Skeet’s Adventures: Handmade Greeting Cards & Other Unique Products
Skeet’s Adventures is a series of fun, witty, and sarcastic handmade goods centered around a playful mosquito named Skeet. I created Skeet and applied his character to a variety of handmade greeting cards, stickers, and tote bags.
Those who love sarcastic, witty, Michigan-themed goods.
Skeet and his collection are bold, flashy, and intentional. Each greeting card is hand-printed using a risograph printer and a wood type press. The bold and contrasting risograph inks also created a subtle sense of texture during the printing process. I had the pleasure of being able to print handmade card labels at the Detroit Wood Type Company, where I thoroughly enjoyed learning the methods and processes of printing with wood type. To create the tote bags, I used a dye sublimation process that ensured my color choices would stay true to their hues.
I thoroughly enjoyed diving head-first into the process of creating my own unique, handmade goods. Check out our collaborative class website here. These products were showcased and sold at the 2024 Student Exhibition Opening hosted by CCS.
To start this exciting design process, I conducted in-depth research and inspiration around handmade goods and their subject matter.
The concept of something local and/or Michigan made was a collective idea between myself and my fellow classmates.
While I originally had ideas around a more Michigan-themed design, there’s one thing that’s always around in Michigan: mosquitoes.
Most people don’t like mosquitoes, so I portrayed Skeet in a more fun-loving and cheeky fashion. Seen in many different colors and poses, Skeet has a constant side-eye and smirk on his face. His simple, yet dynamic characteristics created a surprised, yet humorous reaction.
I quickly found that mosquitoes served as a vessel for all things dry, snarky, and sarcastic. The idea that mosquitoes are the unwanted dinner party guest stuck with me as I began generating language. Phrases like, “You’re my favorite nuisance,” and “Heard you’re on your period,” became essential to Skeet’s sarcastic and snarky essence.
After deciding on my final visual direction, I prepped my files and images for the risograph printer and got to work! This included color separation, risograph swatch color matching, and master page creation.Each of us also created customized wooden type for the letterpress. During printing hours, I learned how to carefully mix inks, align letters into place, and thoroughly conduct the letterpress printing process.