Show Off Your Chemistry SWAG!

chemistry mug

I love teaching chemistry! It is fun to express that interest by collecting t-shirts and other items when I attend professional development. My family, friends and students have gotten into the fun over the years and supported the habit! I am sharing a few of my favorite items. I hope you will share your own Chemistry SWAG with the ChemEd X community by uploading your pics and comments to this blog post, our ChemEd X Facebook page or @ChemEdX on Twitter. How do you show that CHEMISTRY is YOUR ELEMENT!


  

I purchased the periodic table Toms (at www.Toms.com) after seeing a chemistry teacher at NSTA 2013 (San Antonio) wearing them. This fall, I ordered a new pair of Toms sporting molecules since my others were getting dingy. My stepdaughters gave me the Tervis mug for a Christmas gift last year and I was given the periodic table mug many years ago from a student that I had in class for the first three years of my career at Whitehall High School. I won the beaker mug at a professional development meeting. Lucky me, I also won a raffle at a regional NSTA meeting many years ago. I was given a gift certificate to Flinn (www.flinnsci.com) that I exchanged for a lab coat. It is not uncommon to walk into my classroom to see one of my students wearing it! 


I can't wait to see YOUR chemistry SWAG! #chemswag

 

 

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Comments 10

Erica Posthuma's picture
Erica Posthuma | Sat, 01/31/2015 - 21:41

Like Deanna, I love showing off my love of chemistry!  My family and students have helped me to build my collection of T-shirts, mugs, and jewlery.  A few years ago I made the ultimate commitment to my ChemSwag collection and got a tattoo of a few organic structures

.

A few years ago, my students decided to make an AP Chem Class T-shirt.  We always wore them on test day!  (Shout out to all the HP fans too!)

My brother and sister try to find at least one chemistry shirt to add to my collection each year:

Shopgibberish.com has a great collection of ChemSwag!  This  necklace was custom made by them! 

I hope our readers will use the #ChemSwag and share their favorite swag!

Doug Ragan's picture
Doug Ragan | Sun, 02/01/2015 - 00:39

     Chem swag is the greatest and I love expressing it.  Step into my classroom and you will see everything from Mole day Tshirts from years past that my former students have signed, to mortars and pestles made from all types of materials.  You may recognize the caffiene molecule on my beaker mug or on a t shirt from my favorite coffee shop from grad school. In my conference travels, I was fortunate to be able to introduce Sam Kean, author of the Disappearing Spoon, and so I proudly have this on display along with a signature from Dr. Joe Schwarz whose books I also highly recommend.  

  

If my computer is out then it becomes quite obvious to others what I do:

As for my chemistry attire, well nothing would be complete without identifying your lanyard with your name in elements or showing off that periodic table belt buckle that you know I wear periodically! Go ahead express your love for chemistry and share your Chem SWAg!

   

Sam Kean    http://amzn.to/1ExEdW9

Joe Schwarcz:  http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Schwarcz/e/B004LTDIF0

teacher bumper sticker: http://www.cafepress.com/mf/34046760/teacher-made-of-elements_bumper-sticker?productId=385909545

element pins: https://www.store.acs.org/eweb/ACSTemplatePage.aspx?site=ACS_Store&WebCode=storeCatList&catKey=ee5070ef-6c3a-4f02-959a-12a84fff4ade

belt buckle: http://www.zazzle.com/periodic+table+belt+buckles

Erica Posthuma's picture
Erica Posthuma | Sun, 02/01/2015 - 15:52

Seriously, let me know when it's available.

Tom Kuntzleman's picture
Tom Kuntzleman | Mon, 02/02/2015 - 17:58

Erica, you crack me up.  If I was brave like you, I'd tatoo it somewhere.  Hmmm.....probably not gonna happen.  However, I would like to figure out how to get this design printed on T-shirts, but I'm a bit worried about copyright infringement. Any ideas...?

Tom Kuntzleman's picture
Tom Kuntzleman | Fri, 02/06/2015 - 09:19

I tried to get the Superman/Chemistry design printed on a custom T-shirt, but no one would print it due to copyright violations.  So I spent a little time working on the design, and I think I have a version that companies will print.  A low-resolution picture of the design is below; you can also see a shirt I'm having printed up here.

Erica Posthuma's picture
Erica Posthuma | Sun, 02/08/2015 - 13:16

Tom,

I don't understand how those copyright rules work, the superman logo is freely used on things other than T-shirts.  (It's a popular icon in tattoos for example) I like the changes you made! I tried to follow the link above but the image wouldn't load.  Maybe these T-shirts could be our "uniform" while we work the booth at ChemEd!

Tom Kuntzleman's picture
Tom Kuntzleman | Sun, 02/08/2015 - 17:07

It seems as though there might be some trouble downloading the T-shirt design, so I posted a picture of it below.  I agree, Erica, it would be a blast to wear this at a ChemEdX booth, especially if we could get an artist to render this with a snazzy design!

Tom Kuntzleman's picture
Tom Kuntzleman | Mon, 02/09/2015 - 18:37

Well, it turns out they wouldn't print the last design, either.  Luckily, someone from the company (Custom Ink) worked with me to come up with a design that they would print.  It turns out that the "S" in the shield presents a problem.  Below is the newest design.  What do you think?

Tom Kuntzleman's picture
Tom Kuntzleman | Mon, 02/09/2015 - 19:05

The ink to the new T-shirt design is here.  I hope the link works...