Archives of the Art Dog Blog from MacPherson's

Strathmore Artist Papers

Picture yourself going to your mailbox each day and shuffling through your pile of papers. What do you typically see? Bills, coupons, ads, statements…yawn.

Now imagine yourself shuffling through your mail and behold a beautiful, handmade postcard with a personalized message on the back. That’s enough to make your day.

Who doesn’t love getting real, handmade mail? Artists can send their art in postcard format with our new Mixed Media Postcards. They’re perfect for the upcoming holiday season.

Made with our 400 Series Mixed Media paper, these heavyweight 184 lb (300gsm) postcards have a vellum drawing finish and are sized to handle wet media applications. They’re great for pen and ink, watercolor, gouache, acrylic, graphite, colored pencil, marker and collage.

The front of the postcard is left blank for the art. The back is printed with the traditional markings of a postcard so artists can mail their piece and share their art.

Available in a standard 4″ x 6″ postcard size with 15 sheets per pad.

You may already be familiar with our popular Watercolor Postcards, which have a traditional cold press textured surface and a weight of 140lb (300gsm). These are perfect for watercolorists who want to share their work. For the artists who likes to add details with pens, colored pencils and markers, the new Mixed Media Postcards are the perfect choice.

Mixed Media Postcards:

Item#: SM704-8

Size: 4″ x 6″

Postcards/Pad: 15

Watercolor Postcards:

Item#: SM704-4 

Size: 4″ x 6″

Postcards/Pad: 15

An early iteration of the Prismacolor logo; over time the rainbow arch has simplified to an iconic prismatic line.

Catherine Monahon, Copywriter, MacPherson’s

Introducing Venerable Vintages, a monthly feature of archaic art supplies. Anything from art industry ephemera to unlikely heirlooms; Venerable Vintages is a chance to indulge in the art supply nerd in all of us. To submit a collection or special item, send images and descriptions to us at artdogblog (@) macphersonart.com.

Many of us have a soft spot for vintage labels, first edition products or timeless typography from “back in the day.” The classic designs, often done by hand and screen printed onto the package, are in harmony with the contents. Aging art supplies are more than rusty compasses or dried out paint pans – they can tell a story, too.

This month we are taking a look at the collection of Prairie Clark, manager of I’ve Been Framed in Portland Oregon. I’ve Been Framed (@ivbnframed) is known for buying, selling and loving vintage art supplies. Prairie, who has been at the store for 24 years, is known for her collection, which includes the iterations of the Prismacolor logo, from a rainbow band to a spiral of color to a colorful gradient with packaging that features original colored pencil artwork. We took an interest in the Magic Art See and Draw Copier – an ingeniously simple predecessor to the projector.

Prairie’s enthusiasm for all things vintage is so effusive that on her birthday her coworkers gifted her a display case so that she could show off her treasures properly. They call it “The Museum,” and repeat customers beeline to it whenever they visit to see if anything has changed.

“I love having a little display case so we can rotate the supplies. It’s always fun to hear the stories – my grandpa had that one, or I had that one in college. Back then, all of that stuff was hand done by artists; that’s another element I love. Even the packaging and logos were designed by artists.”

This set of Speedball linoleum cutters, a recent acquisition that Prairie rescued from an estate sale, feature designs clearly made from lino prints (we have a set at the MacPherson’s Emeryville office, and up close you can see the carving marks!).

There may be more to getting giddy over old art supplies than nostalgia; classics often resurface in the next trend or craze. For instance, the hand-lettering trend can rekindle interest in calligraphy supplies.

Stay tuned for our feature next month, where we explore a handful of items from MacPherson’s archives, and send us images of your favorite oldies!

Cassie Brehmer, Midwest Account Manager, MacPherson’s

This holiday season gift your customers with basic instructions for simple activities and projects for all ages. These Activity Sheets are especially helpful for aunts, uncles and grandparents who may be seeing their young family members for the only time this year. Plenty of easy DIY projects can be found online; all you have to do is assemble the desired items in-store in an easily shoppable layout, highlight that you have a FREE activity sheet, and provide an example of a finished project for reference. For the Holiday Season, going a little crafty is ok! Make sure to include your social media handles, website, and store hours and information on this handout so customers can connect and remember the value you added to their shopping experience.

