Christmas gift guide for Men 2021

Wouldn’t you just love to relive the perfect Christmas movie shopping experience?

Wandering through aisles of fully stocked shelves, gingerbread latte at hand whilst singing along to ‘all I want for Christmas is you’.

Not quite had the same experience? You’re not alone! Despite it being ‘the most wonderful time of the year’ we know it can also be one of the most stressful times of the year.

Well this year, we are trying to relieve you of some of that stress by putting together this little Christmas gift guide for the men in your life, whether it’s for your Husband, Father, Son or even that dreaded Secret Santa!

We live in a fast paced, non-stop world and understand the urge to shop fast.

However, we want to share the importance of supporting small independent businesses like ourselves and the impact it has on our community. You are the reason we have customers coming through our virtual door, putting great big smiles upon our faces!

So… why not try to Eat, Drink, Shop: small/ local/ independent/ sustainably this Christmas, and help spread the Christmas cheer!

You can start right here by delving into the suggestions we’ve picked, and see where these take you…

The Danes

Creative and sustainable living the Scandi way- Lots of goodies but I love the olive wood soap dish and organic Marseille soap bar

Hord

We've featured Hord before but love their rustic aesthetic

This time I picked out the adventure bottle

Spice Kitchen

Tempted to treat myself to one of these: multi award winning spice tins, I’m a sucker for lovely packaging too.

Wudwerx

These cool insect houses caught my eye

Bottle
Bazaar

A wine subscription with a difference- the expertise and experience of a wine professional with tasting notes, videos, food pairings and an online community of wine lovers.

Libra fine arts

Animal wildlife print collection, lots of variety to choose from in cool mono. My favourite might be the turtle…

Sight-Hound

Not forgetting our own great Tees. Sustainably sourced, Fantastic quality, illustrator designed and mailed P&P free in the UK.
Original, thoughtful gifting for the cyclist, sailing enthusiast, coffee connoisseur and many more.

SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER

You did it...

You made it to the end of term!
Now rip that Head Teachers Award off the school jumper and whack it on yourself! You actually did it!

The long pandemic has been so testing for us all. It’s made adulting extremely difficult, and being a child incredibly dull.

Despite the nitty gritty, I believe a lot has come out of the world coming to a stand still. And now it’s time for us to slow down, turn off all those alarms, to stop living the whacky races and start having fun.

Juggling between keeping children entertained and active, yet still having to tackle daily tasks- all while keeping within a reasonable budget can seem reeeaally daunting. However, fear not and behold! I stumbled across an amazing blog to help you on your way.

mumsmakelists.com

** SIGHT HOUND SUGGESTION **

Why not spend some quality time together and learn the art of screen printing and get an insight of what we do and LOVE here at Sight Hound!

Hunt the Moon do some nice-looking started kits here.

-And don’t forget there are colouring pages to download from Sight-Hound for FREE!

Now go and have some fun!

Oh thanks... you REALLY shouldn't have!

Have you ever taken part in what I like to call, The Marmite Games’? That everlasting feeling of suspense as all eyes are on you, whilst you fumbly untie the sailors knot that was used to bow the mystery gift.

And seriously, where do people buy such sticky tape from?

So, do you LOVE IT OR HATE IT?

We have recently

taken this question to you guys on social media, and my oh my I wish I could have seen some of your reactions haha!
And the winner is Lucy with… a lightbulb? There has to be more to this story!

You have a Tee coming straight your way!

However the moral of this blog is, no matter how bewildered you are left feeling after the big reveal, it truly is the thought that counts!

The act of generosity is both heartwarming and uplifting for us all, whether it be a lightbulb or, say… A SIGHTHOUND TSHIRT!!!

As I’m wrapping up (pun intended),

I would like to leave you all with a useful tip I found on realmenrealstyle.com, which I for sure will be using when having to buy a gift for someone!
‘0bserve an interest, spot a need, find a product that fits into useful, surprising and good quality’

There are a couple of gift guides on this blog, and we will certainly be compiling another useful list in the not-too-distant future, so let us know your top tips for awesome gifting (and the goodies too) below.

