I’m with you Stephie and have a portable heater I move around. The heating is set to come on a certain times but on very cold days an extra boast is all I need. Plus I don’t like to be too hot … Age thing say no more lol
Before I got my portable heater I used to wear hats, scarves (still wear those), woolen coats etc inside. Then I realised that everyone else was warm (at work, school, etc) so decided that I could be warm if I stayed in one room and bought a heater. Never looked back lol, and although I still wear many layers and scarves, at least I don’t have to wear hats and gloves indoors anymore
Very pretty daisy Max, gorgeous colours.
I’ve been working on the allotment painting this morning.
Here’s a commission from a couple of weeks ago, it was a mother’s day gift so it’s safe to show it now
Hope they are sorting your heating out Brenda, tis horrible being cold, plenty of blankets and hot water bottles …i have one of those oil filled radiators in my studio, take a while to heat up. My Mum’s got a halogen heater for me when i see her next which is suppose to be good as my studio is freezing in winter and even with heating on i still have to tog up. Though in summer the studio is a complete sauna.
Lovely colours in that tile Max.
Awww cute doggie Steph
Well my day has not gone to plan…nice start with my usual Mon yoga class …but message when i got home from the print company i work with, their mug suppliers can no longer provide their service so we’ve had to suspend any further mug orders!
I’ve had so much interest in the mugs and was suppose to be starting work on designing a full set this week but now i’m desperately trying to find a new supplier! Thankfully the orders i had put through have been completed …but i’ve just had to whizz round all the platforms that i have been promoting them on and withdraw them and apologise and explain they are temporarily suspend. Really, really disappointed and gutted …it makes my business look bad.
I’m off to get another coffee and pound the virtual pavement looking for a new supplier …in the mean time i’ll leave you with my Mother’s Day pic i was trying to put on yesterday. Have lovely day everyone x
Oh dear Jac, I hope you can find a supplier quickly. Mind you, I have always found that things happen for a reason and maybe there is something better for you, or maybe a cheaper supplier waiting for you to find them…I hope so.,
The engineer was here for 3 hours and has fixed the boiler…but he did say that at 24 years old it needs replacing…it’s life is apparently more like 15 years, so if we get another one…that might see us out…ha ha.
When I think back to being a child, we only had one fire in the house, no extra heaters etc and we managed…I think we are all spoilt now…lol…
I managed 4 aceos this afternoon…might get more done yet…
don’t forget to put your name on the journal Stephie. I know your family know who you are , but maybe one day (on Bargain Hunt…lol) someone will look at that book and mention your name. I know in one of our houses about 30 years ago, we buried a time capsule in the roof…our names, neighbours, the price of bread, sugar and petrol and a newspaper from the day and a coin…wonder if anyone will ever find it?
It’s already got my name address and phone number in it in case I lose it while we’re out, then it will maybe stand some chance of making it home again.
Wonder if your time capsule has been found! That would be an exciting discovery.
Good morning, waving hi to everyone. Glad the heating is sorted Brenda, toastie warm your journal is looking fab Steph, I never got around to mine got distracted with a commission instead love the dog too.
Shame about the mugs Jac.
I’m looking for any advice on a company that will produce prints to order, I know they exist but have no knowledge of names and reputations. I have seen companies like Zazzle where you basically sell your artworks to be printed on whatever people want posters, phone covers etc but the commission seems awfully low. Anyone have any knowledge? As an alternative I have thought about purchasing a good quality printer to do giclee prints, anyone got any ideas on those either?
Morning all…nice and warm indoors this morning
Sorry Max, I have no idea about printing…Some of the printing places like redbubble work out very expensive for customers and as you say, you hardly get anything at all from the sale. Hope you can find somewhere.
Max you want an archival pigment based ink for permanence and longevity. I looked into it a good while ago and at the time a decent home giclee printer was hugely expensive - they are A2 in size and take around 10 (?) inks that are also really expensive, and since I wasn’t planning to do industrial quantities of prints I didn’t think it was worth it. I do know another local artist who did buy one and hasn’t looked back, so maybe it’s just my lack of ambition.
