Check Your Backside

Since becoming the co-director of a small art gallery in the Downtown Las Vegas Arts District, I've noticed that many artists take very little effort to improve the appearance of their artwork.  They spend plenty of time creating the piece to just throw a wire across the back or even worse yet, do absolutely nothing.  Did you know, with just a little more effort and investment, you can really raise you art to the next level by taking the time to make the back of your canvases as pretty as the front. 

 So today, I thought I would just blog about the steps I go through when FINISHING my art pieces.  Here is what you need:

* A large roll of landscape weed blocker fabric- I know that during the spring and summer you can buy this at Sam's Club for about $35.  I've had my roll for years and so I haven't needed to replace it yet.  You can also go to your local nursery because they will sell it year round there.

* I LOVE my Scotch brand Advanced Tape Glider.  This thing is amazing.  At first I struggled with reloading it but I have that down now.   It lays down a thin strip of adhesive that is quite strong.  I buy the acid free adhesive refills since I want my art to be as archival as I can make it.  I use this for all kinds of applications in the studio but mostly for creating my greeting cards and when I attach the matte to the backboard mounting my prints and original drawings.  I bought my glider on Amazon but they carry it at both Michaels and Hobby Lobby.  I buy a roll of adhesive every time I visit one of the craft stores because I go through so much of it.  I make sure I use their 40% off coupon when I do.

*  Fiskar Fingertip Swivel Knife- This is the blade I use to cut the fabric off around the canvas.  It takes a little practice.  This knife can be pretty wicked so you want to take real caution when using it.  I bought this on Amazon along with a bulk package of replacement blades.  

* 3 Hole Protective Sheet covers- I use these to mount and protect my Certificate of Authenticity to each piece of art.

* Large cutting mat

Here is some of the art pieces that I needed to finish the other day.

I use my Tape Glider to apply a thin strip of adhesive to all four sides of the canvas

I then carefully place the canvas adhesive side down.  I try to get as close to the straight edge of the fabric as I can so that I'm only cutting around 2 or 3 sides. 

I missed getting a picture of my positioning my cutting knife to cut around my canvas but here is a picture of my framing tools and the knife is there on my role of hanging wire.  You can cut into your canvas very easily with this sharp knife, so I try to keep the knife at an angle that allows the blade to cut as near as I can to the edge of the art and all the time I am pressing the silver band on the canvas to use it as a cutting guide.  You have to apply some pressure and take it nice and slow as you work your way around the canvas.  If your knife isn't cutting through the fabric like butter, then it is time to replace your blade. 

Here I am making my certificate.  I just trim off the holes on the side and cut the sleeve in half so that it is just slightly larger than the certificate itself.  I then apply a stripe of adhesive to all four sides so that I can glue it to the back side of the canvas dust cover.  Once this is attached to my art, I can use the sleeve to slip in a business card or a thank you note to the buyer.

Even though the adhesive is really strong, art is so often moved from one location to another so we put a staple through it just for added security.  I want to work on finding either black staples or adding step to darken the color so they are not so noticeable. 

Here is my finished backside.  I think it is almost as pretty as the front.  I realize that professional framers can do an even better job and if you are a professional, please don't cringe too much but I think this little added effort goes a long way towards having a piece of art that I can feel proud to sell. 

My Favorite Framing Supplies

Most often you will find me of a morning, sipping my coffee and writing away at blog post, planning a blog post or doing social marketing.  These posts are most often motivated by my most recent artwork, fresh off the easel or a new Etsy Shop listing.  I guess my literary juices get flowing best as the caffeine reaches my brain receptors.

This has been my morning ritual for a number of years and I am pretty much a creature of habits.  Recently, this routine has been somewhat stifled as it seems that I have encountered some some sort of Bluetooth interference at most of the local McDonald Restaurants.  This interference is between my iPad and the wireless keyboard.  It just will not work most mornings.  I never had a problem before, but now I can rarely use my keyboard during what is my most creative time.   It is extremely frustrating and I guess I'm going to have to contact McDonald's Corporate Office to try to get to the bottom of of my technological snafu.  So here I am, at nearly 7 pm struggling to pen coherent sentences so that I can publish a new blog post.

I hope you will suffer with me because I feel this blog has some really good information that might be useful for new artists.  I personally have noticed an increase in the number of new artists that come up to me and ask me about where I get my supplies of matte boards, cellophane bags, d-rings and hanging wire.

