Due to scheduling and site maintenance, the next Tuesday uEtsy will be on 3/1.

[Etsy.com’s tagline is “Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade.” Coincidentally, there’s a lot of spooky on Etsy, and each Tuesday, we highlight one of the sellers. If you’re looking to spruce up your look, redecorate your tomb or get a gift for that special something in your afterlife, Etsy.com is a place for spooky econo.]

Intl. Robot (http://www.etsy.com/shop/dylanS)

Robots.

Here at the Local, we are keen to remember that Robots were once as frightening as any vampire, zombie or monster. Time and the march of technology has reduced the fiction and increased the fact with robot science, making the reality of operational machine men more of a dream of today than that of tomorrow. Most cell phones and laptops have functionality that dwarfs the fantastic ideas of Atomic Age.

Fear, though, is the hardest of emotions to forget. Today, we walk the grounds with the primordial wariness of that which hunted our ancestors, of the shadows that loomed just at the edge of the firelight that we conquered through science and knowledge. While we advance, there looms the fear and distrust that one day, the machines we use will ultimately destroy us.

Which isn’t to say that we can’t get some fine clothing out of it. This week’s Tuesday uEtsy brings us the fantastic artwork of International Robot (Designs by Dylan S) who specializes in clothing that captures both the fantastika and the dread that science can bring.

Though the above red Robot Invasion shirt convey an incoming threat of mechanical proportions, the Robots VS Zombies design displays a time where Robots work for the benefit of mankind (unless you happen to be a member of Rights and Equality for Animated People, who have been cracking down on stereotype depictions of reanimated persons.)  But if you dream of a world where you are kept safe from the Zombie horde by an army of friendly but deadly robots, this shirt is for you.

Not to take sides in the Robot versus Zombie conflict (despite a visible bias in their name,) International Robot (Designs by Dylan S) have a lovely olive green Zombies shirt. Perhaps the color will help you blend in with some of the more chartreuse members of your clan. We recommend it. It might help out Loretta. Last time we saw her, she was a bit green around the gills. Bernie Freakshow says his wife’s just a bit ill. Poinsettia’s a bit worried. She would buy this shirt for her mother but there’s concern that it wouldn’t fit (“She keeps eating,” the youngest Freakshow told us.)  Thankfully, it comes in many sizes so when you purchase it, you’ll look suave and fashionable in it.

Intl. Robot (Designs by Dylan S) also have a ufo and Sasquatch bent for those who want to show some pride for our Bigfoot brothers. In this display of crossing the streams, a wandering wendigo finds he’s going for an unexpected trip. Hopefully, those piloting that extraterrestrial Trans-Am will be nice. Yetis are notably laid back but once you start probing, you take your live into your own hands.

Science. It’s scary. But it’s also fashionable. Check out International Robot (designs by Dylan S) here on Etsy. Check out their brand new webpage too! And they’re on Facebook. And we’re on this site, which we hope to be in a week from now for the next Tuesday uEtsy. 

[Etsy.com’s tagline is “Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade.” Coincidentally, there’s a lot of spooky on Etsy, and each Tuesday, we highlight one of the sellers. If you’re looking to spruce up your look, redecorate your tomb or get a gift for that special something in your afterlife, Etsy.com is a place for spooky econo.]


Imaginary Trends (http://www.etsy.com/shop/imaginarytrends)

This year, more so than before, will provide a dreadful February with miserable weather and a general yearning for spring. It’s a bit of a cliché to hate on Valentine’s Day and its odd placement. Instead, let us celebrate a different member of the playing deck – hate not the hearts and celebrate the clubs with Imaginary Trends.

There are a few running themes with Imaginary Trends’ store. The first is the classic favorite: skulls. What we like here at the local is the different look of this one Skull ringer shirt. The angle is different and it’s nice that Imaginary Trends remembered that skulls come in blue every once in a while. Gulko came up here to the Front Offices a couple months ago, a blue skull in hand. Wasn’t really human but would you expect it you? He keeps it on a shelf in his shop, keeping it safe for when someone comes to claim it. Such things are never left forgotten for long. Stand out and be memorable on your own with this shirt.

