What’s cookin’ for 2020?

Most of the products in the Calamityware store start as Kickstarter projects. Here are some things I’m working on that might become Kickstarter projects in the new year.

As always, my predictions are likely to be wildly inaccurate. The freedom to start new projects, procrastinate, change my priorities, and put work on the shelf are some of the reasons I love my self-inflicted projects.

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BADbandana 6: Pizza Dragons. I’ve been working on a red bandana design decorated with pizza-loving dragons. I hope this can be a Kickstarter project in January 2020. A great way to get the new year off to a hot start. (Became an active Kickstarter project on January 5.)

BB6

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Big TCBW Mug. Been working on a prototype of a really big version of the Things-Could-Be-Worse mug. Finally think the handle is right and all the production difficulties are solved. This could be an ideal project for people who prefer a BIG beverage. Also been investigating the notion of a porcelain travel mug.

BigMug

 

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New Jigsaw Puzzle.
 Now that all the original puzzles are gone, it might be time to create a new jigsaw puzzle design. My previous manufacturer closed down but I think we’ve finally found a good workshop to make them. So, I’ve been auditioning characters. 

ApeSketches

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Bug-Out Bag. Been sketching some ideas for a zippered tote bag for overnight get-aways or other escape plans.

DinosaursOnBikes

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Beastly Bowls.
 How about a set of porcelain bowls especially for your favorite pets—cats, dogs, bunnies, capybaras, pythons? Still a lot of work to do, but this could become a project before the year ends.

DogWithBowl2

 

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Letterpress print. I like the idea of doing another letterpress print to pep up someone’s art collection. Several different themes are competing for my attention right now—traffic, dinosaurs, space travelers, megaphones, robots, maps, and troglodytes. If one of them floats to the top, that could make a fun Kickstarter project in 2020.

Traffic

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Textiles? I’ve been exploring some new ideas for patterns that could make unusual scarves, ties, or other textiles. Might make some colorful additions to 2020.

FrogPattern

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Another book? I’ve noticed that bad guys don’t seem to be as good as they once were. So, to help, I’m working on an illustrated career guide for villains. It’s going very slowly because other projects keep eating up my time. Some good news? Readers will be delighted to know that this book will not include any poetry. Yeah!

villain

 

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Other potential projects include more tea cups, a blanket, cloak of invisibility, and anti-gravity boots. Watch for email updates as the year advances.

I’m still exploring the zone where products are beautiful, utilitarian, and funny. I hope you’ll find something I’m doing worthy of your support. But I plan to keep up the effort, whether anyone is behind me or not.

Don—Pittsburgh, December 27, 2019

100 Responses

John C.

December 09, 2020

I would love to see a teacup/saucer calamity set , Matching table linens/Napkins would be nice . I’m tempted to buy the beasty dishes for baking macn’n cheese or a veggie pot pie in possibly. Truly love all that you have out there and look forward to more in the future. Stay Healthy & Happy Folks !

Trish O'Hearn-DiNatale

October 07, 2020

cotton quilting fabric, white on blue, blue on white. the creative possibilities are endless. Table linens would be nice too, but with quilting fabric the possibilities are endless. It would cause a calamity in my household…nothing else would get done!

Cindi Bartels

October 07, 2020

Please put the "What Next ? " designs on the larger plates, too ! Especially the ones with the “fuzzballs” I think you call them. They are hilarious !
Thanks, C

MLD

October 07, 2020

Hmm…sleep masks made from your silk fabric?

KaTinka Bolding

September 20, 2020

Everything on this site is great. But I’m seriously in love with the idea of Frogs & Flys. When will we see products with that design? Scarves? Dishes? please!

Jena

September 20, 2020

I’m predicting that the entire Calamityware line will become the hot collectable on Antiques Roadshow in X years. As such, and in giving the future a reminder of the year 2020, anything you incorporate into your designs with a covid-19 spore looking virus pattern? I imagine it’ll be the one collectable from this ridiculous time period that might actually help us smile. (In a “Charles Addams” kind of humorous way…) and/or remember the year from Hell that we’ve all endured.

