The Frustrated Artist (Just One Day)

Yesterday I felt frustration as an artist that I haven't felt since I was in art school. I got home from my day-job determined to whip out some prints, new designs and just focus on the business. It just wasn't meant to be. I walked into my basement studio and nothing was working right, didn't have the right materials, it was dirty and dingy and I almost ran out of there screaming. I guess a lot of artists go through this. I have a ton of ideas, ton of half-completed-half-ass projects and am having trouble keeping my focus. My current lack in online sales and exposure, and a disjointed product line surely have led up to this crappy attitude as well.

As the world is constantly looking out for me, this morning I stumbled on a featured video of one of my favorite Esty shops, 1AEON.  Gabe Molnar of 1AEON is an incredibly creative artist and quality screenprinter. My wife and I have several of his tees and I've always wondered about his success and process. Gabe works 12-16 hour days in his tiny Brooklyn apartment. I'm humbled and amazed to learn that he churns out these awesome printed designs in the floor of his kitchen!

Suddenly my large dirty basement isn't looking so bad, and I feel like a little whiny bitch.

Fueled by this new-found inspiration, my weekend project will be rearranging the basement studio, cleaning it up, get my shit straight, and move on. No time for frustration, no time for whining. It doesn't happen very often, but my wife gives me just one day to feel sorry for myself when the need arises. One day is all I need.

Gabe at work. Click on the video below to watch the story of 1AEON.

This one's on my Favorites list.

He really pushes the envelope on printed images. Gotta have this one.

Down-n-dirty Screen Printing on T-shirts

I recently created a new t-shirt design for my ceramist friend Joey Sheehan, owner of Melting Mountain Pottery in Asheville, NC. I had the screen made, and we did some printing last night in the "man-cave-studio" to test it out. Joey learned the process and gets to keep the screen and print as much as he wants...tees, gift bags, aprons, etc. With a lot of test prints and trial and error, we finally got some nice prints. Once you get the feel of the squeegee pressure and the amount of ink coverage, good prints come fairly easy. We're letting these dry overnight, setting the ink with a hot iron and then a smaller front-print design can be screened.

 

Here's a great basic video (Click on image below to watch) on screen printing in your kitchen on a flat table..no fancy equipment necessary. This guy used a mylar stencil on the bottom of the screen, but the concept of inking and printing is the same.