Good arts, typically questionable crafts

[roadrunnertwice]

QUICK, SOMEONE GET ME ANOTHER PICTURE TO HANG.

Right, so I finally took care of business on a bunch of prints and sketches I had hanging around. Actually what happened was that I'd stowed them in Nóirín's room when I was doing the SAWDUST EVERYWHERE thing and happily ignored them for like three more months, and then she asked me to get them outta there, I put them in my room, and THEN they were suddenly an emergency. (My laziness and self-absorption as the proverbial immovable object and irresistible force, with the force winning this round.)

My prints are awesome and you are jealous:

• A Dicebox print that Jenn had at this year's Stumptown, which is awesome and is rocking the book-2-ish color palette. I put this one above my dresser so I could pause to look at it in the morning. (Maybe it'll inspire me to dress better?)
• A mind-damaging Japanese mini-poster for Army of Darkness ("Captain Supermarket??" "Bruce Campbell Soup?"), which was a gift from emmling. :D (The envelope had my SE Harold St. address on it, that's how long I've been putting this off.) This one went by the little bookshelf, because it can ambush people there -- it won't necessarily catch your eye if you're just hanging out in the room, but if you go over to get a book or turn on the lamp, you'll be like "wait wat?" I myself will probably still be going "wait wat" to this a year from now.
• An Alex Cahill print of someone bombing down a hill in the woods. I couldn't find a good spot for this in my room! It's intricate and fidgety, so it needs to be somewhere where you can get up close to it and get the energy, and I was out of places like that. So I put it in the house's entryway, where it catches your eye as you come down the stairs and you can stop and examine it if you want.
• A Steve Lieber sketch of Wes from Underground. This one goes on the wall between my bookshelf and computer monitor, where it can encourage me when I'm doing some metaphorical spelunking.
• A very useful Dylan Meconis miniature watercolor. I too am VERY BRAVE (whimper). This one went to the right of my desk, for the same reason as the Underground one except moreso. I could have put it on the desk too, but didn't want it to get buried in stuff when things get busy. We'll see, maybe I'll move it back there.
  • Also, Dylan told me a story about this one when I bought it: in her dog show comic, she made an aside about whippets looking either constantly fearful or improbably cold. A Mercury commenter took issue with the stereotype, stating, and I quote, "All the whippets I've known have been VERY BRAVE."
• My beloved modernist Hiawatha Line poster, framed at last! It somehow survived being thumbtacked to walls and rolled up and stowed in basements for years at a time. Anyway, the point is that MPLS has a train that goes to the airport, and my bedroom will make sure you all know it. Tough call with this one; I ended up putting it beside the dresser. The door makes it so you can't see it when you enter the room, but I can appreciate it when I'm sitting in my chair under the window. (Besides, the Riders one is the room-welcomer, and the next one will join it on the other side of the window.)
• Not pictured: "In Search of the Beast," artist to be looked up later, which will emphasize the vaguely nautical character of my floor and form some sly harmony with the Erika Moen octopus print I already hung. No, really, trust me here. Photos when it comes back from the frame shop.

Did I overthink this? I overthought this, didn't I. Whatever, I'm pretty pleased.

Oh, also, I can't remember whether I mentioned the Riders one and the octopus here when I hung them. Did I only talk about those on Twitter? I got those done pro, and they are awesome. The octopus is an Erika Moen by-hand screenprint with shiny silver ink and is unbelievably class. The Riders one combines my love of motorcycles, pretty girls, clean line illustration, odd slogans, and word balloons containing things that don't belong in 'em.

Anyway:

57"

Hopefully I will find this number here when I inevitably forget it next time.

Anyway, you want the center of every picture (or cluster) to be exactly 57" off the floor; see here for the arithmetic viz. where to set the nail. It comes out looking “right,” and makes it look like you had a plan even though you really didn’t.

Ikea Frames: Eh

Ikea frames mostly work, but their mats are cut to be subtly wrong for everything, so I had to cut them myself. Which is fine because I am VERY BRAVE. But you can tell they're hand-cut if you get close.

Their materials are also kinda suspect. The mat and the particle board backing smelled ever-so-slightly sour; sour means non-archival. Embrace the impermanence of all things or else buy the good shit.

(Mat cutting: Fresh razor blade, protect your floor with cardboard, GET SOME PRACTICE MAT. Cut from the back side. Cutting along a ruler doesn't work, so draw a pencil line, score it freehand, then use the score as a guide to cut. Mind the angle; you want 45° opening toward the front.)

Salvaged Frames: Yay

Salvaged frames are the shit! They are way better than Ikea, if you get lucky. I found one that was perfect for Ash at a garage sale (50¢) and tore a piece of execrable motel art out of it, which was pretty satisfying.

If the wood and glass are in fine condition, you can get the rest of what you need for ridiculously cheap! Hit Columbia Art and Drafting Supply or your local equivalent. I got some custom machine-cut mat and foam core for like $10, then like another $1 for a frame's worth of screw eyelets, glazier's points, and wire. (Wire tips: Rapala knot and blood knot.) Take it home, slam it all together, good to go.

Oh, and you'll want some archival-quality framer's tape for attaching the print to the mat or backing. You'd need this for Ikea frames, too.