I’m please to announce the 2nd donation and featured artist, Pixlz.

Levi Arnold is an amazing talent and wizard behind the curtain of Pixlz photography. Not only is Levi a great photographer but a talented designer, editor and video guru. I’m blown away by the level of skills and creativity Levi has and I look forward to many good things in the future. Don’t take my word for it check out his work at http://pixlzphotography.blogspot.com/ or follow him on twitter @Levi_Arnold.

His tee Filling Africa… “was designed so that it portrays the idea that Africa is empty of water, but that little by little Dig Deep is helping to fill it up, one village at a time.” We are glad to feature this tee and this artist. Check out some of his work below.

I’m please to announce our first featured artist Drifter Threads.

Kevin Bruinsma is the man behind Drifter Threads. With a unique style and hand crafted tees, Drifter Threads is a gem of a t-shirt label. From hand cut stenciled bleach sprayed shirts to a wide selection of tees on Redbubble.com his shirts are memorable and have a cult following of Dutch Mafia members and I’m pleased to be an associate member of the Dutch Mafia. Not only is Kevin have a great t-shirt label but he is also an amazing designer, photographer, video mastermind, set designer and event organizer.

Here is some samples of his work. We are glad that Drifter Threads has donated a design to the Dig Deep campaign, together we plan on raising money and awareness about the worlds lack of clean water. To learn more about Kevin visit his site at www.kevinbruinsma.com or on twitter @kevinbruinsma.

I’m please to announce the re-launch of 13Lisa’s!!!

The mission of our Dig Deep Campaign is to make a positive impact on the world’s water crisis by digging a well that will proved 500 people with safe water for 5 years, period.

With a new mission and focus we plan on raising awareness of dirty water and its effects. Killing most people every year, this issue needs to be in the front of people’s minds. 13Lisa’s plans on doing this.

They say the craziest people who think they can change the world…are the ones that do. Our challenge to everyone is to get a little crazy this year because we can make a difference in the lives of many.

Together we can reach our goal of raising $5,000 to dig this well through causelife.org.

We look forward to sharing new designs with you and are looking for artist to contribute to the cause by either a t-shirt design or poster design. Contact Joe Gonzalez at josephgonalez21@gmail.com for more info. Also check this space for news and updates.

13 Lisa’s will soon be a 501(c)3 non-profit with all of its proceeds benefiting a cause. This years cause (and more than likely it’s sole cause) will be to help solve the crisis of millions of people dying every year. What kills more people than war, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and even traffic accidents…dirty water. The lack of clean, safe drinking water is estimated to kill over 6,000 children per day.

In fact, out of the estimated 2.2 million unsafe drinking water deaths every year, 90 percent are children under the age of 5. Water is essential to the treatment of diseases, and especially critical for children.

This crisis is created by a variety of factors including climate and geography, lack of water systems and infrastructure, and inadequate sanitation, something that 2.6 billion people (40 percent of the world’s population) lack access to. Some of these countries have additional problems, including high levels of arsenic and fluoride in drinking water. (source: causelife.org)

I can’t sit back and watch this happen to people around the world, when I can walk to my kitchen turn on the tap and out comes clear flowing water. I can’t image 6 jumbo jets full of children crashing into the earth and killing everyone aboard every day. But the whole country could stop for 9/11. Yes it was tragic but that is happening 5 times over every day to CHILDREN and you don’t hear one peep about it in the press.

I plan on making a difference. 13 lisa’s will now offer products and shirts that you can buy to support this cause (and still offer limited edition 13 run t-shirts). By January 13, 2011, we will be up and running, with a new site, new products and new mission.

The Dig Deep campaign is our effort to raise awareness about the lack of clean water and to raise money to dig a well in a country that needs clean water. Clean water is all around the world, its just deep underground and the only way to get to it is to dig a well. Working with causelife.org, we plan on digging a well that will give 500 people clean water everyday for the next 5 years. We have to raise $5,000 to do so, and all the proceeds will go toward this goal.

What better way to help then with supplying these people/children with what they need the most.

Digging deep in your pockets, digging deep for water, digging deep for a long haul of a goal. That’s my plan!

For more information about digging this well visit www.causelife.org. Follow 13lisa’s on twitter or facebook to stay up-to-date with news and happenings.

Thank you for your support and to learn more about how you can get involved with the Dig Deep campaign email me at hello@13lisas.com.

