Gluckhaus Boards In the Works!

I'm happy to help spread the word that the Scarlet Onagers Guild is getting into selling stuff online. They hope to get costume accessories, entertainment, and jewelry into your hands before the next Renaissance Faire Season.

Gluckhaus Boards

The Gluckhaus board artwork I posted previously is going to be sold on fabric and vinyl boards. So far, it sounds like they'll sell the Gluckhaus board on it's own, or as part of a Game Set with a nim & tic-tac-toe pouch to hold all your game pieces and bar money.

I've recently seen the boards and am really excited they are going to be offering these items online soon. I'll keep you updated here when they launch their online store! You can also watch for updates and learn all about them by following them on facebook or on the Scarlet Onagers blog!

Roots

I quite like the Roots design. I'm not sure how this design came about, though. It was a moment of wanting something simple yet complex, and it developed before me with little thought about where we were going. This is what I ended up with: Roots, with dark pastel high lights.

This design looks better on lighter shirts, me thinks. This off-white, barely grey shirt is my favorite. I'm also a fan of how it fits on many of the other products, especially the notebooks and water bottles.

I look forward to more designs with a little more flair than just text; although, I do enjoy playing with the text-based designs best. Sometimes, outside of other craft and design projects, a design fits best in the RedPress family even when it does not focus on text.

Look for this design and more in the RedPress Shop, and follow us on instagram @RedPressPrints or on here for many more designs to come!

Scarlet Onagers Guild Design

The Scarlet Onager Guild of Oregon is raising funds for next year by selling their logo on Threadless. As the designer of the logo, RedPress has added it to their store to help spread the word.

The Scarlet Onagers are a Volunteer Guild for Canterbury Renaissance Faire in Salem, Oregon. Funds from their Vending Booth at Canterbury helps pay for expenses related to the Faire. These expenses include buying inventory for the next year, buying camping and vending equipment, and feeding Scarlet Onagers and other Faire Volunteers.

This past year a much needed French Press, Tea Kettle, and a camp stove were added to the equipment inventory. This coming year, the Scarlet Onager Board hope to expand vending inventory, buy fabric to create  a couple new spare uniforms, and perhaps buy a camping shower and curtain.

Help the Scarlet Onagers out! Buy a shirt, sticker, or a variety of other products with the Scarlet Onager Logo. There are also other ways to help, as well. Check out their Blog here, or like and share their Facebook page here!

Educate: Don't Hate

There are times when we have to remember that ignorance is best fought with knowledge, and ignorant questions are best answered honestly. Questions are requests for knowledge, and kind honesty can help end hate where anger-filled answers can only breed more hate and distrust.

Why Pride?

As we get closer to July this year, there are a lot of people questioning why LGBT folks still insist on throwing a wild parade and street fair with various surrounding parties. We get it: you're queer! It's not about showing they're different though: pride celebrates the moment various sorts of queer people were tired of harassment from law and society. The varied groups came together to show they would do anything it took to live their lives as they wanted to by loving whomever they wanted to love and dressing in clothes they chose for themselves. "Although there had been other protests by gay groups, the Stonewall incident was perhaps the first time lesbians, gays, and transgendered people saw the value in uniting behind a common cause." (Britannica)


This coming together of queer groups marked a much stronger minority, all facing similar discrimination, with more presence and power than the individual groups. These events lead to getting the issue in front of people who had never even known the harassment and violence LGBT people faced. With knowledge comes power, and enough people gained that power to help LGBT people fight for many of the rights they have today.

The Fight Is Still Not Over

Even though all these events occurred decades ago, LGBT people are once again facing discrimination and violence. With renewed division around politics and many social divides gaining depth, knowledge and empathy are lacking on many fronts.

Let's fight to spread our stories, our fears, statistics, scientific studies, hopes, and dreams. Remember to educate, even when a question or statement brings fear and hate to our forefront.

Check out the Educate, Don't Hate design on RedPress.Threadless.com by clicking here!

Just Business

With prices of goods going up so much faster than wages, sometimes it's hard to remember: it's just business.

Inspiration For Design

I have a few businesses and hobbies where I have sole responsibility or share the responsibility in setting prices. This is hard to do, and sometimes it means dropping a product in it's conception phase. All these ideas of things I want to create and put out there are just not within my reach for price-points anyone (including me) is willing to pay.

Business Motivations

I can't imagine how some small businesses keep their storefronts open, the lights on, the insurance paid, and the employees happy: I appreciate and envy them for figuring it out and making it work. I'm a fan of low profit margins in my own businesses, and that comes from my personal motivations more than anything else.

All businesses I have my hand in are low-overhead and efficient by design. I attempt to keep material costs proficiently balanced in terms of quality and cost, then I add a small percentage for my time and effort. I like the extra money -- don't get me wrong -- but I'm much more motivated by the knowledge products I had a hand in are out there, being used and appreciated. It still costs money though: materials, equity tied up in stock on hand, storage space until it is ordered, shipping costs, booth & storefront fees, perks for employees or volunteers. I'm willing to take the cut and spend the time; whatever it takes to get it out there!

It is, at the end of the day, just business. Sometimes business costs a pretty penny, and we should remember that. That small business owner is just trying to keep the doors open and feed the family.

Want to have this printed on a sign, shirt, or something else? Check out Red Press Print's Artist Shop on Threadless.

Why Threadless?

I discovered Threadless when I was looking into merchandise platforms for Bellingham Game Company’s logo and pending game releases. After reading many reviews, I was hesitant, but thorough research has shown me that Threadless had a rough patch when switching from printing in runs and printing on demand (Introducing: Artist Shops!). This bump in the road is completely understandable to me, especially since they were quick to respond and begin repairing their business and reputation.

Nickel and Dime Up

The profit margin isn't great on Threadless because the base costs are a little high per item, but I set my margin fairly low... so it is also a my fault. I would much rather see my stuff out there than make a bunch of money; although, some money is nice. The Red Press brand is just a hobby and an outlet for me to create graphics, order prints of my own graphics, and click a box for others to wear the same design if they wish.

Artist Shops

It is fairly easy to set up an Artist Shop on Threadless. Create an account and upload a design. You can mess around with logos and banners, or you can skip those. There are simple templates for layout, fonts, and colors of the shop so you can keep the setup simple and get to what you want: put mah stuff on shirts!

They have an interesting mix of products: typical shirts & hoodies, coffee cups, stickers, skateboards, phones, duffel bags & backpacks, towels, pillows, shower curtains, stretched canvas and other wall mounts. Once your image is uploaded (per the specs clearly laid out or any of the supplied templates), select the items and colors you want available. This can all be changed at any time, but the image placement editor is quite a bit buggy. Remember to slate a little extra time and be patient for this part.

Work Together

Threadless also has the option to list another account as a "collaborator" on a particular design.  This means you and a buddy can each have shops, but also work on something together and give each other credit. Have great ideas, but not the right software and know-how to add the finishing touches? Work with a buddy, agree on a profit split, and have them list you as a collaborator! Threadless will then deal with splitting the profits each time a sale is made. Teamwork made easy!

Show Me Yours?

Do you have an artist shop? On Threadless or Cafepress or another platform? Comment below and link your shop! Free advertising! :)