God is Art

Welcome to the new Godisart.com

godisart@gmail.com (Administrator) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:52:03 +0000

Welcome to the new and improved Godisart.com! We've overhauled the design and hopefully made the site more user-friendly. Check out our new FAQ section to find out more about our new features. Also, as this is a new version there probably are small bugs that we haven't caught, so if you find problems, please email the webmaster using the contact link at the bottom of the page. Thanks and enjoy!

Stencilling Shirts

ghod.above@gmail.com (Ghostpatrol) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:23:41 +0000

Materials

I use acetate stencils, I’m sure other stencil material will work as well. They can’t be to thick though.

Fabric paint seems to work for me. It goes on nice and thick. I keep a stock of primary colours that make it easy to mix up. For white I have a pot of supercover white, which is a lot thicker but will go on black no problem.

1 litre tubs cost about $20 AU for normal colours and $30 AU for supercover. You can get smaller pots for about $8AU. It takes a long time to get through a small pot. I’ve found this brand (Permaset) Fabric paint at most ‘good’ art supply stores. Deans Art Supply in Melbourne has it. Also try Screen Printer Suppliers, you can pick up good wholesale prices.

Foam roller. You can usually get cheap ones from craft stores, I go through these pretty quickly so it’s best to buy heaps of cheap ones than splash out and try and buy one that will last. The paint just eats away the foam after a while. Sometimes you get a free little paint tray which is also useful.

Masking tape. Well what can you say.

Lay your stencil down and make sure the fabric is flat. Tape the stencil where ever you can. Mask off seams and stuff like that.

Load your roller up, you don’t need to much paint. The trick is to do more small coats than one sloppy one. You acquire a feel for rolling on fabric and you can begin to apply pressure. Make sure you have an even coat.

Be careful when ripping of stencil and tape.

Shirts will dry to be touch dry if you blast them with a hairdryer for a few seconds. So you can flip it over and print on the back if you'd like.

To heat seal a shirt put a piece of baking paper on the printed area and iron for a few minutes, just enough to heat it up and melt it a little. You can’t really burn it unless you walk away with the iron cooking your shirt.

If you are doing multiple layers I recommend heat sealing in between each colour. Now whack a tag on it and sell it in a store, give it away as a present or print up your very own Che Guevara shirt and jump off a cliff.

Enjoy or die
-ghostpatrol
Reproduced with Permission

How to Use Spray Adhesive

ghod.above@gmail.com (Ghod) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:48:44 +0000

1. There's a lot of different brands, and most likely there's different availability depending on where you're from. I've used Super77, Krylon, and 3M.

I don't like 3M spray adhesive (blue can) at all though. Even after it's properly dried it's still prone to leave residue- much more than other brands I've used.

The brand I prefer most is Krylon Spray Adhesive. When used as described in this tut, I've never had any residue left behind.

There's also specialty types of spray adhesive: re-positionable, photo-mount , etc (specially formulated to stick to photo papers). Since you're not using the adhesive for it's permanence, you might try experimenting with other brands.

2. Shake it for at least a minute if you use the can regularly, longer if it's the first use, or you haven't used it in awhile and it's been sitting around.

3. Spray outdoors, wearing a respirator is ideal. Inhaling this stuff is far worse for you than spray paint even. It's a super-fine mist of liquid glue and it's toxic. Remember high-school biology and diagrams of your lungs? If you continually inhale this stuff into your lungs when you use it, it gets into your lungs, it adheres, and you're gonna have major health problems later on.

4. So again, spray outdoors, and wear a respirator if you've got one. Oh, and a bit more common sense: if it's windy, don't get it in your eyes, that'd be very, very bad, too.

5. If you have to lay your stencil down on something to spray the adhesive, don't get the adhesive overspray on anything around it. Why? Because you'd be getting glue on whatever else is around your stencil (which usually isn't a good thing if it's your patio, carpet, a table, furniture or whatever.)

If you have to lay your stencil down to spray it, do it on a large piece of cardboard or something else that you can throw away.

6. I hold my stencil up in the air in one hand (gloved) and spray the adhesive with the other over the edge of my balcony. The overspray mist floats away and disperses in the air.

Again, I don't do this when it's windy.

7. Don't hold the can close to the stencil. You want a good amount of the mist to hit it, so estimate about 12 inches from the stencil.

