Fuel

This love affair began when I was but a boy (girl, whatever), riding around with my mom, getting lunch on the run.  Soft Taco.  Mexi Fries.  Crisp Bean Burrito.  Sprite with ice nuggets.  Good good, fresh fresh.

Taco Time is the perfect doing things food because it is awesome and makes you feel awesome and jokes are funnier and also the world is brighter.  

RIP Taco Time of Capitol Hill.  You will forever be in our hearts.

The Chipmunk Song

How Have you Bean, man?

Bean trucking along.  Apparently getting an image of G&S apparel that is worthy of putting on the etsy site has been might near impossible for our college educated minds to master.  We asked for Walter's help and then he was like "I don't have opposable thumbs.  Plus, I'm kind of napping right now you guys."  You win this round, Walter.  

We are working on getting a proper camera, but until then Goods & Services has been at a stand still on the merchandising end of things.  Just in time for Christmas!  That's called "Good Business" for all of you who want to pedal your wares successfully.  Follow our excellent business model!

Anyway, we recently participated in the first annual chili cook off at "the Chili Villa" (Dashel and Cassie's house).  It was fun, everyone brought great chili's, and we all got full!  I made this prize for the People's Choice Award for "Most Creative Chili", which harmoniously went to a family with two young girls--who love costumes.

This King Bean AKA Beanie (thank you, someone) was hand drawn, cut and sewn.  He is one of a kind.  And so are you.

For a Beanie of your own, contact me here, here or here.

Back to Basics

Montana shmontana.  I love Montana.

For the last few months I have been trying to figure something out.  After spending the last week in Montana, it started to become very clear:

.simplify.

If you know me personally you know how much I like things, especially clothing things.  I have a lot of them.  A ton of them.  My clothes and accessories take up over two closets and an entire room of my house.  They're not all nice things, or expensive things--almost everything I own I buy at thrift stores or by the pound--but I like costuming and collecting so much I can always find a reason to keep something around.

"It looks like you're running a retail store out of your basement,"  my mom told me two weeks ago.  True mom, true.

So while I was in Montana I re-enjoyed one of the great things about travelling: taking a limited amount of crap with you.  Inevitably, it's crap that you really like.  And then you realize you only need the crap you really like, and not all this other crap that you enjoy, but obviously not enough to take on vacation.

I also got to re-enjoy the simplicity of Montana.  Truly the biggest sky, and life with the most minimal amount of material burdens.  Once you get over the anxiety of being away from the chaos of a city / urban area (cell phone, email, internet, work, travel, congestion, advertising, blah blah blah) it's incredible how peaceful you feel.  Like a horse.  You feel like a wild, majestic, muscular, grazing horse.  Maybe a Palomino.  Maybe a Quarter Horse.

That's a good feeling.

I realized it's time to take my inner horse and let him out.  To do that, I need to simplify.  What I've been wrestling with for the last several months is so base:
get.rid.of.stuff.

Not everything--not like I'm going to be a nomad, or a freaky minimalist, or  one of those people who's like "life is all about your soul, man".  But I'm going to unload.  Because I own far more than one person needs, and it's keeping me from moving forward.  Too many choices!!!!!

So in the coming weeks I will be unloading things that I love and hold dearly: on etsy, to friends, and at the goodwill.  Hopefully I will be smart about what I can upcycle, and what I need to just pass on.

If you have any suggestions (or requests) please pass it on!

Stay tuned.

Go Buy Something

while I hunt for dream catchers.

Memory Sweatshirt #1

I'm a borderline hoarder. A hoarder of memories.
A hoarder of leftover fun. Love residue. Friendship pieces.

And I'm not the only one. A lot of us have a hard time letting go of things we used to love, but can no longer use in a practical way. I'm always looking for ways to keep those things around that make sense, and don't take up as much space.

The memory sweatshirt is a simple idea, but it's still practical and sweet. Like giant, comfortable love patches.

I made this custom Memory Sweatshirt for Casey using a soft new American Apparel hoodie and her favorite childhood bedsheets.

Sections are sewn onto the front pocket, and lining the hood. Lambs were her favorite animal, so there are a few extra buddies sewn inside as well.

