Awesome, Texas

so, back from texas. it is literally a big blur. thanks to all of you that came, thanks for the handshakes and the compliments, it was a trip.

big thanks to mondo for flying me and sarah out there, it continually amazes me how friendly and concerned they are for me at times, and reminds me why i enjoy working with them as much as i do. the type of people that would spend $1000 to make $100, and i mean that as a compliment, a better group of guys to work with i have not found in this world. Justin was super cool, hearing Mitch laugh made me happy, and Rob Jones is where the party starts. and thanks to the rest of the mondo crew as well for all their hard work and dedication, particularly Mo, who is just a great guy who never let things get out of control, at least for me.

also thanks to ken taylor of course, the first time i had the pleasure of meeting him in person and he's one of the coolest guys in the world. it was an honor to be in a show with an artist of his caliber.

thanks to jay shaw who i also met for the first time, great fellow, thanks to kevin tong who i saw again, great guy as well, thanks to daniel danger, thanks to my friend jon smith, all great artists who i had some cool conversations with.  plus i met jay ryan and dan grzeca in person for the first time, two personal heroes of mine.

i'm probably forgetting a billion people. thanks to the facebook page guys, bryan and chris and aaron for organizing an amazing bbq event, all the guys that showed up, was fun meeting everyone in person.

thanks to dustin for hosting another bbq, for opening up his home. wonderful people, that is what impressed me most about austin, the quality of people i met there. i know it sounds cliche, but i'm just laying out what i'm feeling man. its emotional.

EDIT: well shoot - i forgot to thank sarah, apologies to her. she has been a trusted assistant and faithful employee at TSTOUT™ GLOBAL© WORLDS®, Incorporated - for many many years, and this trip would not have been possible without her organizing everything and letting me know what i was supposed to do next. i literally would have been lost without her, there's a reason she knows my PIN number and i do not. also, thanks to thomas wilson, who made the journey as well, he's always been there for me and i will miss him dearly.

so that's it, over and done with, i am retiring from posters, i had a good run, went out on a mid to high range note, and can now slowly crumble into dust. at the very least i can get caught up on everything in my life non-poster related, like catching up Justified and Southland.*

a life in pictures -

EDIT: i am not actually retiring from posters. i'm not even sure that you can retire from something like that, you simply stop making them. barring some horrific accident, i'll be peddling my wares again soon enough.

Unflattening a Poster - by bryan henderson

my friend bryan knows a bit more about the care and maintenance of posters, and sometimes he is kind enough to answer questions that people email me. i thought this one was a nice response to someone asking about flattening a print (and some framing tips as well, though really bryan could write a whole other blog post about framing).

Question From Bill
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Long story longer, I was lucky enough to get one of your Star Trek II regular prints  that was signed by you and had that badass Ceti eel stamp on the back. I received it rolled up in the original mail tube you sent to the guy who bought it from your website. My question is what is a good method to flatten the poster that causes no creases, and how do you go about framing it? I tried to look online and I really am confused. I want to keep it in mint condition and not cause any damage to it, and wanted to be able to frame it and have it hang on my wall. Should I go to a professional frame place, or is buying a nice museum type frame DIY just as good? Some people I know had their artwork ruined at a professional framing place. Could you give me some method that you have used or know? Maybe you have a link to a good framing place or something?

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BRYAN SAYS:
Howdy, Bill,

Wow, so that print has been stored rolled for about a year! I do recall that Sarah shipped those prints out using a 3" Yazoo tube, so that print will probably be in a tightly rolled state. In this case, I would go about flattening the print very carefully.

You will want to take the kraft roll out of the tube and let the print kind of relax in a curled state for a few days. It will unravel/relax a little bit.

While the print is relaxing, order yourself some acid free tissue paper and a couple of 30x40 pieces of foam core (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KNPLLU & http://www.framedestination.com/mount_board/foamboard_acid_free_artcare_3_16_inch/item/MB3ATF00000000/ ) . If you're buying prints in the future and need to unravel them, this is a good investment.

Now that the kraft roll has relaxed for a bit, place it on top of and at the end of one of those pieces of foam core and unravel it slightly by hand so that the top is exposed (be extremely careful here - be sure to not let the print bend in on itself in any way since that will cause creases). Put some acid free tissue paper on the edge of the print to act as a buffer, and then put some heavy books on top. Be sure to cover the entire edge of the print, not just the corners, etc. I usually start by putting a book on either corner and then I put books on the center. If you don't have any acid free tissue paper, just use really really clean books. The books will hold down the print so you can unravel it fully.

Unroll the print fully. Place books on the other end in the same way as the top. Again, be extremely careful not to let the print bend in on itself. Also be careful to use really clean books or the acid free tissue buffer between the books and the print.

Place books around both long edges of the print. You will want to basically have books covering the entire edge surface area of the print so that it will flatten evenly.