I currently use Zazzle for my mugs but haven’t had any orders through them, and would earn the grand some of around £1.50 per mug if I did.
Love the sketchbook Stephie, a definite heirloom in the making.
Sorry to hear about the mugs Jac, so disappointing especially as they were doing so well.
Glad your heating is sorted Brenda. We’ve got the EE man coming tomorrow to sort out the phone line/internet. I’m missing being able to get online in the evenings!
Nice work Stephie…
waving Margaret, hope they can get you fixed once and for all…compensation?
I have just counted and on aceos alone, I have 53 waiting to be listed…maybe I should think about the plus account…lol
On top of that I have dozens of larger unlisted paintings…
I try to only list a few at a time to keep in profit…
back later…the sun is “trying!”
I’ve never regretted getting the plus account Brenda, it’s well worth it. You do have to pay by direct debit though. Your snow scene is gorgeous, the trees are fab.
Lovely dandelions matt, as you say in your inspiration section they are very much overlooked. I used to pick dandelions as a child for both flowers in a vase and so my mum could make dandelion wine…which was lethal stuff!
Hello Matt nice to meet you
Oooo love that snowy landscape Brenda…glad your got your heating back
Fingers crossed your internet connection gets sorted tomorrow Margaret
Awww cute teddy & sleeping doggie in your art diary Steph …wow your Zazzle mug earnings are about the same i get after i’ve taken out all my overheads, packaging, etc
My mug’s will defiantly be back…i’ve been pounding those virtual pavements going through lots & lots of different options…i think i gave myself square eyes with it last night. I’m slowly narrowing down the search and in contact with a couple of companies looking at variations to mug styles, production, etc just weighing up costs of each now. Then i’m gonna do a handful of trials with some this week to see quality, colour reproduction, etc. Brenda your right it could end up being a blessing in disguise…depending on which way i go i could get a better price or a higher spec product. Either way as always more learning curves under my belt.
Max @paperchainsandbeads like Steph said to do proper giclee printing the machine,set up & archival inks are expensive …you need really good quality stock to print on to, mine are printed on 315gsm smooth high white cotton stock (comes on huge rolls) and are fully archival. For giclee scans they need to be scanned at a higher resolution too, mine are done at 600dpi but 300dpi is fine and i would recommend saving in TIF format this not only helps with adjustments to colour proofing but Jpeg’s degenerate over time and you can’t save the layers to re-adjust the colours later.
I get mine printed with a local commercial print company who also specialise in fine art prints. Not all print companies do it as it is specialised but it’s worth checking out commercial printers (ones that do business cards etc) to see if any do. If you also google giclee print companies & it’s variations it’ll bring up companies further afield. Regions that are know for lots of artist tend to have more. Some companies don’t like you providing your own scans and will charge initial fee for both scanning and an initial artwork set up for each piece, but after that it’s just the print cost of how many giclee you want. A couple will ask you to pay for proofs where others it’s incorporated in there initial set up fees. I do some set up’s myself and the more awkward ones i get the print company to do but i do have to pay per proof but after that i just print to order so i don’t have too much invested stock sat around.
Another way to find giclee printers is also look at other local artists. Some are happy if they have their own set up to provide giclee prints for other artist this also helps cover their cost for the machine, inks ,etc. As for online companies i don’t know…i know some print companies will do things from a far with you posting originals back & forth but you run the risk of royal mail losing your originals and also have to factor in those postal costs to your end retail price.
Whether you do it through local print companies or the ones like Zazzle that produce your artwork on other products the commission is low…it’s for a number of reasons but alot of it is to do with initial artwork set up costs and manufacturing processes for certain types of product. Each different product requires different set ups and artwork needs to be converted to match the formats needed. I’ve learnt all this the hard way producing my own product…it’s tough but teaches you alot about the process and until you get into big print runs you won’t earn much commission. You maybe able to get a good quality normal home printer to produce digital printers rather than giclee, the costs would poss be lower but the quality of both print and product is different from proper giclee.
Hope this helps.
Eeee eck that was a war & peace post! …have a lovely day everyone x
your journal is looking fab Steph, I never got around to mine got distracted with a commission instead 
love the dog too.