Finishing off your artwork properly is almost as important as the creation of the artwork.  You can't expect to fetch the highest price, impress the juror and a juried art show or get the attention of a gallery director if you have not taken the time to finish your masterpiece properly.

So, I'm going to provide a link and a little information about a number of my favorite framing and finishing off supplies that I use.

⇰1st....Is the all important D-Ring.  Do yourself a giant favor and do not use those screw eyes on the back of your canvases.  They are just canvas punctures waiting to happen!  D-Rings are much neater and less damaging.  They lay flat to the canvas and hold your artwork very securely.  We attach the D-Ring about 1/3 way down and screw it directly into the canvas itself.  This allows me to switch frames out easily without having to rewire them for vertical or horizontal orientations.   I like ordering D-Rings from Amazon.  I can get a package of 100 medium size rings for about $10. 

D-Rings for Hanging










⇰2nd.... is the hanging wire.  You can purchase small spools at the most stores in the picture hanging section, but I paint a lot and I absolutely hate the strand wire that isn't coated.  The strands always stick out and cut you as you try to twist the wire to secure it to the D-Ring.  I love this spool of coated wire I purchased back in 2014.  850 feet of pure loveliness.  The strength is good for all my hanging needs and the vinyl coating is the best.  This is also an Amazon purchase and while it is an investment at $30 it is well worth it.  You will have enough wire to hang your creations for many years.



Hanging Wire by the Spool







⇰3rd....Black Finishing Fabric....This is a tip that I'm not sure you will find anywhere else.  I started covering my canvases with brown shipping paper to give it that finished off look that you get when you having a piece professionally framed.  The problem with paper is that it tears easily and when you are an artist, you know that you are often "schlepping" artwork from one gallery or event to another.  You are going to put a large tear in that paper at some point and time.  Paper wasn't a real solution.  An artist friend of mine said that she started using the upholstery fabric that is used as the black liner under sofas and chairs.  I ordered about 3 yards in a bag for what I remember to be $10-$11 dollars.  It came folded with large creases and was relativity thin but as I used it for the first time, I was reminded of  another product that we actually already had several large rolls of in our shed.  That was the weed block landscape fabric that you can buy at the nursery or home improvement store. It is strong and looks great attached to the backs of my canvas.   Here is a picture that I took off of Amazon to show you what I am talking about.

⇰4th....Mounting Strips-the next important art supply that I use is for mounting my sketches and color pencil works to the matte board.  Any artwork that is on paper needs to be securely attached to the cut matte board and you don't want to use regular tape.  Tape will damage the artwork and contains acids that will discolor and destroy the paper after a few years.  These acid free archival mounting strips are the perfect solution.  I cut one strip into 4 pieces and attach the artwork into the plastic strip with the sticky part facing upward.  I then can lay the the matte board down over the strips.  They are hidden from view but are there holding your art securely in place.

Mounting Strips for prints



⇰5th....Matte and Backing Boards w/ Cello Bag- This is great deal on Amazon.  I love that you get the whole set for right at $2 each.  You just can't beat that.  You can find this price in both Black and White mattes and the smaller sizes are even less expensive.  I keep an inventory on hand of 4 x 6, 5 x 7, 8 x 10 & 11 x 14 mattes in my studio.



Mattes, backboard & cellophane bag






⇰6th....Cello Bags in Greeting Card Size-  I love putting my art on magnets, stickers and greeting cards.  I find it enjoyable putting it all together and feasibly it makes sense because you can actually sell enough of these smaller, less expensive items to really add up.  I also love that I have things I can use as marketing tools and give away as gifts.  Here is the link for the greeting card size resealable cello bag.

Greeting Card Cello Bags- Resealable






⇰7th....Adhesive Tape Glider- I love this tape applicator.  It really is more like a strip of glue than tape and does a great job.  There was a bit of a learning curve when it came to loading each new roll but I now have that pretty well mastered.  I use this on my greeting cards, attaching the mattes and back boards on my pencil artwork and to attach the black landscape fabric to my canvases.  I buy the refill rolls at Michaels or Hobby Lobby always using a coupon for my purchase.  I go through a number of rolls a year so I make sure I always have 2-4 rolls on hand or I start to get a little nervous.

