Showing posts with label of. Show all posts
Showing posts with label of. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
A Look At The Fundamentals Of Stenciling
What is stenciling? What are stencils? This article is actually meant to help the novices in this kind of arts and crafts. Take note that not every artist is good at this. Like musicians, painters and other artists for that matter have their own fields of expertise. Anyhow, stenciling can be employed as a kind of hobby or simply just that—to decorate a surface. With the use of any hand-painted or hand-drawn image, this method of incorporating the decorative details is in fact easy to do.
Stencils Explained
Homes and offices are made to be more sophisticated when some patterns or images are employed by means of stenciling. For the basics, a stencil is a kind of template which creates an exact replica of an image every time it is transferred on a surface. Walls, fabrics, and glasses are some of the commonly used surfaces. This tool allows the application of paint from the edges bound inwards following a certain pattern. Shapes, symbols, letters, and other patterns are easily transferred with the use of this medium.
The open sections found in the stencils are known as the islands. They are the areas that allow you to apply the color that you want to use for your theme or concept. The bridges are those materials that separate the islands from one another so as to maintain the stencils shape. These bridges help block the paint from going towards the surface and ruining the artistry of the design.
Stenciling Defined
As with stenciling, it is the process of the production of the image by making use of stencil, application of any color or paint, and with the removal of any of the islands, the result is the duplication of the exact image on a particular surface. Another term to describe this is the stencil coloring.
Your Style, Your Design
The use of stencils actually lets your creative juices pour out. There is no limitation when it comes to the use of your own imagination. You can create designs that are in accordance with your personal style and options. If you are not so good at using the canvas and paintbrush, perhaps stenciling is more apt for you.
Stenciling does achoice with the usual ordeals on maintaining the right proportion or perspectives for the matter. You dont have to deal with the concepts of dimension, or the objects distance. The size also doesnt matter.
Stencils let you rule. You decide as to the image and colors to use. You decide as to the size of the image or the surface wherein to transfer the image of an object. In short, it is your project and nobody has the right to control you. Furthermore, the materials are widely available both at the arts and crafts supplies shop in your locale and online stores.
Your Own Imagination is the Limit
Again, everything depends on your choice. For starters, a couple of stenciling ideas may be done on your home walls, ceilings, chair rails, wall borders, table borders, cabinets, and the likes. Start with some things that you see around your home. If you have mastered it, you can try stenciling on fabrics. Later on, you may try it out with glass.
Be creative. Follow your instinct. Stenciling is actually a choice to save on home improvement expenses.
Read More..
Stencils Explained
Homes and offices are made to be more sophisticated when some patterns or images are employed by means of stenciling. For the basics, a stencil is a kind of template which creates an exact replica of an image every time it is transferred on a surface. Walls, fabrics, and glasses are some of the commonly used surfaces. This tool allows the application of paint from the edges bound inwards following a certain pattern. Shapes, symbols, letters, and other patterns are easily transferred with the use of this medium.
The open sections found in the stencils are known as the islands. They are the areas that allow you to apply the color that you want to use for your theme or concept. The bridges are those materials that separate the islands from one another so as to maintain the stencils shape. These bridges help block the paint from going towards the surface and ruining the artistry of the design.
Stenciling Defined
As with stenciling, it is the process of the production of the image by making use of stencil, application of any color or paint, and with the removal of any of the islands, the result is the duplication of the exact image on a particular surface. Another term to describe this is the stencil coloring.
Your Style, Your Design
The use of stencils actually lets your creative juices pour out. There is no limitation when it comes to the use of your own imagination. You can create designs that are in accordance with your personal style and options. If you are not so good at using the canvas and paintbrush, perhaps stenciling is more apt for you.
Stenciling does achoice with the usual ordeals on maintaining the right proportion or perspectives for the matter. You dont have to deal with the concepts of dimension, or the objects distance. The size also doesnt matter.
Stencils let you rule. You decide as to the image and colors to use. You decide as to the size of the image or the surface wherein to transfer the image of an object. In short, it is your project and nobody has the right to control you. Furthermore, the materials are widely available both at the arts and crafts supplies shop in your locale and online stores.
Your Own Imagination is the Limit
Again, everything depends on your choice. For starters, a couple of stenciling ideas may be done on your home walls, ceilings, chair rails, wall borders, table borders, cabinets, and the likes. Start with some things that you see around your home. If you have mastered it, you can try stenciling on fabrics. Later on, you may try it out with glass.
