Global Public Articles

The art market is experiencing what can only be described as a boom at the moment, despite the economic gloom and predictions of job losses and hard times ahead. The demand for all sorts of artwork from English ceramics to Russian sculpture has never been so high. Prices at auctions and in galleries seem to be climbing and climbing and show no sign of slowing down.

The demand has had a knock on effect in the high street as well. Combined with the influence of TV makeover programs, the current trend for works of art has led to an increase in the availability of paintings, prints and canvases. Original artwork and limited edition prints can be expensive though so the increased interest in canvas printing is not as surprising as it might at first appear.

Buying artwork, whether it’s original or a replica print, is still quite expensive and if it is a print then the expense seems to be less justifiable than if you were buying an original item. With this in mind people are looking at creating their own artwork with their own images. Canvas printing is not a new phenomenon but after years of being relatively exclusive, due to the expense, the process and service is now as much part of the make up of the high street as photo printing or buying a photo frame.

There are several ways to create your own canvas printing and the service is now widely available on the high street, online and via mail order. But there are two very easy routes to getting your own print.

The cheapest canvas printing option is to do it yourself. Buying all the materials is straightforward with most things being available in any good DIY or hardware store. Making a stretch for the canvas is simply a case of buying a length of decent wood, cutting the desired lengths and making a shaped structure. The benefit of doing this yourself is that if you want an irregular shaped canvas then that is possible. Many of the high street retailers that offer the service only cater for square or rectangular shaped designs.

Canvas is easy to get hold of and even thick cotton sheet will be good enough for the canvas printing. The messiest part of the process is sticking or transferring the image onto the canvas. The easiest way is to print your image onto standard copy paper and glue it onto the stretched canvas. This is not strictly speaking canvas printing but produces a satisfactory result.

True canvas printing involves actually transferring the printed ink onto the canvas and there are chemicals available for this. They are either applied to the canvas or the image and then the two surfaces pressed together.

There are kits available for this approach to canvas printing and they take out all the hassle of having to buy all the materials yourself. They also come with comprehensive instructions. Although this type of canvas printing is easy to do and the results can be very successful, its biggest failing is that it is messy and sometimes the image reflects this.

Dominic Donaldson is an expert in the art and design industry.
Find out more about canvas printing and art and design.

A year ago we got an invitation to an expo for children to learn different stuff that is only for the benefits of the children, it was fun they explore and learn a lot of things in the name of creativity. This program is not only for children, it’s for parents also. Learning is fun, we know that we can teach our children stuff at the same time they will learn something from it. Let them make their do some craft to make them use their hands and brain. Here are some recipes to engage the muscles on the child tiny fingers and brain. Here are some of the craft we learn from this program.

Clay creation

This medium of not only provides you with learning and bonding opportunities with your child, it is also a remembrance of his early attempts at creation.

Materials

4 cups all purpose flour

1 and a half cups warm water

1 cup salt

Cookies sheet or aluminum foil

How to do

In a bowl, mix the four water and salt. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Using the refrigerated clay, create figures with you child. Allow your creative juices to flow. Create baskets, animal figures, flowers, even make believe food. (Refrigerate unused clay in a plastic bag for the future project.). Place you creation on a cookie sheet or aluminum oil and air dry for several to bake it for an hour in the oven at 300 F. if you like, pain your projects with tempera arter the clay has dried.

Tissue paper beads

This can be used to make fancy children’s jewelry, a key holder some fancy table decor if put in a bowl, even as counting beads. Make sure, however that children below three do not gin access to the beads; they might swallow them.

Material

Shred the tissue paper. When you have enough to fill 1 and a half cups, drop these in boiling water. Allow to stand for half a day. Drain the water. Add the flour a little at a time using your hands to knead the mixture. Children like doing this. Cut the straws into one to two inch strips. Mold the clay around the straws to make beads. Let the beads dry. Remove the straws and paint the beads. When the paint dries, string the beads together using yarn.

Vegetable stamps

Here’s a homegrown way of making stationery and note cards. That toddler can give to their friend. To stamp in several colors just cut more vegetables. If you want to stamp cloth, replace the tempera with textile paint.