Bike-ography

In rural Bedfordshire where I grew up, there was so little to entertain us that me and my friend attempted to tame and ride on the backs of cows (failed) and volunteered at the church for bell-ringing (Much scarier than the cows.)

Bikes opened up

a world of adventures for us, though we never gave much thought to how they worked till something broke or we had a puncture.

Early twenties and and living in London I borrowed a friends bike for a few weeks. I was immediately after a bike of my own. The traffic was dicey but there was no more efficient means of getting from A to B. I had a few scrapes but nothing would persuade me to ditch the bike. I became an activist, joining the Friday night ‘critical mass’ rides and helping to organise cycle campaigning in North London.

I didn’t own a car till I was thirty, and the future might be car free for us too, but there will always be bikes. I have owned a handful over the years, the smartest was a Marin Bear Valley mountain bike, bartered for some illustration work for Cycling Today magazine… tragically, it was stolen from Brighton train station. Right now I have a Treck, it’s a hybrid model that’s good for town and country and sauntered a 67 km trip on it earlier this month. I do eye up an elegant high-tech road bike but I don’t have storage space at home for more.

The national Cycle Network is a great resource for bike routes for commuting and leisure.

https://www.sustrans.org.uk/national-cycle-network

I’ve been a volunteer teaching cycle safety to schoolchildren, I still badger my MP about cycle provision, and believe that bikes really do make the world a better place.

This is where bikes have led me so far. Luckily for my generation, technology has leapt ahead and electric-assist means I will have the opportunity to ride into old age on two wheels.

Father’s Day gift guide

Father’s Day - Sunday June 20 , is a great time to pick out a funny/ sentimental card, and maybe a gift too. June is usually a busy time for us, with lots of customers choosing from our range of tees for fathers day gifts, so I try to scope out a few options ahead of the peak. Sharing a small selection here for inspiration, I’m told that some dads can be quite tricky to buy for!

Team Colour:

Katie Clement has fantastic prints, I love her town and city scapes. She has also created images of famous football stadia which might appeal to footy-loving dads.

< Click on the image to see more

Hot Sauce

Here at Sight-Hound, I often like to spotlight the little things that make life better, and Corinne has done just that with her fantastic prints. In her artwork, Marmite, Mustard and Tabasco are the hero’s. She creates prints and tea towels - there’s even a hot sauce tea towel, and another with craft beers.
Click on the image to see more >

Home-spa

And for something completely different, take a peek at Mood, they’ve put together a box that promises to be a home- spa for him.

< Click on the image to see more

…And don’t forget

Sight-Hound tees make great gifts too.
Hopefully this will help spark some ideas.

Garment care for longer wear.

In our house

…my husband has taken over the laundry wrangling, and he’s an advocate of the spot cleaning approach. We’re also very keen to hang not iron, though in truth this is through laziness rather than environmental concerns. But what else can we do to help our favourite clothes last longer?

I found ten quick tips at the Spruce web site,

https://www.thespruce.com/tips-to-make-clothes-last-longer-2146476

There’s a growing movement to cut the number of times garments are laundered, saving water, energy, pollution and extending the life of the clothes. Mr. Sight Hound wears Hiut jeans, and found himself a member of the 100days club, (100 days without washing them!)

https://hiutdenim.co.uk/blogs/story/101833089-the-no-wash-club

Though he recons that’s been a doddle since we’ve barely left the house. (I thoroughly recommend the Hiut newsletter by the way, it’s always great.) And then just last weekend spotted this story - Could you wear a dress for 100 days?

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2021/may/02/could-you-wear-a-dress-for-100-days

That’s quite a challenge, but here’s something we have done for years - three pegs each. Hang clothes that don’t need to go in the wash but are good for another outing or two. I think this was established when we didn’t have enough room for the ‘chair’ system most people use, but it’s a notch above because your clothes are hanging, so more air to circulate and fewer creases.
I’d love to know if anybody else has tips to share.