Be creative. Follow your instinct. Stenciling is actually a choice to save on home improvement expenses.
Monday, February 17, 2014
The Business of Commercial Landscaping
Commercial landscaping is an easy money business. With the continual demand of landscape artists and contractors, it will only take a few contracts to become rich. Many tends to do it, or hire professionals to do the task for them, in their residences but there are more institutions and commercial places who are yearning to have their surroundings landscaped. But no all are doing it for the sake that they want it, some are being asked to do it to help the greater public obtain an important goal.
In fact, metros and the most city oriented places are urged to do landscaping in most of their surroundings. But why is landscaping becoming an interesting career? There are actually many reasons behind this, like because of the continuing Global warming, foreign adaptation, economic reasons, cleanliness, and hobby.
To earn more in the world of commercial landscaping, make sure that you are with the right crowd or you identify the right people to sell your services. Who are these people?
1. The government. In any business, the government is the most profitable customer. It has so many work orders as it has so many agencies. It works like a chain though, so you have to be very careful when dealing with this group. When you do good business, the government will be your number one customer but if you do badly, then the government will be your last customer.
2. Environment people, group, or advocators. Due to the uprising problems in our environment, advocators and groups are already making a great deal about planting and saving whatever little plants there is in a particular place or area. It follows that through commercial landscaping, there will be more plants and trees planted even in a very modern place like skyscrapers, hotels, and intelligent business buildings. If a project comes up, it will be best that they have your calling card. Just make sure that you are really good or you lose face during interface.
3. Artistic people, especially those who love the old world. Many art collectors are also landscape lovers. And these people have enough budgets to remodel every now and then. Make sure that you got them covered with a business card so they are just a call achoice from your business.
4. Building administrators and managers. Few people realize that a landscape can minimize maintenance budget. You see, a landscape especially if it is a low-maintenance landscape like Xeriscaping can keep you from cleaning or watering a dusty pavement or parking area. On top of that, you get a cool view and you also adhere to the wishes of environmental people.
5. People you can convince to adapt the idea of landscaping. Some people just have to be talked about things to make them feel they need it. Besides this is important to you as it will serve as your exercise in convincing people about your profession.
When in the practice of commercial landscaping, it is a must that you don’t view people as important in your business. You should alchoices be positive about the people around you and must not be very meticulous and choosy of whom to sell the business to.
Who knows who will be willing to have an artistic lawn, backyard, or swimming pool on their residence?
Read More..
In fact, metros and the most city oriented places are urged to do landscaping in most of their surroundings. But why is landscaping becoming an interesting career? There are actually many reasons behind this, like because of the continuing Global warming, foreign adaptation, economic reasons, cleanliness, and hobby.
To earn more in the world of commercial landscaping, make sure that you are with the right crowd or you identify the right people to sell your services. Who are these people?
1. The government. In any business, the government is the most profitable customer. It has so many work orders as it has so many agencies. It works like a chain though, so you have to be very careful when dealing with this group. When you do good business, the government will be your number one customer but if you do badly, then the government will be your last customer.
2. Environment people, group, or advocators. Due to the uprising problems in our environment, advocators and groups are already making a great deal about planting and saving whatever little plants there is in a particular place or area. It follows that through commercial landscaping, there will be more plants and trees planted even in a very modern place like skyscrapers, hotels, and intelligent business buildings. If a project comes up, it will be best that they have your calling card. Just make sure that you are really good or you lose face during interface.
3. Artistic people, especially those who love the old world. Many art collectors are also landscape lovers. And these people have enough budgets to remodel every now and then. Make sure that you got them covered with a business card so they are just a call achoice from your business.
4. Building administrators and managers. Few people realize that a landscape can minimize maintenance budget. You see, a landscape especially if it is a low-maintenance landscape like Xeriscaping can keep you from cleaning or watering a dusty pavement or parking area. On top of that, you get a cool view and you also adhere to the wishes of environmental people.
5. People you can convince to adapt the idea of landscaping. Some people just have to be talked about things to make them feel they need it. Besides this is important to you as it will serve as your exercise in convincing people about your profession.
When in the practice of commercial landscaping, it is a must that you don’t view people as important in your business. You should alchoices be positive about the people around you and must not be very meticulous and choosy of whom to sell the business to.
Who knows who will be willing to have an artistic lawn, backyard, or swimming pool on their residence?
