Terraform Tees- Trendy, vintage and graphic t-shirts. Photoshop Tutorials and more!

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Terraform Tees

I'm a photographer and painter studying photography in Arizona.  This lens will deal with artforms I find interesting such as stenciling, painting, photography, screenprinting and more. Be sure to bookmark this page as I will add tutorials on these subjects frequently! I started my own clothing company called Terraform Tees,  as well as my own photography gallery called Terraform Design.  Check them out.  In my free time I like to stencil anything and everything.  I plan on showing you how to stencil, screenprint, and anything else I can think of to make your day a little cooler.

 Terraform Tees specializes in vintage and retro designs with artwork dealing with pop-culture to politics to ancient celtic design. I have sections dealing with zombies, pirates, buddhism, politics, vintage designs, countries and travel, and funny t-shirts, buttons, bags, hoodies and more.  Check it out!

 




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Terraform Design Photography Check out my beautiful color and black and white photography!



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Table of Contents 

Click on any of the links below to quickly navigate this T-shirt design lens!

Stenciling and Screenprinting 

A short abridged history of stencil magic!

Stenciling is a style which uses a template in order to paint or draw images and letters and reproduce them quickly. A stencil is created when the artist removes sections of the template (carboard, acetate, paper etc) usually with an x-acto blade, in order to form the image. This removal of the material makes a physical negative. Once the template is completed it can be used to create a postive of the image using paint, or other mediums directly onto the stencil.

Sections of the remaining template which are isolated inside removed parts of the image are called islands. All islands must be connected to other parts of the template with bridges, or additional sections of narrow template material which are not removed.

Silk-screen printing also uses a stencil process, as does mimeography. The masters from which mimeographed pages are printed are often called "stencils." Stencils can be made with one or many colour layers using different techniqes, with most stencils designed to be applied as solid colours. In silk-screening and mimeography, images to be stenciled will be broken down into color layers and multiple stencils are used on the same surface to produce multi-colored images.

How to make a stencil using photoshop 

I'm sure you've probably seen those cool "graffiti" style images with the perfect clean lines when you're walking around town. They are called stencils and they actually aren't that hard to make. First things first we'll start with the materials list.

-x-acto varying sizes but mainly a smaller blade for precise cuts
-an image either you have created or found on the internet but the file needs to be located on your computer.

If you haven't scanned your image yet do it now, otherwise open the image in photoshop. Go ahead I'll wait...

Ok now you've got the image pulled up. Depending on what version you have the menus might be a little different but typically you will go to filters/artistic/cutout. When the cutout dialog box pops up you're going to want to lower the number of levels to about two to make it only two tones. (you'd select three if you were to make more than one color but for now we'll just work with one color).

Once that's done, go ahead and print out the "cutout" image. Lay the image over your acetate or construction paper and try to find a surface that is ok to gently score (cardboard works well for this). Tape your image down and cut out any of the black areas. This will take time especially if your image is more complex so don't be frustrated. The end result is highly worth it.

Stenciling tutorial videos 

Just for you visual thinkers here's some videos that explain stenciling!

How-to Stencil 0 points

Tutorial: Stencil Your Own Shirt 0 points

Stenciling on Amazon 

Stencil Art (Klutz S.)

Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now
Used Price: $8.70

Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens

Amazon Price: $18.15 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now
Used Price: $14.90

Stencil 101: Make Your Mark with 25 Reusable Stencils and Step-by-Step Instructions

Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now
Used Price: $20.98

Stenciling in the urban environment 

For more inspiration check out these cool videos on stenciling

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Apocolypto(multilayer stencil ...

Runtime: 2:30 | 34640 views | Comments

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Banksy's Spray Party: VC2

Runtime: 3:35 | 3775 views | Comments

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Stencil Graffiti workshop by Y...

Runtime: 3:47 | 19237 views | Comments

automatically generated by YouTube"

Screenprinting on the super ridiculously cheap! 