>>A good amount of mist<< Not gobs of the stuff, not a thick, goo-ey layer: that's WAY too much.

8. Lay the stencil down (adhesive side up) and let it dry for at least 4-5 minutes before you try and paint the stencil. This may vary based on how much glue you sprayed onto the stencil, the temperature and humidity, and the brand of glue you've got.

If the glue is still wet and you try to paint with it, you'll get get glue residue on the surface of whatever you're painting. After letting it dry the 4-5 minutes, touch it and see if it feels wet. If it is, it still needs to dry for a bit. If it's tacky / sticky, but not wet, it's OK to use.

9. While it's drying, you should be shaking up the paint that you're going to use so that it's ready.

10. Once the glue has dried and has become tacky, put it on the surface you're gonna paint and press it down (just like you're putting up a sticker). Rub your finger along all of the of the cut-out areas of stencil to prevent underspray.

Grab the paint, spray the stencil, and peel it off.

11. Store your stencils with a layer of wax paper in between them so they don't stick. Again if the adhesive is still wet it's gonna stick to the wax paper. Remember = the adhesive should be tacky and sticky, not wet.

okay?

The "I still don't get it, I have some questions" section:

-Why do you wear a glove on the hand your holding a the stencil with?
So I don't get glue on my hand.

-How do I know when the adhesive is dry enough to use?
You were skimming weren't you, did you read #8?? After letting it dry the 4-5 minutes, touch it and see if it feels wet. If it is, it still needs to dry for a bit.
If it's tacky / sticky, but not wet, it's OK to use.

-Why do you hold the stencil in the air when spraying the adhesive on it?
Because I work on my back porch and I don't want glue overspray all over it.

-What's 'wax paper' and where can I get it?
It's usually in the baking aisle along with / near the aluminum foil at any grocery store.

-Can you use it when you're doing work "on the streets"?
That's not as practical as using it for "off the streets" work, but hey whatever works for you.

-So what if I get some adhesive residue on the surface?

If it's a flat non-porous surface like an LP, vinyl sticker sheet, wood, I've used this trick: tear a small piece of artist's (or masking tape) and touch the the sticky side of the tape to the glue residue, peel it off. This should pick it up from the surface if the glue hasn't been on the surface long.

I don't work on fabric, so I've no idea if it will work on a shirt or whatever. If you're working on paper, you may risk pulling the paper up. Experiment cautiously.

If you try this to get residue off your painting, be careful if the paint hasn't dried yet. If you get the tape on the paint it will obviously pull that from the surface, too!

Article Created by Tell-Tale.
Reproduced with Permission

Creating a Stencil Without Photoshop

ghod.above@gmail.com (Ghod) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:20:43 +0000

I'm going to explain in short words how to do a stencil without photoshop, the only programs you need are Paint and Word!

Look for a good photo or drawing that you want to stencil and then open the picture in paint:
So now cut it out or copy it
Then simply paste it into a Word file
Select the image and at the picture panel choose black/white
After that step it should look like this:
So that's it, you can also change the brightness at the picture panel. Change it till you like it!

So you see it's not hard to do simple stencils without any graphic programs.

Original image borrowed from Stencil Revolution

Adobe Illustrator 101. (Using Adobe Illustrator CS)

ghod.above@gmail.com (Ghod) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:10:08 +0000

Ok this is a tut for illustrator, but there are a few differences between illustrator and photoshop you should know.

Illustrator is for line work and shapes, not photorealism.
Illustrator uses fills and strokes, this is a bit different than how p.shop uses color.
Successful Illustrator work depends on you, not filters.

Ok, so first you'll want to find a resource image. Im going to use this:

Then in illus. open a new document. Then go to File >Place. And place your image in the workspace.

Then with the image selected, Go to Object >Lock >Selection. This will prevent you from moving the resource image around. So now we can get started.

The most important thing about Illus. is the pen tool (Next to the type tool in the tool palette). And its unlike any other tool you might be accustomed to.

Ok, with the pen tool selected, you'll need to choose a color. I like to choose a stroke color that is bright and different than the colors in the picture. I also like to turn the fill color off, its much easier to see what you are doing.

So with your colors how you want them, its now necessary to know how the pen tool works.
When ever you click on your work with the pen tool it creates an anchor point and draws a line between the two points. If you connect the last anchor point to the first anchor point, then it will create a solid shape.

