tried with cfu at some point.

I agree with the small but legible. I typcically don't really wear T-shirts unless I've "altered" them, and smaller designes typically work better with that. However, if it had my name or something on the back, i might keep it as is!... Hmm, so maybe something like a juggle/acro sillouette with a small"circus folk unite" written under it.


Hm, i agree with joe on pricing too... BUT! what we could do is get the main t-shirt design, and then we can have one circus meeting where poeple who have ordered shirts can personalize them with spray paint! We can make stencils and spray paint either our name or our "circus title" (i.e. official shutterbug, david bowie impersonator, etc.) on that back; It would be a fun bonding activity! Not that we really need it, but still, bwah hah hah

[contactsarah]

Oooh! I think the spray paint party idea is really nice! We could make stencils for each of the shows too if we wanted (it'd be like a girl scout vest! Ha!). As for the main design, I think it'd be nice to somehow incorporate more than just one part of circus to keep with the whole Circus Folk Unite theme. Like maybe some kind of multi-armed, handbalancing clown holding juggling clubs, and um...a ball of fire and um...poi and....well, that might be a little terrifying, but something along that kind of line. Personally I like BIG designs on my t-shirts even though I tend to alter my shirts too, but really I guess the size would just depend on whatever the picture ends up being.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know where the Frisbee team get their jackets/shirts made? I would think it would have to be some place fairly affordable since there are SO many people that buy them.

[Dani]

I can look into that - I know that the jerseys are expensive, but i think the t shirts must be local - I'll ask in Jan

[tarapeze]

awesome! i'm all about the individualizing party, that also goes with our sense of style, that we each bring our own thing, so really there should be a lot of encouragement to 'alter' yr shirt as much as you like... & ppl can continue wearing one shirt with their name & shows they've been on, events they've performed at, etc. -even their skills if they like. walking portfolios!

i think we should def try to find some way to combine lots of skills/disciplines into one image, or have a few. though perhaps we could just make the 'circus folk unite' name really stylised? what else is circus, but not specific? a tent, perhaps? uh, the south lounge?

and i REALLY like the 'keep staring, i might do a trick' idea!!

[Blue Hair Sar]

THE SLOUNGE! hee!

[sarahonfire]

I went through this looking for Tshirts for the Tonics. Kennedy Printing in NoHo does them, that's where the EMS gets shirts. You can get them as cheap as $12ish/shirt with single-color printing if you just want basic tees, but if you want something nice like polos they can be as expensive as $35 each. I have a catalogue in my room, I'll share it with the signers as soon as we get back up! Sorry I haven't been paying attention to the board... Also, I'm working on a single-color design for the shirt...

Also, I'd prefer the image be larger so that it's really noticeable! Maybe we can compromise on a medium image?

[meggie]

ah... just a thought, how about some costume piece that is not a t-shirt, but more like a cape, or belt, or sash, or hat, or, or, or... I mean t-shirts are all well and good, but if we are thinking of wearing them for street performances, they might make us look too cohesive and detract from our rag-tag look. Now capes, thats something handy. Also, once the clothing article is aquired, it is simple to make them into group t-shirts for quite a low cost (stencils and spray paint, iron ons, sewn on letters, fabric markers, puffy paint, you get the point) If we make them, it would not only be fun, but we could also personalize them.
--Meggie

[sarahonfire]

Here, though it's a crappy picture of a crappy drawing, it's an idea....

[Blue Hair Sar]

oh, that's cute!

And, although I like your idea, meggie, I would like to try the t-shirt first. Maybe next semester we could try a more creative article depending on the success of the t-shirt.

Also, question: Would we consider selling these at shows? Or are they a CFU memeber only thing?

[acrobaticmisfit]

I want a circus cape! That's an awesome idea. Whether or not we end up donig the shirts or whatever I'm totally making myself a cape.

wooooo!

[photographermolly]

As much as I'm a computer-based graphic design person, I'm starting to think more about the idea of a stencil-based type logo.

If the design was a stencil, we could easily put them on anything, at anytime. People could provide whatever shirt they wanted, and we could also put it on other things - capes (AWESOME), hats, pants, sweatshirts, etc..

And they should probably mostly be for members, but maybe we could make some that said something like official groupie, or roustabout, to sell at shows?

I'm taking a weeklong stencil art class at smith in january, so hopefully I'll get better at that kind of thing!

[arturus]

Circus capes would be amazing, and I like molly's ideas.