JJJ: The Sad Sad Tale of the Hommade Jar Jar Shirt.

A while back, I went shopping for t-shirts. Like most people of my demographic, I'm partial to graphic tees. They're comfy and easy to wear. And stylish.


I don't believe I've ever owned a Star Wars shirt, something that I considered a great oversight that needed to be corrected posthaste.

Unfortunately, everything was Rebellion, or Millennium Falcon, or Boba Fett. Nothing that encompassed the whole saga. I'd have even taken I-III only stuff, since I prefer that time period. Nothing spoke to me.

But then, I knew finding something would be a grim prospect anyway. Well, it was then I decided that if I wanted something done right, I needed to do it myself.

I bought three plain tees on sale, and I found some iron-on transfer paper. I was going to make my own shirts, and they would be awesome.

Problem number 1 came when my wife needed to take all but one sheet of my paper for a work project. So I only had the one shot. But I slogged through. I found this great Warhol-esque image of Jar Jar (of course I would use Jar Jar first) and added my own catchy slogan:

Problem number 2 came when I misjudged how big the Print Preview would be and used my one shot paper on an image that turned out to be too small.

I was upset, but I swore I would make it work. I laid out the shirt and did all the ironing and...only then did I realize that the shirt was slightly tilted.

The image was tilted and off-center.

But, I wore it anyway. I tried to rock it. I didn't get any comments, except from one overworked Wal-Mart cashier who ended up singing Weird Al's "The Saga Begins" with me to my wife's chagrin. But it was uncomfortable. The print was affecting the shirt's breathability. Plus, I had to keep adjusting it to make it look halfway decent.

Then I washed it. The image was pretty much ruined at that point.

So not only did I waste expensive transfer paper, but an expensive and beautiful blue shirt.

Still, I'm not deterred. Some more research, a steadier hand, maybe some assistance, and I will have my awesome I-III t-shirts. Someday...