About JD's Strip Tees

JD, the founder of JD's Strip Tees, has a background in photography that goes back to when he was in middle school. JD learned the process of black and white photography and fell in love with it. Photography is both art and science. The art of selecting and framing the subject for a photograph, and the science of the darkroom development of that photograph.

JD's photgraphy is available at http://jdsmithphotography.com.

Some time ago, during COVID, JD got into creating memes. Funny observations, political observations. As you know, that is what most tee shirt designs are. So naturally the memes idea evolved to "how would that look on a tshirt?"

See the Memes page for amusement...

What really got JD into the tee shirt business was a shirt that he had back in college. Recently, in the 2020s, he searched for the shirt all throughout the ends of the Internet, but it could not be found. So JD created a similar design and sent it off to an online tshirt printing company, but of course they would not print it because it has a University logo. So JD then decided that he would learn how to print tee shirts. And the rest is history. And that shirt design can't be sold for the same licensing reason the online shirt printing company wouldn't print it. Oh well.

A young JD wearing the Texas Tech University tshirt that is the original inspiration to learn screen printing

So now, back to photography. The tee shirt creation process is the same as photography:

• Frame the subject - create a design
• Develop the negative - print the transparency and burn the screen stensil
• Expose the print - press the ink through the screen
• Display the photograph - a photo goes into a gallery, collection, website, periodical, and many other places. A tee shirt design is displayed on a gallery of living, moving, expressing, human beings.

An unofficial part of the photographic process is that there is always awesome music playing in the darkroom whenever negatives are being developed and prints are being exposed.

Same for the screen printing process.

Here at JD's we use environmentaly friendly water-based chemicals for the screen printing process. Water-based printed tshirts have many benefits:

• Eco-Friendly - unlike the popular Plastisol ink, which is made of plastic PVC resin, which can't be good for the environment. Water-based is completely without the harmful PVC.
• Soft hand - meaning that the water-based ink actually bonds to the garment fiber, rather than sitting on top of it like the Plastisol ink does. Making the finished printed product "soft."
• Sharper details - because the water-based ink actually dyes the garment, rather than sitting on top of it, much finer details are possible than the Plastisol ink.
• Longer lasting - also because the water-based ink dyes the fabric, the details will last longer than Plastisol. Plastisol sits on top of the fabric, and can crack and disintegrate over time. Sure, dyed fabric does fade as well, but it takes much longer to.

Here at JD's we use water-based emulsion (for the screen stensil) and water-based ink for the print.

We do single, and multi-colored designs, printed with water-based ink. We will never use Plastisol, PVC-based, environmentally damaging, ink.

We provide high quality finished products. Of our own, and your custom commissioned, designs.

Individuals, groups, organizations, corporations.

We provide tee shirts at wholesale prices to retailers.

JD's is located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on the Front Range of Colorado. Though we would prefer to be located in a beautiful mountain valley (perhaps the Arkansas River Valley, which is the inspiration for the Don't Delay My Day design), with 14ers majestically above, we are currently in the thriving metropolis of the Denver metro area. Pikes Peak is to our south, Mount Blue Sky directly to our west, and Longs Peak to the northwest. New Mexico is to the south, and Wyoming is to the north. The Rocky Mountains and all of the outdoor activities that they provide is the driving inspiration of our designs. One of JD's favorite songs is "Rocky Mountain Way" by Joe Walsh. Joe Walsh wrote that song in the 70's while living here along the Front Range. JD is inspired by the same views and experiences for his unique designs.

When I was an Assistant Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 51 in Frisco, Texas, I was the backpacking merit badge counselor for a few years. During that time there were multiple backpacking treks on the Ouachita Trail in the Ouachita National Forest in Oklahoma and Arkansas. When the scouts were doing the required 30 mile backpacking trek, I had the idea to document the Ouachita Trail for backpacking, by providing information about established campsites, fire rings, and water sources along the trail.

There are other great books about the Ouachita Trail, such as Tim Ernst's Ouachita Trail Guide, but I didn't know of any that provided the type of details for backpacking that I wanted to provide.

In 2007 I was selected to participate in the Backpacker Magazine Continentinal Divide Trail mapping project. Backpacker Magazine announced the project in the February 2007 issue, which I responded to, and provided the Ouachita Trail Backpacking Guide to the selection committee. There were thousands of volunteers, but the project only needed a couple hundred to cover the entire CDT trail. I'm pretty sure that I was selected because of my Ouachita Trail Backpacking Guide that I was working on.

I was placed on the awesome Team 21, which had Kris Wagner, who was the Map Editor of Backpacker Magazine at the time. Also Bob Wold, who worked at the GPS company Trimble. The other team members were Jon Butcher, who is currently the public land manager in Clear Creek County Colorado, Joel Janssen and Dick Vogel.

Team 21 was assigned the 45 mile segment of the CDT that starts at Cottonwood Pass at the south, and ends at Twin Lakes to the north. Cottonwood Pass is right up the road from the town of Buena Vista, Colorado.

During the trek we summitted the 14,012' Huron Peak, and after the trek we went back to Buena Vista to hike the 14,200' Mount Yale. In fact, we cut the trek short a day so we would have the time to hike a second 14er.

To this day the Arkansas River Valley and Buena Vista is my favorite place in the Rocky Mountains. The Arkansas River Valley is the primary inspiration of the Don't Delay My Day and I'll Do That Anytime designs.

BackpackerCDTProjectOverview.pdf