Examples:

Kid’s Popsicle Stick Ornaments

• Instructions like these, from the blog Fireflies and Mudpies, are available with a quick Google Search and provide ample inspiration to get you started creating your own project sheet.
• Materials to highlight:
  • Acrylic paint or paint markers
  • Paint brushes
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Wood glue
  • Glitter/pompons
  • Scissors
  • Hemp/Twine

Photo from Francois et Moi

Shibori How-To

• Indigo has been making a big comeback, and Shibori dyed fabrics are all the rage. Encourage your customers to try this trend by providing instructions on how to properly tie dish towels or flour sack towels to create the perfect patterns
• Materials to highlight
  • Indigo dyes like this kit from Jacquard

Catherine Monahon, Copywriter, MacPherson’s

Halloween is a great time to introduce customers to the wild, varied, inclusive world that is Cosplay. CosPlay is the practice of dressing up as a fictional character–any fictional character–and it is not just popular during Halloween. Customers’ imaginations are already in gear for creating witty, spooky, realistic or outlandish costumes, so this is a great time to introduce another costume-related art form. Peak the interest of that special group who secretly wishes Halloween happened more than once a year and engage with a community of cosplayers you may have never known about.

The Cosplay Community

The word Cosplay is combination costume and play, and it is a global phenomenon. The philosophy of Cosplay is “you can be whoever you want”–cosplayers are driven by passion, obsession and creativity, and they are in dire need of all kinds of supplies to make their favorite character come to life. Cosplay originated when sci-fi fans in 1908 who would dress up as Mr. Skygack, a martian from a popular comic.

The day book. (Chicago, Ill.), 10 Feb. 1912. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.

Cosplay has evolved to include comics, anime, TV, movies as well as all things science fiction. Characters from anime, movies like Harry Potter or the Miyazaki films, video games and sci-fi novels spring to life. This article highlights some impressive cosplay characters at this year’s Comic-Con San Diego, a yearly convention that is one of the biggest draw for cosplayers. It is essentially a festival where artists, writers, creators, actors and fans gather to peruse, converse and perform.

Connecting The Dots: In Your Store

So how does your store fit into all of this? Relevant materials are endless, including fabric, embellishments, face paint, craft foam, acrylic paint, mold-making kits, craft glues for different surfaces and more.

Specific materials that a Cosplayer looks for:

• Paint: Spray paint, acrylic/craft paint, enamel paints usually to hold to plastic/foam, paint markers in multiple nib sizes, matte mediums and textural mediums.
• Brushes: Small brushes for fine detail work.
• Surfaces: Cardstock, poster board or craft foam to create forms or faux armor.
• Adhesives: Glue guns, E6000, flexible glues and fabric glues.
• Misc: Sandpaper to prime surfaces or “antique” finished pieces and faux gemstones.

Sci-fi fans will appreciate a Cosplay shout out in your store, as will people who go that extra mile to create an artistic, wacky, one-of-a-kind Halloween costume!

Cassie Brehmer, Account Manager, MacPherson’s

I recently did a demo at Mangelsen’s in Omaha, Nebraska during their annual art fair using Derwent Inktense on Flour Sack towels. This demo is easy to replicate with any stencil of your choice, the project can take on any theme imaginable. We laid out several stencils on a demo table, the chicken was the most popular—maybe because of the rustic, homey feel—perfect for the tea towels, and let customers’ imaginations run wild  You know your customers best, so feel free to get creative with what materials you use; this demo can also be done on canvas tote bags, handkerchiefs, center piece runners and other cloth items.

