Thursday, March 27, 2014

Alcohol Ink Tiles and water = Bad News!

Thought I would share my little life lesson  - AI Art on tiles!

When I first started painting on glossy tiles with Alcohol inks I would seal them with a few coats of  Krylon varnish and followed up with a few coats of
Krylon UV/moisture resistant spray in hopes that the painting would be protected, and as long as they were used as an art piece (decoration only) they were fine, but here is the BIG "BUT".....

If the tiles are used as a coaster eventually this is what happens!
I have since had little cards made up that state these tiles are for decoration only.

Think about it this way....if you were to have a watercolor or an oil painting...would you put a glass of water or a cup of coffee on it? Nope....

The problem is that most folks see this as a coaster - I know I did! They are the perfect size right!

 I was on a mission to find something that would make the tiles look more like art rather than a coaster. I ran across these adorable little black wooden tile holders and frames from Aftosa!
If you choose to make coasters then I would recommend that you seal them with resin. They give the painting a heavy coat equal to 50 coats of varnish. It's a process - a messy one at that and a bit time consuming.
Resin Sealed Tile - High Gloss

It's a two part process, I was told that the brand Ice Resin dries much quicker than most.
Make sure that the resin is mixed really really well and that you get the sides and the bottom of the cups stirred well. It takes at least 2 mins of stirring to get it to cure correctly otherwise you are left with a sticky unset resin. Mine took at least 24 hours to dry (at 70 Degrees) even though it said 5 hours....so if it's still sticky after 5 don't panic - wait until the next day!

Of course with this new added process - look at adjusting the prices. The resin is expensive and the process adds a lot of time to the creation of the Art piece, but so worth it if it makes your client happy!

You can also check my UV Outdoor test.


Want to try Art Resin yourself - here is the referral link to a few different sized kits.
Art Resin Regular Kit
Art Resin Large Kit


Happy Inking~
Kellie

Come join me on facebook to see my latest work!

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Vendor Display Set Up

I was looking for something to display my cards on. A friend of mine had used one that her dad made for a craft fair. Her's had one panel up and one sideways so that you could display cards vertical or horizontal.

Just so happens that I stopped into a second hand shop and found this. It was green with red shelves on the back so I had plans to spray paint it!




I loved the idea because you get a great look at all the card options at a glance. Mine were in boxes and stacked behind one another. But...when I got home I realized that HEY this could be great for tiles! I used these little coated display stands from Display to go to put the ones with out hanger up.

Here is the packaging close up. I use polypropylene bags from amazon, they have a bunch of different sizes and have a self adhesive strip.



I used little S hooks for the back and epoxied a hanger on the back.

Also purchased some black wooden tile stands from Aftosa.



Saturday, March 8, 2014

What is Art? "Absolute Intimacy with another Mind"

My hubby sent me an article today and with it a sweet little not attached:

"Nice article about the importance of artists and writers in a distracted world.  Your work is not just beautiful my love, it is good for the soul."
Xoxo


I read it and thought, wow that's a  great article and there was this one sentence (Absolute intimacy with another mind) was a wow for me.  Have you ever really thought about how when you create something and another person looks at it...they are looking into your mind ~ pretty deep stuff huh!


My new AI Art prints came in today - pretty excited about it. I've learned how to take RAW pictures with my Nikon camera and set up my prints in Photoshop (Thanks to my husband)!

I then send them to my printer and they run them off for me!

I now have the Peacock in cards, 5x7, 8x10 and 11x14 print sizes! This one is an 11x14 in a 16x20 Mat. You can purchase them from my Kellie Lynn Art Etsy Store!



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