Margaret Lester

September 20, 2020

yOU MADE MY DAY MUCH BRIGHTER——I THOUGHT THAT I WAS THE ONLY WHO LOVED OFF THE WALL

FROM COMMENTS I SEE i AM NOT ALONE. I AM 86 THESE THINGS KNOWN AS BIRTH DAYS AND I LOVED EVERY THING

I SAW ON YOUR SITE—-MY HOLIDAY GIFT GIVING IS SOLVED. THANKS TO THE " NEW yORKER" ARTICLE.

MARILYN SALTUS

September 20, 2020

LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR RE-STOCKING THE LARGER MUGS…
AND SELL THEM WITH A CHOICE OF ONE MUG OR TWO PACKAGED TOGETHER…
AT LEAST BY NOV, FOR XMAS GIFTS 2020?!?? BET YOU’D SELL A ZILLION!!!

MARILYN S

MARILYN SALTUS

September 20, 2020

LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR RE-STOCKING THE LARGER MUGS…
AND SELL THEM WITH A CHOICE OF ONE MUG OR TWO PACKAGED TOGETHER…
AT LEAST BY NOV, FOR XMAS GIFTS 2020?!?? BET YOU’D SELL A ZILLION!!!

MARILYN S

Kaye Winder

September 16, 2020

I love the whol line! Just read the New Yorker’s article, and am expecting you to be inundated with orders.
Are there any TCBW mugs still to be had?
I keep thinking who I would give one to, then realize. if I got one, I’d have to keep it.

George Lewbel

September 16, 2020

How’s about designing some parasite plates? There might just be someone, somewhere, who would eat sushi off a plate showing roundworms, taperworms, etc. No? Well, there are plenty of other kinds of scary-looking parasites to go around (and around and around). Confession: I’m an invertebrate zoologist and I do eat sushi, but I look at it pretty carefully before taking that first bite. I second Carol Armbrust’s 3 identical suggestions from July 22, 2020, too. I’d buy some of those!

David Kenner Boley

September 16, 2020

Bravo! You’ve taken your superb wit and best “glass half full” spirit, set it spinning, and started a little household by household revolution just when we beleaguered Americans need it.. Things could be worse, and perhaps shall, but artists like you will keep us grounded, inspired, and help us all to CARRY ON! Up here in Appalachian Tioga County, we can sure use a little humour, THANK YOU. We’re waiting to place an order, whence you’ve restocked.
DKB. Purple House, Osceola, PA

Diane Delany

September 16, 2020

I love the design and colors of fabric with frogs and flies – the deep rich red/green is sooooo great.
Yippeee for beastie bowls. Cereal/rice/stew bowls?

Jacqueline Chen

September 16, 2020

Bandanas are great, they can be used as masks. Love the beast bowl, would definitely buy that when it come out.

How about other textiles like scatter cushion covers?
Since you have a successful dining series, how about other items for the kitchen? Trays? Canisters? Big salad bowl?

Julia

September 16, 2020

I would like more drink vessels. The mugs are great – but how about matching teacups and saucers? And yunomi “tumblers” for green tea – a bit like your mugs, but without the handle? (I would go NUTS and buy lots of yunomi!) And maybe demitasse cups?

Also: a ceramic incense burner (bowl) would be perfect!

Bruce Wright

August 31, 2020

This would be a great time make masks. You could possibly generate a short-term windfall. I wear hearing aids so overhead masks are all I’m buying. Your designs are terrific and I would certainly look at all your offerings in this regard.

Robert Benoy

August 28, 2020

I vote for more serving pieces, such as gravy boats, butter dishes, small bowls with handles… think Thanksgiving Dinner with all the trimmings and sides.. that cranberry sauce needs a few monsters to watch over it.

KJ

August 28, 2020

More Robots.
Also second the ask for quilting fabric. Love everything!

Linda Kjonnerod

August 23, 2020

Silk masks please.

christal white

August 22, 2020

I would like to see napkins and tea towels that are the same patterns as the dinnerware. Even if they were just plain with the design in a ribbon (Similar to the beast bowls) at the bottom.

