Divine - Learning, the struggle within and hours of laughter.

 If you don't love what you do then don't do it. I know it's easier said than done, but sometimes you have to Chuck it in the Fuck it Bucket. When me and Daz decided to work together we knew we were going to do it our way. We also knew it was going to be hard work and we were going to be learning a lot on the journey. But we also knew that we would have loads of fun doing it, or else why bother?

One of the first things we worked on, and certainly the one that taught us the most, wasn't actually our idea. It was a print of Divine, the notorious Drag Queen from the 80's (Pink Flamingos, Hairspray and songs such as 'You think you're a Man' and well erm that's it). A good friend, who we will call Louise, as it's her name, asked me if i could do a print of Divine for a 40th Birthday present. I said absolutely and immediately passed it on to Daz to sort. That's sort of how we roll, certainly in the early days anyway,  given that he was experienced in graphic design and i couldn't tell what end of the pencil was sharp. 

It was certainly a massive learning curve but one that helped us no end. Always learn from your mistakes. The first thing we (Daz) had to do was come up with a design. What he came up with was superb.

Now all we (Daz) had to do was to colour seperate it, print acetates, make a screen and print. Easy eh? Hmmm. It was all new to us and it was a lot of trial and error, and something that we though might take a day or two took us about a week and a half. Firstly, having never colour seperated before it was all about learning how, and it's not as easy as we thought. Once done though we had 4 colour templates. 

These were used to build up the colours on the image. We had to mix the paints and then EXPERIMENT. It took a while, bloody ages, and a fair few paint mixes, paper, swearing and lots and lots of laughter, but eventually we had a few versions we were happy with. One good one which went to Louise (Not her real name, although it is) and a couple we hoped to sell.

We were so happy with the results that we decided to publish the design onto Etsy and Redbubble and it is still one of our most sold designs. Well done me..erm (Daz) for the design and me (actually me for helping).

So, the moral, if there has to be one, which there doesn't as we are not an American sitcom, is work hard, play hard, laugh lots and enjoy what you do.

Until next time keep it Froody.

Paz and Daz

x

Introduction: Konnichiwa, Hola, Bonjour & Hello

Hello

My name is Paz and i'm one half of a T Shirt design and Print company called SporkDesign. Terrible name i know. I didn't choose it. That would be my best friend and the other 50%, Daz. 

We have been friends for roughly about 25 years and share a great love of Art, Humour, 80's TV, Anything Japanese and Music. When we both lost our jobs we put our heads together and decided to do something we both love. Art & Design. I wanted to do posters and Prints and Daz wanted to do T Shirts, so we formed SporkDesign where we can design and sell whatever we like. It's a great excuse for us to get together and come up with ideas, and also to watch terrible music videos on YouTube.

We don't really have a strategy or mission statement, and we're not that bothered about taking over the World. What we want to do is to design things that either make us laugh or that we are proud enough of to show to you the lovely public.

When i decided to do a blog i didn't want to push our products in your face, although there will be some mention, i wanted to share an insight into our process, why we do it, how we do it, and also throw a load of Music, TV and other nonsense in as well.

There may be a bit of football thrown in too (though don't tell Daz as he's allergic to it).

First plug: Our websites are https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SporkDesignCo  sporkdesign.redbubble.com Go and have a look and see if there's anything you like. All positive or constructive feedback is welcome. Any ideas or orders are also welcome. Just Email: sporkdesign@outlook.com

This is Spork Gorilla. He helps out in the Warehouse and sometimes in the design room and he makes an amazing cup of Tea.

Im going to sign off in a moment as this was just a quick intro. Im going to leave you with the music me and Daz are listening to this week so you can check it out and enjoy.

Daz: Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs, Starcrawler, Necry Talkie and 90's Techno.

Paz: Courtney Barnett, Ketchup Mania, IDLES, BiSH and Strange Unit

Please enjoy a little selection

Until next time. Stay Safe, Stay Home and Stay Strong.

Paz x