If you hold down when you make an anchor point, you can move the mouse to create a curved line. This adds 2 more points. These points can then be moved around with the white arrow tool to change the curved line to how you want it. Also, once you create a curved anchor point, you can go back to that anchor point with the pen tool and click it to so the next anchor point wont be curved.

Now we create a new layer in the layer palette so we can draw on top of the image.

We know how to use the pen tool and we can start drawing over the image. This is when you have to determine what you want to draw, and what you dont.

Once you have the outlines of what you want, you can go back and select an object and fill it with a color. You can also change the size of the stroke in the stroke palette. Once you have the image you want, you can also edit the objects so you dont have islands, or put in bridges where you need them.

Stencils

ghod.above@gmail.com (Ghod) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:01:12 +0000

Materials

you’ll need something to cut your stencil out of once you decide on your idea. There are so many kinds of materials out there to use that it really just depends on how you want to use your stencil. Stencils that will only be used once or very few times can be cut out of something as accessible as paper, and really anything will do.

For more durable materials try:

Manila file folders

they most commonly come in 2 sizes, for letter(8 1/2” x 11”) and legal (8 1/2”x 14”) size papers. Unfolded they can make a good size stencil. They are easy to cut through, hold together well with highly detailed images, and will absorb paint. They are also very accessible, found at office supply stores, copy shops, and in the trash outside office buildings and stores. Josh Macphee author of Stencil Pirates favors these.

Other cardboard

like cereal boxes, corrugated cardboard, and other packaging cardboard can be used as well. Though they are harder to cut through and won’t last as long as the file folders, they are found in varying sizes to suit the demands of different sized projects. Any of these can be found in the trash and stack of recycling, probably the most accessible of materials.

Poster Board

like the kind you used for those school projects in elementary school, works well when making larger stencils and easy to cut through. It’s found in supermarkets, office and art supply stores.

Plastics

Acetate, Mylar, laminating paper, etc. These are really easy to cut through and can create minute details. Not really good for putting stuff up on the street cos they’re flimsy and the paint drips off them after a bunch of sprays. I use them for printing onto paper or other materials and then installing them however necessary (wheatpasting, stickers, etc). These kinds of materials can be found in office and art supply stores and in the dumpsters at copy shops and other stores. Mylar, my preference, is pricey and comes in rolls or in 3×4 sheets, get the .05mil.

Magnets

if you can get thin magnets and want to paint on metal, go for it!

Paint

here it is according to Josh in Stencil Pirates:
“The most important thing I’ve learned about paint is that you get what you pay for (that is if you actually buy paint). Cheap cans of paint are inexpensive, but you wont get as much out of them and the paint is low quality and wont survive the elements very well. Also the airtight seal on the can that holds the paint and propellant in is really low quality, leading to frequent clogs, which make a mess and sometimes make the can unusable. So given that laundry list, I usually stick to the higher quality paint, either Krylon or Rust-oleum, and their sub-brands: Color Works and Painters’ Touch or American Accents, respectively. American Accents, in particular, has a wide range of colors. These sub-brands are usually half the price and just as good. There are also a number of brands from Europe, like Montana and Belton, that are great paints, but usually can only be mail-ordered here in the US and are very expensive. Another really important piece of information about paint is tat you always want to use flat, ultra flat, or satin paints. They dry significantly faster on the street and on your stencil and it is easier to lay a second color on top of them.

Unlike in traditional graffiti, the nozzles on the paint cans, often called “caps,” aren’t quite as important for stenciling. What are called “fat caps,” or anything that will widen your spray area, can be useful because they mean less time standing with a can of paint in your hand. I’ve also found that the large industrial cans of paint made for job sites (“upside-down cans”) sometimes have caps on them that fit into regular cans and create a nice fan-like wide spray which is great for stencils.”

-If you plan on painting the ground an upside-down spray can might be best. Cans hold a lot of paint and it comes out fast. Also check out Graffiti magazines and websites to order caps and new brands of paint, made specifically for graffiti heads.