Also, I too like the butter dish idea and the 2020 special edition mentioned by other folx.

christal white

August 22, 2020

I would like to see napkins and tea towels that are the same patterns as the dinnerware. Even if they were just plain with the design in a ribbon (Similar time the beast bowls) at the bottom.

Also, I too like the butter dish idea and the 2020 special edition mentioned by other folx.

Sharyn Allen

August 17, 2020

You really should make masks. We wear them for safety to others and ourselves, but we still want to make a fashion statement! I can hear people now, begging me to tell them where I got mine. Of course, I would break down and tell them.

JANET ESPINOSA

August 13, 2020

How about cross stitch patterns? I would definitely buy.

LNB

August 08, 2020

I’d buy a compost crock.. js

Adaline

August 07, 2020

Textiles to match the shower curtain is my suggestion. Prints for bathroom walls also would be great!

Paula Giaquinto

August 04, 2020

Thank you for great stuff! No time like now for recording calamitous history… and confirming that zombie-poodles are no hoax. Holiday shopping for great art with humor is definitely in my future.

Laureen Gozaydin

August 03, 2020

Would love a 2020 America Version . Corona Virus . Murder hornets , riots , masks , mystery seeds from China , you get the gist there’s plenty of material . Donkeys and elephants fighting . American blind justice . Fauci with a gag …

Sally

August 02, 2020

Print on cotton! We quilters would have a ball with some of these designs. If you have a large-scale motif in mind, contact me and I’ll show you some ideas …

Fran Fine

July 31, 2020

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0311/1105/files/FrogPattern4horizontal_large.png?v=1577292402

I love this design – Frogs and Flies. Can this be made as a plate or Mugs?

Susan Adams

July 30, 2020

2020 would be the PERFECT year for you to release a Christmas ball ornament so that we can always remember the year of a catastrophic pandemic.

Christina

July 28, 2020

I, too, would love some masks! And may I point out, unlike dinosaurs, there are NO capybara butter dishes.

Samantha

July 28, 2020

I would love a tea set. Tea cups and saucers. You could make it extra fancy with a tea pot and sugar and cream holder.

Susan

July 24, 2020

I’m new to the world of Calamityware and love it. I really love your bug-out tote and see that a few will be available in September. Will you send out an email when they’re here or should I check regularly starting Sept 1? Also I’m wondering how we would find out about your kickstarter projects. Would love to support.

Susan 🦖🦕🦧🐸

C. Thomas

July 24, 2020

I am very much interested in your beast bowl idea. Having ones with slightly sloping sides would work for all animals to prevent the stuck-in-a-crevice kibble crisis that often happens with straight sides & pushes the kibble to the middle, avoiding the calamity horror of a hole of empty kibble space.
Love the idea of masks with your various designs. No better way to deal with this bug than to be wearing a TCBW mask or the frog & fly pattern mask.

Gabi

July 24, 2020

I would be thrilled to buy masks!

Also, I would LOVE a butter dish. We keep our butter on the counter in a white ceramic dish, and while you can find cows and birds, there are NO DINOSAUR BUTTER DISHES (and I have looked).

Mary Kearney

July 24, 2020

I would love face masks…your cat chasing the reaper, the skeleton bandana and the frog and fly when you finish designing it.

Also, the frog and fly would make great table linens for Christmas with the red and green colors. I have your placemats, napkins, tea towels and hot pads in their current color. I like them, but for me I wish they were brighter! The frog and the fly pattern REALLY caught my eye!

I just love your stuff!

Suzanne Asher

July 22, 2020

I’m obsessed with ALL of this! I cannot wait for what is coming next. So far everything I’ve bought I not only love, but friends are begging to know where I got it (Yes I’ve shared, even though that means I won’t be the only sporting these T Shirts)

Carol Armbrust

July 22, 2020

How about creatures from the deep, dark ocean? Squid, sharks, diatoms, lantern fish and other toothy and scary fish and such…even giant clams and huge jellyfish.

