Seeing Double

This picture has actually come out of making a mistake, you can tell by the double pull of the screen print but as Bob Ross said “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.” So with that in mind i decided to carry on with the picture and see what would come out. As the picture involves a man drinking and due to the happy little accident there are two of him i decided that seeing double was a good way to go with this one. The trouble was that’s where the muse left me, and i had to try and figure this one out for myself. To cut a long story short i couldn’t and had to resort to searching google for inspiration. Then out of nowhere i came across a quoth by Anaïs Nin “We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.” and hey presto! It just seemed to fit the piece perfectly and there i was with my happy little accident resolved.

Cheers

id-iom

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The Diamond Commission

The Diamond Commission - 1 of 12

Superb. Friday is here again. And to celebrate such a momentous occasion we have a new print for your perusal. We were asked to produce a print which is to be given to each member of a hardworking team of tradesmen on completion of a building project. As I’m currently right in the middle of my black single screen obsession (well, two if you count the ‘id-iom certified’ stamp) it seemed pretty obvious what i was going to produce. As diamonds are both tough and valuable I thought they’d make an ideal subject for my design and so set to work. After a little design and some messing round with screens I had managed to produce 12 copies of ‘The Diamond Commission’. They are currently with our framer but should be back ready for distribution in the next few days. I hope they like them…

Cheers

id-iom

You’re not as pretty as you think you are!

Mirror, mirror on the wall…

Who’s the fairest of them all? Now here’s something! A mirror that actually tells the truth about you instead of just silently lying to you.

This piece stems from another slightly more ambitious project which to date has been a little complex but rest assured we will be trying our very hardest to finally get this project off the ground again. Firstly though we have to teach ourselves some advanced carpentry skills and then move on to some elementary electronics. Easy!

I can remember trying this before and pretty much coming up with a bit of 2×4 with a battery and a light stuck to it. Suffice to say it wasn’t really up to scratch and had to be thrown back into the depths of the idea cupboard to hopefully break forth fully formed at some future point. Let’s hope it’s time has come!

Cheers

id-iom

The lack of money is the root of all evil

The lack of money is the root of all evil - A3 print

I used a smaller version of this design on the Paperwallet we did a while ago and decided that I liked this quote enough to reproduce it on a larger scale. According to the all knowing power of the internet the quote ‘the lack of money is the root of all evil’ is attributed to both George Bernard Shaw and Mark Twain. After a little more digging I still can’t seem to come up with the answer. They were both around at the same time so maybe one said it, the other affirmed it and it has therefore been attributed to both. They clearly didn’t have the internet back then so information must have spread a lot more slowly and it’s whilst it’s possible they both came up with it independently I would rather believe that one simply repeated the quote he’d somehow heard from the other and it was therefore attributed to both in posterity. Maybe one of them was some kind of professional quote thief? Who knows?

Cheers

id-iom

Forged by the Glitter of Gold

Ah, Friday again! Where have you been hiding all week? Fresh off the block today we have the rather large ‘Forged by the Glitter of Gold’ which comes in at an impressive 100 x 70cm. Frankly, being forged by the glitter of anything is pretty good in my book but to be forged by the glitter of gold is surely top shelf all the way.

Forged by the Glitter of Gold – 100 x 70cm

The title comes from an early 20th Century rag time song which i happened to find in a box of stuff from my Grandma. It’s a shame I can’t play the piano as i’d love to have a little rattle on the old ebony and ivories of ‘Forged by the Glitter of Gold’ as with a title like that it has to be a bobby belter of a song. That said i don’t have a piano at home so i’d have to find one in a pub somewhere nearby and give all their customers something that they had never heard before. Maybe something like this. In fact this guy is probably a little to good for me.