Before we start, gather these materials: a t-shirt (this might be obvious but you never know...), cheap paint brushes (the 50 cent foam ones work fairly well), an embroidery hoop (which is also super cheap), screen printing ink, non-water-soluble glue, curtain type sheer material (nylons, tulle etc.), and finally an image that you can print out from your computer or a hand drawn image.

After you have selected an image you like, follow the steps for creating a stencil in photoshop I laid out for you a few tutorials back. Make sure the final image is fairly contrasty.

Print out the image for the size you want, (don't go larger than the embroidery hoop, which is acting as our screen).

Pull the nylon material tight over the top of the embroidery hoop, screw it shut, and then trace the image onto the material with a pencil. Make sure the image is close to the material and not upside down...

Now you're going to turn the sucker over and glue in the negative space surrounding the image. For those of you who don't know, negative space just refers to the areas that don't make up the image. For our purposes, it's all the areas you don't want glue to go.

After the glue is completely dry, place the image on the shirt face down. Grab your ink and coat furiously while singing braveheart songs. Well just make sure it's well coated, but take care not to glob it.

Take your image hoop off and wait for it to dry. After you're sure it's dry read your ink instructions for "setting" the image onto the t-shirt, poster etc.

Congratulations, you just made a t-shirt woo hoo!

More Screenprinting Information in Ancient Book Form for the technlogically disabled! 

Simple Screenprinting: Basic Techniques & Creative Projects

Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Start Your Own Screen-Printing Business: A User's Guide to Printing and Selling T-shirts

Amazon Price: $13.31 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Do It Yourself Screenprinting

Amazon Price: $8.00 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Water-Based Screenprinting Today: From Hands-On Techniques to Digital Technology

Amazon Price: $18.21 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Screenprinting: The Complete Water-Based System

Amazon Price: $23.72 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Screenprinting videos on youtube 

Again don't think I forgot about you visual thinkers!

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Learn how to screenprint your ...

Runtime: 6:29 | 2118383 views | Comments

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Printmaking Processes: Screenp...

Runtime: 4:54 | 42154 views | Comments

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Screen printing screen exposur...

Runtime: 9:30 | 62776 views | Comments

automatically generated by YouTube"

Screenprinting Supplies for the brave and adventurous! 

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Photoshop Tutorials 

Crumble, Crackle, Burn: 120 Stunning Textures for Design & Illustration

Amazon Price: $23.10 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

The Essential Photoshop Book: The Get-It-Done, Tutorial for Professionals

Amazon Price: (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Great Stuff on Amazon 

Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium Student Edition

Amazon Price: $349.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Adobe Photoshop & Premiere Elements 8

Amazon Price: $118.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Adobe Acrobat Standard 9

Amazon Price: $259.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Adobe Acrobat Professional 9

Amazon Price: $303.39 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium Student Edition [Mac]

Amazon Price: $404.99 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Making a worn or distressed look in photoshop 

Worn Look Tutorial

This tutorial will teach you how to make a grungy, vintage, retro style design that looks awesome when screenprinted or stenciled onto a t-shirt or poster. In this example you'll be working with just a typeface (font) but later on you can try it out on logos, pictures etc.

This is a fairly simple technique but it's very effective and I think it looks pretty sweet too. You will need photoshop (illustrator is fine too anything similar to these two), a fork or blunt object, and an x-acto.

The very first step is to open a new document and create your text and print it out. The paper weight does matter but typically regular computer paper will be ok (just have to be more gentle with it later on...)

Using a combination of techniques will create a better vintage look as opposed to only using one type of technique. We're going to begin by making some small precise scratches and later on we'll give it a worn look. Take out your x-acto and add scratches being careful not to add too many (unless you like that...) and definetely try not to cut the paper. We're only trying to remove the ink from the surface of the paper.

This is the fun part. Take your fork or spoon or whatever blunt object you have lying around and take away the top surface of the ink across your design. Vary were you do it and attempt to make it look more organic and natural.

Now you're ready to scan the image. You'll want to adjust the brightness and contrast levels in photoshop to restore the background to white. Congratulations you're done! Print it out and prepare to stencil it!