Carol Armbrust

July 22, 2020

How about creatures from the deep, dark ocean? Squid, sharks, diatoms, lantern fish and other toothy and scary fish and such…even giant clams and huge jellyfish.

Carol Armbrust

July 22, 2020

How about creatures from the deep, dark ocean? Squid, sharks, diatoms, lantern fish and other toothy and scary fish and such…even giant clams and huge jellyfish.

Rochelle Prather

July 21, 2020

I would buy a frog and fly scarf in an instant!

Pam Hofmann

July 17, 2020

Yes!! Love the face mask idea. They will be around for quite a while I think, and a number of your designs would be perfect fits in this format.

Pam

kiki

July 17, 2020

To echo the deep, larger bowls, consider Ramen bowls!

Eric Seale

July 16, 2020

TCBW face masks, please!

Antoinette

July 16, 2020

I would love face masks in the black & white skeleton pattern. I have the bandanna, but a face mask would be even better. And great for gifts too!

Suzanne Reavis

July 04, 2020

oooooohh..how about butter crocks..dishtowels..dog and cat bowls!!have your mugs and just ordered bandanas..yippee!!luv your stuff!!

Christine

July 04, 2020

TCBW face masks would make the world a better place (& safer).

Jill Carlsen

July 03, 2020

I would LOVE to see deep bowls, for soup etc, bowls that are say 6 in. high and 6 or 7 in across.
The present bowls are nice and I have some, but not great for cereal or soup, too shallow.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! Between them and your beautiful 20 oz mugs it would complete my set!
LOVE your dishes and fabrics! Keep up the wonderful work! I smile every day when I use them!
Jill

Teri

July 03, 2020

Is a lazy Susan in your future?

Beckee

July 03, 2020

Hey Don!

I am hoping you will someday do a lamp! Would look so cool with my huge collection of TCBW porcelain. Also I really, REALLY think you should make face masks, and bed linen.

Thanks for all the smiles.

Laura Sherman

July 02, 2020

I love the things I’ve bought from you in the past. Can’t wait to serve my little beast in a beauty bowl!

Chris

June 27, 2020

I would love to see a Calamityware porcelain ladle.

Jessica Collins

June 21, 2020

I would love a TCBW travel mug!

Lori Auth

June 19, 2020

Beastly Bowls could have many other uses so will look for that :-). Am getting the tote bag and have almost all of the bandanas – was not aware of Calamityware to get the pixel bandana but am still looking! Always have to see what is new and exciting or old and weird LOL Books are fantastic as are the postcards I got with each purchase <3 Love the zombie poodle and dinosaur platter (grandson’s dowry)! Thanks for taking care of us! Lori Auth

Susan

June 07, 2020

Would love some dish towels, or tea towels if you’re in Canada..hey. Cloth napkins would be cool too.

DIANE

June 06, 2020

Hope you sell the frogs and flies fabric by the yard. I want to cover the seats of several dining chairs with that fabric. When will you offer things in this fabric?

Also, how about wallpaper?

Tristan Salazar

June 04, 2020

I’d love to see a French-style butter crock!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_butter_dish

Pamela

June 02, 2020

I’d love a 20 ounce travel contain for cold drinks in the original pattern and whatever your creative mind can come up with! Love the tongue in cheek designs. Keep em coming!

Claudia P Hinkle

June 02, 2020

Love your merch.
On 2nd set of mugs, 1 T shirt( love love love), just ordered bandannas.
Would really like note cards , that the whole set is “ Things could be worse”??
Awaiting for robot bandannas to return. 😁
Thank you thank you
Claudia P

Lin

May 30, 2020

Beastly bowls , please.

Renee Miri

May 30, 2020

Love the frogs and flies! I need a tablecloth! That would be a great surprise Christmas season tablecloth.

Anna

May 29, 2020

“Always a poodle, only a poodle!”
Need more zombie poodle calamity ware items…Must have more…Serving platter…
Pretty please?

Laura Nash

May 28, 2020

Love the frog and fly placemats! Need face masks! Need small plates with locust or one of the other plagues of Egypt.
Love this!

stephanie

May 27, 2020

Please please please make the guide for villains. I have a super smart teenager whose nickname has been supervillain since kindergarten. This would be the perfect graduation present next year.

