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Direwolves Hockey Jersey Pics
Rinkgear is putting the finishing touches on the Direwolves jerseys, and they will be shipped out in the next few days. They were nice enough to provide some pics of a finished jersey.
One of the first things you’ll notice is that the stripes ar esown into the jersey, instead of being printed as part of the sublimation process. Nice little bonus!
That’s a fine-looking logo, though I am biased. Love the stitching. I want to make a joke about having a wolf’s head stitched to your person, but it may be spoilerish. Some of you know what I am getting at.
We are looking at someone’s 32 Stark jersey. I think the number is a family break down: 3 boys, 2 girls, but that is only my guess. Stark and Snow were hands-down the two most popular names, with Arya a distant third. 7 was the most popular number. Interesting tidbit: someone with the actual last name of Snow placed an order. That person is among the few to get their own last name affixed to the jersey.
These jerseys are nearing completion in the next few days, thanks to everyone for being patient. Rinkgear did go the extra mile for the stripes and stitching, so it is worth the wait in my opinion.
Another Direwolves Jersey Update
Sean from Rinkgear wrote to me today:
Just wanted to touch base and let you know the jerseys will be wrapped up next week.
We had some delays with matching the crests and stripe materials.
I’ll have photos for you first thing next week.
Thank you again for your patience,
-Sean
Sorry for the bad news. I had really hoped to have these by the start of the NHL season. At least we’ll get these by the time Game Of Thrones Season 2 starts airing. Definitely before the sixth ASOIAF book. I am kidding! Within a few weeks.
I have been bugging Sean for pictures of them in production, so you’ll see them soon, at least. I will post those as soon as possible.
I’d like to ask for everyone’s continued patience. Please remember I am in the same boat: I want my jersey too!
On a related note, Rinkgear will have their merchant site up soon, and I will post a small selection of GoT jerseys there - probably a few other geeky designs too. The Direwolves jersey will be among the offerings for those who missed out.
A Mixed Bag Of Goods + Hockey Jersey Update
I ran to Kinko’s yesterday to print the Mario Skytrain poster. It looks amazing - like a large screen HD image of Mario 3. I’ve never made a production poster before. A few notes - I left the white border on, the prints from imagekind.com would be cropped to the black border. Also, I have since fixed the locations of the ‘Stations’ legend, making the icon and text more centered in their field.
Rant: Dear Kinko’s: your printing policy to round up the square foot charge is ridonkulous. This poster is 5.2 square feet, but you charged me for 6, despite my protests (loved how your employees shrugged non-nonchalantly, morale is high there!). That extra .8 of a foot is the last of my business with your company. Enjoy it!
You may have noticed the storefront I added to the sidebar in the last few weeks. This was a response to the Direwolves jersey I designed, and many people wanted the logo on a shirt. So I found the Printfection service (via Puckdrawn) and decided to set it up.
I received my Direwolves hoodie today from Printfection, and it is better than I expected (see previous link) in some areas, but disappointing in others. The white is very vibrant and from a distance, you’d think it was silkscreen printed (it is actually heat-pressed). Unfortunately there is a pink hairline around the white, almost as though a pink base was applied before the logo. The pink is noticeable on the outer edge of the logo (top right of the shield in the pic), and can also be seen upon close inspection along any white border. Up close, the logo has a sandpaper texture in appearance. Lastly, some wrinkles marred the print, from the way the shirt was folded in shipping - hopefully I can remedy that with a wash or two.
The verdict: The pink base makes this a marginal fail. It’s quite common for hairline errors in printing (take a look at one of your T-shirts, there is probably a hairline border from the white base), but the pink base is an odd choice. If not for that, I would be impressed with the application of colors on dark fabrics with a heat-press, especially for an inexpensive on-demand process. This heat-press technique needs some refinement.
I am removing the store for now, but will change the selection to all light-colored fabrics. I’ll also add a few new items.
Direwolves Hockey Jersey Update: The jerseys are nearing completion, and will be shipped next week. Our large order of 40 crested jerseys is taking a bit longer - mostly due to all the stitching of the crests to the jerseys. It was also delayed initially by art (my bad) and the supplier changing the jersey sizes.
Hopefully I can write a glowing review. From what I’ve seen and read of Rinkgear’s work, these should look excellent. Can’t wait.
Rinkgear’s merchant front is also nearing completion, so expect to see more Game Of Thrones hockey jerseys soon.
