Friday, May 21, 2010

Featured Seller: Secret Selves (Leonard Nimoy)



(My bad, haven't posted here in forever... Hockey playoffs are going on, and well, yeah. Heh.)

Hmm this isn't straight-up DIY, but it's just so awesome I HAVE to write about it.

Leonard Nimoy has an Etsy shop. Yes, that's right, Spock himself has his own shop on Etsy. It's pretty recent, so it only has a few shirt designs up now, but it features his photography (he's actually quite good, and posts a lot of older photos he's taken on his Twitter account).

I mean, I don't think I even need to give an explanation for Mr. Nimoy. He does have a team to help him with the orders, so he doesn't deal with everything himself, but I love the concept. He has a series of photographs taken of normal people with secrets, which are demonstrated on the back (right side) of each shirt. The front has "SECRET SELVES" screened on two lines, and the left sleeve has a smaller screen of Leonard Nimoy's website.

I actually ordered the Superman one for myself, and it came pretty quick! Each shirt is a slub cotton tee from Alternative Apparel (so the stitching on the hems are a little questionable for me, but only because I've never seen that kind), meaning it's lightweight and perfect for summer. Each order comes in a flat-rate envelope, wrapped in tissue paper, with a Leonard Nimoy Photography sticker to keep it closed, plus a handwritten Thank You note (by one of his helpers) that has a Spock LLAP stamp on it.

I wasn't lucky enough to take advantage of this, but if you follow him on Twitter, he also does random promotions where if you're one of the first 10 or first 25 people to buy a shirt, he'll send a signed photo (1st 10 of his sales when the shop opened, I think) or he'll sign the shirt. He just did the signed shirt one a few days ago, and there was so much demand, he wound up signing 25 more on top of the original 25. Pretty crazy! But then, if a shirt were signed, I would frame it, rather than wear it. Too cool!

I'm seriously considering Dinosaur Girl as well, because these shirts are so insanely comfortable. It's a really nice twist on the basic white tee (and looks amazing with jeans, of course), so if you feel "lazy," just toss it on, and you still got some style going. While supporting Mr. Nimoy's photography! I think part of the proceeds also goes to some good cause, though I haven't found out which yet... But check it out! You know you want to!