NEW: SOJOURN, FALCONWRIGHT.

I recently had the pleasure of designing a couple logos for one of my very talented pals, Shayna (aka Sojourn). Here they are on her boxes and envelopes! I stole these two photos from her instagram account: @alittlesojourn. Making things for friends is the best. Also? Shayna just updated her shop, and it's bananas. Go check it out! A few of the pieces are already sold out, but there are still lots of beauties up there just waiting to dangle around your neck all summer. 

Speaking of shop updates, we recently added a few new bags to the Falconwright shop! A fresh little summer update in the form of pineapple prints, watermelon seeds, beachy stripes, and more! Throw your sunscreen and your e-reader and your snack money in your clutch and head down to a patio or the beach? Sounds good to me. Check em' out!

PS - A reminder that my new email address is sandifalconer(at)gmail.com!

HELLO SANDI FALCONER.

The time has come! Time to phase out my old print moniker Deadweight, and embrace my 100% legit name, Sandi Falconer. In honour of this little shift, I have built a brand new website! Check it out. Feels like a step in the right direction!

If you follow me on twitter or instagram, you'll notice that both accounts have gotten the @sandifalconer makeover. Plus, you can now find my blog & shop & everything all in one convenient location! A real one stop destination, ya know?

*IMPORTANT* My old email address is no longer active. You can now contact me via sandifalconer(at)gmail.com! I want to make things for you.

Please visit all my future blogs at: http://www.sandifalconer.com/blog

TRIPPING PART 2: DESERT MAGIC.

Behold The Valley Of Fire! Ancient wood, petroglyphs, gorgeous red sandstone, mountains in the distance, winding roads, endless blue skies, and NO buildings in sight.

I've never gone on a trip where the geography has been vastly different, so The Valley of Fire blew my mind. I don't even know how to explain the vast beauty of this place, but these panoramic shots below come close. Who knew that rocks could be so gorgeous? And the quiet? Don't even get me started. Just kidding. Let's talk alllll about it. What a great break from the noise of city life. Even if just for one day.

Here's Rob doing his best 127 Hours impression. We came across a few people on paths, taking pictures on the side of the road, or a gaggle of bikers here and there, but for the most part this state park wasn't very populated. You could really get lost out there, and that's kind of a wonderful feeling.

(When I was a kid, my buddy and I used to ride our bikes somewhere we didn't know well and attempt to get lost. But we lived in a small town, so we never really accomplished getting lost. It was fun to try though.)

GET REAL, NEVADA.

One of my favourite parts of this drive was putting on Anna Calvi's record, turning it way up, and just looking out the window and taking it all in. That was a perfect hour. Anna Calvi was made for the desert.

We also checked out Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. It kind of blows my mind that people use these roads to drive to work or whatever. If you're in Las Vegas, you should definitely rent a car for a day and get out of the city. It's really a perfect way to break up the craziness. Balance achieved!

Got a sunburn. Didn't care.

Lizard count: 2

Fun fact: this Lana Del Ray was partially shot in The Valley of Fire.

I also really can't believe palm trees are real. Look at these stumpy little dudes!

And this is what it looks like when you land in Toronto when the sun is coming up.

Ok, gonna go fantasize about road trips and living in the middle of nowhere again...

TRIPPING PART 1: LAS VEGAS

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Rob and I went to Las Vegas and The Nevada desert for a quick three day adventure. I met Rob in college, and we've talked about going since then, but it never really came together until now. Why Vegas? We both have a love for carnival-esque ridiculousness and humourous excess! As you can see above, with this thematic hotel slash casino slash mall slash roller coaster slash trinket depository - the ridiculousness was in full effect.

A representation of what all my slot machine pulls looked like. I did not come home a rich person, but you can see how casino's make all that cash. Desperation and hope are a dangerous combination. I probably spent $25 over the course of 3 days in random penny/quarter slot machines, and every time I pulled I thought what if....

Fremont Street has a digital canopy (outside) that projects images. It goes on for 4 blocks! There was a Queen presentation going on while we were there, and Bohemian Rhapsody sounded/looked pretty excellent. My highlight (besides this awesome cowboy sign) was Carl "Safe Sax" Ferris playing sax standing in the back of a pick up truck. Cool nickname, man. There were also some very weird celebrity impersonators in this zone, people zip lining overhead, a less polished overall vibe than the strip, and some pretty impressive cover bands.

At Circus Circus we watched a lady do swing tricks with a bunch of families, tall cans in hand. You can drink everywhere in Vegas. Even at this kid friendly midway show! There was a live keyboard player and drummer accompanying this performance, and they played the best dark synth metal/casino rock.

NEON EVERYTHING.

Roseanne happened to be performing in Vegas while we were there. We found out a couple days before we left and got tickets! In a weird twist of fate, Roseanne re-runs were being played on the plane (until the TV stopped working and we both reluctantly watched the last half of Life of Pie). It was a super intimate show, and hearing Roseanne laugh IRL was pretty amazing.

"If I was a stripper, my show stopper would be the Roseanne theme. Think about it." - Rob.

