Earlier this year we came up with the idea of sending ten copies of Stop Being Sheep around the country for each Sheepie contributor to sign. Luckily, Graham Wood was in and around the New York metropolitan area rather than his far-flung home of Sweden, so that gave us the kick start we needed. We packed up ten Sheepies, three sharpies (because they sound like sheepies), instructions and a bunch of pre-filled and -paid labels, and sent them on to the East Coast. (Yes, more specifically New York — and Virginia).
Two and a half months later we got the box back via Kenneth FitzGerald. Now with an added sixteenth of an inch of translucent packing tape.
To our surprise the box itself had now become a traveling circus. Sam Potts pasted a photocopy of Tibor Kalman, he also included a couple postcards that James Victore then stole and Kenneth FitzGerald included a chocolate that I then ate. (What? I didn’t want it to get melted). Oh, and a silver sharpie that mysteriously “disappeared” — we all think Debbie has it. Once we reviewed everything we repacked the Sheepies and sent them first to the Midwest and then on to the West Coast.
On this second leg of the tour the Sheepies took a longer time to come back, almost three months. To our delight they were waiting on our doorstep this past Wednesday. The packing tape density was now at an eighth of an inch and it took a really sharp blade to cut through it. Rudy VanderLans was the last one and he had told me he shipped them more than two weeks ago so we were a bit worried that they hadn’t arrived.
Well, apparently, the Sheepie box raised some security concerns. Seems like it was too heavy and I think, just think, that Shawn Wolfe’s “Panic Now” sticker might have worried someone out of their knickers at the post office. Nonetheless, the Sheepies made it back, safe and sound.
Inside, there were even more surprises including the “worst resume ever” as Tan billed it and an iron-on patch for the “Bush League”… and of course, Tibor’s rendition of the Got Milk? ads. Or something.
Six months later, the Sheepies are all done, signed by all the contributors. And what are we going to do with them now, you ask? We are going to auction them. We will auction five of them over the next few months and save the other five for a year, or two (or even three) down the road. So what do you get for bidding on a commemorative Sheepie?
You will get a one-of-a-kind Sheepie signed by Michael Bierut, Tan Le, Scott Stowell, Shawn Wolfe, Kenneth FitzGerald, patric king, James Victore, Graham Wood, Paula Scher, Rudy VanderLans, Eric Larsen, Bradley Gutting, Debbie Millman, Sam Potts and yours truly. Each Sheepie is unique, no two are the same — how’s that for redundancy?
The first Sheepie will go on bid on Monday, August 2nd at 12:00 pm Central Standard Time. Instructions to come. Do not start bidding on this thread. Proceeds will, as always, help us keep doing cool stuff like this.
Lastly, thank you, sincerely, to all the wonderful contributors of Stop Being Sheep.
ack! i can't believe this. i just ordered three Sheepies from the "get yours for a buck" link. and when i come back to SpeakUp, there're going to be Comm Sheepies up for auction. how's that for a weird coincidence.
considering that there's going to be an auction for a copy signed by you, i understand if you can't fulfill my request. i still think you guys rock.
On Aug.01.2004 at 01:13 PM