Photo by Designed by Humans

his ultra cool tee was designed by Yonil for the Designed by humans 10K contest. This designed went through a few rounds of voting to ultimately become the champ. This design is very cool and the print quality of the tee is amazing. I first came across Yonil’s work when we both had tees produced by Allmightys a few years ago. Ever since then I’ve been a huge fan of his work and design style. He has consistently pushed the envelope when it comes to tshirt design and is truly an incredible designer. He ran a promotion on his facebook page for this contest and instructed people to vote for his tee, then to tag themselves in an image in one of his albums. Doing so would enter you into a drawing for a shirt if he won. Luck for me he did and I was chosen to receive the winning design. I’ve never purchased a DBH shirt and I was eager to rip it open and see how well it was made. The print and shirt quality are all top-notch. They did an excellent job with printing on the seams and the color and large blocks of print were solid. From this one free tee, I think I’ll be picking up a few more from their collection. Good stuff.

To purchase your own tee check out www.designbyhumans.com.

To learn more about Yonil, visit www.yonil.com.

A great friend of mine, Kevin Bruinsma aka Drifter, is the founder and creator of Drifter Threads. He was so kind to agree to this interview and I’m happy to share it and hope to do some collaborative work together some time soon.

13L: What is your background and what do you do?

D: I was born and raised in west Michigan.  Now I am a husband, father, and an artist in N.W. Indiana. Currently, I am working as a full time graphic designer.

13L: Give a brief description of Drifter Threads?

D: Drifter Threads is a creative outlet. It’s working in the garage and getting my hands dirty. It’s therapy.  It’s playing with chemicals and inks. It’s working with texture and type. It’s experimenting with patterns and detail. It’s putting art on t-shirts.

13L: Can you explain the process you use to create your tees?

D: First, it start with an idea and goes into my sketchbook. Then depending on the design, it can go one of three ways.  The first is pretty strait up. I’ll lay out my design on the computer and then goes through redbubble.com to get printed. That’s for the designs I like to present to the masses. The second method is hand screening. I’ll do the designs on computer. Print them on acetate. Burn my screen with a floodlight. Then hand-pull them in my garage. This method is for the more “limited” run. The last way is a little process I like to call pigment desateration. I start out cutting a stencil out off acetate. Then I‘ll lay my shirt out and weigh down the stencil. (I like to use an old socket set, bolts, and screws.) This holds the stencil close to the fabric. Then I simply put bleach in a spray bottle and go to town. This method is a lot of fun because you never really know how it will turn out. There are a lot of different factors that will determine how the bleach will react to the shirt. (ex. brand of bleach, pigment of shirt, fabric of shirt, temperature…)

13L: What was your motivation for starting Drifter Threads outside of client work or full-time employment?

D: It’s an avenue for me to get out some ideas I have that don’t really have a practical use in my 9 to 5. It’s also a great way to just have fun with concepts. The Dutch mafia is the perfect example. It started out as a bumper sticker I created. From there is turned into a bleached tee and then a screened tee. Now I have it on redbubble. Now I’m starting to work on a bunch of designs that work off of Dutch stereotypes and correlations between the Dutch mafia and the Italian mafia. My ideas are snowballing and I’m having a fun time with it. That’s what it’s all about.

13L: What obstacles did you have to overcome, or still working to overcome, to get your project off the ground and moving forward?

D: Money, time, and an avenue to get the shirts in peoples hands, those are my top 3 obstacles. I also do a lot of experimenting with different things. I didn’t know anything about silk screening. So teaching myself has been a lot of trial and error.

13L: What advantages or disadvantages do you feel that designers have over others in terms of building a business of their own?

D: I think one advantage is the fact that designers have the gift of concept. We can take a theme and build a brand from it. We also have the gift of creative thinking and problem solving. Those are two things I feel are necessary to build a great business. A disadvantage for me is that I get caught up in the creative end of things and slack in the business side of things. I think part of that is the hazy line between hobby and business.

13L: What advice would you give to freelancers and full-time employees who want to pursue their own interests?

D: Do it. Just make sure you pick something that is creative, relaxing, and pushes you to experiment. Diving in and figuring something out will inspire you. It will cause you to think differently which will benefit you in your day-to-day tasks.

13L: Where do you see Drifter Threads in 1 year?

D: I really would like to get more into limited hand screened stuff. I mean really focus on all the details that go along with the art form, everything from tags to packaging.

Check out Drifter Threads on Redbubble // Or on Drifters Blog

Here are some post from facebook:

These are some samples of the status updates I was posting.

Thanks to my Rockstar Facebook Friend he posted some stuff for me as well.

He managed to get a 42 comments on just one of his post about 13 Lisa's

We’d like to thank all of our facebook friends for the support and love over this past month. The power of facebook to promote your brand is like nothing else on the web. You can become a fan here (13 lisa’s fan page). We will be having contest and give-a-ways only announced through facebook so become a fan and keep in the loop.

The newly launched 13 Lisa’s site is loved by many, viewed by some, and wanted by all. Good things to come with this Winter Collection. Check this blog from time to time for new designs and news.

Lets rock!