the story of hope & spray

I started spray-painting t-shirts in the summer of 2006.

It all began in Israel. I went on a Birthright Israel trip and spent 10 days exploring the country with a busload of young Jews! One of my tripmates, Matt, had images of birds on his suitcase and on one of his shirts. He was very artistic. I asked him where he got the suitcase with birds, and he said that he just spray-painted them on using a stencil. He told me that the images are permanent, too! I thought that was the coolest idea ever since I HATE wearing clothes that other people have. What a wonderful way to customize my wardrobe and accessories!

Right when I got back to America, I bought some spray paint and made some stencils and cut-outs using notecards. I pulled out some of my plain white ballet shirts and started spraying. I made two shirts for myself (one with doves, the other with Stars of David). When I wore them on a trip to Chicago (Go Northwestern!), many of my friends asked me to make them shirts.

After a year of making shirts for friends and family, and much trial and error perfecting the process, I put up a shingle and started an online shop on etsy, a vibrant marketplace of craftspeople.

I call it hope & spray. The name reflects both the spiritual inspiration of the designs and the leap-of-faith process of spray-painting clothing.

Here's a picture of me wearing my very first shirt! After over a year, it still looks great! That's my partner Brian with me.