Saturday, September 6, 2014

Future Finished Basement Decor

Some facts to start us off.
  1. I am a huge Detroit Red Wings fan.
  2. I have a giant basement that I am working on turning into "The Wings Zone"
  3. I have been in love with Datsyuk since I was 14. Not really relevant, but important all the same.
So, keeping those in mind. Here is my basement. Please ignore the mess, big storms here last night and I was trying to corral the dogs while we waited out the storms.


That's a lot of blank wall to fill, and it took some time to come up with the perfect idea. The winning choice? A team photo from every single Stanley Cup win the Wings have ever had, as well as a pennant from every one as well.

Which is a FABULOUS idea. (In case you were wondering) The only problem is that the merchandising really wasn't there for the first seven Cups the Wings took home. I could get into a whole debate about over-merchandising, but no.

I started my search for the pennants last year, and I gave up, well, today. But I was able to procure pennants for 1997, 1998, 2002, and 2008 when I started searching last summer. If pennants exist for the first seven, and you have one you're willing to part with, let me know. Please. I promise money and cookies of your choice.


So, after one last search this morning on the Ebay machine, I fully decided to put my mad crafty skillz to work. I've never been a whiz at Photoshop or Illustrator, but I thought I would try getting my ideas down digitally this time, before rushing off to buy felt to make these bad boys.

For those keeping track, the pennants I need to design and create are 1936, 1937, 1943, 1950, 1952, 1954, and 1955.  I want these to be as authentic as possible, so I hit up SportsLogos.net to get the varying logos as they've gone through since becoming the Detroit Red Wings in 1932. (Not familiar with their history? Check out a brief written history here)


Since I didn't have to redraw their logos, all I had to worry about was the font. I went with American Typewriter (I'm using CS4, which is also why there is white behind each pennant, my copy doesn't let me save as a PNG). It gives it a nice classic feel, but won't be an exact match to the font or fonts that the Wings may or may not have been using then. (This avoids heated discussions with people who have a greater opinion on this than I do :) )


For the first two (1936, 1937) I decided to use the logo that (according to Sports Logos) was only used in 1932-1934. I chose to do this for a couple reasons. First, I wanted to, they're mine and I'm going to have to look at them when I'm making them and hanging out in my basement. Second, variety. I wanted to have as much of the Wings history represented in my epic basement.


I only used the logo that the Wings used 1934-1948 once, for their 1943 Stanley Cup win. I'm not a big fan of this particular version, but, traditionalist here. Plus, desire for variety and complete representation, I included it.


With the 1950 pennant, you might have noticed that I went from a black binding to white. If you look at the pennants I bought, you'll see that there are three with black binding and one with red. Given that I have a solid red background for all of these, having a red binding seemed silly, but I wanted to keep the trend of three black, one in a different color. So, white it is.


In 1948 the Wings adopted their current logo and haven't changed since, with the exception of special cases like Winter Classics, etc. So the rest of the logos will be the same, but varying sizes.


I tried to make each one a little different, but wanted to keep it simple, since I will be cutting these out and sewing them down. I really like how they all came together and each have some spunk and individuality from each other.


I feel like I had a very productive day, getting these designed. Next step, getting enough felt and getting these put together. I am under no impression that I might not change or twiddle with something as I am making them. Because I frequently twiddle with anything and everything when I'm working on a project. Let's just hope that I don't screw it up when I do!

But, I mentioned earlier that this won't be complete without the team photos from every Stanley Cup team. Well, here is where the Ebay machine didn't fail me! I managed to find an 8x10 of every. single. Wings. Cup. team. YES!

I'll post as I make the pennants, as well as the final products as I finish them. Then, of course, the hanging of all the awesome on my basement wall. Which will be awhile, mold and water problems... woo!

Huge thanks to SportsLogos.net for having what I needed to make digital design much easier, and to Clark at DetroitHockey.net for his input on the designs, validating that what I thought looked good didn't, in actuality, suck.

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