Place the other piece of foamcore over the print/books so that the print won't be exposed to UV light while it's flattening. Let it flatten for one or two weeks. Start taking books off one end. If the print is still curling in on itself, you will need to let it flatten for longer. If you feel as though the print is very very lightly curling, you could take all the books off, put one sheet of acid free tissue paper on top of the print, and then place the other piece of foam core directly on the print to allow it to flatten even better (aka the foam core sandwich). If you do go the route where the other piece of foam core is flattening the print from up top, put some books on top of the sandwich to hold the top piece down better.

When you take the print the framer, just use your foam core sandwich as transportation to the framer. I just put really big clips along the edge of the foam core sandwich to keep it together.

As far as a framer goes, don't use chain stores like Michael's, Hobby Lobby, etc. Try to find a local independent framer. Even then I would be weary. Always use matting (the framer really has to know what they are doing to not use matting because they will have to use spacers and not put pressure on the print). Always use Bainbridge alphamat or alpharag 4-ply. For the backing in the frame, don't use foam core (that can deteriorate over time) - use Bainbridge alpharag 4-ply. Have them use museum glass. Tell them you want it done reversible archival - no hinging tape (have them use mounting strips like these http://www.framedestination.com/photo_corners/4_inch_clear_mounting_strips_l533-4015/item/FAPHCN4MST0000000000/ ). Make sure they are using frame sealing tape on the interior of the frame (to keep the wood from outgassing to the print) and acid free kraft paper on the outer back portion of the frame to act as a dust cover.

For a standard 28x40 frame for a 24x36 piece, you're probably looking at around $250 to $350 from a professional framer. I don't really know how much they charge, but $350 is the very maximum you should pay.

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thanks again bryan, great info to have for those of you interested.

Packing A Poster - by bryan henderson

Occasionally my friend bryan emails me or a friend of mine suggestions on packing, shipping or framing a poster. i thought people might enjoy reading a bit about his thoughts on shipping a poster. here is a recent email from him:

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BRYAN SAYS:
I do have some shipping tips if you want to use them later or whatever. If not, that's cool, too, but I've been meaning to tell you about them anyway. I know you have to roll a lot of prints really fast, so my tips could be worthless. Still, they might be of some use.

Whenever I roll prints up, I always put some kind of covering over them so that the inks are protected. The kraft paper can easily scuff the inks. The premium product to use for covering prints is glassine (I use the 32x40 sheets http://apps.webcreate.com/ecom/catalog/product_specific.cfm?ClientID=15&ProductID=25110 . You can also order from U-Line. ). Acid free tissue paper is a tad cheaper, but it's harder to use. I always order that stuff off Amazon if I'm in a total bind ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KNPLLU/ref=ox_ya_os_product )
Here's an example of rolling a print with something over it: http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m559/CrustaR/bride11_zps6b908c7f.jpg

I think rolling the print smaller than the tube is a great idea since it's so much easier to remove the print from the tube, but I go a little further with it in two ways. First, I use painter's tape over the kraft paper (painter's tape is a lot easier to remove than normal tape and is easier to handle). I fold down the painter's tape up top so that you have a little tab you can pull to open the kraft roll. Be sure to place the tab so that when you pull down on it, it doesn't catch on the edge of the paper (hard to explain, but check out the photo): http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m559/CrustaR/Companion_Guide_1/comp02.jpg . I also put painter's tape in three areas on the tube: The middle and both sides.

Second, I square off the ends of the kraft roll so that it won't move around in the tube. Instead of the kraft roll bouncing around in the tube, it is supported on each end (instead of it being like this ( --------- ), it's like this ( |-------| ) ). In other words, I use some kraft paper to make each end look like this: http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m559/CrustaR/Guide/12-tabtapedone.jpg , http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m559/CrustaR/Guide/12-tabplace.jpg

Finally, I make sure the kraft roll can't move around from side to side, so I use bubble tape or plastic bags to kind of pack it in. http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m559/CrustaR/Companion_Guide_1/comp05.jpg Usually I can tell that I have used enough packing material if I shake the tube, and I can't hear the kraft roll inside moving.

One more thing. I noticed you guys use 3" Yazoo tubes. Might I recommend 4" tubes? It always makes me nervous packing a 24x36 print in a small 3" tube, haha. But I guess if cost is an issue and if it's worked before, 3" works great, too.