Cutting Implements

basically anything that’s got a sharp edge! Most people prefer X-acto style knives, but box cutters, Olfa snap-off blades, and even pocketknives can be used. Heat knives cut through most plastics and can be found at most art and craft supply stores, but we don’t have any experience with them yet

How to cut a stencil

First you need an idea of what you wanna paint. You can either draw something out directly onto your material and then start cutting. If you don’t draw you can use pre-existing images; photos, drawings, etc, and print them out on paper (any size you like). Attach them to your material with a glue stick or spray adhesive, and start cutting. To create a “stencil-like” image from photos, photocopy it over and over with the contrast set very high. This will eliminate most details and simplify the image to just black and white. For those who have access to computers and understand Photoshop, this is Kristine’s advice:

When I began making stencils I hand drew them all. I had a passion for stenciling but my drawing abilities were less than great. I was strongly influenced by a common opinion I had heard, that cutting directly through a photo was “cheating”, and photo shopping that photo to help you out was very taboo. Well I can’t draw. I take pictures and have a passion for photography. For me stenciling is an alternative way to print photos, like silkscreening a photo. People make art in many different ways, and utilize their skills and interests in different ways. Your art is yours. I think hand drawn stencils are beautiful. I find the move towards computer technology a bit sad for fear of the extinction of the free-hand stuff. I also think photography is rad and I love dissecting my photographs and putting them on walls. It’s often the only way people will ever see them. As for Photoshop, it makes it easier, but often a bit more boring. You can manipulate a photo so you can see where to cut more easily if you want your stencil to look like a photo, but figuring it out yourself can be interesting. Keep in mind that relying on technology can be dangerous and limit your capabilities. Anyhow, here’s what I do: I scan in a photo or negative, or find a picture on the internet ( I once considered google image search a guilty pleasure, but it works well if you need a specific image) Going to the library is also a great place to find images. When you have the image on the computer use Photoshop to resize the image. Then use filters like brightness contrast, posterize, find edges and just play around to see what you like. I usually just up the contrast a tad, I don’t like stencils that look like a stencil of a Photoshop filter, I don’t like anything that looks like a Photoshop filter, but that’s just me.

For more specifics on the techie stuff check out the “tutorials” section of stencilrevolution.com.

— Next is the most tedious but fun part, cutting out your stencil. Using your blade you are going to cut out the areas that you want to be painted (paint goes through the holes onto the preferred surface.) You should be cutting on top of a cutting board, linoleum, magazine, or other surface that you don’t mind destroying. If you have already drawn your image and have put in connectors you should be alright. If not, try to visualize what the stenciled image could look like after its been sprayed. Look for areas that can be connected creating a “floating positive space.” My buddy jon explains them like this:

“The more complex the image the more compromises you’ll have to make regarding floating positive space. The best stencils are those that take this into account and use them as part of the style. With a little practice it’s pretty easy to figure out how to keep important parts of your composition from popping out and falling onto the floor!”

Now that you have a stencil in your hands, it’s a good idea to spray your stencil on something to see if it came out as beautifully as you visualized. You can apply your art to the desired surface with spray paint, or some acrylic paint with a sponge or brush.

Lay the stencil flat onto the surface and spray with short blasts of paint from a can or dabs from a sponge. You can use pieces of tape or spray adhesive to get a “cleaner” look. For smaller images its not usually necessary to press down for long steady streams, it wastes paint and is less controlled. Take off your stencil to admire your creation and do it again!

Planning

Before you go out it’s good to do a little planning both on your own and with your friends. Mapping out a route may help to ease last minute jitters. Knowing where you want to hit can ease this a bit and lead to fabulous placing. For really large pieces I’ll feel great if it gets up just once or twice, especially in highly visible areas. In such cases I like to just get it up and go home. This is more relevant in a small town where a large piece will quickly get the cops’ attention and they’ll be on the lookout. It’s also good to be on the same page with your friends about what you want from the outing. Clarify what you do and don’t feel comfortable with, how able bodied you are, and what feels safe. Climbing buildings, billboards, or fences may not be your thing, and last minute decisions can add stress. Whether you feel comfortable running from the police or not is something that varies with circumstance, but should be considered and discussed before going out. If you make the police run you’ll most likely be arrested (or beat up), but if you’re caught putting up art the consequences differ only slightly. Making cops chase after you may increase the chance that they’ll show up in court to testify, but nothing’s certain.