Project time: 15 – 30 minutes

Materials

• Flour Sack towels, Tote bags or tea towels
• Clear Aloe Vera Gel
• Stencils – Use stencils on hand in your store, or check out Marabu or TCW stencils.
• Iron for Heat Setting
• Derwent InkTense Pencils
• Pencil Sharpener
• Paper Towels
• Medium to stiff bristle brushes in small sizes

Steps

1. Iron the tea towels to ensure smooth application
2. Lay a paper towel underneath tea towel; this stabilizes it and keeps the aloe from staining the table below.
3. Lay the stencil of your choice on the towel and lightly trace the design with an InkTense Pencil
4. Fill outlined areas with aloe vera, which activates colors without bleeding into the fabric. Layer in colors of Inktense, blending with a paintbrush for added effects. Keeping adding aloe vera and InkTense until you like the results! Neat effects happen when layers dry in between applications.
5. Once the piece is dry, heat set it with a dry iron for 20-30 seconds.
6. Let participants know they need to hand wash it and let it dry completely before the first machine wash!

Making possibilities a reality is why Stonehenge Aqua came to be. Watercolor is all about possibilities. Because it’s not just about beautiful paint. There’s another factor: a wonderfully, whimsical element – water. Together, they allow for form and flow, chaos and connection, beauty and structure.

Image and painting by: Jenna Rainey (@jennarainey)

Stonehenge Aqua is as finely crafted as it is affordable. Performing way beyond its price point, it has been tested to its limits and as it turns out, it has no limits.

Wet-on-wet or wet-on-dry, it has a wonderful crispness that anchors beautiful work across every task and technique. With Stonehenge Aqua, blending is effortless, lifting is no longer a chore. It welcomes masking while never relinquishing the control you both demand and desire. Bright colors dry bright. It’s flat paper that dries flat.

Artist Jenna Rainey is not afraid to test the limits of Stonehenge Aqua. “I mostly work wet on wet, with wet on dry also in the running. I love blending and diffusing color with wet on wet though! It’s magic!” Her favorite? It’s the Stonehenge Aqua Coldpress 140. “The surface and texture of the paper is really important to me. I like clean and smooth coverage with the majority of my strokes, so both hotpress and rough paper don’t lend too well with what I like to achieve. It’s also important to me that the pigment lifts well off the paper.”

Image and painting by: Jessica Park (@jeshypark)

Artist, Jessica Park, also uses Stonehenge Aqua Coldpress 140lb.  “I prefer paper that is 100% cotton, and textured for my wet on wet washes. For professional work, I want paper that is of archival quality. This ensures that my clients are receiving paintings that will last for years without changes in coloration.”

Coldpress or Hotpress, Stonehenge Aqua is everything an expensive paper is without the expense. Because every artist deserves every possibility.

Sheets are available in size 22”x30” coldpress 140lb & 300lb and hotpress 140lb.

Cutting tools are in every art kit. But do they live up to artists’ needs? Do they create clean, detailed cuts, time after time? Do they provide excellent control and maneuverability? Are they ergonomic for prolonged and repetitive use? Are they safe?

If your toolbox features Slice products like the Ceramic Precision Cutter, Ceramic Safety Cutter, and Ceramic Pocket Cutter, the answer to all these questions is yes.

If It’s Slice, It’s Safer

Slice safety blades last over 11 times longer than metal blades. The finger-friendly® grind, which may feel dull, makes clean cuts through a variety of materials, but the edge is safe to the touch.

The Ceramic Precision Cutter (MVSL00116)

The Ceramic Precision Cutter is held like a pen, so using it feels natural and comfortable. Its micro-blade features excellent maneuverability for detail work and is extremely safe.

Little Rebels, ©Kelly Manning, 2016 (aerosol and stencils)

This tool is excellent for cutting paper, shrink wrap, frisket film and parchment paper. Street artist Kelly Manning uses it to create stencils for her work. Scratchboard artists love the Ceramic Precision Cutter, too.

The Ceramic Safety Cutter (MVSL00100)

This little mouse-shaped powerhouse works well cutting paper, vinyl and polycarbonate, quilting appliqué paper and frisket film. It also features a micro-blade and unique ergonomic design.

This tool is meant for less intricate cuts than the Precision Cutter. It’s also handy around the studio for tasks like cutting through packing tape and tough clamshell packaging.

The Ceramic Pocket Cutter (MVSL10514)

This is your go-anywhere mini box cutter/utility knife. Small enough to fit in your hand—providing great control—this cutter features the same replaceable blade found in our larger tools. But it can cut in areas where larger tools won’t fit.