Spring organisation

2 ways

to

re-use before you recycle

One of the small, unexpected habits my family have learned through this last year involves a chalk pen and that survival spirit that kicked in around this time 2020.

Our store cupboards have been sustained with the incredible wares of local producers, and even more appreciated- their adapting to offer delivery to our door. We didn’t set foot in a supermarket till about a month ago. Till then, we ordered weekly veg, bread and dry goods deliveries, along with occasional cheese hampers, parcels of fresh fish, and various irresistibles.

The dry goods - from a local food co-op, all arrived in brown paper bags. This was delightfully satisfying to receive, and even more satisfying to decant and label in the glass jars we’d hung onto for airtight storage. Perhaps we invested a little more time into stocking-up with oats and pearl barley than the situation actually demanded, but with the world gone mad, and toilet-roll hoarding a big news-story, we could line up old pickle jars labelled ‘soup-mix’ and feel that some sort of order was being maintained.

Thus we embarked upon a year of experimentation with kale and sprouts and bulgur wheat. The deliveries kept coming, and we kept cooking, and soon our diets had changed. And the pickle and tahini jars got rinsed out and used to store an ever increasing range of pulses from Barley to Yellow lentils.

All images © Jane Spencer

Then these jars started to make themselves useful around the house too. Tidy up those draughts pieces? A Mayo jar does the job. Stow phone charging cables? A wide mouthed pickle jar is perfect. Small change loose in a drawer? A pesto jar will keep that for you- and you can see what’s inside.

I did finally chuck some jars in the recycling this week but it has been a long while since I did that.

TIP- buy a chalk pen for labelling directly onto glass jars.

Septemberama: Top Drawer A/W 2019

Apologies to the English language, I couldn’t resist pressing this typo into action: Septemberama is the word I’ve invented to cover the panoply of new stuff on my desk this term.

Sight Hound was due to pitch up at Top Drawer A/W 2019, held at Olympia London for three days of retail showcasing, fact-finding and shop talk. This show is quite the undertaking- I’d had a massive leg-up with the not-inconsiderable costs via a grant from SECCADS, the South East Creative, Cultural and Digital Support programme, which was set up to help out businesses like mine across Thurrock, Essex, Kent, and East Sussex. Because of this support, I could meet the costs of taking a spot at this prestigious gift show.

With Mr. Sight Hound and Sight Hound pup on board at the design/ build stage, we created a cool scaffold-pole structure, following the organisers’ brief of creating an industrial feel. There were vinyl graphics to design, a poster/chart featuring almost the entire inventory, and all the printed flyers, press releases and forms to take care of. My husband disappeared to the shed & built shelving in ply, I screen printed onto the wood. Through an almost random connection I discovered the brilliant Fanger - a foldable cardboard hanger. I screen printed a couple of dozen so my sample T-shirts aced the rails. It felt like Christmas preparations, and I was just as excited to be there.

Build-up day was a total eye-opener, with vast numbers of staff working in platoons to create the event from scratch. Cafe’s were constructed. Flooring, lighting, and signage were deployed… It was a little overwhelming. We found our spot and set up shop. The space was fantastic and Sight Hound’s booth looked great.
In the three days of meeting folks from all over the world and talking about my brand, I came away with orders from shops, enquiries from agents, and commissions… It felt like Sight Hound had moved up a gear and that was exactly as I’d hoped.

While I’ve got my hands full with the outcome of all this, plus another couple of interesting new creative projects, I’m also thinking about the next big move for Sight Hound- meanwhile I’ve scheduled to participate in a Folkestone pop-up shop of creative talent in November/December, so there’ll be lots of Sight Hound about.

