Ceasefire - Blog Posts

These stickers are edited photos of the keffiyeh my best friend gave me soon after things started up back in October.

As usual, ALL PROCEEDS from this design are for this Palestinian friend, to help his girlfriend afford to join him safely in America and to help his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries.

You can buy this designs on various products (shirts, stickers, etc) here and here. All designs found here (Redbubble will show you a random product, click on each to see more product options).

I would also like to advertise this poppy and this keffiyeh wearing kitten again, since they have had really great sticker sales this week:

My friend is such a sweet person and it's been heartbreaking seeing him so constantly stressed out and sad these past couple of months. It's been really nice to be able to at least help with the financial burden. Thank you so much to everyone who has helped out so far!

This poem, If We Must Die by Claude McKay was written during the Red Summer, 1919. It has since been adopted to represent many groups facing persecution. I pair it here with a field of poppies and a faint keffiyeh pattern, emblematic of the Palestinian struggle. I may make a more elaborate version in the future, I have some ideas. For now, this is available on stickers, shirts, prints, etc.

As usual, ALL PROCEEDS from this are for my Palestinian best friend, to help his girlfriend afford to join him safely in America and to help his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries. You can find this design here. All designs here. By the way you can change the color on the shirts if you don't like the white background.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed!

Bulbul with Palestinian Flag

When I asked my friend about birds from his home the first thing that came to mind for him was the bulbul.

This little guy is the white-spectacled bulbul, a medium-sized passerine described as "conspicuous and noisy". They're common around Palestine, my friend has many fond memories of them. I have just added this drawing of one holding a Palestinian flag to my shop.

As usual ALL PROCEEDS from this design will go to my Palestinian best friend to help him afford to bring his girlfriend over to America and to help his other loved ones around the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries. You can find the design here printed on a lot of different products.

You can find all my designs here. Redbubble will display with a random product, click on it to see all product options (shirts, stickers, notebooks, etc).

Also funny story when I first looked up bulbuls my friend wasn't checking too closely what photo I had up on my phone and I spent a long time believing the red-whiskered bulbul was from Palestine (it's not, it's from south Asia). So much so that I actually drew the wrong bird at first. Oops. So, I probably won't sell this guy because he doesn't make a lot of sense as a symbol for Palestine (maybe I'll repurpose him into an unrelated design after the war) but here you go, solidarity for Palestine from this lovely little tropical frugivore:

Thank you so much to everyone who has helped out so far, I really appreciate you. My friend is hunting now for a new living space to accommodate his partner when she gets here. Housing as a grad student is always a nightmare, I'm so grateful that you all are helping with the deposit. My friend is also doing his best to figure out help for his family back home (a chaotic situation, just getting in contact with some relatives has been a mess so far). I'll try to add some updates as things progress (as usual, vague to protect their privacy).

Trying something a little different here, at the recommendation of a friend. Some people use stickering as a form of activism, you've probably seen it for one cause or another if you live in a big city. Most of my stickers are mainly meant to look nice, but I thought I would change it up a bit and make an informational one, with that use case in mind.

As usual, ALL PROCEEDS are for my Palestinian best friend, to help his girlfriend afford to join him safely in America and to help his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries. You can find this design here.

A few more typical sticker designs if that's more your thing:

All designs found here (Redbubble will show you a random product, click on each to see more product options).

A minimal poppy design, just an open source image with some lettering I thought would make for a nice water bottle sticker. This flower is common in Palestine and is often used as a symbol, representing the colors of the flag and blood shed upon the land.

As usual, ALL PROCEEDS from this design are for my Palestinian best friend, to help his girlfriend afford to join him safely in America and to help his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries.

You can buy this designs on various products (shirts, stickers, etc) here. All designs found here (Redbubble will show you a random product, click on each to see more product options). Thank you to everyone who has helped out so far!

Cats Wearing Keffiyehs

These designs are edits of two vintage Julie de Graag prints.

As usual, ALL PROCEEDS from these designs are for my Palestinian best friend, to help his girlfriend afford to join him safely in America and to help his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries.

For now his girlfriend is safe, plans are underway and we hope to see her here in not too long. His immediate family is safe for now. Some of his extended family are not doing so well unfortunately. We likely won't know the extent of the harm until things calm down a little. I will keep posts vague to respect his privacy, but the stuff in the West Bank has hit them quite hard. They've also lost some friends in Gaza.

