Living the Art Life: Creating,Selling,And Marketing Art in My Everyday Life!: How to make Custom Frames !

Living the Art Life: Creating,Selling,And Marketing Art in My Everyday Life!: How to make Custom Frames !: How to make custom picture frames and paint them for  any occasion. The other day, I was looking at professional  photos of famili...

How to make Custom Frames !

How to make custom picture frames and paint them for  any occasion.


The other day, I was looking at professional  photos of families and friends and noticed some great picture frames  made with wood frames.

Here are some examples:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had a great idea of using these in my classroom and wondered if I would make these.

 

 

So , I decided to be cheap and go find some old 16 X 20 wood picture frames and see if I could develop my idea.

 

 

I took off to the goodwill  store and sure enough I found several picture frames like this for  a couple of dollars each.

 

 

 

 

I got some of my milk carton poster board out from my roll at the paper mill paper mill donated to my school. You can even get some poster board from Wal-Mart or card stock of 22 x 24 at staples or Hobby Lobby.

 

 

 

I started with a glue gun, ruler or yard stick and pencil. These are my supplies.

 

 

I measured my sides and noticed each one was 16 x 20 inches.

 

I measured to rectangle pieces of  22 X 3 inches on the card stock or poster and I drew them on the card stock and then cut out.  This I did 6 times because I had three frames.

 

 

 

After I cut out the 22 x 3 inch rectangles I  took one side of the 22 inch length and made a swirl pattern. I used this pattern on all my 22 inch rectangles on one side.  I cut these designs out of the card stock and started on the smaller sides.

 

 

 

Next I took my poster board or card stock and made  3 rectangles

18 by 3 and 3 more 18 x 2.    I then made.different curved patterns on one side to create  an elaborate frame style. The thinner 2 inch rectangles will go on the bottom and the three inches will go on the top of the frame.

With each 18 x 3 inch rectangle I drew an elaborate curved point on the top to create a specific design for the top of my frame.

 

 

 

 

 

Notice the point at the bottom the picture is  upside down and would be placed at the top.

 

 

Also notice that each side I rounded off or cut with a curve to round off the frames

 

 

The easiest way to do this is to draw  one rectangle with  the curves on the one side and copy it on the other rectangles so they will be symmetrical.

 

Then you start gluing the card board or card stock on the wood frames with the glue gun.

 

Each end   of the card stock is cut with a curve. Then when you finish you will trim up the ends to match.

 

Remember always place the two inch rectangle on the bottom of your frame. This creates an optical image to draw the eyes to the center of the frame.

 

 

 

Last after you have everything glued  you can decided to paint what you like on your frames.

 

You can paint  polka dots, chevron, or just stripes on  your frames.

 

Also , you can paint Christmas themes , such as Christmas ornaments or lights.

These are great for Photos  and any occasion . You can reuse these custom frames over and over, Even create your own  versions.

So go for it and get your creative skills going.

Good luck and have fun.

 

Christmas time and being an artist! Sales or no sales!

Well , it's Christmas time  for artist .
And as an artist you are  either very busy creating on the spot artworks for people, and don't have time for all the merriment  , or you have managed to create all year and  have a beefy  inventory of art work on demand.


No, well  a good way to enjoy the holiday schedule  is to for see the sells of the holidays and increase your inventory for  projected sales.

And , how do you do this with out being a fortune teller.

What I do is monitor my sales items from last Christmas and then again at  the beginning of  September for this year.  


If you have a hot seller in September of this year you can possible expect people, that did not have time to buy your item ,most genuinely going to buy your item.

 Let's take a specific item as an example, lets say you sell a lot of themed paintings. Like horse painting, truck paintings, sports logo paintings, mascot paintings, girls rooms painting, boys room paintings.  
These are your highest marketing items for craft fair season beginnings in September or online.

They should also be able to produce sales in Christmas and  you will need to paint or increase your painting inventory in what ever area your sales are high.
What ever kind of money you made during your sales in September , you need to re paint that  item and a few more.


Choose your numbers wisely and be sure to estimate accordingly to the amount of customers you already have or your marketing techniques .  
Think about the number of people you are going to sell to if you market at a craft or online.

 And once again that is why you need to have an email list of all your clients if you can get one or make one. I have talked about that in on of my past post.

Also look at your past  Christmas and see what item you sold the most for that year.


Did you sell more Santa painting, poinsettia painting, or snow landscape ?

Which ever one of these is the best seller , keep the concept but change up the image. 
 Contact buyers that purchased from you  last year and send them an image of your new design
they will buy, because they like your style of painting. Or it might be a match to the item they bought last year . A good thing to do is to  estimate about how many sells you might produce and  then paint a couple more.



Well , hope these suggestions helps in your holiday sales projection. Good luck and have a great sale holiday.

Living the Art Life: Creating,Selling,And Marketing Art in My Everyday Life!: Prints: Increasing Sales when you Don't have time ...

Living the Art Life: Creating,Selling,And Marketing Art in My Everyday Life!: Prints: Increasing Sales when you Don't have time ...: This Last year has really been  tuff on my art business , marketing and life.  My husband has been a very sick man with Pulmonary edema...

Prints: Increasing Sales when you Don't have time to Make more Art.

This Last year has really been  tuff on my art business , marketing and life.  My husband has been a very sick man with
Pulmonary edema due to  hypertension and bad heart valve.


For the last six 8 months we have been in and out of the hospital. And at one time we stayed in Ice for 4 months. But we are lucky
because he seems to be making some progress.

But during this time I have been limited to posting and  step by step tutorials have been real hard to produce.


Today , I am going to suggest something to help with this during the idle time of your marketing and selling efforts.

                  PRINTS! PRINTS! PRINTS!


 Having  a set of prints is a wonderful way to keep your business active and receive revenues.
Buying Prints and having them made from an expensive printer is
killing a budget.
So, this is the way that I create my prints to sell.

I have bought my own laser printer and I have chosen at least five to six watercolors to print through my own printing.

I use  an  Epson  xp-520 color printer . It has Wi-Fi and wireless
where you can print from your smartphone , Pc, or tablet.

Then I  buy white card stock from staples or Wal-Mart.
These prints will be either 11 x 14 or  8 X 10. You can buy the specific size  card stock at Staples.

Sax, arts and crafts sell pre cut mats with backing. They sale them in sizes of 6 x6 inches ,12 x 16 inches, 17x 22 inches and 22 x 28 inches. these all fit standard frames of 4 x4inches, 9 x12 inches, 12 x 18 inches, and 18 x 23 inches, they are mostly white and very affordable. Sax also has other kinds of pre cut mats you can choose
from pebble to non textured, and Ivory to Black.

Always put your art work in a frame to  make it look more professional and clean. People will love this  and appreciate the importance of your print.

You can also buy clear plastic covers for your prints through a packing company. The plastic sleeves  of about 14 X 20 are excellent for placing your print inside and  keeping it free of stains.

 When listing your print , always  make a point of listing it as a print in your description. This helps to let the buyer know that it is not an actual painting but a copy of an original.  You can list it as an image of an original painting in your title , however you specifically need to  describe it  in your description as a print .

Many artist list their prints with a number code
 at the bottom of the print. An example is  22/24/2015. This means that this particular  print is the 22nd print of total  24 prints of this image and the original was painted in 2015.

When selling your art print , list your  photo of your print in the matt frame. This will also help with your sells.


 Many people will buy your prints because of the matting and framing scenario. Lots of people decorate their home with matted art work and seem to prefer this representative style.

Hope I have helped with your marketing creations and given you some insight to selling your art .

Wishing  you have much success with this marketing idea and good luck. Keep on Arting.