Bunch Of Progress Updates
1. Game Of Thrones Hockey Jerseys. I get a lot of emails asking if these are still available, or if I will make jerseys for other GoT houses (Lannister, Targaryen, etc.). The first offer concluded last month for the Stark Direwolves jerseys, so none are currently available for purchase.
I do plan on making this jersey available again soon, as well as other jerseys. Probably in the next few weeks so stay tuned. If you like that DireWolves logo check out the Printfection store.
2. Skytrain Mario Poster. I have contacted several old media - I mean, “newspaper” outlets about including this poster as an insert. I also looked into making it a fundraiser item for charity. I’d give the art away for free, unfortunately nothing doing on either front. Instead I will be making the poster available for purchase soon, via imagekind.com.
Wish there was a way I could sell these in person to local Vancouverites, but I don’t see how I can. Plus I have a tendency to hit people with rolled-up posters - probably for the better.
I am working on a poster-size version, with many new additions. It will look very cool I can assure you. Can’t wait to show it off!
3. What’s That Donate Button For? Enhanced content and swag is the short answer.
Funding would allow me to make physical items to display, be it geeky furniture or Blu-Ray cases. These items would be showcased and then auctioned off to fund additional projects.
I’d also like to make more interactive content. An example being the Mario Skytrain Map, complete with animation and navigation and music.
As for swag, funds would go to creating cool stuff like T-shirts, jewelry, blanket covers, acrylic toys, key-chains, posters and other merchandise for giveaway.
This is all a non-profit endeavor. I have no costs or overhead associated with this site. I would like to use Kickstarter or Indiegogo, but I have too many projects and items for a single campaign.
4. The Death Star. The Emperor is coming here? We shall double our efforts.
Direwolves Jersey Last Call
Above is the final jersey design for team Direwolves, which I just sent off to Rinkgear. Two small changes: I made the ‘Direwolves’ word in the chest logo a bit bolder, and instead of the subtle watermark on the right sleeve that said “Winter is Coming”, I made an NHL-esque shield that will sit on the back tail. Pretty cool logo if I may say so.
This Friday August 26th is the final deadline to get your order in to buy a jersey. Though between you, me, and the fence post - if you sneak your order in over the weekend we’ll be none the wiser. Monday morning Sean at Rinkgear will slap his hands together Mr. Miyagi-style and start the production process for these jerseys. If you want to join in click here for details.
I’d like to thank all those people who have hopped on board to make this group buy-in possible. It’s humbling that people like this design (and idea in general), enough to sink their own money into it. Though much of the credit should be attributed to the Song of Fire and Ice property, which is embraced by one of the coolest fandoms in existence, something I have learned over the past five months.
I’m getting a lot of questions about what jersey is next, and how will I go about following this up. I’m not entirely sure, I’m just in a holding pattern right now.
I would like to call upon all the sports apparel companies out there to seek out the license for creating sportswear based on the Game of Thrones property. It would be very lucrative. Like I stated originally, the many Houses from Game of Thrones translate so well into sports teams. Maybe GRRM and HBO should pursue this line of merchandise themselves. Either way, there needs to be a legitimate option for fans of the show to buy this kind of merch.
Game Of Thrones Hockey Jerseys Part 4: The Targaryens
This awesome Targaryens hockey jersey was sent in by a designer who wishes to remain anonymous*. I think you are looking at the next Game of Thrones jersey offering, once we get the Starks jersey offer out of the way.
The logo is inspired by the Targaryen sigil which features a red three-headed dragon on black. The Targaryens have my favorite motto after the Starks: “Fire and Blood”, and this jersey features a fiery design and lots of crimson. Can’t ask for more!
But why wait for a jersey? This would make for the perfect tattoo. I imagine a lot of people are Daenerys fans who’d proudly wear this tribal-like design.
*Apparently there is still a lot of shame for some people who don’t want to reveal their geeky side. I implore this designer to just come out and admit: I’m a geek and proud! I can no longer hide my geek self. Society will still shun you of course, but you’ll find other geeks. You can openly attend Comic-Cons, a safe haven for people like us. Yes, I said us. You’re one of us. One of us! One of us!
Zelda Hockey Jersey
This design is low-hanging fruit as far as this blogger is concerned - any shield looks good on a hockey jersey (*sigh!* or football kit), so the Zelda shield appears very much at home here.
I’m sure you’re asking why I didn’t go with a green jersey. I just wanted to keep the palette down to as few colors as possible. The green looked okay, as did a gold jersey, but I find the red seemed to make the Triforce stand out much better.