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(note: sarah is looking into some of these, but probably won't do all of them, so i don't want to say this is how we'll be shipping prints from now on (mostly cost reasons) - but i thought it was a nice list of ideas regardless that people might find helpful.

sign of the times

i've had some emails about signing at the gallery, i had previously assumed i'd be signing prints friday evening at the opening, but that was an erroneous assumption. however, the reasons are pretty understandable, at least to me. i haven't seen the gallery space in person, but say its something like this:

all those happy people, filled with laughter, love, excitement. now, ideally, for the best user experience (users being gallery attendees), the goal is to get people in, let you take a look around, purchase any prints you desire, and exit, thus allowing more people to enter. repeat.

in a signing situation, the lines for the signings would begin to overwhelm the lines of people just wanting to look at all ken's work, and the one guy wanting to look at my drive poster. so it would begin to look like this:

as you can see, those people in line, especially towards the end of the line, they are getting pretty angry. and eventually they explode and die, this is very common. another idea we talked about was having a line outside, but again, it would end up like this:

even more chaotic. people aren't even getting into the gallery, the lines are crazy confusing, its just a madhouse.

all this to say, mondo's one goal is to make the most people happy in this situation. my whole reason for flying out is to sign prints. i'm not there to stand around, my physical appearance is not pleasing to the eyes, i'm no rob jones. the signing was moved to the next day, a one day event has turned into a two day event. which is fine, we'll motor through them, i plan on signing all of em (at once, i use a super strong permanent marker that soaks through many sheets of paper). but its all done with one goal, to make people happy.

so there ya go. i just wanted to give my side of things, why the decision was made. it was made with the best intentions possible. and the plus side is i don't even have to go to the gallery friday night. sweet.

maybe in a few months, we'll have a 2 week 'mail your prints to tyler and he'll sign em', once things slow down. the problem with mailing has always been...prints get damaged in the mail, and i can't replace them. its not because i'm a jerk (i am a jerk), its because it worries me that peoples prints get damaged, which to me outweighs having a print signed. maybe i'll do a signing in portland, in the park, we'll sing songs, laugh, some people will bring some drugs, we'll do those, laugh some more. slowly it'll turn violent, cars will be overturned and burned up. it will literally be perfect.

Django Unchained poster sale info

thanks for all the entries, the lotto has closed.

hello
these are the lottery instructions for my Django Unchained poster, regular and variant editions.

to give everyone an equal chance, posters will be sold by email lottery. you enter by email, if its picked, we'll email you and give you purchase details.

Costwise, posters will be $65 plus shipping (regular), $110 for the variant (plus shipping)

here is the Django regular and variant, both are signed and numbered and stamped on the back by me.

I am limiting people to one poster per person. you cannot buy both the regular and variant if picked.

Sarah will notify those that are picked Thursday, March 7th, after 12PM Pacific Standard Time. those picked will have 5 hours to purchase.

Please check tstout.com if you are wondering about results. i will post updates there. i am unable to notify everyone that is not picked personally.

How to enter the Django lottery
send an email to

xxx email removed, lotto closed xxx

your email should have 2 things
1. your NAME
2. your ADDRESS
- multiple email entries will get you disqualified.
- multiple entries via different email addresses will get you disqualified.
- one entry per household, per mailing address.
- your lotto entry shipping address must match your paypal shipping address.

your address needs to match up to your paypal shipping address, which is where the posters will be shipped. we ship through paypals system, which enables shipping tracking, so the address needs to match.

FAQ:
Q: can i email you directly asking to purchase the poster, outside of the lottery system?
A: sarah is actually picking the lottery winners, so its out of my hands, i literally have no idea who gets picked for prints. the cruel mistress of fate! which is actually sarah's nickname.


Q: i never ever get picked in the lotto
A: again, its nothing personal, it's random chance. for me personally, i am lucky in love, but unlucky in life. so if you miss out on a lottery, i bet you're using your luck up in other areas, if you know what i mean. you old sea dog. wink wink.

Q: please take me off your mailing list!
A: never. unless you click unsubscribe, then yes, you'll be taken off.

Build a Smaller Handbill

again, just a small note, all handbill sets have been mailed out. so those should be arriving. i included some random things inside them as fun bonus items, and people are asking if they mean something. unfortunately, they mean nothing. not in a deathbed confession sort of way, they mean something to you if they mean something to you. but they don't mean i'm hinting at future projects, i am not. in any way.

so, there ya go, bummer. i have no plans to sell them, its more of a trading card idea, you trade for this one, trade for that one, collect the ones you want. i even had sarah put two of the same card in some random packages, just to encourage trading. sure, some people will sell them, that's the society we live in, but my naive hope is for some, its just a fun thing to pass around and enjoy.

additional footnote: it looks like they've all been found, there are 5 in the set. but they are very small, 4x5", or 4x4" in the case of one of them, and were just printed in the margins of the 4up handbill set. hopefully that puts things in perspective, very small and semi worthless. much like myself. zing. they aren't signed but are all stamped on the back.

Austin, Massachusetts

just a small note: i guess i'm going to be in austin in a few weeks. good times. people are emailing about details and whatnot, obviously i can't say much about it.

if you are wanting to meet ken taylor in person and see a bunch of amazing ken taylor pieces, your expectations will be met. if you are hoping to see at least 2 new posters from me, that expectation will be met. possibly exceeded.

if you're hoping to have me sign older prints i believe that expectation will be met. i hope.

for identification purposes, here is a picture of what i look like, feel free to come up behind me an give me a big hug.

all in all, it'll hopefully just be a fun time that doesn't involved me being murdered. hope to see you there!