Thursday, February 6, 2014
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE LOCAL SCENE
Here is a brief description of the current, local woodworking scene from my perspective here in Port Moody. I have not conducted a proper study on this topic but these are some of my observations.
In the early 1980’s there was a deep recession that killed most of the large unionized woodworking operations. Many of these were re-born as smaller non-union shops. The general impact of this is that it lowered wages and generally loosened things up. I think it made it easier for smaller artisan / artist shops to get a start as suppliers could not discriminate to the same extent who they would sell to. Now most suppliers don’t care if you are a twenty five person shop in an industrial complex or one guy working out of his garage.
It is also much less expensive to set up a small woodworking operation in the Vancouver area now. This is the up side of Chinese imports, reasonable quality machinery is plentiful and affordable. For example, in the ‘80s most of the machinery available for small shops was either General, made in Quebec or American products such as Rockwell / Delta. Choice was limited and costs were high. Now there is a huge proliferation of cheap imports. Many companies like General, import cheaper lines, theirs is called General International. Their domestic line has hardly changed in the last half century while their import line includes many innovations of quality products suitable for the small shop.
Although gentrification has had a big impact on the availability of shop space, municipalities like Vancouver, Richmond, North Vancouver and Burnaby have retained a large amount of light industrial areas for small shops. Many of the larger shops have moved to industrial complexes in the suburbs. East Vancouver has a very vibrant artisan / artist based woodworking scene with many practitioners living and working in that area. Vancouver continues to grow, and the powers that be continue to pursue population growth as the driving force of the economy. It would seem inevitable that this strategy will lead to further gentrification and the re-development of older light industrial property.
In summary, at this time, I think that it has never been easier to set up a small woodworking business in this area and more people than ever are doing it.
Read More..
In the early 1980’s there was a deep recession that killed most of the large unionized woodworking operations. Many of these were re-born as smaller non-union shops. The general impact of this is that it lowered wages and generally loosened things up. I think it made it easier for smaller artisan / artist shops to get a start as suppliers could not discriminate to the same extent who they would sell to. Now most suppliers don’t care if you are a twenty five person shop in an industrial complex or one guy working out of his garage.
It is also much less expensive to set up a small woodworking operation in the Vancouver area now. This is the up side of Chinese imports, reasonable quality machinery is plentiful and affordable. For example, in the ‘80s most of the machinery available for small shops was either General, made in Quebec or American products such as Rockwell / Delta. Choice was limited and costs were high. Now there is a huge proliferation of cheap imports. Many companies like General, import cheaper lines, theirs is called General International. Their domestic line has hardly changed in the last half century while their import line includes many innovations of quality products suitable for the small shop.
Although gentrification has had a big impact on the availability of shop space, municipalities like Vancouver, Richmond, North Vancouver and Burnaby have retained a large amount of light industrial areas for small shops. Many of the larger shops have moved to industrial complexes in the suburbs. East Vancouver has a very vibrant artisan / artist based woodworking scene with many practitioners living and working in that area. Vancouver continues to grow, and the powers that be continue to pursue population growth as the driving force of the economy. It would seem inevitable that this strategy will lead to further gentrification and the re-development of older light industrial property.
In summary, at this time, I think that it has never been easier to set up a small woodworking business in this area and more people than ever are doing it.
Monday, January 27, 2014
A Way to Take the Screw Out of Purchasing a Vintage Screwdriver Online
First, let me apologize for the title as this post has nothing to do with screwdrivers. It is meant to touch on the topic of protecting yourself when purchasing vintage tools online, so while no screwdrivers are discussed here, the contents could be applied when and if you ever purchase one. Using the term "Screwdriver", however, allowed me, I hope, to be blunt, without being rude.
Collecting vintage tools has become a serious and enjoyable hobby for me. Spending time seeking out and purchasing these tools is a real blast. Paying for those purchases, not so much, but when you finally get them in your greedy little hands, the buzz returns in multiples. The two most enjoyable parts of the equation are the researching of the tool once I find one I want to purchase, and of course, the end result - owning it and being able to use it, or simply just look at it.
When I first started down this collection road, I got truly taken on the purchase of two saws. One was a Disston D-12 that turned out to be so bent, it is better suited for cutting circles than anything else. The other is an Atkins Rip that had been sharpened so many times it looks more like a keyhole saw, than a rip saw. In my defense for these two stupid moves, I will state that they were my first two purchases of vintage tools on eBay. When I made them, I had no idea what I was doing.