Fathers day 2019

Ahead of Fathers day, hopefully not-too-early and not-too-late, I’m making a shortlist of great gifts, swerving the cufflinks and the ‘best dad’ mugs. My agenda is imaginative and thoughtful, with a dash of style.

First up and best for budget, Dad’s favourite chocolate bar. Or possibly in our case a pack of pork scratchings, the guiltiest of pleasures.

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Hord.co have a wonderful range of leather and vegan wares, including a very fine collection of hip flasks. This one’s hand engraved, and I know it’d be a winner in the pocket of dads of all generations… even better if gifted charged with a single malt and a top up supply…

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A different way to lift your spirits- how about unboring socks in gorgeous soft bamboo? I have four pairs and they make my day. Something about not having rubbish socks on… as close to ‘self-care’ as I get some weeks.

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Ordnance survey have lots of great products, and this one really caught my eye,, though I might be guilty here of picking something I’d really like myself…

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Mr. Sight Hound adores avocados, keeps a lot of plants, and a collection of hand thrown pots… so lets hope he doesn’t read this blog. Berylune have this fab ceramic avocado planter, it ticks all the boxes.

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Not forgetting our own offering! We have so many designs for different interests and many can be personalised. All Sight Hound T-shirts are hand printed on quality, ethically sourced garments in 100% cotton. They come in plastic free packaging and gift wrap is available. Good luck in your search, hope this has been helpful.

Learning to ride a bike, and so much more- Father T-shirt shows a fledgling confidently speeding off on a tot bike.

Circuit T-shirt for the techie dad- with custom chip at your location.

Uk map in ambitious topiary for the green-fingered dad.

Our super- popular Cycle map Tee, with one or two location spots- this awesome dad’s biked from Lands End to John O’Groats.

Land Rover Tee for weekends full of adventure and possibilities.

Recycling T shirts

I have generated a fair number of scrap T-shirts in the process of making stock. When the screen printing rig is all set up, it’s a good idea to run through a couple of prints to get everything running smoothly before embarking on a job. I also create multiple samples in different colours, and sometimes things go wrong too. The result of all this is a steady supply of scrap Tees, which are kept in a box under my workbench till they literally fill up with print. I turn them inside out and use the backs, and eventually they go in a scrap pile. In the past I would take this to the tip where old textiles are collected to be recycled into new, but recently I’ve been trying to close the loop and use more of this resource myself. In part because some very happy accidents often occur and make beautiful unique prints.

Print over print over print over print…

Rotary cutter ribbons of jersey.

First I hopped on YouTube where someone demonstrated how to turn a T-shirt into a continuous ball of yarn with a rotary cutter and a rule. Just google ‘recycling a T shirt’ or similar.

Pompoms in the studio

Now I had my ball of jersey yarn, which naturally curled into a cord, and where there was a lot of print, looked a bit like a pretty ribbon. I made a couple of pompoms, it was close to Christmas and they made great decorations for my kraft paper gift wrap.

Next I KNITTED a tea-cosy. I haven’t photographed it because it’s not at all attractive, though it’s great at keeping my tea warm! I also broke a knitting needle with the sheer heft of the yarn, and got a dose of RSI. Plus, now we have a tea-cosy, what am I going to knit next?

Luckily, just as I was casting around for the next project, (watch out, pooch) I spotted a Crochet workshop, and signed up pronto.
https://www.heatherorr.co.uk/workshops

I’d never crochet-ed (?) before, I think my needle-ninja mum gave up after the pain of teaching me to knit.

Heather made the whole experience not just pain-free but fun and useful. Just a 90 minute session with a very specific goal- a crochet planter/ pen pot/ nest… All in the beautiful surroundings of Pot & Vessel, in Folkestone.
https://www.instagram.com/pot_and_vessel/

WIP and yarn

For when you have three eggs to store.

WIP

My first pot- made at Heather’s workshop.

I have now crafted 3 pots, and there will be more. However, along the way I’ve also started using my home-made yarn on the swing tags for my T-shirts. Such a small touch, but so satisfying.