You can buy the designs above on various products (shirts, stickers, etc) here and here. All designs found here (Redbubble will show you a random product, click on each to see more product options). Thank you to everyone who has helped out so far!

Palestine Bird Designs

One of the first times I spoke with my friend (the one I am fundraising for) about Palestine he spoke so passionately about how birds represent freedom to him, as they come and go over the walls at will. Israel has caused absolute devastation to Palestine's wildlife, cutting off migratory pathways for land animals and destroying habitats. Birds (though still hurt by habitat loss of course) can pass over the barriers. Watching them fly across the walls is a bittersweet thing for those trapped within them. The flight of birds has represented freedom to so many cultures, but there's a certain extra emotional poignancy that comes with the symbolism for people who are trapped by the same barriers that the birds traverse with ease.

Of course this is not the only reason I make so many bird designs, doves are a standard symbol for peace and I'm also absolutely obsessed with birds in general, but the way my friend told it was very touching and I wanted to share. My various bird designs have gotten a lot of attention the last few days, so I'll compile all my birds so far in one place here:

You can find all my designs here. Redbubble will show you a random product, click on it to see all product options (shirts, stickers, notebooks, etc). ALL PROCEEDS will go to my Palestinian best friend to help him afford to bring his girlfriend over to America and to help his other loved ones around the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries.

Sticker Designs for Palestine

For those who haven't seen my posts yet, I am raising money for my Palestinian best friend. ALL PROCEEDS will go to help his loved ones through this war and to help his girlfriend afford to join him safely in America. He is the sweetest person in the world (and a truly brilliant scientist, like an actual genius) and he deserves so much better than this. All designs found here.

I'd like to point out now that my stickers generally have the highest profit margin, and if you buy 10+ you get half off all of them but I still receive the same amount (edit: nevermind, I think I still get a flat percentage but also the 50% sale is less than 50% if Redbubble is running another sale at the same time. Still, bulk always costs you less and I make a high percentage on stickers!). Here is a small sample of my stickers (including 3 I haven't posted here before):

All 66 and counting of my designs are available on stickers (among many other things) so check out the collection! Click on whatever product Redbubble shows you to see more product options. Thank you so much to the people who made purchases yesterday, and to everyone who helped share my work around! It was exciting seeing the shop get so much attention!

Honestly I am stressing the fuck out worrying about my friend and you all make me feel like I'm being useful so thank you, sincerely.

Palestine Sunbird

As usual ALL PROCEEDS will go to my Palestinian best friend to help his loved ones through this war and help his girlfriend afford to join him in America. He is the sweetest person in the world (and a truly brilliant scientist) and he deserves to be able to focus on grad school as best he can through this awful genocide without financial stress on top of the emotional toll. I just added a few new versions of my Palestine sunbird:

The keffiyeh is borrowed from my dove drawing:

This is what the real bird looks like:

The Palestine sunbird is a beautiful little passerine found around parts of the Middle East and Africa. They look somewhat like giant hummingbirds (though that is entirely convergent evolution, hummingbirds are actually in the same clade (Strisores) as potoos and frogmouths and stuff, which I find very surprising). These little guys were adopted as Palestine's national bird in 2015. My designs are available on shirts, stickers, mugs and more, here is the link to my collection (click on a design and scroll down to see more product options). Thank you to everyone who has helped so far!

The tatreez (Palestinian embroidery) pattern I made has been more popular as a sticker than I expected, so I have just added the top two versions designed primarily to be used as stickers (also available as pins and magnets).

As usual, ALL PROCEEDS from this design are for my Palestinian best friend, to help his girlfriend afford to join him safely in America and to help his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries.

These designs and a bunch more are found here (Redbubble will show you a random product, click on each to see more product options). Thank you to everyone who has helped out so far!

This is an edit of L'Heure du silence, an 1897 work by Henri Georges J. I. Meunier. I took a photo of my keffiyeh (a present from the same friend I am raising money for) and edited it to match the print. I also gave her a vintage key, a common symbol in the Palestinian struggle for the right of return (حق العودة), the principle that refugees have the right to return to the property they were forced off of.