How to create burnt edge look on your photos using Photoshop! 

Looking for a way to make your photos look more... Classical? In this tutorial I will explain how to create that cool burnt-in edge effect. There are quite a few different ways to create the effect, but we'll be looking at a very workable and intuitive technique. By using the curves layer we'll be able to create the effect as well as fine tune the image.

Step 1:

First we will be adding a curves adjustment layer.

1. Click on the new adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette looks like a yin yang.
2. Select curves from the list of adjustment layers.

This will bring up the curve dialog box. The curves adjustment layer is an incredibly powerful tool for editing photos and allows you to make incredibly detailed changes with the click of a mouse or arrow key.

Step 2:
When you have the curves dialog box open, (if you've closed it just double click on the curves layer to bring it back), grab the point in the top right corner and drag it almost straight down until the output (located in the bottom left corner) is somewhere between 10 and 20.

This makes your image look super dark but don't worry we're not done yet.

Create a border with the rectangular marquee tool (it's the dotted rectangle in the top left corner) around the area with edges.

Now you're going to fill that selection with Black on the Curves layer mask (hint: use the paint bucket)

Click on the layer mask thumbnail for the curves adjustment layer (the thumbnail to the right of the curves layer)

Make sure black is your foreground color, and press option-delete(mac), alt-backspace (windows) in order to fill the selected area with black. This will obscure the curves adjustment layer that is inside the selection leaving only the border edge dark.

The layer mask thumbnail now appears black in the center with a white border around it.

Burnt Edge Tutorial continued 

In order to soften the border edges we'll be using the Gaussian Blur filter. Select the Curves layer mask and click on the filter menu towards the top of the screen. Select blur, and then Gaussian blur which will bring up a new dialog box. Drag the slider to increase blurring until you like it and click ok.

Now that the dark edges are softened, we'll be using the free transorm tool to resize the layer mask if needed. With the curves layer selected in the layers pallete, use command+t (mac), ctrl+t(windows) to bring up the free transform dialog box. Drag any handles in or out to resize the mask.

Typically you'll want to adjust the opacity of the curves adjustment layer if the edges around your image are too dark. In order to do that, select the opacity option in the top right corner of the layers palette and drag it until it looks right to you. (Try not to go under 50%, but whatever looks good to you).

Congratulations! You're now a professional at creating classical burnt edge photographs.

Visit my T-shirt site! 

Check out the links related to Terraform Tees
Terraform Tees
Specializing in vintage and retro designs ranging from politics to pop-culture. Check us out!
My Photography Blog
I'm starting this blog in order to start getting my photography out there. I want it to be seen by as many as possible. Here goes nothing!
The start of my online gallery
Check out my on-line gallery of my work!

Terraform Tees: Trendy T-shirts, vintage tees 

TerraformTees| Urban Vintage Tees: t-shirts, hoodies, buttons, stickers, bags, and gifts for the ultra-hip, stylish, and trendy. Vintage and retro designs with a stenciled, graffiti twist. Graphic designs ranging from pop-culture to politics with an old school vintage feel. You can find gear for Pirates, Zombie Hunters, DJs, and more!

I can do custom orders for you, groups, businesses and more. Drop me a line at terraformtees@gmail.com and I will set something up.

Graphic Tees from TerraformTees 

Zombie T-shirts! 

Brains rarararagghh!

t-shirts, hoodies, buttons, bags and more inspired by some of the greatest zombie movies ever like 28 days later, dawn of the dead, evil dead, and shaun of the dead. Check it out! Zombies have become a staple of modern horror fiction, where they are brought back from the dead by supernatural or scientific means, and eat the flesh of the living. They have very limited intelligence, and may not be under anyone's direct control. You're definetely going to need some claw proof gear for the zombie apocalypse, so stock up here and be one of the best prepared zombie hunters on the planet! P.S. make sure to buy your loved ones zombie gifts too!
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Pirate T-shirts! 