Packaging 2.0

Having almost nailed the packaging in January, there were a few comments about the choice of boxes- and the space they would occupy on those precious shop shelves. So a new slimline box has been sourced, and the printing slightly tinkered with- and now we really are there with the Sight Hound T-shirt retail/ gift box.

BAFTA's 2019

I love a collaboration, so when the opportunity to work with my pal Zoe Stevenson presented itself I bit off the proverbial hand. Zoe is a costume designer- stylist- fashion designer (and yet more multi- hyphens too numerous to list here) and frequently travels the world making huge flashy events like the MTV awards look suitably impressive for her clients.
This brief was to kit out the Cirque du Soleil gymnasts with astronaut themed costumes for their performance at the BAFTA’s at the Royal Albert Hall. The concept was all about marking the 50th anniversary of sending a man to the moon, but of course they had to be extremely robust and versatile for the gymnasts.
Zoe had devised the collection of garments and I screen printed her geometric details onto the technical fabrics she’d selected for the job. We were using a gorgeous lightweight neoprene, which moved beautifully and ‘loved the ink’- it was very satisfying to screen print onto as the surface was so smooth and absorbent.
70 pieces later, the fabric panels were sent off to be made up by a genius maker, and I didn’t see them again till the night of the awards- Cirque du Soleil gave a mind-blowing performance, I was thrilled to have played a small part in bringing the show to life.

You can see the performance here- I do recommend, It’s quite stunning…

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=344715589465414

Cirque du Soleil Flyer

Cirque du Soleil flyers and catchers

Joanna Lumley & Cirque du Soleil backstage at the Royal Albert Hall. Pic: Zoe Stevenson

Fold, store, and gift.

Display, stack and easily locate different sizes, without having to refold.

This was the agenda when we decided to create a packaging solution for our T-shirts. But because we’re such nerds, we’ve screen printed the boxes just like we do our shirts. The result is a delicious giftable box- it’s a keeper. So your customer is getting a premium product too.

We’re still developing this offer- so there is a slim box in the pipeline for tight spaces.
Get in touch if you’d like a sample- email your address details and link to your shop website to

admin@sight-hound.co.uk

Bags of style

This autumn has been busy; prepping for Christmas business and launching two new lines. Simultaneously producing customer orders and trying to educate myself on the latest twists and turns of social media marketing. I am most drawn to the creative: developing new products.
I wanted to tackle tote bag designs, these had real charm but had flopped commercially, in part because they evolved from a home storage concept I'd dreamt up for my own home, and it wasn't easy to get the idea across on the pages of a web-shop.
Following great feedback on the images, it was on the to-do list to revamp and relaunch as soon as possible. I ordered a huge range of different shapes and styles of canvas bags to try out, and picked the one I felt was best both aesthetically and practically.
I also wanted to experiment with more colour, and created a grainy textured looking ground which looked great printed on the canvas as a background to the sketchy imagery. The final colour combination has warmth and taste, it elevates the whole design.

 

Country Living

It has been wonderful to see my cushions in the June edition of Country Living magazine. Mary Claire of Frank in Whitstable has a beautiful seaside bungalow which was featured in detail. She has an amazing eye, and it was no surprise to see her home decor is as well considered as her shop displays. Francine Raymond gave us the story of the bungalow & I loved to see my own work alongside such fabulous furniture and pottery in Catherine Gatwicke's photographs, styled by Hester Page.

Folkestone Triennial Fringe

It was a lot of fun to create this shipping signal flag inspired bunting for the Triennial Fringe Hub. Situated on the harbour, and housed in a couple of souped up shipping containers, what could be more colourful and appropriate? The Triennial is also titled 'Look out'. The codes I selected read:

Affirmative,
I want to communicate with you,
Stop carrying out your intentions and watch for my signals,
You are running into danger, and the slightly hilarious:
I am manoeuvering with difficulty.