While it took getting taken twice, no-one had to hit me across the head with a two-by-four the third time. I swung into research mode, learned to study the images provided in these listings and worked to take the emotions out of these purchases. Since then, I have probably made thirty-odd more purchases, and I am quite satisfied with each one. Some were true deals, some were true steals and some were true must-haves at any price, which I acknowledged before I hit the submit button.
While educating myself to some extent has protected me so far from being taken again, the questionable practices of some sellers on the internet still remain; ready to take advantage of the newbies. One such listing on eBay has the following, short description; "Nice Stanley chisel, no cracked handle here, also a nice tip as well!! Check out my other listings!!!”
Have a look at the image that accompanied this description. It does show that the description is true; it does have a nice handle and the end isnt too bad. It also shows, to me at least, that everything in between is nothing but junk. Do my eyes deceive me, or is this thing seriously bent? It also might have been heated at some time, maybe to try and straighten it out, as there is something seriously wrong going on just above that "nice" tip?
Collecting vintage tools has become a serious and enjoyable hobby for me. Spending time seeking out and purchasing these tools is a real blast. Paying for those purchases, not so much, but when you finally get them in your greedy little hands, the buzz returns in multiples. The two most enjoyable parts of the equation are the researching of the tool once I find one I want to purchase, and of course, the end result - owning it and being able to use it, or simply just look at it.
When I first started down this collection road, I got truly taken on the purchase of two saws. One was a Disston D-12 that turned out to be so bent, it is better suited for cutting circles than anything else. The other is an Atkins Rip that had been sharpened so many times it looks more like a keyhole saw, than a rip saw. In my defense for these two stupid moves, I will state that they were my first two purchases of vintage tools on eBay. When I made them, I had no idea what I was doing.
While it took getting taken twice, no-one had to hit me across the head with a two-by-four the third time. I swung into research mode, learned to study the images provided in these listings and worked to take the emotions out of these purchases. Since then, I have probably made thirty-odd more purchases, and I am quite satisfied with each one. Some were true deals, some were true steals and some were true must-haves at any price, which I acknowledged before I hit the submit button.
While educating myself to some extent has protected me so far from being taken again, the questionable practices of some sellers on the internet still remain; ready to take advantage of the newbies. One such listing on eBay has the following, short description; "Nice Stanley chisel, no cracked handle here, also a nice tip as well!! Check out my other listings!!!”
Have a look at the image that accompanied this description. It does show that the description is true; it does have a nice handle and the end isnt too bad. It also shows, to me at least, that everything in between is nothing but junk. Do my eyes deceive me, or is this thing seriously bent? It also might have been heated at some time, maybe to try and straighten it out, as there is something seriously wrong going on just above that "nice" tip?
One of the ways you can protect yourself from unscrupulous sellers is to take full advantage of the images they provide. An example of this is how I handled the purchase this week of a Stanley No. 72 Chamfer Plane that I ended up buying for, hopefully, a very reasonable price. The jury is still out on whether I did well with it or not as I am currently awaiting its arrival, but I did do all I could to ensure I would be happy with the deal.
I must acknowledge that this particular purchase is the first one I have made that breaks one of my own rules; “never buy a tool I wouldn’t use”, as I fully expect never to put this tool to wood. My reasoning behind this purchase is purely aesthetic; I fell in love with this tool the moment I first laid eyes on one as I believe it has exceptional proportions and is a very clever design. As a result, I just had to have one. Having watched for one at a reasonable price for quite some time now, I can tell you that discovering one for under their normal price range of $375 to $400 is next to impossible. When this one came up on eBay, the bids were far below what was expected, and to me, this is a huge warning sign. If the collectors on eBay are not willing to open their wallets for a known collectable tool, something is not right with it. The images that the seller provided were adequate, but they were your typical snapshot. They showed signs that the seller was trying to show the tool honestly as he had placed the tool against a plain background and didn’t distort the angles. Because of the exposure, however, seeing a true likeness of the tool wasn’t possible. I grabbed a capture of the image as you can no longer save images off of eBay, with the results of that capture shown below.