Adhesive Tape Applicator Gun















I hope you found this blog helpful.  Leave a comment if you have questions or just wanted to let me know you appreciated the information. You can check out my artwork on my website at JulieTownsendStudio.com

It's Not Done Until You Put on the Dust Cover

Tools I used for finishing off the backs of my art work

I am always on a quest to bring my art to a higher level and there are steps to finishing off your artwork once it is created. These last steps are just so important to the presentation of your art and in many cases are often ignored.   My good artist friend Lily shared with me recently how she had observed that a framing shop she had patronized used a fabric as the dust cover to the pieces they framed.  This dust cover consisted of the black fabric that you find underneath your upholstered furniture and that she was switching from using paper (which easily tears) to using fabric to cover the back of all her work.

I ordered a bag of this upholstery material from Amazon and yesterday was my first opportunity to give it a try.  It turned out to be somewhat of a two man project to get the fabric attached but all in all I'm pretty pleased with the ending results.  When we opened the bag and got a closer look at the fabric we realized this looked very similar to a large roll of landscape fabric that we have.  I'm going to give that a try next to see if it works as well.  If so, the local garden store or hardware store may be my new supplier.

I first laid down a thin layer of adhesive using my Scotch brand Advance Tape Glider gun to the 4 sides of the canvas and in my case down the center support bar.  All of the pieces that I was working with yesterday measure 24 x 36 and I had 4 of them to finish off.  

Then my husband guided the long edge of the canvas to match the finished edge of the fabric while I held up the rest of the canvas to prevent it from sticking.  Once he had laid his edge down and was satisfied the everything was lined up, he took the canvas and held it while I stretch and smoothed the rest of the surface as tight as I could.  Happy with how the fabric was going to lay we dropped the other three sides onto the fabric so that the adhesive and fabric were now united.  We pressed down firmly all the sides assuring that the bond was good.

Now came the fun part.  Using my Fiskars fingertip craft knife,  I proceeded to cut the 3 edges, careful not to cut the canvas or myself in the process.  Logan makes a special dust cover trimmer that I plan to try out but the Fiskars cutter worked sufficiently for this job and I got a little more proficient at the process with each new piece.

We then flipped the piece over and my husband then used a staple gun to apply a staple at each corner while I prepared the certificate of authenticity that was to be attached.  I cut a 3 hole sheet protector in half and remove the holes to make a sturdy plastic sleeve that holds my certificate nicely and then I attach it to the back of my artwork using my Scotch Advanced Tape Glider gun.  We decided to allow the one corner staple to secure the certificate just to make sure it would stay attached and not fall off.  As you know when you are transporting artwork, no matter how careful you think you are being, there is always a problem with tags and dust cover paper being torn or falling off.  I feel that this fabric is much more durable and I like the professional way it looks.  

Now it's time to add the D-rings and hanging wire.  I measure 1/3 the way down on the canvas to install the D-rings and I use size 4 soft hanging wire.  I bought a large spool that measures 850 ft on Amazon and am so happy with that investment.  I hate the quality of the wire that you can purchase at the local craft and hardware stores and when you paint as much as I do, those small packages are always running out.  With 850' of wire,  I think I might have enough wire now to last me through the zombie apocalypse.

I would love to hear from you if you have questions or found this article helpful or if you have tried other products or have a process you think works better for finishing off your artwork.  I might include your information in a future blog post.  Leave me a comment here or email me.  Also feel free to check out my website for all my available artwork at Julie Townsend Studio or my Etsy Store at Julie Townsend Studio Etsy Store

To make this supper easy for you, I have included all the links to the tools and supplies I used :

Scotch Advanced Tape Glider

Fiskars Fingertip Craft Knife

Picture Wire

D-Rings

Dust Cover Upholstery Fabric

Art is a Family Affair

Being an artist is for me very much a family affair.  I'm so blessed to have the support of my husband and children with making my dreams a reality.  I couldn't do this without them.  My husband follows me to galleries and artshows, helping pack and unpack the truck, hang artwork or make a frame if I need with very little complaining.  

My children endure a constant barrage of photographs sent to their cell phones of my newest works in all steps of completion and are always my most energetic cheerleaders.  My adorable grandchildren actually have no memory of a time when grandma didn't paint and there wasn't a "STUDIO" in my home.  I LOVE IT!  Here is one of them modeling my most recent masterpiece!  This little guy would make any artwork look good.  I love that he comes into the studio and picks up a dry brush and pretends he is painting chickadees with grandma.  I can't wait to be able to give them painting lessons and spark that creativeness that I know is there.