Check out all our pirate related gear and accesories below. You can find old school pirate flags, blackbeard and what not here! Get your pirate t-shirts, pirate tees, skull and crossbone bags and more.
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Buddha T-shirts from Terraformtees 

Photographs taken by yours truly! 

If you like my work, you can purchase it (with or without frames) at http://terraformdesign.imagekind.com

Thanks for checking them out!

curated content from Flickr

Online Advertising Ideas to help you with your business 

Cafepress, Imagekind etc.

www.adwords.google.com

I currently use this service, and so far unfortunately it hasn't quit paid off yet. In theory it would help me make quite a bit, however to get into one of the top positions say for the keyword "t-shirt" it can be quite expensive in terms of cost per click.

I haven't recieved much results from this service yet, but I plan on sticking with it as I know in the future it could be a very reliable source of traffic.

If you choose to use adwords make sure to set a monthly or daily budget that is the maximum you would be willing to spend. Otherwise you could end up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars!

www.blogger.com

Write about your life, write about someone else's... Whatever you feel most comfortable updating on a frequent basis, as this is a great way to drum up traffic and plus it's completely free!

www.squidoo.com

If you're ready this page, chances are you are at least a little familiar with squidoo. Squidoo is a powerful web 2.0 community that enables you to reach a large variety of people based on the interests of the page you create. I find this to be one of my favorite promotional tools and it also allows me to brush up on my poorly practiced writing skills =)

While you're waiting, check this out... 

In an effort to get out of credit card debt, which I'm sure everyone can relate to, whether you're a starving artist or not, I'm selling my stuff!

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The Daily Onion! 

The onion headlines updated every 6 hours!

Only Positive Statistic Of Year Announced
WASHINGTON—Amid a growing list of domestic and international concerns such as skyrocketing fue...
Cow Genome Outlined
After six years of work, 300 scientists have unraveled the bovine genome, which may lead to better m...
Feds Uncover Secret Santa Ring
BLOOMINGTON, IN--The FBI arrested 34 people and seized $157 in small, tasteful presents Monday in wh...
Real-Life Grinch Celebrates 'Hanukkah'
FREDONIA, KS-A real-life Grinch was found Monday in Fredonia, where, unlike his fellow residents, Jo...
Fall Internship Pays Off With Coveted Winter Internship
NEWYORK—New York University student Dave Werner announced Monday that he hassuccessfully parla...

Art Blog Posts 

Stenciling, Graffiti, Photography, Painting and more!

Custom Airbrush Shoes | Online Shoes Stores - Fashion : Shoes you ...
There are a wide variety of custom airbrushing services, including but not limited to: custom airbrushed T shirts and clothing, airbrushed backdrops for photo shoots, murals for special events, airbrushed set design for videos, ... Airbrushing is a specialized painting technique involving a miniature spray gun, and a skilled airbrush artist, this combination allows incredibly dynamic artwork to be applied to virtually any internal or external surface, and to any scale . ...
Interview with Paul Brown, aka Roctopus | Vectortuts+
He's transformed his involvement in Hip-Hop and graffiti into a wider appreciation of illustration and the arts. He's also tackling motion design and taking his vector characters into Flash. Let's get to know Roctopus! ... I only started to experiment with Flash animation at the start of this year as I had some spare time and it seemed like a logical progression from my vector based artwork and since Adobe took over Macromedia I got the impression the interface in Flash ...
POSE INTERVIEW at Prefuse // Graffiti, Stencils, Art & Street Culture
I have massive OCD so painting graffiti has been less about a choice and more about a life coping mechanism for me. Either way regardless of how bad graffiti will run your life through the ringer there is nothing that compares to it and im ... I guess that's what im trying to articulate is that my new personal hunger is aimed at pushing other boundaries that's why I recently decided to start showing my artwork. Also I am frustrated with the whole street art phenomenon and ...
Chile Estyle
Whilst making NEXT: A Primer on Urban Painting (Rotterdam International Film Festival 2006), my documentary film about the global culture of street art, I travelled to many of the world's street art capitals. Upon returning to my native Chile ... Horate, another old school street artist with a background in stencils and graffiti now brings us a highly developed painterly style, which explores themes of nature, animals and abstractions. While he works mainly in Santiago ...

