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Sewing at first, was very frustrating to say the least. Forgetting to put the ‘foot’ down, then realizing after you’ve sewn a long line your f*ucked. BUT, practice, practice, f*ck up, practice…and you’ve begun to master an awesome tool. I have been experimenting with my sewing machine’s settings, different stitch patterns, lengths etc. I am really digging the the closer stitch zig-zag pattern. I am now using that stitch to sew on my BKNY labels as well as some funky add-ons (pictured above).

This shirt was made for my buddy Headhoods (happy bday cvg!). I’m thinking I may do this on all the Scissors tees, but we’ll see, I may also just wait for a new BKNY design to pimp.
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→BUY IT HERE


→BUY IT HERE
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As you can see from above, BKNY’s new scissors design is hand-printed by me at FLEAHEART’s studio. I can safely say I didn’t blow anything up or mess up any blanks, all-in-all a good first print run.

Also, (only fair) I made sure to print on a blank that I know the ladies dig (AA’s Tri-Blend Deep-V). Both designs came out great and interact well with the V’ed necks of both shirts.
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Well, it finally happened. With the iconic Mac mail ‘ding’, BKNY received its first order! Pictures above are of my poster prep for mailing. Hadn’t really thought about mailing labels, but I quickly threw one together, a little ink-jet hand stamp combo. They look great on the kraft tubes.

I have a feeling the word spread after giving a wayfarer print set to a certain bday girl (thanks Lauren!). But anyhow, it’s a great feeling knowing that someone will be enjoying my art on their apt walls. Not to mention, BKNY is on the map (as I tape up a dollar to my bedroom wall).

As for updates, I have been really concentrating on photography for my products. Can’t say how many times I have been switching pictures around but I’m getting more efficient as I become more familiar with my camera. I’m planning on printing (yes you heard it right, me and my hands!) my new design Friday. So expect it to be up for sale this weekend. I also came up with a real dope pillow case idea while napping (go figure). I’m thinking that will be my next thing to move on once my new shirts are up and running…one thing at a time.
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Above is a picture I snapped of Miso at Transmitter Park the other day. My new (refurbished) Canon EOS Rebel XS has become a permanent fixture hanging from my neck. I have been taking it everywhere I go trying to familiarize myself with its settings etc. Having a nice digital camera is totally worth it. I was a dummy for not having bought one sooner.

This morning (after realizing I needed a Camera RAW plugin for CS3), I finally had the chance to shoot and process RAW pictures. Above is the picture I am now using as my background on BKNY’s shop homepage (check it!). To put it simply, shooting RAW is the sh*t! Levels, cures, saturation…pffft! Using Camera Raw is ridiculous.

Lastly (above), my BKNY labels have finally arrived! The people over at Stadri hooked it up. They came out great! All BKNY products going forward will have one of these sewn in/on them.

Along with learning the in and outs of my camera, I am also going to have to learn how to sew. Luckily for me, my blank wholesaler is able to re-label for me so I will just be left with the pillowcases and anything other than shirts.
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It’s here…well sorta. Even though I have a ton of more work still to do, I decided early this morning (6am!) that today was going to be the day I pre-launch BKNY to the masses (via Facebook). I am very thankful for all the positive feedback I have been receiving and proud of what I have achieved so far, but far from being satisfied. Be on the look out for constant updates and new style releases in the near future as I try to expand BKNY creatively. I definitely have some stuff cooking on the back burner that I am really excited about.
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My mini photo shoot with Clint was a success. I was able to re-design my BKNY landing page yesterday (to what I originally had in mind). My metal rimmed tags and striped string also finally arrived. I am planning on hand stamping each side of the tag, then with a safety pin, affix them onto the shirts (hanging under the sleeve). All the pieces are coming together slowly. I can’t wait until I can hold up a completed product (or better yet, make my first sale!).

