So, I was cleaning out the garage the other weekend. You know how it goes, boxes piled up for years, promising yourself you’ll sort ’em out “later”. Well, “later” finally came.
Buried under a stack of old magazines and some forgotten tools, I found this dusty old crate. Inside, guess what? My ridiculously old varsity jacket from way back. And right there on the sleeve, faded but clear as day, was the old Seahawks logo.
That Old Bird
Man, seeing that logo again hit me. Not the newer, sleeker one. The original. The tougher-looking bird, kind of stoic. Based on Kwakwakaʼwakw art, right? It just looks… solid. Different vibe entirely.
It got me thinking about this one time, must’ve been late teens or early twenties, when I got this idea to paint it. Not just anywhere, but on the back of this denim vest I thought was the coolest thing ever. Yeah, laugh it up.
My Grand Artistic Attempt
- First, I tried sketching it freehand directly onto the fabric with chalk. Total disaster. The proportions were all wrong. Looked more like a startled chicken than a Seahawk.
- Then, I got smart. Or so I thought. Found a picture of the logo, printed it out, and tried to make a stencil. Cutting out those curved shapes with a craft knife was way harder than I expected. My fingers were sore for days.
- Got the stencil kinda okay. Bought some cheap fabric paints. The specific shades of blue and green were tough to match, ended up mixing them myself. Made a mess.
- Finally, the big moment. Taped the stencil down, dabbed the paint on. Waited for it to dry. Peeled the stencil off…
And it was… alright. Not great, but not the chicken sketch disaster either. Edges were a bit fuzzy, colours weren’t perfect. But you could tell what it was supposed to be. I actually wore that vest for a while, felt pretty proud of my lopsided Seahawk.
Funny thing is, I wasn’t even a massive football nut back then. I just liked the logo. Liked the process of trying to make something with my own hands, even if the result wasn’t professional quality. Spent a whole weekend on that vest.
Nowadays? We got tools for everything. Design software, fancy printers, machines that can slap a perfect logo on anything in seconds. It’s efficient, yeah. But sometimes I miss just fiddling around, making mistakes, ending up with something imperfect but mine. That old jacket, that faded logo… just reminded me of that feeling. Simpler times, maybe? Or maybe just different priorities. Anyway, kept the jacket. Too many memories in that old bird.