If the police see you out and suspect you, they may track you and going home may not be a bad idea. Having a story planned and consistent with your friends is smart. Sucking up to cops feels really gross, but if it avoids arrest it may be worth it. One cover that works for an art student demographic is pretending to be a disillusioned art student who is confused, apologetic and slightly to moderately upset. Don’t rat on anyone and don’t admit to anything They may take your paint and art if you are caught in the act. If this is the case, ask if you’re under arrest. Ask if you’re being detained. Don’t let them search you.

Stencil storage

Depending on the size, material, and potential placement for your stencil, there are a number of ways to carry it. Hiding a stencil wet with paint can be a bit tricky, and many a stencil of mine has been wrecked from drying to the inside of wherever it’s been hiding. My favorite method is wearing at least two layers of clothing, the outer layer a zip up, and putting the stencil flush against my belly or chest, between the layers. Your clothes get messy around the stencil but not visibly on the outside. I feel a lot less conspicuous without a bag and the stencil comes out and goes back in fairly quickly. (Paint can be stashed anywhere on the body as well, I use a fanny pack, but if you wear baggy clothes I’m sure something better can be figured out.)

If your stencil is huge, an artist’s portfolio may seem a bit obvious. I’ve done it, however, and my appearance lends well to the art student profile so I’ve been comfortable, though that doesn’t work for everyone. Cutting stencils out of gessoed canvas also works really well for street pieces because it can be folded or rolled up and ironed out flat again when you get home. You can also try slipping it into a folded newspaper or book (lined with chicken wire or wax paper to prevent sticking if you feel like getting fancy), or an old bag that you don’t mind getting painty. I like using flat canvas, grocery/book bags, or you can make a flat file with corrugated cardboard.

You can conceal your materials in ways which are fun and comical. You can replace the bottom of a pizza box or paper grocery bag with your stencil and camouflage your spray paint in a quart milk box, or whatever else you can figure out. The pizza box trick is fairly common, and possibly recognizable by now so get creative with it.

Riding a bike to go out on a run is a bit cumbersome but makes me feel like I have the appearance of an alternate activity. It’s safer because your work gets more spread out and you don’t leave a trail. It also provides a quicker getaway, which can come in handy in dealing with either the police or street harassers.

What to Wear

Costuming yourself can also be smart and funny. While wearing all black may seem appropriate your probably likely to end up drawing more attention to yourself. I feel really good dressing up fancy like I’m going out to a hip club, because that’s who I see most out on the streets at 4am. It also gives the appearance of having a more “acceptable” agenda for being out. As a woman I have often felt envious of my male friends who can go out on a run at anytime of night, alone or with a buddy. Putting art up on the street is often spontaneous and therapeutic, and the burden of having to plan a crew can dampen plans. While going out alone is unsafe for many reasons, if you’re a woman I recommend bringing a bike, organizing crews, and generally being aware of your own safety.

Placement

Consider where you’d like to place your art with regard to both your personal safety and intended audience. In highly trafficked areas a lot of people will see your art, but it may be buffed a lot faster. The experience of seeing a stencil in a public place varies greatly by placement. Comparatively few people will see your art if you put it on the inside of a dumpster lid, or in a hidden nook of an alley. Still, consider how amazing it might be for the finder of such art. Keep in mind who will participate in this visual dialogue, noting the neighborhood, traffic, and physical placement.

One of my first, and most passionate stenciling experiences was a response to street harassment I had been experiencing on a constant basis one summer at one specific area in my old town. It was really upsetting for me to live in a town for so long and feel so little entitlement, respect, or safety (emotionally and physically) on the streets I walked everyday. There was one area in particular where I got catcalled, followed and harassed constantly. One night it quickly built up inside me to the point of heartache, anger and sadness. I felt so unsafe on these streets that should have felt like home. I made a 3 foot tall stencil of an old fashioned picture frame with a portrait of my mom inside it. I put it up on a highly visible wall where I was frequently harassed. I took back my streets in a tangible way that felt phenomenal. While I was not physically safer, emotionally I was eased by this comforting and personal image. I had changed the landscape. I hoped that because the image was both of a woman and created by a woman it would act as a female presence in male territory.

Paint & Health

Spray paint is toxic. It’s serious and destroys people’s health. Wear a respirator, not a flimsy white dust mask. Change the respirator filters when they darken. Avoid getting spray paint on your skin. I wear rubber gloves under winter gloves (to avoid looking suspicious). The smell of spray paint can seem romantic and bad ass, but it destroys your nervous system. You risk kidney damage and loss of bladder control. Paint can be rolled on with a squeegee or put into a non aerosol spray bottle. I haven’t had much success with either but please try them on your own.

