This weeks new print roundup, besides being late, will also be a bit short. My roomie’s puppy had a seizure, the repercussions of which have kept me offline.

I’ll go through a quick highlight and let you check out the rest for yourself.

The Decemberists ♥’s Threadless contest has come to a close with a delightful winning illustration titled The Soldier Returns printed on Guys Denim and Girly Army.

Only in Dreams is not only a wonderfully illustrated new tee, it’s also available as a Onesie for the wee ones, which I think is a threadless first.

Lions Are Smarter Than I Am is a sweet bigprint on Banana/Lemon that will add nicely to my closet, although the glasses show up a bit nicer on the silver hoodie.

Rally for Reprints have worked for Nineteen Seventy Five and Some Choices Are Just Out of Reach, so if you’ve been craving either, get out there and buy!

That’s all for now, but check the rest out!

Ryan will be writing up the new prints soon-ish. I decided to skip commenting on the new designs this week since I’m not exactly in a Threadless loving mood at the moment. I guess it’s true what they say: bad things come in groups of three. Here’s my beef…

1. When my new Limb tee arrived in the mail a few weeks ago, I noticed that it was defective (the pink ink was slightly misprinted). No biggie… I sent it back and waited for the replacement to arrive. Much to my dismay, however, the new shirt exhibited the same exact problem. It’s not horrifically ugly or unwearable, but I would much rather have had the design as it’s shown on the website and how the artist intended. I have no choice but to wear it as it is since I don’t want to go through the whole process again just to receive a third misprinted tee.
2. I was overjoyed when my new My Pet Human hoody came in the mail just before our cool weather moved on. That is, until I tried it on and realized that it was enormous. I ordered a medium, same as my other Threadless hoody, yet My Pet Human was considerably larger when compared to my other. I’ve already sent it back, paid $6 shipping, and I’m hoping the replacement size of “small” will actually be smaller.
3. I found out the hard way that Threadless now processes Gift Certificate codes fully, then your Streetteam Points. So… if you combine both on a large order, your GC will be used up first and then the STPs will be used completely. The difference won’t be put back on the GC, the extra money will be wasted. GCs are supposed to have declining balances, but those once happy times now come to a halt when combined with STPs. I’ve lost $37 worth of GC money.

Up until this point, I’ve had nothing but pleasant experiences with Threadless. I’m not implying that my own problems are in any way typical or commonplace. (At least, let’s hope such mistakes won’t become prolific.) The fact that I’ve always had such great service is part of the reason why I feel so disappointed now. I’ve come to expect an outstandingly high level of quality and fairness, but Threadless has failed to deliver this time around. I’ll continue to be a consumer of their products, I just need some time to brood while this barrage of unlucky events work themselves out.

I’m going to temporarily forget my dislike of naked boobs on shirts because this design exudes such playful innocence. Somehow it reminds me of the sort of doodles you’d find in the back of a school notebook.

It doesn’t offer much else beyond just a fun stylized character, yet somehow that’s enough. If the size and placement were tinkered with, I could almost see myself wearing it.

The fact that I’m in the mood for a day at the beach may have something to do with it.

Verdict: 4 (View Submission)

Ever since we upgraded to WP 2.1, we’ve noticed tags sometimes disappearing at random from entries. Even crazier, entries all the way back to the beginning of the site were suddenly left tagless. I couldn’t see the pattern for awhile, but it finally leapt out at me the other day: any entry with a comment made to it loses its tags. Not only that, and perhaps far more disturbing, the tag entries are actually being deleted from the database. This confuses for quite a few reasons, first and foremost because I cannot think of any place in the comments-adding chain of events that would yield a delete call to the tags table.

Maybe… it treats the adding of a comment as it does the editing of the entry, and fails to preserve existing tags in the switch? Why only now on 2.1? Why on entries all the way back that haven’t been commented on since they change? Why, WordPress, have you forsaken me?

There’s apparently a sub-point upgrade available, so perhaps I’ll give that a go and see if it helps. In the mean time, please continue to comment. As annoying as it is that they’re being dropped, the show must go on, and we really like it when you give your two cents on an entry.

Thanks for sticking around for the past year.

Hehe. Cute.

Not for me, but totally cute.

Verdict: 4 (View Submission)

Man, I really don’t like this design. For so many reasons. This kind of looks like something you might make in Paint or Kid Pix II so that you could print it to one of those “make-your-own-shirt” transfer kits.

It’s what Dad? would have been if it were also uninspired, poorly drawn and not funny. Kinda awful all over.

Verdict: 0 (View Submission)

Holy. Fucking. Colors. This shirt jumps at you, balls-out and takes you by the throat. It’s almost like the genetic makeup of Gushers fruit flavored snacks, up close and in t-shirt form. (And boy, do I hate it on Natural, but that’s fixable, natch.)

And you know why even the most flamboyant bio major wouldn’t dare wear this to lab? Because it only indicates two of the bases. Where’s guanine and thymine? (Clearly, there aren’t enough colors, but still.)

Verdict: 2 (View Submission)

Huh. I really like this style. The line art plays brilliantly. But a close-up of a cross-section of an apple marked for death (warning of death, rather) itself just doesn’t appeal. (Hah. Fruit puns. I crack myself up.) The lack of depth bothers me, too, for strange reasons. I guess I just find it hard to get on board with a splayed-out apple, baring all on my chest. I’m not really sure what it’s doing there, and it feels like its story gets muddled somewhere along the way. Strange musings about a t-shirt design, but mine nevertheless.

Verdict: 3 (View Submission)

While I’m totally disappointed by the horribly lackluster title for this piece, (sometimes, naming art is the hardest part) I think it struggles to fight off the image of a biker who’s way into chem and keeping things green. Think: Hell’s Angels with a degree in biochem and a heart of gold. Put another way: the wings kill it. It’s not a super tree, now.