Along with skulls, Imaginary Trends makes the lovely pun of “I Club Zombies,” building on the I HEART iconography. Considering your stance on Zombies, you might club a baby seal before a zombie. Or you might do both eagerly. Either way, here’s a shirt that’s beautiful, green and displays a skull. Perhaps you can find a bit of masking tape and write TO GO and WITH on two pieces to demonstrate a fondness of Rave Zombies. Either way, this is a shirt for you.

They even have the slogan in a onesie, so your little offspring can join in on the fun. Why should the clubbing be limited to those who have been potty-trained? When we were looking at this, Loretta Freakshow came by and said that it looked adorable and would just spoil any baby that wore it. So not only would it make your baby look tough, it would protect it, since no one likes to eat a spoiled baby.

For those children a little bit older, there’s this rootin’ tootin’ sherrif cowboy kid’s shirt. Lately, it’s largely forgotten that skeletons are big fans of westerns. Usually, when you see a cow-skull or a bleached bones on a panning desert scene in any cowboy film, that’s some skeleton’s brother or sister and the whole family is proud of the shot. Skeletons don’t have the nerves for horror and find that the narrative of a nice western is much more to their liking.

On top of all that you’ve seen here, Imaginary Trends also does illustrated buttons, so you can accessorize every single shirt or hoodie you buy!

Check out Imaginary Trends etsy page and find their Fan Page on Facebook. And find your way back here next week for another Tuesday uEtsy.

[Etsy.com’s tagline is “Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade.” Coincidentally, there’s a lot of spooky on Etsy, and each Tuesday, we highlight one of the sellers. If you’re looking to spruce up your look, redecorate your tomb or get a gift for that special something in your afterlife, Etsy.com is a place for spooky econo.]

Team Welser (http://www.etsy.com/shop/swelser)

Winter has been overwhelming this time around. Unexpected snowfalls and negative temperatures have made the ground stubborn and unreceptive to any shovel-ready arguments. Thankfully, we’ve been very lucky this passing time. Haven’t heard of any major deaths or need for digging. Instead, it’s been a time for hibernation. A lot of people are staying indoors to avoid the winter altogether. A lot of movies watched, we suspect.

With that, we’re gland to display Team Welser for the first Tuesday uEtsy for 2011. Featuring the artwork of Mark Welser, Team Welser’s store has a wide variety of Welser’s original artwork of well known movies. These 50’s & 60’s throwback renditions of eighties and nineties cult and horror movies capture the essence even though the art is of a prior era. Take this print of ‘The Return of the Living Dead.’ Those who have seen the movie recognize the character played by Linnea Quigley, and how Welser’s design captures both the sex and the horror of this movie.

Among classics like ‘Hellraiser’ and ‘Friday the 13th,’ Team Welser also have covered modern horror flicks (soon-to-be-classics) like ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and ‘Zombieland,’ seen below. Poinsettia says that ‘Zombieland’ is one of her favorite movies. We couldn’t say. Our line of business has us deal enough with the departed that any kind of idea of ‘the dead rising from their graves’ indicates a poorly done job on the gravedigger’s part. Poinsettia, after finding out that we remain unaware of the seminal performance by one Woody Harrelson and company, has insisted we Netflix it. She brought it up again when she and the Freakshow family came around for the Union holiday parties. Loretta and Bernie are doing well, fyi.

Team Welser doesn’t just offer up movie posters and prints. Their store also has portraits of well known comic book superheroes and famous monsters. Along with the lovely soon-to-be Mrs. of the monster, you can find prints of the Wolfman, Dracula and the Frankenstein creature himself.

A talented comic artist, one of the specialties offered by the Team Welser Etsy store is the Custom Comic Book Cover ‘Save The Dates.’ Since most weddings occur when the ground isn’t covered in two-to-four feet of snow and ice, the Front Office has received a few save-the-dates, making sure our calendar is well populated before we can escape and say that we had no idea that someone was getting married THAT weekend. Make sure that your wedding doesn’t get ditched like what we do to others by employing Team Welser to make custom Kirby-esque covers that make sure YOUR guests will not only remember the date, but actively count down until you say EXCELSIOR I DO! to your loved one.

Be sure to check out the Team Welser store for all the items showcased here and more. As well, Mark Welser has a Deviant Art account (markwelser.deviantart.com) and you can find him on Facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/markwelser. And you can find a new Tuesday uEtsy here next week.