Tara Coco

May 24, 2020

I love everything you make and my family does too!! Love the dinnerware !! Have been giving some for gifts. Coolest. We use your bowls and plates every day. More Bigfoot anything.

Rebecca Dixon

May 24, 2020

Beastly Bowls please and thank you

Ingrid Bock

May 23, 2020

I love your art! Yes to the bicycling whatever-those-ares, yes to the pet bowls, yes to the froggy textile, and please do more Sasquatch items (if you do more scarves, maybe you could tweak the lengths). And most of all, PLEASE do masks! I want a mask just like the skeleton BADbandana. You would go down in history as the best Covid mask designer in the universe.

Kathlyn Deak

May 22, 2020

Creatures on cycles looks perfect to me. Also, not just pets! I have a grandchild and wouldn’t want a bowl that obviously looks like a dog dish.

Freddie Levin

May 20, 2020

I would love a TCBW face mask. Also, I need a new jigsaw puzzle. We love all your stuff and have given many as gifts. Never truer than now!

jp

May 19, 2020

We NEED chargers! They could just be giant versions of the ant or fly plates. Also, a coffee pot to go with the tea set.

Elizabeth Loporchio

May 17, 2020

I’m a recent convert to the TCBW genre and love everything I’ve seen thus far. Re: ideas for future – Face masks won’t be going away for quite a while – several years minimum if ever. TCBW face masks would be wonderful since they encompass the entire Covid 19 “experience”. Since you do fabrics, what about an apron – even if only the pocket has the TCBW design it’d be great.
Love the idea of the travel bag but some sort of well-made daily tote bag would be more frequently used. I’d also love to see a complete set of mini-plates with all the designs of the big plates. My fav has got to be Sasquatch and he’s just not on a mini plate (yet?). Love the Bigger mug idea and will definately be buying when available. I have no words to express how much I LOVE the Pet Bowl design… another definate purchase when it comes out.

Kelsey

May 11, 2020

I LOVE the monster and alien art!! Window curtains and bed linens would be amazing. And how about a beer stein? A monster stein! I would buy it all ;)

Holly

May 11, 2020

I would love to see some of your complex images done as T-shirts with an all-over design, where the entire shirt contains the print, not just the chest. From a distance it looks like the shirt has an indistinct fabric pattern, but when up close the delights are revealed.

Carolyn Butler

May 11, 2020

Everything is amazing! If given a choice, I’d like to see more serve ware; platters and big bowls; I think some color would blend nicely too, like the jigsaw puzzle pattern in a large platter or shallow serving bowl.

Katharine Heed

May 09, 2020

Would love a critter mask! Travel mug; large mugs all great.

Al Giraldi

May 08, 2020

Burgess Shale animals!

James

May 08, 2020

2.5” men’s ties. 3” is for wall street and old men. Wallpaper/Shower curtains. Perhaps allowing a one-time license fee to produce wallpaper from those firms on the web that do custom wallpaper. Allow personalized color combos and image scaling to match home decor. Cookie molds. Coasters. Bumper stickers. Flags. Socks. Hawaiian style shirts. Pint glasses. Stickers. Emoji. Table cloth. PANDEMIC MASKS!

Janette

May 04, 2020

Corona virus 🦠 Murder Hornets 🐝 and face Masks.
Please new designs

Julia Ten Eyck

May 01, 2020

We need Calamity masks, please! :)

stay safe!

cd

April 26, 2020

Can’t begin to tell you how many hours I’ve spent searching (over several years!!) for 20oz mugs with straight sides – and to discover that you have (or will soon) porcelain ones that are Fun and Funny is beyond great.
I was checking to see if you had lids for your mugs (ideally also could also be a coaster when not on the mug) but I didn’t find them. I now see that you’ve had several requests for a lid (for the 20oz size – could one lid fit both 12oz & 20oz mugs?), so I’ll add my support to those earlier comments.
Just discovered your line today thx to a URL forwarded by a friend. Make that a good friend.
Best wishes, Cynthia

Melissa Work

April 26, 2020

Bigfoot needs a mask for corona virus! 😆

Sheri Sharkey

April 26, 2020

I too am waiting for the larger TCBW mugs. A t-shirt of that would be sweet. And you should of course do a corona design. Too soon?? Nah.
Sheri

Sheri Sharkey

April 26, 2020

I too am waiting for the larger TCBW mugs. A t-shirt of that would be sweet. And you should of course do a corona design. Too soon?? Nah.