Great Stuff on Amazon 

Print: America's Graphic Design Magazine (1-year)

Amazon Price: $40.00 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Graphic Design - USA

Amazon Price: $75.00 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

How (1-year)

Amazon Price: $29.95 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Novum : World of Graphic Design

Amazon Price: $259.90 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

Graphic Design in Japan - Japan

Amazon Price: $190.00 (as of 12/22/2009) Buy Now

New Featured Lenses 

Some really chill, super cool stencil photos 

Real application of ze stencil in ze urban environment ya dig?

Zero T-shirt by liftarn

Zero T-shirt

marylin Monroe by IVES.one

marylin Monroe

Stencil, Shoreditch, London, UK by gruntzooki

Stencil, Shoreditch,...

FM Conway Limited by renaissancechambara

FM Conway Limited

Tony's Kustom Ride by WallTea

Tony's Kustom Ride

Maria's mystery by zak mc

Maria's mystery

sinboy by unusualimage

sinboy

unknown by unusualimage

unknown

sclater St. by unusualimage

sclater St.

Aruta soup by unusualimage

Aruta soup

©opy®ight by unusualimage

©opy®ight

unknown by unusualimage

unknown

©opy®ight by unusualimage

©opy®ight

 by dno1967

La pareja del muro by Federico Carrera

La pareja del muro

Berlin by Metro Centric

Berlin

 by Brocco Lee

7eight, Dewel, Lader by dreamsjung

7eight, Dewel, Lader

Nov09 1179 by Lord Jim

Nov09 1179

Nov09 1175 by Lord Jim

Nov09 1175

automatically generated by Flickr

More book ideas for your screenprinting adventures! 

Lark Simple Screenprinting: Basic Techniques & Creative Projects Simple Screenprinting: Basic Techniques & Creative Projects

Lark Simple Screenprinting: Basic Techniques & Creative Projects Simple Screenprinting: Basic Techniques & Creative Projects


From decorative paper bags to elegant home furnishings, the 26 attractive projects in this beginner's manual will win converts to the simple, fabulous craft of screen printing. The entire printing process receives in-depth explanations and unfolds in numerous detailed photos. Find out how to select and mix inks, print a picture evenly, care for screens, and transform basic sketches into scale images for a design. Make a light exposure unit to create prints of drawings, photographs, and found objects. The fun begins when these techniques turn into projects, including a pretty hand-stamped pillow, a lovely embellished table runner, and a keepsake picture album that features a screen-printed family photo on its cover. Gallery-quality items pictured throughout provide extra inspiration. Paperback book measures 8 1/2 in. x 10 in., 128 pages all in color. Lark Books, 2005. ISBN 1579906648





Waterbased Screenprinting: Technique to Technology

Waterbased Screenprinting: Technique to Technology


For many years, screenprinting was oil-based--and presented significant health risks even as it damaged the environment. Today, fortunately, screenprinting has shifted to water-based technologies. Now Roni Henning, a leading expert on screenprinting, offers her tips and techniques for getting the most out of these safer, greener water-based methods ranging from the traditional hands-on methods to the latest digital technology. She explains separations and color correcting, then discusses the artist-printmaker collaboration, giving intriguing examples from her own work with such luminaries as Andy Warhol, Red Grooms, and Romare Bearden. Henning also offers step-by-step instructions for monoprinti

Create a multi-layer stencil! No more boring black and white stencils WOO 

WOO HOO stencils

This tutorial will teach you how to create a multi-layer stencil as opposed to a single color like the other tutorials I have written. As described in previous tutorials, find a good image. (or draw it%u2026) You're going to want to figure out how many colors you'll be working with. The amount of colors will determine how many stencil plates you need to create. Figure out how large you want to make this as well%u2026 Typically the larger you work, the harder it is to work with detail. If you're going to be using the stencil outside you'll want to set a limit for the amount of detail in your image.