For a memory sweatshirt of your own, or a memory-whatever-you-want, send me a message here.

sweet, sweet reservoir

I stumbled across this amazing picture while looking for ketchup cartoons online (point of interest: the cover of Bjork's seminal album Homogenic appears in search results sooner than a lot of pictures of actual ketchup. Question mark?).



What I discovered was that this little beauty lives in Collinsville, Il (road trip?), and while it may not be filled with actual ketchup, in my dreams it is...and the cap screws off. This was taken by Sweetie Pie Press whom I discovered does sweet zines and really cute buttons!

What I also discovered was the awesome amazing people at Renegade Handmade! I'd not heard of the Renegade Craft Fair, OR Renegade Handmade--but ballz they are cool. Supporting local Chicago artists & crafters, they also sell on the interweb and have stuff going on all over the country. Go buy something!

Hopefully one day they will take goods and services into their fold...

Inspiration Perspiration Condiment-Nation

If I could, I would draw these cartoons.





Be these cartoons.



Instead, I will cut out little fabric pieces that kind of look like these cartoons....but only if you don't really know what these cartoons look like.

big time inspiration

for starters, one of the best cartoons of all time...



BEANIE AND CECIL.



a boy and his serpent. a serpent and his boy. magic magic magic.



my dad and i rented these video tapes almost every weekend when i was little. we would crack peanuts in the living room and sing along with the theme song in funny voices.

the animation in this show is so special, i'm pretty certain it played a foundational role in my dreams of becoming a cartoon. or voicing cartoons. and sewing cartoons. thanks, Bob Clampet, for creating the coolest sea monster ever!!!

and this is AMAZING

g & s in the great salt lake: the giraffe top

My first sale on etsy went to Kelsey in Salt Lake City. She bought the giraffe top, and was kind enough to send me some shots of it on.



Thanks, Kelsey!



Work it out, girl. If you want a giraffe on something, or a long-necked beast of any kind, send me a freakin' message!

gift wrap

This is my first internet sale, getting ready to go out to the lovely Kelsey in Salt Lake City.



So happy to be able to reuse those plastic bags!

To see what Kelsey bought, click me!

Shark Hoodie. Animal hoodie # 2

This hoodie was a custom order for a friend, gifting it to someone who loves sharks. (duh)





For this project I used a new soft grey hoodie, grey, white, and black cotton for the eyes + teeth + fin (plus stuffing for volume), and metallic silver for the starz in his eyes.



This was my first time doing teeth. Needless to say, I ain't a dentist, but I learned a lot. (come on, come on...)



More animal hoodies to come!

born to eat

This was my first attempt at re-creating a famous historical icon of our times. An inspiration to us all. A household celebrity name. A myth AND a reality--a mystic from beyond. The famous orange cat.



Since it was my first re-imagining of a preexisting cartoon I made the shirt for myself so there was less pressure. Clearly, I am born to eat, so it was fitting. Here, my friend Glasses is showing it off.



Each aspect of the cat face is individually cut and sewn.
All black accents and type are done in waterproof fabric paint.
The born to eat food stains are organically placed with different food & drink materials.



I have several more ideas for this series, so more orange cats to come! Message me on etsy to start one custom for you!!

What's up, internet?!

Remember Live Journal? Anyone? ...Anyone?

Back in the olden dayz people used to have to go places to find things they wanted.

Back in the not-as-olden dayz the place you went on the internet if you wanted to talk about yourself, how much cool stuff you liked, how much important stuff you knew, or write rhyming poetry about how misunderstood you were was live journal.

Well we've graduated to present-dayz and now goods and services is being sold online. In the internet zone. On the interweb. At the thing Al Gore invented. Within the series of tubes.

So what a good time to start a freaking blog!

Visit me here for news, updates, and anecdotes about funny things Walter does.
Most importantly, you can visit the blog for PHOTOS OF PAST PROJECTS AND THINGS NOT CURRENTLY FOR SALE.

For more info on what goods and services is, view my "complete profile", or better still, check me out at
etsy


If you want something made, message me there!