Other mediums

Chalk

an arguably “legal” medium, cos it will wash away after a rain or two. Artists like Keith Haring, Jean Michel Basquiat, and De La Vega have used chalk really successfully on empty ad spaces, the sidewalk and most any surface.

Markers

most art supply stores have a wide selection of wide tipped markers that are great for writing. Pilot markers are great because you can use them to make your own homemade fat tips….

Materials:

Pilot marker, ink, chalkboard eraser, duct or electric tape, and 35mm film canister.

Take the tip off the Pilot marker, get rid of the plastic and the tip
Tear a piece of the eraser off, cut it in 1/2
Wrap the metal case with tape, near the end of the marker tip. Something for the film canister to fit over
Fill up the marker casing with ink, homemade or store bought, leather dye or marsh ink will do
Fold the cut eraser in half and plug up the marker with it.
Put your cap over the your tip and toss it in a ziplock bag.
You’re now ready to let your tip fill up with ink and go nuts. This is really messy so make sure keep it upside down as best as possible so you don’t get ink everywhere.

Mops

Containers that liquid shoe polish comes in can be used to write things and are refillable. Try making homemade style inks and filling them up, or get your hands on KRink, a homemade silver ink.

Etching and scratching

Etching fluid is totally toxic and not something to use if you’re not familiar with it. It can be applied through sponge tipped leather dye containers or applied through stencils. Scratching can be done with anything hard and sharp; drill bits, grinder bits, etc.. Remember that daylight is a very valuable and precious resource in places like NYC, though, so try not to ruin people’s access to it.

Article created by the good folks at Visualresistance.org
Reproduced with Permission

Bohemian Life

ghod.above@gmail.com (Ghod) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:15:53 +0000

Maybe you found out about Bohemians through Moulin Rouge or Rent. Maybe you read Vanity Fair or overheard it in conversation. The fact is though, you are looking for more information and hopefully I can provide it for you.

So, the proper thing to do is to introduce myself. My name and profession is unimportant, as is most things in life. By no means do I consider myself an expert of all things Bohemian. In fact, I’m sure this will be about as much of learning experience for me as it is for you, the reader. I am simply an artist who got curious as to what the hell everyone was talking about when they said I “was Bohemian.”

In a trick of the English language, someone who lives a bohemian lifestyle is not really from Bohemia. Simply put a Bohemian is someone who’s rejected conventional society in preference of pursuing artistic or literal interests. Bohemians got their name from the early belief that Gypsies, who share similar lifestyles, came from Bohemia.

The Bohemian lifestyle is, by nature, hard to define. The closest thing you can come to a true definition is to say what it generally is not. As mentioned earlier, Bohemians are more of a counter-culture. Ironically they couldn’t exist without society to contrast it. It is what society is not, but to be so it must have society to define what it is not.

Most Bohemians do agree on a couple points though. One is the rejection of materialism, a view especially significant in our world today. Instead of living and working each day to collect wealth, their “work” is for the sole purpose of fueling their passion. Please note that they do not take a vow of poverty. The rejection is of the pursuit of wealth in place of the pursuit of one’s passions. In fact, many Bohemians authors, like William Thackeray, and painters, like Jean-Francois Millet, have become famous (and with fame, a little wealth) through the pursuit of their passions. As cliché as it sounds, you do not own possessions, possessions own you. If you have a house, or a pet, or a car it ties you down. If you want to go anywhere you have to find someone to care for your things. When something starts controlling your life, it essentially owns you.

The other point, which some may suggest is equally important as the first, is the rejection of societal norms and/or values. This can range from the extremely mild rejection of society’s fashions and manners to the more extreme rejection of sexual mores in favor of rather promiscuous lifestyles. Instead of following the norm they choose for themselves what is best. Sometimes painful consequences come of these decisions, but the choice was the Bohemian’s to make, and the results are also his to bear. Many Bohemians indulge in both alcohol and drug use though mainly in the pursuit of “artistic inspiration.”

