Let’s Smell the Earth Together. We’ve been fans of Bwana’s work since his ‘zines in the mid-90s (Ain’t Nothin’ Like Fuckin’ Moonshine was a favorite). We collaborated with him in the pages of Plazm magazine then and it was great to make stamps with him now. This is our first air freshener edition!
Bwana Spoons was born in Santa Ana, raised in the desert, then the woods of Northern California, then the sea, then San Francisco, and now here in Portland for nearly 30 years. He paints and draws and sculpts, and makes soft vinyl toys for us to play with. In a past life there were many gallery shows, commercial illustration, and murals. He says “these days it’s just me painting and drawing and playing with my toys.”
Have you designed a stamp before?
Maybe… I’m really good at starting projects, the first 3 tarot cards, 10 cards in a set of playing cards… that type of thing, but I’m sure I never finished one.
What was the most interesting or fun aspect of designing a poster stamp? What unique challenges did it present?
My challenge was following through… the work was fun and easy… but how long ago it took me to finally make something was the challenge. Not laziness per say, but feeling like I’ve seen it all. Then of course I got very excited to do one of the most common motifs in the world these days. I might as well have put a bird on it. I had so much fun inking and coloring these little boogers. I just love mushrooms so much.
Seeing now that I didn’t really answer your question. The poster part of this was fun. When I started I only knew I wanted to design a tenugui (japanese towel hanky) for my friends at Sailosaibin, and make a set of stamps for you. I had imagined we would just cull a few critters from my drawings, but the long rectangular size of the tenugui just naturally steered us in the direction of a poster stamp. I’m super jazzed about the printing process and how these turned out.
Tell us about the art. Did you create something new for this stamp?
I’ve been drawing and painting mushrooms for years. One of the characters hiding in this stack is Morel Snacks. I’ve been doing him for a while. But all the other characters are brand new, all drawn over a couple days just noodlin’ and doodlin’.
Anything else?
This was loads of fun. It was pure joy working with both of you on this project. Thank you so much.