I wish I could start a line of geeky hockey jerseys and sell them online. But the licensing costs would be huge.
Game Of Thrones Hockey Jerseys Part 3: The Night’s Watch
Went for a Russian theme for this one, which is appropriate because the similarly-named Night Watch is the name of a Russian film by Timur Bekmambetov. Great film.
The cold and icy color scheme was previously used for the Direwolves jersey. I like to have variety in these designs, so the Russian crimson was enlisted here. I will approach these Game of Thrones jerseys as though they were all in the same League, so they each need to have a unique identity and color scheme.
The mid-stripe is similar to the one used by the Montreal Canadiens for their home jersey, and is intended to evoke the Wall, where the Night’s Watch are situated.
The Night’s Watch doesn’t have a sigil, so I thought I’d make a logo based on their nickname - the crows. I know crows is used in a derisive way in the books, but it’s a cool animal to represent a hockey team.
Direwolves Hockey Jersey Sale Extended
I’m still getting requests from people who want to order a jersey, so I have decided to re-open the offer window. The deadline to place an order is August 26th.
Some notes: The jersey will only be available in black (by popular demand) - so you’ll have to take the black, har-har. It will feature sublimated twill crests for the name, numbers, and logo (also by popular demand). You can have any name (up to 10 characters) and any 1 or 2 digit number.
Want one? Just email me ([email protected]) with the subject line SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY (it’s really effective at grabbing my attention, I’ve learned), and I will send you some order info. Paypal only, but I’ve succumbed to blackmail every so often.
To thwart lawyers: I am not selling these. This is a group buy-in, as the nature of hockey jerseys warrants team-sized orders. So I’m enlisting super awesome cool good-looking people to help buy hockey jerseys. I too will be buying a couple. They will be glorious.
Other Properties That Would Translate Well To Sports Apparel
A few years back I designed a bunch of hockey jerseys that were based on Superheroes. Last year I preached for sports teams to adopt nicknames that were off the beaten path. In the last few months I’ve tried to design teams that were robotic in nature.
Recently I designed a jersey based on Game of Thrones, and it proved to be quite popular. This is because the property is comprised of many animal-themed factions (Wolves and Lions) that lend themselves well to sports apparel. The many Houses of GoT adorn themselves with sigils and colors that parallel a sports league. It’s a perfect fit.
However GoT isn’t the only property that would translate well to sports apparel. Here are a few others in no particular order:
1. Transformers. Beyond the two main factions of the Autobots and Decepticons you have all these sub-factions and combiner teams like the Dinobots, Insections, Aerialbots, Seekers, Junkions, and so on.
2. Battlestar Galactica. This series already has a sports league built-in called Pyramid. There are dozens of established teams, but they are lacking definitive identities (logos) and jersey designs. Maybe one day I’ll tackle that.
3. Dawn of War 40K. So many alien races and standout individual units would make for an impressive line of sportswear. Team Orks all the way.
4. Star Trek. I already designed jerseys for this, but this property can support a few teams too. Like Klingons and Romulans. A team called the Red Shirts would be ace.
5. Pokemon. Instead of using a real animal name for your team, you could use one of the hundreds of fictional animals from the Poke-verse. It’s just a matter of pluralizing a Pokemon name: The Bulbasaurs, for instance.
6. TMNT. Though Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is way too long a name for any sports team, just ‘Turtles’ alone accompanied by a half-shell hero would suffice. The Foot ninjas would be cool as well. Casey Jones is already used by the Calgary Hitmen.
7. Harry Potter. All the silly houses like Griffondor could be used - much like they were for Quidditch. Many fantasy names could be drawn from this franchise.
8. Lord of the Rings. A mix of the Game of Thrones and Potter, where names are fantasy-based. Elves and Orcs and Nazgul and Uruks and so forth.
9. Starship Troopers (the film). You could recreate the teams playing trampoline-football, and ones based on the war as well. Rico’s Roughnecks, Troopers, Bugs, Arachnids, to name a few.
10. Avatar The Last Airbender. Many elemental groups could be made from this franchise, such as Fire Lords and Water Tribe. Even the many fictitious animals depicted in the show would make for a great nickname - Flying Bison anyone?
I know you’re thinking Star Wars, but someone else has already done that. Eventually I will take a stab at a few of these (beyond that new Dinobots one shown above). Stay tuned.