Now, when you select your image make sure that it isn't overexposed etc. as when you stencil it, it probably won't be recognizable (maybe that's what you want to do, but we'll pretend you want to make a clear image).

Multi-layer stenciling 

Partamente dos

Alright so you have your image ready to go. If you have it on the computer, or you can scan it in, it helps to edit the image in a program like photoshop. If you don't have photoshop do a google search for the program "GIMP". It's basically a freeware version of Photoshop and works pretty dang well.

Now that you're image is ready to be imported, you have two options. One is going to the filter section and selecting cutout. The more manual approach is to find which color you prefer your image in. Convert your image to grayscale (Image > Mode > Grayscale). Up your contrast to 100% (Image > Adjustments > Brightness and Contrast). Adjust the brightness 'till you get an approximation of what you want your stencil to look like. Make multiple layers and change the color of specific areas (don't repeat colors%u2026 we're making multi not single layer stencils!)

Print out each layer of your stencil and possibly include some kind of alignment guide to line up your stencils.

Multi-layer stencil 

Part 3

Alright now you're ready to begin cutting and making your plates. You can use cheap materials like cardboard, foamcore, paper, plastic etc.

If using any of these materials, you'll definitely want to tape down your materials so they don't move when cut.

Multi-layer stencil 

Part 4

Alright it's time to cut out your stencils! I highly recommend using an X-Acto (#11 works well) for working on acetate surfaces. If you're using cardboard you'll definitely want something heavier to cut with. Make sure you have plenty of replacement blades as dull blades will screw up your detail and mess up your bridges. I'd also recommend a "self-healing" matte which you can grab at an art supply store. (or you can cut up your carpet whichever you prefer ;)

If you mess up you can tape over the screwed up part with electrical tape and re-cut it. I typically go for the most detailed areas first, because the more you cut on a large scale the flimsier the paper gets. Definetely want to remove detailed parts first.

Multi-layer stencil 

part 6

Alright you're ready to paint that awesome stencil you just made. You can use pretty much anything but typically most stencil artists use spraypaint.

The most typical paint is Krylon, however when it is painted on multiple layers it tends to crack (this happens with specific colors so make sure you test your stencil out before you go spray it on a wall or something)

Art supply stores tend to have great spray available, but of course they're more expensive. Grab all different kinds and see what you like and what works best for you.

New Digg: Frontpage News 

20yo Pakistani woman was sold in an open auction
by her brothers for $3,200
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The BBC's plan to add DRM to its high-def broadcasts will exclude free/open source software from use in digital television applications, slowing down innovation, raising costs, and harming the public interest.
Israeli Stone Age site shows surprising living patterns
Ruins from 800,000 years ago discovered in Israel show that Stone Age ancestors had began to organize their open-air living spaces into separate clusters for different activities such as cooking and stone manufacturing. Such living patterns were previously thought to be associated only with modern ***** sapiens from the last 200,000 years.
Twitter Turns First Profit in 2009
Social media website Twitter announced that, thanks to recently inked deals with search sites Google and Bing, it will turn a profit for the first time.
4 rare northern white rhinos relocated to Kenya [w/video]
Four of the world's last known eight northern white rhinos landed in Kenya on Sunday and were transported to a game park where officials hope the endangered mammals will reproduce and save their subspecies.