Materials

Lady finger, winged beans, sponge gourd, knife, tempera pain and paper.

How to do

Wash and dry the vegetables then cut each in half. Put a dab of tempera pain in a saucer. Lightly dip the cut half of the veggies onto the paint. Design the paper using the stamp veggies.

Always involve your children in the preparations. Allow them to make their own original creation. Give them a hands on opportunity, have them permission to get dirty and messy once in while. Make sure you assist you child in preparing the materials to avoid accident. It is fun to do things and the same time you learn and have time to bond with your children.

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Since time immemorial, man has exchanged gifts and this has been true in almost every continent.

Gifts were exchanged in marriage ceremonies, in treaties when Kings and Queens were making peace of brokering peace and many other occasions. Gifts could also be exchanged during special ceremonies like the birth of a child and also between Kings who were trying to appease each other and the like. You could also see gifts being widely exchanged during special ceremonies like marriages and engagements. In other cases, gift-giving takes on a more sentimental value where gifts are exchanged during times such as engagements and weddings. The list is endless. How about very close friends such as fiance?

As gift-giving becomes more widespread, so has the popularity of gift wrapping paper. In many nations, gifts are carefully prepared and not just sent. There are now many gift stores that spot a gift sections which contains everything that pertains to gifts paper cards, boxes, tape, ribbons and plastic covers. You see that it goes without saying that as long as gift-giving continues, the popularity and widespread use of wrapping paper give continue unabated.

Gifts, which strictly can be anything you want to give, are no longer sent in the original container. They are carefully wrapped and there are many types of wrapping paper that can be used for this special purpose. During gift-giving seasons such as Christmas or Thanksgiving, gift wrapping paper is mass produced in many different styles to cater for the widespread demand.

Wrapping paper enhances the element of surprise where the person opening their gift holds their breath in anticipation. One can remember when as a child, the contents of the gift were kept secret until the day of gift opening comes. In the Christmas season, this day is usually the day after or the 26th of December. This day has become traditionally known as Boxing Day and is the day that has been reserved for the opening of gifts. So people leave their gifts under the Christmas tree until that day.

The wrapping paper also conveys to the person receiving the gift that they are special. When a gift is wrapped in a special attractive way, it tells the other party that they mean something because the very act of wrapping the gift takes times and energy. There are many kinds of paper to wrap gifts and many even come with fancy ribbons that enhance the look of the gift. So a wrapped gift tends to speak more than just a regular gift which was not wrapped.

Paper gift wrappers also protect the gift. In the case of the Boxing Day waiting, there is a temptation especially by little children to poke holes in the gift With the proper paper wrappers, this cannot be done and the child is force to wait until the day when everyone opens their gifts.

Theodore provides information about wrapping paper and talks about wrapping paper ideas at his site.

If you’re making handmade jewelry to sell at craft shows, holiday bazaars or even specialty boutique stores then you definitely want to maximize your potential for selling more jewelry by building in some of these jewelry fashion trends into your own pieces.

A lot of jewelry makers and artists don’t think about trying to follow fashion trends and their sales end up suffering for it. Even if you already have a backlog of jewelry inventory I’ve found that you can sometimes introduce little changes that will make those older jewelry pieces have much more appeal to a wider audience. Make the 2008 Winter and 2009 Spring season the time you turn your jewelry making style a little more fashionable and see your sales increase!

Warm and Dark: There are lots of different predictors of color pallette trends for the winter, but all you really need to know is dark and warm. This means that dark reds, oranges and even some darker yellow colors are all very popular. I’ve seen a lot of people wearing dark red gems and stones a lot, usually with a darker color or patina coated metal as well. Don’t forget colors like brown, black and even muddied greys can be dark and warm

Formal Wear: The winter holidays bring a number of dances and parties and gatherings of all sorts, some formal and some informal. For formal events diamonds never go out of style, but instead of being draped in many different jewelry pieces and accessories expect to see people wearing one or two unique and large pieces. If you are making jewelry for formal events you may want to consider making an eye-catching pendant, cocktail ring and earring combination all using over-sized semi-precious stones or gems. As always, pearls and diamonds are always great for formal events, but fake pearls and large costume jewelry pieces can be popular and add sparkle just like anything else!