This tool gets through thin materials like paper and thicker materials like cardstock, watercolor paper, and foam core board. Need to pack your work? Use the Pocket Cutter for cardboard, bubble wrap and packing foam.

For detailed information about Slice’s safer, ergonomic cutting tools, please visit sliceproducts.com

Krink recently partnered with Draft & Draw, a monthly meet-up in NYC for illustrators, calligraphers and doodlers that features a creative professional who shares their story. This meet-up featured artist and designer Ricardo Gonzalez (@itsaliving) and Krink supplied one of his favorite markers, the K-42 Paint Marker. Attendees used a range of K-42 colors on the paper-covered tables and got to take home Krink swag in a custom glass.

When Jacquard launched Piñata Colors in 2002, alcohol inks were virtually unheard of. Since then, alcohol inks have become extremely popular, especially among artists working on hard surfaces like tile, metal, YUPO, Clayboard, glass, plastic, stone, leather, polymer clay, etc. Recently, Piñata has also become a staple among resin artists for creating “petri” artwork. The process is simple: Piñata Colors are dripped onto the surface of the mixed resin after the mold is poured, and as each drop sinks, the resin hardens. The result when the cast is removed from the mold is a magnificent, psychedelic world of blooming color—what artist Josie Lewis calls a “petrified rainbow.”

Whenever a “new” medium comes around, it is always exciting to see how artists will embrace it. Piñata is one of those mediums that seems to have opened the door to a whole world of new possibilities. The applications artists use it for continue to surprise and delight!

Krink has many creative uses outside of the street art and graffiti community. Our paint and ink markers are suitable for beginners to experts, ranging from the mixed media painter working on canvas to the lettering artist seeking bold, clean lines to the avid doodler customizing their sneakers. Check out artists using Krink below!

K-60 Paint Marker

Kami (@kami_htzk) uses the K-60 Paint Marker in this painting. With the the right amount of pressure, he can control the flow of paint with the squeeze bottle. Kami is based in Tokyo and works collaboratively with his wife, Sasu, under the name Hitotzuki. They are best known for their flowing paintings and large-scale murals.

K-55 Acrylic Paint Marker

Ricardo Gonzalez (@itsaliving) is using the K-55 Acrylic Paint Marker in Fluorescent Pink and creating a canvas showcasing all of Krink’s marker styles.  Gonzalez is a Brooklyn-based designer and artist from Durango, México. His signature script style can be easily recognized from large scale murals to commercial work for some of the biggest brands.

K-42 Paint Marker

Sam Larson (@samlarson) draws on paper using the K-42 Paint Marker in Red and Light Blue. The bullet tip allows him to create clean, smooth lines. Larson is a Salt Lake City-based artist inspired by the American West and nature.

Krink is a Brooklyn-based company offering a collection of high quality markers and inks unique to the market in their style and history. What started as products created to fit the specific needs of urban artists has grown into a range of creative tools. In addition, Krink creates limited edition, one-of-a-kind products with iconic brands, such as Nike, Casio and Coach. Handmade in the USA. For more information, please visit krink.com or contact diana@krink.com.

Jacquard is proud to announce that the YouCAN Refillable Air Powered Spray Can won 2nd Place in the Creative Impulse “International Innovation Award for Creative Tool of the Year” at the 2018 Creativeworld tradeshow!

From the Creativeworld Press Release:

“The Creative Impulse Award is a trend barometer that reflects the great innovative power of the DIY sector. This year, a new record was set for the number of entries with 74 products. A jury of top experts from the trade, industry and media met to assess, test, discuss and evaluate in detail all entries for the four categories.”

Jacquard was also featured prominently in the “Trends” exhibition at Creativeworld with:

• Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments
• Basic Dye
• Indigo Tie Dye Kit
• YouCAN Refillable Air Powered Spray Can
• Piñata Alcohol Ink

We can attest to the association’s keen eye for trending products: all the items featured have skyrocketed in popularity in markets all over the world over the last 6-12 months. All these items are available from MAcPhereson’s.

Product link –  YouCAN

YouCAN Refillable Air Powered Spray Can from Jacquard Products on Vimeo.