That aside, I enjoy the art style, and so long as the tree isn’t generated by fractals and stolen (ala Predicament), it’s a pretty solid shirt. Just rip out the wings.

Verdict: 3 (View Submission)

In honor of it being National Pancake Day, and what with FREE pancakes at any IHOP today, I offer the following haiku:

syrup everywhere
light and fluffy with berries
“eat me now,” they say

This design has a lot going for it. Adorable style, great color combination, nice attention to detail, and loads of hilarious action.

It could use a few minor changes, i.e. the phallic imagery going on with the teddy bear guy in the lower right (you’ll know what I mean when you see it) and possibly not including the “funny laundry stories” text on the tee. A preview of the placement would have been nice as well.

It’s definitely a good start for lulu.fr, a designer who appears to be new to the Threadless scene. I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on their future offerings.

Verdict: 4 (View Submission)

This week Threadless serves up 7 delicious new designs and two tasty reprints. I’m especially excited for this batch, as not just one or two, but FOUR of them are on my “must buy” list.

Hrududu…The New Guy is both whimsical and cute, paying tribute to the blundering Hrududu in all of us, just trying to exist with everyone else. It’s a well-placed big print, with calm colours and clever illustration, on brown for us adults and charcoal for the kiddos.

Paperboy especially caught my fancy with its clean illustration and good use of 3D from a 2D object. On Light blue for the guys and baby blue for the girls, this one will add to my wardrobe quite nicely.

Poet Trees is perhaps the most clever pun I’ve seen pulled off at Threadless. A poem about poetry in the shape of two poet trees. Can it get any better? It looks like the rally for the reprint has worked yet again, this time on natural for the guys and creme for the girls.

Pencil Forest is an interesting cyclic illustration: a lumberjack cutting down trees whose leaves and branches are made from the pencil shavings of the very trees he’s cutting down. Printed on Sagestone for the guys and Olive for the gals.

This week’s type tee is a golden reprint—Procrastinators: Leaders of Tomorrow—and it looks like they’re sticking true to the theme as they still haven’t gotten around to putting up live-action pics. Maybe tomorrow, no?

Reasons Not To Go Camping brings me back to the days of old, huddled in a too-small tent listening to the birds and owls for fear that every snapping branch was foreboding my demise. Printed on Burgundy for the gents and Cranberry for the ladies.

Proud to be Union is delightfully chaotic while still pleasantly structured, a wonderful 5-colour print on pink that I cannot sum up in a simple paragraph.

How can you not laugh when viewing Wrath of the Couch? Printed on Dakota Slate for the Men and Asphalt for Women, this one’s comical and well-drawn.

The Optical Illusion Kid is just that - an optical illusion that made me take a double triple take. Printed on Khaki, Silver, or Sand for the guys, gals, and wee ones, this western-style big print is frichen sweet!

Well that’s about it for this week! Happy shopping!

So it’s the glorious, sweet jesus weekend. (It’s been a long week, can you tell?) Bree and Ryan picked winners to Bree’s awesome haiku contest, and a major thanks to everyone who took the time to kick ass and enter. It was a lot of fun, and a great contest idea from Bree. (She’s full of good ideas.)

Anyway, I know that not everywhere is at the balmy 81° we’re hitting here in the Phoenix metro area, (East Valley represent) but that doesn’t mean you can’t wear Threadless *under* your warms. Perhaps a hoodie? What designs will you showcase to the inside of your house this weekend? What new shirts of yours have you fallen in love with? What classics have you found yourself loving all over again? And why?

I’m really digging A Voyage Of Discovery, as I mentioned last post ago, if for no other reason than it brings my brown shirt count up to something like 5. Brown’s so in right now.

At long last, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the results of the sushi haiku contest! It was incredibly tough picking only four favorites. We received over 70 haikus, each more unique and entertaining than the next. It would be impossible to list every one of them here, so all submitted entries have now been made public back at the original contest post for your reading pleasure.

The winning haikus are featured below (along with four honorable mentions). I’ll be contacting the winners tomorrow via e-mail to hook them up with their prizes. Congrats to everyone, you all did a stupendous job!

1st Place ($25 Threadless GC, stickers, tee totebag):

“The Treachery of Sushi”

Pretty packages
Wrapped with such abundant care,
But I am not fooled.

by Tracy (aka tdyans)

2nd Place ($25 Threadless GC, stickers, chopsticks):

Tasty unagi
Chopsticks do not obey me
Soy sauce on my lap.

by Alvin

3rd Place ($9 Threadless GC):

I can’t use chopsticks
Asian people laugh at me
Now I eat alone

by Evan (aka schleb)

4th Place ($5 Threadless GC):

Nasal explosion
Bad ratio to soy sauce
Wasabi peril

by J-Ray

Honorable Mentions:

I indulge in rice,
Its pleasures overwhelm me,
Pairs with fake crab well.

by Marissa (aka moofymadness)

first date sushi place
awkward attempts to impress
he can’t use chopsticks!

by Sarah (aka anotherdeadpoet)

“Gratitude At The Sushi Restaurant”

In the Sushi Hut
I smile and think to myself
I am not a fish

by Michele (aka velvetland)

Raw fish is tasty
Tuna, Salmon, Yellow Tail
But I use a grill

by Willy (aka PoPoJiJo)

Here’s an interesting and very well executed design by Fatheed. This sub has a great use of colours, appropriate shadowing, and the perfect balance of detail without trying to make it photorealistic; I especially appreciate the progression from sketchy concept to the impressive final product.