As usual, ALL PROCEEDS from this design are for my Palestinian best friend, to help his girlfriend afford to join him safely in America and to help his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries.

For now his girlfriend is safe, plans are underway and we hope to see her here in not too long. His immediate family is safe for now. His extended family not so much unfortunately. We likely won't know the extent of how bad it is until things calm down a little. I will note that a lot of his loved ones who have been hurt are in the West Bank, not Gaza. If you have not been paying attention to the situation in the West Bank you should take a look, it's getting pretty bleak there too. I will keep things vague to respect his privacy.

You can buy the design above on various products (shirts, stickers, etc) here. All designs found here (Redbubble will show you a random product, click on each to see more product options). Thank you to everyone who has helped out so far!

A woodcut style dove wearing a keffiyeh over a poppy. The official national flower of Palestine as of 2016 actually seems to be the Faqqu’a iris, but many people will tell you that it's the poppy. Regardless of how official it is (often a vague thing when it comes to national symbols anyway) the poppy is an important national emblem for Palestine. It features the four colors of the flag (black, white, red and green) and is also said to represent blood shed on the land. Honestly I see it used a lot more than the iris (though both are lovely plants).

As usual, ALL PROCEEDS from this design are for my Palestinian best friend, to help his girlfriend afford to join him safely in America and to help his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries.

You can buy the design above on various products (shirts, stickers, etc) here. All designs found here (Redbubble will show you a random product, click on each to see more product options). Thank you to everyone who has helped out so far!

A collage I made. The pictures are a sunbird, keffiyehs, poppies, a man with a flag (and another flag), a key, oranges, the Dome of the Rock from the Al-Aqsa compound, a woman in a traditional outfit and some olives.

As usual, ALL PROCEEDS from this design are for my Palestinian best friend, to help his girlfriend afford to join him safely in America and to help his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries.

You can buy the design above on various products (shirts, mugs, stickers, etc) here. All designs found here. Thank you to everyone who has helped out so far!

The phrase "the whole world is watching" is most famous for being chanted by Vietnam war protestors in 1968 as they were beaten and arrested outside the DNC. It's an older phrase without a clear origin, but it quickly became iconic after the protests. It is commonplace now in leftist protests and movements. It certainly seems fitting for the current crisis in Palestine.

As usual, ALL PROCEEDS from this design are for my Palestinian best friend, to help his girlfriend afford to join him safely in America and to help his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries.

You can buy the design above on various products (shirts, stickers, etc) here. All designs found here. Thank you to everyone who has helped out so far!

Palestine Sunbird

The end of the ceasefire is heartbreaking but sadly not unexpected. I am still uploading Palestine designs regularly, ALL PROCEEDS will continue to go to my Palestinian best friend to help his loved ones through this war. He is the sweetest person in the world (and a truly brilliant scientist) and he deserves so much better than this. All designs found here.

The Palestine sunbird is a beautiful little passerine found around parts of the Middle East and Africa. They look somewhat like giant hummingbirds (though that is entirely convergent evolution, hummingbirds are actually in the same clade (Strisores) as potoos and frogmouths and stuff which is wild to me). These little guys were adopted as Palestine's national bird in 2015. My drawing is available on shirts, stickers, mugs and more.

...and I'm just realizing right after I posted this that the work isn't showing up right now since I tweaked the title in my shop. Hopefully it will be back promptly, until then my Redbubble has plenty of other designs to support my friend including a couple doves with keffiyehs. Sorry, Redbubble is a little neurotic about checking art with "controversial" keywords.

Edit: okay he's back

New Dove Design

I am absolutely in love with the Reem Kufi font (on the left), it's a beautiful blend of historical and modern design (though a little hard to read if you're still new to Arabic, haha). The Arabic characters were designed by Khaled Hosny if you want to check out the artist. I've used it for a bunch of simpler designs as well on my Redbubble recently.

As usual, ALL PROCEEDS from these designs are for my Palestinian best friend, to help his girlfriend afford to join him safely in America and to help his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries. He is a brilliant scientist and the kindest man I have ever known, I hate seeing him suffer like this and want to help in whatever small way I can.

The designs above (and a bunch more) can be found here. Available on stickers, shirts, pins, notebooks, etc (click on each to see more product options).

