Alive and Kicking (and Jet Lagged)…

Hey all you lovely t-shirt people, I am in shock, I’ve just got back from a week in Marrakech (yes we had a lovely time thanks) and the first thing I did after a quick cuppa (you know how us Brits like our tea) is switch on the old Macbook and look at my inbox which is heaving. It’s wonderful to be so missed, so appreciated, I’d never realised till now exactly how many people have cottoned on to my obscure little blog, it’s not the grandest of designs, or the greatest of concepts, but I enjoy it, and from what I’ve read it seems many of you out there feel the same. So, firstly thanks, thanks, and more thanks. Don’t worry, I haven’t had another funny turn if you’ve been left hanging out there in the world of t-shirts. Chris and I needed a little break away from the miserable weather here in the UK and Marrakech was the closest, sunniest hotspot we could afford, besides it gave us both a chance to practice our haggling skills, and our School French or what remains of it, hardly Franglais these days, but still funny how much you remember when you’re thrown in the deep end.

So, what’s up? Well I have at least half a dozen requests for t-shirt label reviews which I’ll be sorting out over the week, and a pile of retorts and explanations from both Spreadshirt and Conduit.com which doesn’t surprise me. Essentially I’ve trodden on more corporate toes (as usual). I’ve added a rather self-congratulatory blurb from SS at my latest Spreadshirt-based post and added a few of my latest gripes to even the balance. As for the t-shirt toolbar Conduit essentially want me to retract my post, hey it’s only little old me, who the hell am I anyway? I’m just a blogger, I’m not a computer whizz kid and I certainly don’t make any money from this but I appreciate what they’re trying to do.

Let’s get this straight, I’ve handed over control to Anthony aka Profits of Teefeeds.com fame and although I’m not promoting it anymore I’m sure he can do wonders with it, I’m just not the co-branding kind, it’s probably unfair of me to lay in so hard on Conduit, they offer the best service of its kind out there - as in free toolbar technology - but it isn’t for me - if I receive complaints I have no power to resolve I simply call it a day, be done with it, learn from the experience and move on - that’s my paltry philosophy - if it can be so called.

Anyway if you’re looking for a free co-branded toolbar and are prepared to wait a while (and rant in your blog to get more than enough support) then conduit are your guys. I’m currently trying to recover one of my long abandoned old PC’s so I can dabble with a few toolbar makers, software that will enable me far greater control which is the way to go as far as I am concerned. In truth I’d rather something that makes Facebook widgets but you can’t get everything you want handed on a plate (unless it’s food i suppose).

So to cut a long story short Spreadshirt are lovely, so are Conduit, don’t listen to me, I am not a corporation, what possible effect could my opinions have, I must be wrong, confused, lost in my own oblivion of how the ‘real world’ works… ahem.

It does make me laugh how over-sensitive some companies are though, I mean do they really think I can jeopardise their grand plans? If people disagreed with me (apart from their staff) I’m sure this little blog would be comment bombed left right and centre. Anyhoo…

Some REAL t-shirt news woot!

Spunky.co.uk who I’ve propped plenty of times before are actually selling one of my designs at last! It would be nice to see payment as promised, after all I signed over the design months ago, but I won’t start lashing out until I am definite, vis-a-vis not jerking me around on this. Besides it’s great to finally see one of my own tees appreciated, I hope, plus Spunky have just opened a new store in Brighton (UK) which funnily enough is where I grabbed my Arts degree so my time wasn’t completely wasted there.

Take a lookie at Old School by err well me!

Don’t worry I won’t let the success go to my head, although some dosh for my bank account would be appreciated! Anyway I don’t make a penny if you buy one or not, I sold the design on a whim, so no pressure, buy if you like. Personally I do but I would ha ha.

Anwyay it’s probably going to be a one-off - I’m moving away from t-shirt design and into the highly pretentious world of post-modern art (which suits me fine :p) - I always was a show-off with too much to say for myself - I’ll keep blogging here and promoting t-shirts as art but my unique perspective on the world seems to leave most fashionistas rather befuddled so it seems only right to try and confuse others who deal with confusion everyday - i.e art lovers - a strange and somewhat intense bunch of people who for the main part feel the stranger the better.

So - I will finally get some sleep tonight (never stay at a riad unless you hate sleeping - they are noisy as hell!) and will resume normal Buy Tees service tommorrow - plus I’ll get cracking with my latest work (which has nothing to do with tees but who cares) - called Reigning Men. If you want to see my strange Indoor Street Art check out http://paulbaines.co.uk

Take it easy!