So I Made One

Five years ago, I got frustrated while looking for a triathlon shirt. I was doing something new and awesome, and wanted everyone to know about it. Especially once I finished my first triathlon. The problem was every triathlon shirt did not depict what I had actually done because I used a hand cycle and a racing wheelchair. Paratriathlon. There weren't any shirts for that.

So I made one.

That turned into a bit of a crusade of adaptive sports... wheelchair basketball, wheelchair lacrosse, sitting volleyball, wheelchair tennis, para archery, para powerlifting, para rowing. They're available as shirts and decals in my various Team Tsunami shops.

I also ventured into cartoons, then fun wheelchair, cane, and chronic illness designs. I get messages from customers that are so happy they found my shop, that I made some shirts for their particular sport or that I have some fun with my chronic disorders.

My most popular design is the standard wheelchair icon with a mermaid tail; when a friend heard the basic treatment for dysautonomia (more salt and water), she decided that there's nothing wrong with us, we're just displaced mermaids. I loved it and decided the mermaid theory works for many disorders/disabilities and so my icon was born.

I even figured out how to make wheelchairs for my string doll keychains because I wanted one. And prosthetic legs because a friend asked for one for her daughter.

It's a hell of a moment when someone chases me down to ask where I found my shirt, or my keychain, or the fun sticker, or the fabric for the cover on my wheelchair (yes, I've designed some fabric too!). It makes me so happy that they're excited to have found it, but sad that it's so uncommon that it seems like a freakin miracle that they found it. Other crafters and designers sometimes ask how I found my niche... the honest answer is it found me. I discovered there just wasn't much there. So I made more.