How to Screenprint Stickers

ghod.above@gmail.com (Questioning Josh) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:07:36 +0000

Equipment

I use a store bought Speedball printmaking set, from the Pearl Art Store, for around 40 bucks. Micheals has them too for 30ish! The set comes with 2 screens, drawing fluid, screen filler and basic color inks. You can buy more colors that are more permanent too. Also get a load of stickers (from post office, dhl, etc)

Step 1: Figure out your design

Get you design all finished up and happy with it.

Step 2: Drawing Fluid

With the drawing fluid, trace over the stuff you want to be inked. Make sure nothing is too light and see through. Let dry until not tacky

Step 3: Screen Filler

With the screen filler, cover over the image but not too thick. Let dry!

Step 4: Water Rinse

Run under cool water and magically the blue is all gone, leaving an image to print. Let dry.
Note: the edges might be a little fuzzy, if so with your screen filler, touch them up.

Step 5: Wax Paper

I use wax paper around the image to block out ink from getting over the work area. I then line up the screen image to where I want it on the sticker and make a border so it is easy to print quickly and in the same place.

Step 6: Ink & Squeegee

Apply a few spoonfuls of ink to the screen and with your squeegee slowly pull the ink towards you. 1 or 2 pulls is enough to cover the sticker and never pull from a different direction, it could smear the ink.

Step 7: Remove the Screen

after you apply the ink and pulled, lift the screen and tad-a, sticker!!!

Step 8: Repeat

repeat step 6 and 7 over and over and over

Step 9: Cleanup

when all done, wash everything, let dry. to remove the red screen filler use 'comet' cleaner!

So i hope that is somewhat helpful. In about 3 hours you got yourself as many sticks as you want. Yes, you can get them made professionally with computers, but you save a few hundred bucks and you feel great because its almost as good as hand drawing them all!

i liked these green postal ones a lot, and made 124 of them tonight.

Article Created by Questioning Josh
Reproduced with Permission

Hitting the Highspots using a.....Swiffer?

ghod.above@gmail.com (Tr8) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:30:17 +0000

I found one of these the other day in the trash so....
Get one of those swiffer things you can find them in the trash all the time.

Heat you up a razor blad and cut a square into it

It should look something like this

Now get you a paper clip I find that these kind work the best for me

Now before you put a sticker on peel back the wax paper or w/e and slide the top half of that under your paper clip like this

Now stick and smooth it out

This swiffer thing works good because the head of it moves both ways so it can post long and legthwise. And the pole divides in to 3 pieces you can unscrew them so you can fit it in your backpack or w/e and if you find a couple of them you can make your pole really long.

Article created by Tr8
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Gluepaste Using Corn or Potato Starch

ghod.above@gmail.com (Brother_Bear) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:29:09 +0000

Glue for flyposting, papier mache, wallpapering, etc made from potatostarch or cornstarch. Remember this glue sticks like hell if used properly.

The supplies

A pan or something to boil the water in.
A measuring cup
A small bowl or cup to mix the coldwater/starch solution in
A whisk
And finally the starch which in this case, since I am in Sweden, is potatostarch

You should be able to substitute with either cornstarch or regular flour. With the cornstarch it will be the same but with the flour you might have to experiment.

Measuring the water

Measure up about 4 deciliter (1.7 cups) of water in your pan. Put to boil on the hob while you prepare the next step. If you can't be bothered to bring it to a boil on the hob just a electric kettle and heat the water while you have your pan on a hot plate

Measuring and mixing your starch

Take about one and a half (maybe two) tablespoons of starch and mix with about half to one deciliter or so (1/4 to 1/2 cup) of cold water. Be sure to stir out any lumps until it is smooth. Don't be tempted to add much more starch than this because you will end up with something akin to Jello

Whisking that Gooey Goodness

Take your hopefully boiling water off the hob. Now pour the starch and cold water in a thin stream in the boiling hot water while whisking the crap out of it so it doesn't get a chance to get lumpy. If it does it might be easier to start over.

The reason I don't have a pic of it is because I only have 2 hands and both were needed for this step

Storing it

Pour the glue into a suitable container.But not, I repeat not, the container which i described in how to mount a brush in the lid since the hot glue will melt.
.
Put it in the fridge and let cool then go out and glue stuff! If it turned to jello then you can pour some hot water in with it and try to whisk until it is smooth it will still work if lumpy. It'll be a bitch to smooth out bubbles though.