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Art Supplies Haul – April 2019

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After a few months when I kept my spending in check, I decided I could get some of the things I needed – so without much waffling, here’s what I bought for my artwork in April:

High temperature silicone mould making rubber*

This 1kg kit of RTV High temperature resistant silicone mould making rubber was £27 on eBay.

It was an easy buy as I’d bought the very same silicone before last year, when I was just testing out my first pewter castings. It does the job and holds up against the hot metal, so there was no question about getting some more.

Normally I’d buy in bulk when it comes to casting materials, but I’m not sure how much I’ll need if I’m going to be doing some of my casting in aluminium (in sand) as well.

Recycled leather fabric

After sitting on the decision for a while, I bought some recycled leather fabric from I Want Fabric. Two metres came to £10.58 with £3.50 postage.

This was a recommendation from a friend, and I thought it might come in handy for the notebooks I want to make, as well as making up a metal-resistant apron for all the casting I’m going to be doing soon.

I also got a whopping great big length of a different recycled leather pattern as a sample. I mean – the sample was almost as big as the piece I paid for!

In truth, I’m not dead keen on the sample leather so I’m glad I asked for a but I’ll use it for something. The sample isn’t quite what you expect when you think about leather… it’s an extremely thin veneer layered onto a backing, kinda like the material used for cheap school shoes.

The piece I bought is also a thin veneer layered onto a backing, but it’s a significantly thicker backing. Will it make for a good casting apron? Not sure, but maybe backed with canvas in places.

It does claim to be naturally fire retardant, and even though it’s thin, it is still reconstituted leather. Well, it should be better than what I’ve got now – nothing.

The next month should be interesting – I’ve been on a bit of a spree, and I’ve bought some bits that I think will be quite unexpected…

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Studio Notes 17/05/19

This week has thrown some surprises up into the air – good surprises, but big ones. If you want a hint, you can start with this post I wrote in 2017 about an investigation that was decades in the making… well, it looks as though it’s come to an end.

Sculpting and battling impatience

In the last week I’ve jumped into sculpting a new, final version of my 250 coin, taking what I’d learned from making the prototype and getting it perfect this time.

Only… we know there’s no such thing as perfect, right?

Technically, yes, but I like to dance around that area of madness anyway. What makes it maddening is that I’m drawn to making painstaking, fiddly work, but I am ridiculously impatient as well!

What I’ve changed is starting to work primarily with layered paper to create low-relief forms and then add details in wax, which are then carved into.

Using paper and wax to create low-relief sculpture.

Redesigning on a computer only gets me so far, but I still have to do the majority of the tweaks by hand with a physical model.

I had hoped to make a cast using Composimold and then refining that, but the batch I ordered doesn’t look likely to arrive until next month! I really don’t want to have to wait that long, so I might use my DIY silicone trick instead. Hopefully impatience won’t be my downfall this time…

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The Importance Of Having A Blog For Your Business

When you run an online business – or even an offline business – being able to get your name out there and market yourself effectively is a huge part of everything you do.

If you’re not able to market yourself, then you’re going to find it really difficult to remain in business for any length of time and will soon find yourself burned out, not enjoying what you’re doing and not having any clients or money come in.

Many business owners make the mistake of believing that simply putting up a website and some social media pages is going to be enough to bring clients in, but that’s just the beginning – you have to be actively bringing people to those places so that you can show your expertise.

So, if you’ve never considered having a blog for your business before or you simply don’t know where to get started, then in this post we’re going to consider the importance of having one.

It builds authority:

When you have a blog for your business where you’re regularly posting content, then you’re going to be able to build authority around whichever topic you’re writing about, and being seen as an authority in business is ultimately what will help build trust with your audience and lead them to eventually buy from you, so having a blog for this reason is very important especially if you’re looking to make money from it in any way.

If you’re not sure if your business will be able to create a blog with enough content or what you should be writing about, then take a look online at other blogs such as those like https://www.templafy.com/contract-management/ for inspiration.

It drives traffic:

Although generating organic traffic from your blogging efforts will take a bit of time, the great thing about being consistent with the content you post is that you will start being able to rank higher in Google over time so as long as you’re creating original and useful content that’s targeting the right keywords that your audience are searching for, then you’re going to find that you’ll be driving traffic over time as people search for the terms used on your site.

You own the content:

As much as social media is a truly wonderful tool for growing your business and marketing yourself, the fact is that none of us own social media and the content on there technically belongs to the platform we’re posting it on.

This means that, for example if Facebook or Instagram were to go out of business tomorrow, not only would your audience go with them, but your content would as well, so it’s important that you have other places where you’re connecting with your audience, such as through your blog and email list.

You can repurpose the content:

Just because you’ve posted something once doesn’t mean that everyone has seen it, so as you grow your business and more people are coming into your audience it’s tempting to think that you need to be creating only new content, but if you think it’s useful then you can repurpose existing content to other formats such as podcasts, vlogs, and even e-books or courses that you can then sell for passive income.

Hopefully those points have convinced you that blogging is essential for your business – have a look at some of my other blogging-related articles for more helpful information.

The importance of having a blog for your business

Photos by rawpixel.com from Pexels, altered by Lee Devonish

Studio Notes 10/05/19

What a busy week – redesigning the pewter coin has been the most important thing, but I’ve squeezed in a few jobs on the side as well, like re-stretching an aluminium screen and prepping materials for a new miniature sculpture.

Last week I had planned to restretch a couple of screens using two-part evil glue, but when I finally got an afternoon of dry weather and opened up the bottles, I realised that the hardener had – well – hardened, and it was unusable.

