Howard Besser's Shirt Database

Cataloging Instructions

Title

The title field should include no articles and should be in all lowercase type. Punctuation is allowed and the title should fit in one line of text.

Text on Shirt

The text should be directly transcribed from the tshirt. The text should fit into two lines, the text that is choosen is up to the cataloger.

If the text is in another language please write Non-Roman characters in the field.

There will be three fields to input the text on shirt into: Front, Back, Sleeve.

Description

The description should give a sense of what the tshirt looks like. Description will be entered in free form text and be approximately 4 or 5 lines long if appropriate.

Iconic Elements

This field is a description of the figure or figures depicted on the t-shirt. The Iconic Element field is not for the meaning of the image, which for our purposes would go in the "subject field", but rather, this field is for the pictorial depiction on the shirt.

The distinction between the iconic element and the subject of a picture is that same as that pertaining to the destinction between the denotion and connation of a word.

We changed the name from Iconic Representation to Iconic Elements.
A maximum of 5 elements is allowed to be described in a pop up menu (numbered 1-5).
If one is dominant, this can also be entered in the comments field.
Use singular tenses, even if the subject is plural.
Capitalize the first letter of the heading and sub-heading and all proper nouns.
Separate each heading with a space dash space (THIS IS CRITICAL IF WE ARE USING FILEMAKER PRO! SEARCHES WILL NOT WORK IF YOU DO NOT INCLUDE THE SPACES).
If there is only TEXT on the shirt, leave this field blank.
Each element will have a Main subject heading, which will be from one of these four categories:
Person (images of men, women, specific people, arms, legs, etc.)
- i.e. Person - Karl Marx
Place
- i.e. Place - Chicago
Thing (tangible objects that are not people or places)
- i.e. Thing - Dog
Symbol
- i.e. Symbol - Peace (this would be t-shirt with a Peace symbol, not the word "Peace")
- i.e. Symbol - One (this would be the number "1" or "#1", not the word "One". Only non-text numberic symbols go here.
A maximum of 2 further levels of specificity are allowed for the sub-headings after the main subject heading.
- i.e. Thing - Dog - Poodle
Exceptions: One exception would be the representation of religious symbols. The Christian cross is both a thing and a symbol, as is the Star of David. For religious iconic elements, put them in the Symbol category.
- i.e. Symbol - Cross - Crucifix
- i.e. Symbol - Star - Star of David

Artist:

Use only if there is a legible signature of an artist on the t-shirt, or a copyright notice indicating an individual. In case of a well known artwork (e.g. "Last supper") without signature, leave the field blank. Maximum field capacity: 20 characters

Publisher:

Use the name of a corporate body that can be extracted from the t-shirt without extensive research: either the corporate body's name or its well known logo are clearly recognizible on the item. Use commonly known acronyms, e.g. CIA, FBI, IRS, instead of full names. Beware of publisher's intent e.g. if the text on the t-shirt says: "US Government sucks!" DO NOT input US Government as the publisher! Maximum field capacity: 40 characters

Image Manipulation:

Enter significant non-standard operations that affected the image, separated by semicolons. Valid entries include: 3-piece scan; cleaning; HSV (Hue/Saturation/Value) adjustments; LC (Ligtness/Contrast) adjustments; sharpening. Do not include required operations such as cropping, scaling, compression, or those that do not change the appearance of the image, such as rotation. Maximum field capacity: 80 characters.

COLOR:

Background colors (t-shirt color):
- pink
- red
- orange
- yellow
- green
- blue
- purple
- white
- black
- brown
- gray
- tyedye
Foreground colors. When using more than one color, put a comma in between. (Ex. blue, green, red, etc.):
- pink
- red
- orange
- yellow
- green
- blue
- purple
- white
- black
- brown
- gray
- metallic (gold, silver, bronze)

How Applied:

Choose between:
- silkscreen -- This is the most common form of printing for T-Shirts. It can have any number of colors, and is often used for photographic (or halftoned) images. This is an ink process, so the ink will have soaked into the fabric to a certain extent.
- handpainted -- Hand-Painted is a catch all for other mathods. A comment in the notes field should clarify the process.
- transfer -- The transfer process is usually seen as iron-ons, however, certain shiny metallic highlights are also done through a transfer process. These can be recognized because the transfer sits on the surface of the fabric, and does not soak into the image.
- batik -- A process by which areas of the fabric not to be colored are covered in wax (on both sides), then the fabric is piece-dyed. This creates thin spider- web like patterns in the fabric. In addtion, both sides of the fabric have similar patterns on them. Since the fabric is piece dyed, there is not one color on one side of it, and another on the other.
- tiedye -- A variation on the batik process, instead of wax, rubber bands are used. Also, generally more than one color is used in the production of a tye-dye piece. The colors are generally fairly bright (unless it's home-made), and are occasionally combined with other processes, in particular Silk Screen.
- applique -- Applique is objects "applied" to the shirt -- either sewn on, or perhaps glued on. Often used for "sculpted" effects, or for adding sequins, diamelles, and the like.
- embroidery -- Where a pattern or design is sewn into the fabric using thread as the primary medium (as opposed to Applique). Often used for text, initials, and monograms.
- other

If two or more processes are combined, they should be each listed, separated by a semi-colon. They should be listed alphabetically.

Location of Design:

We changed this from location of Image to design so that it would include images and text.
We recommend 3 separate fields each with pop-up menus of choices
Field #1 Front Choices include: center, pocket, other
Field #2 Back Choices include: center, other
Field #3 Sleeve Choices include: right, left, both
All text should be in lower case.
If the choice is "other" then the description should be in the notes or description field.
If there is not any design in a particular field then leave it blank.
Pocket refers to the location on the shirt not an actual pocket.

Size of Shirt:

The pop-up choices would include:
XXL for extra extra large
XL for extra large
L for large
M for medium
S for small
XS for extra small
N/A for not available
Add a "-C" to indicate a children's shirt.
All text should be in CAPITAL LETTERS
Example: M-C would be a children's medium.

Size of Design in Inches:

We changed this from size of image to design so that it would include images and text.
We recommend 3 separate fields:
Front:
Back:
Sleeve:
Size should be measured and rounded up to the nearest half inch. (3.2=3.5 and 3.6=4)
Height and width should both be measured.
Height is measured from the highest to lowest spot on shirt (to be measured vertically).
Width is measured between the widest two point (horizontally).
Half inches should be represented as decimals.
The measurement should be given height by width for example 4.5 inches high by 6 inches wide would be 4.5x6.
The x should be lower case.
If there is not any design in a particular field then leave it blank.

Location

Box number only (no "T-"). Example: 10.

Neck Style

round
vee
polo
turtle
boat
hooded

Sleeve Style

short
long
3/4 (represented as a fraction)
sleeveless

Fabric Type

Cotton (only for known 100% cotton)
Blend (no percentages or fabric types)
Other (for known 100% fabrics) put fabric type in notes field
Unknown (for tagless)