My obsession with seltzer

I was a huge sugar addict when I was a kid.  Passing around sugar packets at school, and drinking tons of juice, soda, and powdered sugary drinks were quite normal.

I continued this behavior through school and once I got to college it caught up to me.  Cavities and weight gain acted like bouncers to a sugar club.  I soon started having acid reflux issues after college and I knew I needed to cut back.

My wife got me into Poland springs seltzer and as an adult I loved it.  I specifically loved the taste of the water used from the Maine based seltzer company compared to say Polar seltzer.  I visited the old facilities during a trip to Maine a few years ago to pay my respects.

Unfortunately, Poland Spring is now owned by Nestle.  I associate Nestle with chocolate and chocolate water sounds wrong on several levels.  Not to mention the fact that a huge corporation "sitting on the mountain" of what I used to enjoy.

A few years ago, we wanted to reduce the amount of plastic we were recycling and we bought a Soda Stream.  It has been a wonderful experience reusing the same container I had when I first bought the machine making seltzer on demand.

Last year I made a major effort to remove sugar from my diet while adhering to the Tim Ferriss Slow Carb diet.  That meant half Trader Joes mango juice half seltzer drinks got the kibosh, but Tim recommended squeezing the juice from a lemon slice into a glass of water before each meal.  I squeezed my lemons into seltzer and fell in love.

It was the natural taste of lemons in a refreshing carbonated drink that really won me over.  The most natural soda a guy can get.  As this week has warmed up and I've seltzerfied myself, I can say I'm ready for the warm weather.

Here's a new series graphics inspired by my history with seltzer.  These are all available now via Society6.com.

Wash Test: Sharpie Versus Dick Blick Block Print Paint

I really enjoy working with sharpie's brush tip markers.  They are perfect for writing + drawing on shifting t-shirts material.  The only setback is they don't have that immediate painted look that is quite attractive and seen with inks for linocut or block print.  This thicker painted look takes several layers of ink.  I grabbed dick blick's block print inks and made a tshirt.  I also grabbed one of my sharpie brush tip drawn tees and threw them both in the wash.  I've done 2 washes so far and the results were a bit surprising to me.

Before washing:  Sharpie Fabric Pen on the left, Dick Blick Block Print Ink on the right

After the 1st wash

I'm not sure if I was supposed to add an additional varnish or protective layer to the blick paints but they flew right off.  My washing machine was not tinted red and yellow, in case you were wondering.

It seems like the sharpie fabric inks stayed put!  After doing this little test, I realize that writing "wash 1" or whatever wash I was on after each wash would help me organize my results.

Other washing info:
- T-shirts were washed and dried before any fabric ink or paint was applied.
- After the t-shirt was drawn on or painted, it was flipped inside out and washed with cold water with Method pump detergent.

Only dye bleed was from the Hanes logo tag (go figure) and I cut those tags after the first wash.  I have a few more hanes tees left, but I've purchased white Gildan t-shirts, and hemp, bamboo, and organic cotton tees + bags from ONNO for prime time which is a craft fair in October and the Winter 2012 Bizarre Bazaar (if I get in) in December.

T shirt time!

I love t-shirts!  I've always wanted to try putting designs on t-shirts and I have taken a few steps towards that path.  I want to see how the fabric inks hold up to being washed, but I love the process of drawing on a shirt or carving out patterns out of blocks.  I plan on posting the process from start to finish after a few more experiments.

I used sharpies fabric markers for the intricate geometric t-shirt and eye t-shirt.  The large fall color prints were made by carving out rubber blocks.