Michelle Arsenault

April 23, 2020

I LOVE the dinosaurs on bikes design!!! And I would definitely be interested in a ceramic travel mug! I’ve been searching for a good one, that doesn’t leak and isn’t too hot on the hands, for a while now. I love all your stuff, really!

Snow

April 18, 2020

Tarot cards and fabric by the yard – for face masks! I don’t really want to sacrifice one of my robot bandanas if I don’t have to. And dragons! Yea dragons, that’s the way of the future 😃

Violet McCrady

April 17, 2020

NEW PRODUCT IDEA: Always looking for porcelain lids for mugs to keep my tea warm. They never seem to be sold separately, only with a mug. And they crash to the ground and break more than mugs. I have the mugs – just need the lids. A variation on your porcelain ornaments that were made to be mug lids would be cool. Useable with your mugs or people’s own mugs.

Jen G

April 14, 2020

Fabric by the yard would be awesome…so many sewing projects these days! (Hello, masks :-)
And the cross-stitch idea would be fabulous as well. Would be fun as a SAL (stitch-a-long) that gets released each month!

Loretta Sachsel

April 14, 2020

Yes!! Count me in for 4 large mugs! I ordered 4 of the smaller cups and mailed them away as quarantine Easter gifts when I saw that you were coming out with a larger size! Please, dont leave me empty ‘handled’
Also, we ordered a shower curtain and it has sure provided a pleasant esthetic diverse to our holed-up young adult kids! Thanks for bringing the smiles, Creative One!!

Blair

April 12, 2020

I love your designs!
I second to idea of a yeti type cup and would love the big mug.

Rochelle

April 11, 2020

I would love to see a psych ward populated with your creations! On a travel cup! (I’m a psych nurse… “things could be worse” is basically our motto in that area!)

Liz T

April 10, 2020

I would love to make a Things Could Be Worse cross stitch sampler! Any chance of getting the design charted? Pretty please?

Patte

April 09, 2020

How about the coronavirus as tumbleweeds, within the 1950s western theme, amongst those cool ubiquitous saguaro cactus🌵. The Coronavirus can be rolling along the desert, 🏜️ maybe wearing sunglasses, and some wearing bandanas, (some wearing bandanas as face masks—just like us! And perhaps cowboys (or doctors & nurses?) can be rounding some up and driving them to the “jail”? And maybe lizards (those horned roads!) can be eating a few up: yum yum! Maybe this could be the new bandana? (which we can buy fast to wear as facemasks ??) Please?

Maggie B

April 08, 2020

So fun instead of typical designs! Love it!

Amy

April 04, 2020

If you go with the pet bowl, I hope that Zombie Poodle is on it. Tall mugs would be great!

Mavis

April 03, 2020

Face masks, please.
Calamity is here, unfortunately

William Ansley

April 03, 2020

As far as the letterpress print goes, why limit yourself to one theme? Mash ’em all together: dinosaurs using megaphones and maps to direct traffic consisting of space travelers, robots, and troglodytes. Or whatever much better idea you come up with.

rqh

April 03, 2020

I would looove to see bathroom items to go with the shower curtains !!! We hope to build a house soon. Our guest bath is going to be a Calamity !!! ❤️🐉🦖🦕

Sandy Urbanczyk

April 03, 2020

If you got some face masks made I would buy them.

Shams

April 02, 2020

Yes, please, fabric by the yard!

I also love the straight sided large mug idea.

Jason

April 01, 2020

Please do something involving the corona virus. Seriousness aside it would be a way to make light of the current dark situation.

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