New Guardian Unlimited 

Britain mired in longest, deepest postwar recession
Ratings agency Fitch says record budget deficit must be tackled to avoid UK debt downgrade Gordon Brown received a twin blow today when a leading ratings agency warned Britain to get a tighter grip on its record budget deficit and figures revealed that the slump of the past 18 months was now officially the deepest since the second world war. Fitch said that the UK ? along with France and Spain ? needed to "articulate more credible and stronger fiscal consolidation during the course of 2010 to underpin confidence in the sustainability of public finances". Failure to do so, the ratings agency added, would greatly increase the chances of a debt downgrade, which would increase the cost of servicing the national debt. The warning came within hours of data from the Office for National Statistics showing that Labour's attempts to boost growth took the edge off the recession in the third quarter but were not enough to prevent the slump extending into a record-breaking sixth quarter. Confirmation that the UK is the only G20 nation still in recession sent the pound tumbling to a two-month low against the US dollar, with sterling dipping below the $1.60 level after the ONS announcement. Ministers will now have to wait until the next set of growth figures are published in late January before receiving evidence that their attempts to boost activity have worked. Public investment in buildings helped provide the biggest boost to construction output for more than six years during the third quarter, while the "cash for clunkers" scheme led to a pick-up in demand for cars. The City had been hopeful that recent encouraging news from the construction sector and for investment could result in the ONS revising away its estimate of a 0.3% drop in gross domestic product in the three months to September, but gloomier news from manufacturing and services resulted in only a limited reassessment. Officials said they now estimated that the economy contracted by 0.2% in the third quarter following a drop of 0.7% in the three months to June. The ONS said that new data showed that the UK had performed worse earlier in the recession than originally believed, leaving the economy 5.1% smaller at the end of the third quarter of 2009 than it had been a year earlier. Since the start of the downturn in early 2008, GDP has dropped by 6.03%, marginally worse than the 6% decline suffered during the deep manufacturing slump of 1979-81. Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Philip Hammond, said: "This is disappointing news just before Christmas. Britain remains the last G20 country with a shrinking economy and we have now suffered the deepest and longest recession since the 1930s. Gordon Brown's claim to be leading the world out of recession rings increasingly hollow as the evidence mounts that his policies have failed. We need a change of direction to deal with our mounting debts, help keep mortgage rates lower for longer, and provide the confidence that the British economy is lacking." Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, said today's GDP figures were "a touch disappointing" in the light of figures last week showing a sharp upward adjustment to investment in the third quarter prompted by a 10% jump in government capital expenditure. "The figure has gone up from an original estimate of a -0.4% drop, and may yet go up further in future releases. But this will make little difference after the drop in output seen in the previous six quarters and will leave the UK still looking weak compared to its major competitors." Economic growth (GDP)RecessionEconomicsLarry Elliott guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Second Afghan friendly fire inquiry
Royal Military Police investigating two cases since Sunday in Helmand province Datablog: British troop deaths in Afghanistan A second British soldier in two days has been killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. The serviceman, from 3rd Battalion the Rifles, died today from wounds sustained in a gun battle near Sangin in Helmand province last night. The death follows that of Lance Corporal Michael David Pritchard, 22, of 4th Regiment Royal Military Police, who has been named as the victim of a separate incident in Sangin on Sunday. Both deaths are under investigation by the Royal Military Police as involving friendly fire, though a coroner's inquest will be held before the final verdict is delivered. On Sunday Pritchard, of Eastbourne, East Sussex, was killed as a result of small arms fire. "He was a professional and robust soldier and one who was both physically and morally courageous," said Lieutenant Colonel Debbie Poneskis, the commanding officer of Pritchard's regiment. "He was absolutely committed to providing policing advice where it mattered most, alongside his infantry colleagues on patrol and as part of the team." The death takes to 105 the number of British service personnel deaths in Afghanistan this year. There have been 242 British troops killed in Afghanistan since the invasion in late 2001. MilitaryAfghanistan guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Eurostar resumes with huge queue