Also check out my most popular designs so far (also doves):

Thank you to everyone who has helped so far!

Keffiyeh Doves - New Versions

I wanted to post these little guys again since it turned out my account was not working/not showing in any tags when I made the previous post.

These are the new variants:

My best friend (the best person I have EVER known) is Palestinian, and a lot of his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries. ALL PROCEEDS from these designs will go to helping his girlfriend afford to join him in America safely and helping his other loved ones weather this war.

These doves and all my other designs can be found here. Click on each design to see more product options (shirts, stickers, notebooks, etc). Thank you to the person who bought the original on a sticker this morning, and to everyone who has been buying stickers the last few days!

We're slightly hopeful that the ceasefire will mitigate the harm being done to my friend's family going forward. He's already had some loved ones hurt that this money can help so for now I will continue the fundraising (plus we are not optimistic about the ceasefire continuing to be extended, unfortunately). For now his girlfriend has remained safe and financial planning for her trip here is going okay. Most of his immediate family is okay (extended family and friends not entirely so unfortunately). I will keep these updates somewhat vague to protect their privacy. We greatly appreciate all your help!

Palestine - The Land of Sad Oranges

The Jaffa orange holds a lot of symbolism for the Palestinian struggle. This varietal was developed in Palestine in the 19th century and named for the city Jaffa, where it was first produced for export. It has strong skin and few seeds, making it excellent for commercial use, so it was a major product from the region until the industry declined under British rule and disruption from WWII. Finally the establishment of Israel caused irreparable damage as groves were seized or destroyed by settlers. Israel took over production on seized land but never achieved the same success with the crop, and what remained of Palestine suffered ongoing violence and blockades preventing the industry there from further success. The Jaffa orange has remained a symbol of the Palestinian homeland, most notably in Ghassan Khanafani's short story The Land of Sad Oranges.

This orange with a Palestinian flag for a leaf can be found here on shirts, stickers, mugs and more. ALL PROCEEDS from Palestine related sales will go to my Palestinian best friend to help him bring his girlfriend over to America and to help his other loved ones around the Levant who have been/are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries. All designs available here.

New Palestine Designs

I'm back! Turns out there was a weird glitch and my posts have been pretty much shadowbanned this past week. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed this past week and probably could not see my previous thank yous.

For those who haven't seen my posts yet, my best friend (the best person I have EVER known) is Palestinian, and a lot of his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries. ALL PROCEEDS from these designs will go to helping his girlfriend afford to join him in America safely and helping his other loved ones weather the violence and financial hardship.

The new designs above (and a bunch more) can be found here. Available on stickers, shirts, pins, prints, etc (click on each to see more product options).

We're hopeful that the ceasefire will mitigate the harm being done to my friend's family going forward. He's already had some loved ones hurt that this money can help so for now I will continue the fundraising (plus we do not feel safe hoping that the ceasefire will last, unfortunately). For now his girlfriend has remained safe and financial planning for her trip here is going okay. Most of his immediate family is okay (extended family and friends not entirely so unfortunately). I will keep updates somewhat vague to protect their privacy. We greatly appreciate all your help!

Dove With Keffiyeh - New Variants

For those who haven't seen my posts yet, my best friend (the best person I have EVER known) is Palestinian, and a lot of his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries. ALL PROCEEDS from these designs will go to helping his girlfriend afford to join him in America safely and helping his other loved ones weather the violence and financial hardship.

(also sorry for double posting, account is being weird)

This dove wearing a keffiyeh is one of my most popular designs so far, so I've added four new versions of it. Thank you to the customer who bought this dove and four other designs on stickers yesterday! These designs (and a bunch more) can be found here. Available on stickers, shirts, pins, prints, etc (click on each to see more product options).

We're hopeful that the ceasefire will mitigate the harm being done to my friend's family going forward. He's already had some loved ones hurt that this money can help so for now I will continue the fundraising (plus we do not feel safe hoping that the ceasefire will last, unfortunately). For now his girlfriend has remained safe and financial planning for her trip here is going okay. Most of his immediate family is okay (extended family and friends not entirely so unfortunately). I will keep updates somewhat vague to protect their privacy. We greatly appreciate all your help!

History repeats itself