Gold vs Silver: Silver’s cool feel always makes it a hit in the winter months with the way is goes so well with the silvery shimmer of snow, but gold is making a comeback, especially with those warmer colors and bigger stones we’re seeing.

These are just some of the many new and exciting jewelry fashions that hot for the upcoming cold months. If you’re making your own jewelry then you’ll definitely want to pay attention to these trends and keep them in mind as you make your own pieces, either for sale or for wearing on your own!

You can read the expanded article and learn a whole lot more about what to expect with 2008/2009 new jewelry trends and read over 140 more articles about making and selling your own handmade jewelry at www.BeadJewelryBlog.com!

The use of airbrush began as early as the year 1876. It was first registered by Francis Edgar Stanley of Newton, Massachusetts. It was later developed by Abner Peeler who used a hand controlled air compressor and it was used for creating artworks.

The materials he used for the idea of his airbrush are spare parts in a jewelry shop like old screw drivers and welding torches. It was improved after 4 years and was sold by Liberty Markup. In 1893, the design for the modern type airbrush has been created by Charles Burdick. Burdicks company, the Aerograph, is still producing and selling airbrushes in England.

Creating airbrush art is one of the most famous hobbies for modern day artists. Instead of using the traditional type paint brushes, they use a tool called the airbrush. The airbrush is a modern painting tool, usually a small spray gun that is controlled by air and by the process of nebulization.

The latest type of air brushes uses air compressors to generate air for the spray gun. There also many uses for the airbrush tool. You can use it for making art and illustrations, photo retouching, coating firearms, murals, hobbies, make up application, temporary tattoos, airbrush tanning, finger nail art, clothing and painting automotive.

An airbrush works by passing a stream of compressed air through a venturi that creates a local reduction in air pressure that pulls up the paint from a connected paint reservoir at normal atmospheric pressure. The speed of the air atomizes the paint and changes it into very little paint droplets that spreads out from the airbrush nozzle. The quantity of the paint and air can be controlled by a trigger. There are two classes of airbrush triggers.

There are two major types of airbrush, the single action trigger and dual action trigger. Airbrushes that are using single action triggers are the simplest and cheapest of airbrushes.

When you press a single action trigger, the air and paint flows into the airbrush body and the atomized paint is releases on the target surface. Single action of activating the trigger releases a certain ratio of paint to air.

To change the different line width of the spray output, you may modify the size or style of the tip of the nozzle or you can adjust the spray volume manually between spray width changes. When you use single action trigger, just remember to keep your hand moving before and after you let go the trigger to avoid some bar bell lines.

The second type airbrush trigger is the double action trigger. It separates the air and the paint while doing your job. This kind of trigger uses a different system for both paint and air. The painter could adjust the volume of air and paint for wanted artistic styles.

This kind of trigger is much more complex to use since you need to control two systems. It is much more expensive than the single trigger action. A technique for using this is to begin and end with air only.

Loading paint into the airbrush can be done in two ways. You can supply paint by having a paint container placed on the top of the brush and have gravity load the paint to the airbrush. This system is called gravity feed. Another way is through bottom feed or side feed.

With these methods, the paint container is positioned either on the side or bottom of the airbrush. Gravity feed uses less air pressure for paint suction since it uses gravity for loading paint. The advantages of the side and bottom feed airbrushes is it allows the artist to have a top view of the paintbrush.

It also allows left and right handed artist to suit their preferences. Bottom feed airbrushes can handle a larger volume of paint and is mostly used for large paint jobs like automotive painting and clothing art.

In combining paints, there are two ways, the internal mix and external mix. The Internal mix airbrush is when the paint and air blend inside the airbrush creating a finer atomized mist of paint.

With the external mix airbrushes, the air leaves the airbrush before it reaches the paint which creates a coarser stippled effect. The latter is usually the cheaper type and more suitable for painting larger areas.

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