My ghetto screen stretching method

All of this after I’d started the process: I tacked the mesh across a wooden frame that was just bigger than the aluminium frame, laid it on top of the aluminium frame and clamped it tightly down onto it. That would stretch the mesh even tighter over the new frame and allow me to glue the mesh and screen surfaces.

Stretching an aluminium screen with a wooden screen

That way I’d get a very taut, professional-quality stretch in my back garden. Well, that was the plan until the glue problem, so having set everything up – clamps and all – I just went ahead with contact cement.

So far so good – I sliced the screen out of the wooden frame and it’s kept its tension, but I’m going to have to test its resistance to all the screen printing processes. And… I’m out of mesh for this size of screen, so I’ll have to buy some more before I can carry on.

Back to sculpting the coin

When I started the process of sculpting coins last year I came up against the problem of creating precise marks in materials that don’t lend themselves to the level of precision that I wanted.

Everything I did was made the old-fashioned way: all hand carved, with the most advanced process being photocopying. This is kinda how I roll; my natural inclination is to do everything without computers, not because I have to prove something, but because that’s just how I learned to do things and that’s what comes naturally. If I’m going to push this to where it needs to go, that has to change.

The point isn’t to create industrially manufactured pieces, but to marry the idea of a hand-made object of value with that of a mass-produced symbol of value. Basically I need to upgrade my processes.

With modern coin design and manufacture, you can’t get away from computers and machines. I’ve been thinking about ways to incorporate more computer-assisted working into my practice, whether it’s getting a 3d printer or – as an alternative – a plotter cutter.

I’ve spent the last week researching these and it’s made my head spin. The thing is, they’re pitched firmly at the crafts market, and it can be hard to figure out if the machine you’ve spotted will be suitable for more robust work, or, more importantly, original work (not being restricted by locked-in software).

My plan is to use one of these to precision-cut paper layers to laminate sculptural forms. It’s not that out of the question – it’s basically how I’ve been forming my new coin this week, but by hand. Maybe before too long I’ll have a bit of help with that.

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Fonts For Painting

I love finding typefaces that pair up with a particular artistic medium or style – it feels like the perfect marriage between visual language and the written word.

The right typeface can bolster your brand as an artist, so it’s worth thinking about the fonts you use – here are some fonts for painting and painters.

Typefaces for artists: fonts for painting

Typefaces for painters can reflect the quality of the brushwork, the style of paint spatter, or just provide a vehicle for layering colour.

Brush-style fonts are pretty common, but not all are created equal. I’ve chosen some fonts for painting that evoke different painterly styles – hopefully you’ll find one for you.

Opulent + SVG Font

Opulent - typeface like watercolour painting

Opulent is a script font package that comes in three styles:

Opulent SVG font that allows you to render your lettering in lush watercolour brush strokes
Opulent Brush font, which gives you a ragged edge and classic dry-brushy look
Opulent Solid font, which gives a smooth edge to the text, reminiscent of a more liquid paint effect

So three fonts in the package for $20 is pretty stellar.

Buy on DesignCuts

Express Yourself Font + Bonus

Express Yourself font | enamel paint font

Express Yourself is definitely a fun typeface – made by dripping enamel paint, it really stands out amongst all the brush fonts.

This font would be great for branding anyone working with drip art or pour painting styles – or anything that needs a wild, expressive flavour. It actually reminds me of ceramic slips!

At only $5, it’s a steal.

Buy on Creative Market

Casual Brush Typeface

Casual Brush is a handwriting typeface that combines some internal breaking with lots of smooth lines. It does have an elegance about it, but is very informal and easy-going. A bit more illustration mixed into your painting practice, you could say.

What makes this so interesting is the sheer amount of variety you get in the combinations of over 600 ligature pairs and two stylistic alternates – there’s a lot in this package.

Buy on DesignCuts

Drip – Liquid Font

I love the look of this typeface – fat, luscious and happy! It does just what the name suggests – calls up paint’s liquid nature with a heap of added style.

It’s begging to be used as a logo, but this font could easily lend itself to lots of other applications.

Buy on Creative Market

Blackhawk Brush Font

Blackhawk seems to me to be the epitome of an edgy dry-brush typeface: all slanted, stabby points and ragged edges, and all caps. It’s fast, urgent and instantly gives you that street vibe.

Buy on DesignCuts

Mr. Poster – SVG Brush Font

Mr. Poster is one of those incredibly memorable typefaces – show-stealing and full of character. I absolutely love it!

It’s a bit more limited than others on the list as there aren’t as many alternates available, but it still does its job. Made using acrylic paint on transparency, this font is at its best in its SVG version, but the solid vector version will still impress.

Buy on Creative Market

Tooth & Nail Dry Brush Font

Tooth & Nail is a gorgeous handwritten dry brush typeface with an upright habit that plays into its down-to-earth appeal.

If you’re looking for a way to convey down-home trustworthiness and creativity, this is the package for you – and there are extra paint splatters and more included as vectors, which is always cool.

Buy on DesignCuts

Total Rage – Brush SVG Font

Total Rage is a font with absolutely unbelievable texture and tons of energy built into it. Gestural painting and expressionism have found their mouthpiece here!

While the SVG’s transparency is undeniably the star of the show, the vector version’s solidity makes this look totally brutal… in a good way.

Buy on Creative Market

A selection of paints!

So I’ve managed to find a selection that matched watercolour, enamel, acrylic, paint marker and gouache… and some that just evoke paint’s liquidity. Which was your favourite?