I must acknowledge that this particular purchase is the first one I have made that breaks one of my own rules; “never buy a tool I wouldn’t use”, as I fully expect never to put this tool to wood. My reasoning behind this purchase is purely aesthetic; I fell in love with this tool the moment I first laid eyes on one as I believe it has exceptional proportions and is a very clever design. As a result, I just had to have one. Having watched for one at a reasonable price for quite some time now, I can tell you that discovering one for under their normal price range of $375 to $400 is next to impossible. When this one came up on eBay, the bids were far below what was expected, and to me, this is a huge warning sign. If the collectors on eBay are not willing to open their wallets for a known collectable tool, something is not right with it. The images that the seller provided were adequate, but they were your typical snapshot. They showed signs that the seller was trying to show the tool honestly as he had placed the tool against a plain background and didn’t distort the angles. Because of the exposure, however, seeing a true likeness of the tool wasn’t possible. I grabbed a capture of the image as you can no longer save images off of eBay, with the results of that capture shown below.
I brought the file into Photoshop and after a little manipulation, I felt I had a good rendition of the plane. For those of you that know Photoshop, I added a Curves Adjustment Layer set using three Control Points and applied an Unsharpen Mask. Comparing the image to a known and trusted one, I fully realized that it wasnt in the pristine condition that true collectors like, as well as it being an example of a later production model, which is probably the reasons why the price was below average. How a good collector sorts the good from the not so good, I have no idea. Do they all know Photoshop like I do? The image below is a result of these manipulations.
Unlike the seller for the chisel shown above, this seller was more honest in his description, even though his statement that about 85% of the japanning remained might be a little overstated, as the manipulated image showed otherwise. This is probably not intentional, as I suspect that the value he came up with was based on not knowing which parts of this particular plane were originally japanned when it came from the factory as the No. 72 comes with a lot more of that coating than other Stanley planes. The point here, though, is that having done the research and investigated the images offered as best as I could, I had all the information I needed to make a rational choice whether to purchase the plane or not. As I really wanted an example of this one, but knew it would be one that would end up being a dust collector, I placed a value on it which turned out to be enough to be successful. I ended up purchasing the plane for what I consider to be a reasonable price of $250. I feel it was a fair price for a Stanley No. 72 in this condition and one that I feel could be realized if I choose to sell it later on.
Now that I have it, I have to figure out what to do with it. It is not the cleanest tool I have ever purchased, nor the worst, for that matter. I do, however, want to clean it, and this is where conflict rears its ugly head. If you go online and check out the articles regarding cleaning a vintage tool, most will tell you not to touch it, other than a wipe down with mineral spirits or the like. This category of collecting is like any other category; the more it is in original condition, the more it is worth. I have this dilemma with antique furniture as well, and from my perspective, it boils down to what you are willing to live with. I own a beautiful sideboard from the Art Deco period that is made with serious quality and craftsmanship, built from solid mahogany. When I bought it years ago, for a song I might add, it had some stains and markings on its top left by some klutz who owned it before me. I do not care how magical the piece, if it looks like it shouldn’t, I’m not going to live with it, so I stripped and refinished it in a New York minute. Actually, I did this twice as I unknowingly stained it darker than I should have the first time, and realizing my mistake, did it again. Is this sideboard not worth as much now as it could be? Absolutely. Am I happier with it now than I would be if I had left it alone? Absolutely.
Unless someone can convince me otherwise, I have a feeling that the moment I receive this plane, it is going to be dunked in pot of Evapo-Rust that Lee Valley sells just for this purpose.
Peace,
Mitchell
Now that I have it, I have to figure out what to do with it. It is not the cleanest tool I have ever purchased, nor the worst, for that matter. I do, however, want to clean it, and this is where conflict rears its ugly head. If you go online and check out the articles regarding cleaning a vintage tool, most will tell you not to touch it, other than a wipe down with mineral spirits or the like. This category of collecting is like any other category; the more it is in original condition, the more it is worth. I have this dilemma with antique furniture as well, and from my perspective, it boils down to what you are willing to live with. I own a beautiful sideboard from the Art Deco period that is made with serious quality and craftsmanship, built from solid mahogany. When I bought it years ago, for a song I might add, it had some stains and markings on its top left by some klutz who owned it before me. I do not care how magical the piece, if it looks like it shouldn’t, I’m not going to live with it, so I stripped and refinished it in a New York minute. Actually, I did this twice as I unknowingly stained it darker than I should have the first time, and realizing my mistake, did it again. Is this sideboard not worth as much now as it could be? Absolutely. Am I happier with it now than I would be if I had left it alone? Absolutely.
Unless someone can convince me otherwise, I have a feeling that the moment I receive this plane, it is going to be dunked in pot of Evapo-Rust that Lee Valley sells just for this purpose.
Peace,
Mitchell
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)