Stepping it up with flags

Today I've completed the painting of my second large flag. I feel excited about this not only because of the concept of the flag's design, but also because of my discovery of the extension pole. This pole is meant for painting at tall heights but I decided to take a chance and see how it would work as a flag pole. Before this, I would use ten-foot tall pvc pipes for my tall flags. Now I have an extension pole that goes up to 12 foot tall! 

It's also adjustable in height. The twist grip (as pictured) locks the upper part in place at whatever height.

Fusible thread is a lifeline!

After several years of toiling at uniting to lengths of fabric together, I discovered something called fusible thread. Before finding this, I used to either use fusible tape that I would have to iron together and then sew to reinforce the bond of the two fabrics. But the tape leaves a somewhat visible line on some displays. Another way that took a long time was putting pins to temporarily attach the fabric and then sew it. But now fusible thread will be the answer. It works like the fusible tape in that an iron is required, but it is thread form and it looks much better since it doesn't leave a line. This will save me a good amount of labor especially when it comes time for me to do longer banners and hopefully large overheads.

Suppo

The name of this character is Suppo and yes, this name is a derivative of the word supporter. He embodies everything that is Columbus Crew Soccer Club, knowing only the colors of them team. The team is known for being "America's Hardest Working Team" and Suppo lives up to working hard as a supporter. The action of rolling up the sleeves entails that he means business in every aspect of life, which is a typical no-nonsense trait of the people in Ohio and surrounding states. Suppo is an invention of sorts that began in a comic strip, but could eventually be more visible at Columbus matches.

Globally, supporter groups have used cartoon figures (similar to Suppo) for their logos. Who knows, maybe Suppo could be a logo for a newer supporter group in the Nordecke. Here are several logos (club team listed next to logo)

AIK Stockholm (Sweden)

FC Lorient (France)

SC Corinthians (Brazil)

VfB Stuttgart (Germany)

Olympique Lyonnais (France)

A Shift in This Journey

An early entry in this blog mentioned about the history of my interest in tifo displays and overall supporter culture. I recently reflected upon my journey with those influences that have motivated me to create atmosphere. The journey began in the mid-late 1990's when Serie A was being shown on SportsChannel Ohio. I would admire the work of the choreographies, banners, flags and the unified songs, and overall passion shown be supporters from most Serie A clubs. This motivated me to create banners for the Columbus Crew, but I really never had a knowledge on how to make them big, or as detailed. All of my work was done freehand since I wasn't aware that projectors could make the job easier. But after a while, due to crackdowns on supporter culture (due to fan deaths, racism, etc.) and matches that to me were losing in excitement in style, I would somewhat lose interest in Serie A, and TV companies in the States would also somewhat due to a massive monster looming.

Enter the decade of the 2000's, a time in which the English Premier League set the world by storm with it's exposure. Clubs were expanding their "brand" all over the world and with this expansion came TV packages that would have the world see exciting matches. I fell for the bait myself and would admire the supporters and the amount of passion they would show. The one thing that this league did not have though was the displays that I saw in Serie A. If there were displays, it was for massive Champions League or Cup matches. There came about rulings in the government on down cracking down on supporters standing in the all-seater stadia. This would hamper the atmosphere severely in some cases and cause moments of silence even in some EPL matches. By now there had been several leagues being broadcast not only from Europe but Latin America also, which showed the fervor from the barra bravas and torcidas.

As I type right now, I have fallen almost to a love with the Bundesliga supporter culture. The grounds are always full and there always seem to be a vocal din with visuals from home and away supporters. The use of two-stick flags (doppelhaltern) has been inspirational to the point that the next few months, my aim is to create as many as possible for the Nordecke.

Where's my head at?

Not one blog entry on my part since December. Why is this? Well, my off season was spent brainstorming and creating most of the banners in the photo, which is from the first match of the 2011 season. Also, I have been working on side projects like the chibi/manga comic called CrewIsM, designing scarves, thinking of flag ideas, and just anything imaginative that will benefit the section. Facebook seems to be the place where my inner thoughts have appeared, daily, but the blog entry is a place that I can ramble on deeply I'd say. So here I go again, playing catch up.

The Thinker

It's winter time, cold outside, 28°F (-2°C), December, 2010. Major League Soccer is in its off season on the field, but the world's beautiful sport keeps the ball rolling globally. I would sit here reflecting on not spending my night like last night in which I would brood about the slight slump I've been in with regards to making banners. Even the simple act of sketching or brainstorming ideas on paper would make me motivated to get things going again.

Stadionwelt.de has been in my eye front as I would scan the fantastic atmosphere on the curves and blocks of Bundesliga stadia. Every time I look at sites like this, so many thoughts go through my head. But there is no thought more important than motivation and putting that motivation into action. I must create!

More, more, more!

That's right, more two-stick, two-pole, double-holder, whatever you prefer to call them. (completed in September 2010)