? Passenger backlog will take days to clear ? Snow strands thousands in cars overnight ? Airports work to resume service after weather delays Eurostar passengers have finally begun arriving at their destinations, three days late, as angry motorists blamed councils for the road chaos that led to thousands sleeping in their cars overnight. Eurostar successfully ran services between London, Paris and Brussels after its trains were modified to cope with the snowy conditions of recent days. But bosses warned that services would not return to normal until after Christmas. As the recriminations continued about who was to blame for the latest transport disruption, the Met Office issued fresh warnings of heavy snow and icy conditions across much of northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Up to 10cm of snow is expected this evening and motorists are being advised to check conditions before setting out. Eurostar began to slowly clear its backlog of thousands of passengers waiting to reach the continent when a restricted service through the channel tunnel resumed at 7.30am. Anyone holding a Eurostar ticket to travel to France today would still not be able to leave before Christmas Eve, after the service was suspended for three days due to fine snow in northern France. More problems arose elsewhere as heavy snow overnight left thousands of people trapped in their cars. Hampshire police said 3,000 people were stranded in heavy snow around Basingstoke. Along stretches of the M40 in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire eight rest centres were set up for stranded drivers. "Councils should have acted sooner and more thoroughly," said the AA president, Edmund King. "Some key roads have not been gritted at all. We've been inundated with calls from the public and our own patrols saying that yesterday, before the snow came down, there was little or no gritting. "The Met Office had predicted when the snow was coming. Therefore there was a window of opportunity for getting gritters out on these roads." The transport minister Sadiq Khan said he would be "asking questions" about the difficulties in Basingstoke, Hampshire, and Reading, Berkshire, where motorists were trapped and many cars abandoned. The Local Government Association (LGA) said claims authorities had failed to salt roads were "unverified, unsubstantiated and unjustified". David Sparks, the chairman of the LGA's transport and regeneration board, said gritters had been hampered by a "perfect storm" in some areas but stressed councils were doing "all they can". King advised drivers not to expect rescue services to reach them if they ignored warnings and ventured out in the worst affected areas. "Whenever there is bad weather authorities always warn people not to undertake non-essential journeys and usually I would take that with a pinch of salt. But on this occasion I really would warn people that if they choose to travel they must remember rescue vehicles may well be unable to reach them," King said. "Ring roads turned into ice rinks and councils either didn't seem to be gritting in time or didn't use enough grit and salt. In Basingstoke the council didn't seem to start gritting until 2.30pm, by which point it had been snowing for an hour and a half." Staff at Gatwick airport were working to clear a backlog of passengers after reopening the runway last night, while Aberdeen, Luton and Southampton were working to resume flight operations but warned travellers of continued delays. At Manchester airport passengers had to endure long waits just to reach the check-in desk. Staff gave out food, water and blankets overnight to stranded people. Yesterday many flights bound for Luton and Gatwick airports were diverted to East Midlands, causing a knock-on effect as planes were left overnight at the wrong airport. Cancellations were reported at Stansted, Aberdeen and Bristol. British Airways cancelled all European and UK domestic flights out of Heathrow after 7pm and services from London City were "significantly disrupted". The AA reported its busiest day for breakdowns in a decade yesterday with 16,000 recorded by mid-afternoon, compared with the winter average of 10,000 a day. The cold snap has come at the worst time for rail companies, which have reported a surge in domestic passenger demand this Christmas fuelled by fears of airline disruption. The Association of Train Operating Companies said 814,000 advance tickets were sold in the first 10 days of December, 12.5% higher than last year. Network Rail is carrying out £100m of investment and 730,000 hours of engineering work over Christmas, markedly less than in recent years when mainline services were beset by delays after Christmas. There will be 8,000 more trains and 44% fewer replacement bus services than last year. Engineering works likely to cause most rail disruption are on the line between Bristol and Newport. The cold weather is expected to continue for the rest of the week, with daytime temperatures rarely above 3C or 4C and temperatures of -5C to -7C common at night, according to the Met Office. Heavy snow warnings have been issued for today in many parts of the Midlands and southern England. Tomorrow and Thursday there will be sunny spells with showers falling as rain or snow, but not as heavy as in recent days. Christmas Day is likely to start sunny before a front moves in from the west, bringing rain or snow. WeatherTransportChannel TunnelAir transportRail transportRail travelRoad transportHelen PiddDan MilmoJames SturckeMatthew Weaver guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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HI here's a random photo! Night view of downtown tempe

Terraform Tees 

So now that you're going to out into the world and make stencils, t-shirts, posters or whatever, leave me a comment if you enjoyed this lens =)

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by Terraform

Hello there, I'm currently attending college in the beautiful (hot) state of Arizona.  I'm majoring in Fine Arts with an emphasis on photography....

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