Besides BKNY, the word has gotten around that I’m kinda an indexhibit master. My friend Emily came over and I helped her install (and code) a site for her book covers she designs. That last picture was from our walk with miso. Greenpoint has great unobstructed views of Manhattan along the East River (blocks from my apt).
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Yesterday, besides being beautiful, was a really good day – by good, I mean really productive. The photos above are a recap of what I got done.

1. Paid visit to my silkscreener to finish up my first run of shirts, I chose to run my printed label in green for the organic blanks (peep the hand stamped size, uugh!).
2. I figured I might as well hang my bike to make space for my inventory and to re-organize my office/bedroom.
3. Clint came over (needed to borrow his camera) and while sippin’ on some red & white dyn-o-mites (roomate’s nickname), he helped me snap some cool pics for my BKNY website. That picture is from my roof (shot with my iPhone). I came to the realization (I overlook the East River), that until the high-rise boom hits Greenpoint, I have waterfront property, holla!

All in all a great day by all means. Hopefully I can keep this productive vibe going for the rest of the week. I still have to finalize my sew-in label and finish the retail portion of my website.
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It’s been a while since I have had any worthy design work to add to the ol’portfolio. Lucky for me, I was asked today at work to design a sell sheet for Olympic athlete Mirai Nagasu. Although I can’t fathom laying a huge program, sell sheet layouts give me the perfect amount of ‘editorial opportunity’ to experiment with design. My mind blows up if I have to layout more than 5 pages…I’m still trying to get better and more efficient.

I used to loathe getting any layout projects, but now I welcome them (1-5 pages). Typography is a heavily overlooked skill any great graphic designer must possess. I admit, I’m not where I want to be, but I think my layouts are starting to show promise.

Check out my collection of sell sheets:

• Camilo Villegas
• Luke Donald
• Filip Krajinovic
• Derek Hough

I’m excited I don’t have to ‘work’ tomorrow (I’m on call, I’m hoping they don’t call). I’m picking up my first batch of tees which are being finished tomorrow (exciting!). I also will have some more time to work on my retail site and think about my sew-on labels. This clothing venture (BKNY) has been a long process, but I’m making headway. I just have to fight my temptation to watch back to back to back episodes of LOST…just started season 3.
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I couldn’t keep the cat in the bag any longer…

Although as it stands, it’s nothing but a site that sells nothing, I figured I might as well put up a landing page for my BKNY brand (either that or a rubbish GoDaddy placeholder page). I had hoped to launch before summer is over, but now it’s looking like it’s probably going to be more like an early fall launch. Every time I think I am taking two steps forward, I find myself taking 3 steps back. I’m hoping my thoroughness pays off in the end (trademark, strengthening brand identity, photo shoots, flippin’ awesome site).

As of now, I have 2 designs at the printer and one other ‘hot’ item in the works. I did though pick up a bunch of sweet custom stamps this week from Casey’s. I highly recommend paying him a visit (rad ol’Irish dude). All you need is a black and white laser print out (to size) of your artwork and he’ll make you a stamp. Trust me, it’s worth it just to pay him a visit and shoot the sh*t, he is a trip.

In the meantime, you may want to look out for Clintees (an offshoot of Clint’s Headhoods line) which is probably dropping real soon.

On a totally different, I’m seeing Washed Out tonight at the Mercury Lounge, should be an awesome show, can’t wait!
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UPDATE – going on press this Wednesday for my shirts, yesssssss!

This past week I have been mia from posting because I have been busy trying to put together my new apparel line (!). It’s going to be real small to start (what I can afford). But what has been a long-time dream of mine ever since working in the industry is finally starting to come together. I’m not going to show anything yet, I’d rather drop everything (get the full experience) at once. I’m so excited to be finally selling something I created (had no one telling me what I should/shouldn’t be doing) – Take that man!

Anyhow, while my designs are at the local printer, I have been really focusing on the back end and branding (how my brand comes through via hangtag, sewn/printed labels, packaging etc) because that is something I think is important and for those who know me, take really seriously. I hope to launch within the month (may be wishful thinking), but we’ll see. I will definitely keep all my worlds (facebook, twitter, blog) posted on any progress.

Stay tuned…
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