Oh yeah, we slept in a GIANT PYRAMID. Cross that one off the bucket list! It smelled like coconut all the time (gross), and you could buy a slushie booze drink at any hour of the day (gross), but it was a pyramid (yes!). Did we sing a lot of Frank Ocean? We did.

I wish I could have brought home some fireworks from this roadside store. 

They had quite an exciting selection.

The Bellagio had a pretty neat conservatory and botanical garden area. Huge mushrooms! Giant swans! Windmills! We walked through it around midnight with some beers. While the price of food stuff is inflated in Vegas (a coffee at Starbucks ran me $3.50), you can walk around all day looking at weird stuff for free.

A Bellagio swan & our pyramid shaped hotel room number.

There are over 2,000 hand-blown glass flowers on the ceiling at The Bellagio.

The hotel beside ours was shaped like a castle. No biggie.

Even McDonald's has a fancy neon sign.

There are people in costumes all over the strip looking for donations from tourists to get their pictures taken with them. I gave this unofficial Mickey and Minnie team 2 of my dollars. There were basketball players, superheros, the cookie monster, a weird guy in a bad hot dog costume, a really amazing batman and joker duo, etc.

It was all definitely something to see. Good times!

COFFEE TIME.

COFFEE TIME IS THE BEST TIME.

PUMPKINS ONLINE.

Finally updated my Etsy shop with these two pumpkin prints!  

Sad Pumpkin 1: Bar Open

This guy had a rough day at the office. After he punched the clock he went over to his local watering hole for a beer or two and some alone time. He has a lot on his mind, you know? It's too bad his friends are busy tonight. Soon he will hear a song he likes on the radio, and then he'll pay his tab. He's going to be ok!

12 X 18 4 colour screen print on cardstock. Ships rolled.

Limited edition run of 20. Signed and numbered.

Sad Pumpkin 2: Bad News

This pumpkin is having a rough morning. He slept through his alarm, spilled 90 percent of his coffee, and the paper is FULL of bad news. It's not even 9 yet! What is he going to make for dinner tonight? Will it rain later? He forgot his umbrella...again. That's ok. He's tough. He will survive!

8 X 8 inch 5 colour screen print on Stonehenge paper. Ships flat.

Limited edition run of 25 prints! Signed and numbered.

If you're located in Toronto, and would like to pick a print up locally to save $ on shipping, email me: info(at)deadweight.ca

SIGN PAINTERS MOVIE

SIGN PAINTERS (OFFICIAL TRAILER) from samuel j macon on Vimeo.

"On my gravestone it's going to say He Died For Greater Opacity."  I really want to see this movie!

Website.

FALCONWRIGHT SPRING.

Big news! We released our spring collection over at Falconwright today!  

Shop / Blog / Site 

Danielle and I built a fruit stand in our studio for this collection. Hoisted up an awning with fishing line, covered tables in burlap, stacked fruit, etc. Pretty lucky that making a fake fruit stand is part of my job. And now our new backup career plan is to go into the fruit game. Time to go eat some more bananas...

It was such an honour to meet one of the Honest Ed's sign painters, Doug Kerr. If you aren't from Toronto, google image search HONEST ED'S SIGNS, because there are so many, and they are all so good. Our studio is right down the street from this local landmark, and as a nod to our city, we thought it would be really fun to use Doug's authentic talents. He also paints ice cream trucks in this town! Lettering pros blow my mind.

As promised you will find: zippers, neon, new metal tags, some nature inspired prints to go with our usual bold geometric stuff (flowers!), some bright leather colours, some neutral leather colours, and a bunch of contrasting leather zipper pulls for good measure! YEAH.

PRINTING ON THE FLY.

Taped off a bunch of random parts of different screens the other day and made this shape collection card. Weird on the fly spacing and no colour planning! Improv printing! Find it here.

I stopped myself from adding a million more layers in fear that I would just ruin it in the end, but I think that I'll experiment with a larger format print inspired by this little one soon. Tons of colours, lots of shapes, semi transparent inks all over each other, fades, etc. Pastel tones? Who knows!

5 LAYER SHUFFLE.

A little process gif action. 5 layers & all kinds of different lighting conditions! 

Whenever I successfully make it through a multi-layer print, I always kind of feel like I got away with something. Despite years of screen printing experience, there is always this brief moment of surprise when something actually works out as planned. I love that moment. 

Another day, another sad pumpkin. This one goes out to a guy I saw on the bus who spilled a giant cup of coffee all over the floor on his morning commute and barely made a sound. He just looked down at the expanding puddle and DEALT with it. Total pro.

DANIELLE WRIGHT'S NECKLACE SHOP.

Something happened today. Danielle Wright (collab partner extraordinaire & true crime stories lover) opened an online shop for her jewelry! 

These pieces are all limited and totally unique. I have a pyramids necklace and a bead loops necklace and I still have to stop myself from stealing all the other necklaces every time I go into the studio.

See that top left one? Danielle calls it a cone with handle necklace, but if I was put in an Inception scenario where I was going to extract very important info from someone else's dreams, this would definitely be my totem. Is this real life? Am I awake? Yes you are (and you have an awesome necklace).