February 6th 2006:www.mo-ts.com

1 when did you start up your shop? Wish I had a direct answer to this but really it's been a progress. Been a photographer since I was a youngun. Started getting paid to be a photographer since 1993. Summer of 2003 I came up with the idea to put my images on Tees and name it after my childhood nickname, Mo T. Got my start by making a few and selling them at San Diego trunk shows. Officially opened my on-line shop in January 2006.

2 what type of crafter are you? I'm a photographer first and completely obsessed with the image making process. Not only to I make photographs but I experiment with putting them on everything. The t.shirt is one medium, and people seem to like them so I've continued with it. I also use my images along with gel medium, acrylics and assorted collage material such as plane tickets and momentos from my travels to make large format canvas productions. Inspirations are Robert Rauschenberg and Roberto Diaz.

3 what do you like making ? Love making the tees. It takes me 30 minutes to make each shirt. Love making my photo canvases. Reason being, I take a blank canvas whether it be a simple cotton tee or a white 6' stretched canvas and the possibilities are endless. I get lost in the creation process. What can really make 5 hours go by like 5 minutes is when I'm making photo journals and books, laying out images to tell a story and incorporating crap I've aquired along the way such as sea shells, palm frawns, plane & bus passes, newspaper clippings and speeding tickets (yup, a pricey ticket I aquired during a cross country road trip has served as inspiration for a piece "don't mess with texas"). I'm working on making the 'don't mess with texas' design into a t.shirt too. hey - gotta fund the speeding ticket some how!

4 what have you learned from the diy world you havent learned anywhere else? Gosh I've learned so much being diy, by making my own mistakes as well as making my own discoveries. I've learned to let go of ego. I've learned humility. I've learned resourcefulness. I've learned panic, appreciation, accountability (which unfortunately has nothing to to with the ability to do accounting). I've learned that the options are endless. Truly, being a diy'er means doing it all primarily yourself. I make my humble living from being a diy'er and I don't have bosses and set hours nor do I have guidance and benefits paid by a corporation. Passion. Bottom line is you really need passion to be doing what you're doing. You bring it on yourself. You work your ass off to create what you love and in the end there's the gratification that you're putting your heart and soul into what you do. If you're lucky, people pay you for this b/c they relate to it/appreciate it in some way and everyone goes home happy =]

5 what does it mean to be a crafter? To me, being an (artist) means I have chosen this life for myself. It means not being shackled to the corporate world. It also means livin large one month then wondering how I'll pay for supplies the next. I'm a passionate person and I put that into my work and lifestyle. My right brain heavily outweighs my left brain on so many levels. I couldn't sit still in a math class 4 minutes to save my life however give me a camera and set me loose for 4 days and I'll never be bored. At the end of the day, hearing feedback from people who love the photos I've taken for them or their excitement to be wearing their Mo T, it's a testimonial to why I persists in what I do.

You can find mo-ts here.mo-ts.com Item to check out .LUCKY BAMBOO tee