Cheers

id-iom

A crown fit for a king

A crown fit for a king

Since we did the Paperwallet screen-print design a little while ago I’ve been slightly obsessed with the screen-print equipment and coming up with a good one screen design that would work well at any size (well, two screens if you count the ‘id-iom certified’ stamp). For ‘A crown fit for a king’ I came across the notion that in heraldry a crown would be set upon a crest to signify the status of it’s owner and thought i could run with that as the basis for the design. What’s the significance of the ‘125’ i hear you cry. Well, all i can say is that it is something that should hopefully make sense to the recipient. And we’ll have to leave it at that for now…

Cheers

id-iom

Busy being lazy

Busy being lazy

Busy being lazy

Busy being lazy (thread detail)

Busy being lazy (thread detail)

Our latest piece entitled ‘Busy being lazy’ came about as we were taking part in a battle on stencil forum Cut n Spray and the theme for the battle was ‘lazy’. Since this is a theme that is close to my heart i thought i’d try to muster the necessary effort to take part. The theme could be interpreted however you liked as long as there was a stencil on the final design.

After sitting around thinking/playing Black Ops for a while inspiration finally struck. From there it was a question of motivation and logistics. Thankfully i managed to save myself from terminal apathy and get myself to the hardware shop to buy the necessary bits and pieces. Working with plywood is quite fun although perhaps i should have got something slightly thicker than 4mm as problems started to arise when i was knocking the nails in as some of them would go straight through the wood. After a little trial and error i managed to get all the nails in and then came the thread…

Threading the nails was certainly something of a challenge (especially considering my earlier problems with anchoring the nails properly) but after the appropriate amount of swearing I finally managed to get it all attached properly. Now i just need somewhere good to get it installed and transport it there safely…

Hopefully we’ll be in with a chance of winning the competition with ‘Busy being lazy’ as surely it’s a truly inspirational piece? I’ll keep you updated as to the outcome…

Cheers

id-iom

Beware the fury of a patient man

Beware the fury of a patient man

Despite the fact that it’s Friday and i’m in a pretty good mood I just can’t come up with anything witty or amusing to accompany this piece. So perhaps i’ll just go through the basics.

It’s a screenprinted commission on A3 card and is due to go to the framer any day now. The quote is from English poet John Dryden and is featured in his poem ‘Absalom and Achitophel‘ from 1681. Aside from the obvious interpretation of the line – that a patient man is slow to anger but that his anger will be mighty once roused – I’m not sure if what, if anything else, it’s meant to signify. The quote in context is:

‘How ill my fear they by my Mercy scan

Beware the fury of a patient man’

According to wikipedia ‘the poem is an allegory that uses the story of the rebellion of Absalom against King David as the basis for discussion of the background to the Monmouth Rebellion (1685), the Popish Plot (1678) and the Exclusion Crisis.’ All that is a little beyond me at the moment but i’m sure it’s all true.

I’m particularly pleased with the distressed feel to the piece and the slightly worn ‘id-iom certified’ stamp came out beautifully. Onwards and upwards…

Cheers

id-iom

Fame at last…

Where's the Weekend - on Hollyoaks set

Where's the Weekend print

What’s this picture you ask? Well, it’s only a photo of one of our pieces hanging in the corridors of a new set on a revered national TV soap! You just know you have made it in the art world when your stuff starts appearing on TV. As far as I’m aware the set is a new sixth form college that has opened in Hollyoaks (although I could be wrong so eagle eyed readers may be able to update me). Today Hollyoaks, tomorrow the world!

The print featured is available from Pimp Artworks (along with a few others) and is based on one of our pictures called ‘Where’s the Weekend?‘ which I think echoes a sentiment a lot of us feel after being chained to a desk all day…

Cheers

id-iom

Summer’s last hurrah!

I just wanna be some guy's midlife crisis

Cat in tank jumper

Just typical isn’t it? There I was last week thinking that winter is definitely on the way and then as soon as i print up a couple of jumpers we (obviously) get freakishly hot weather. I suppose i shouldn’t complain as it has felt like being on a mediterranean holiday for the last few days. London has been awash with people taking advantage of what is undoubtedly our last spot of good weather for the year. At least it made our lovely model happy and taking the photo’s was easy experience – although it was perhaps a trifle warm…

First up we have a lovely white virginal jumper with the legend ‘I just wanna be some guy’s midlife crisis‘  – a lovely sentiment i’m sure you’ll agree – and just perfect for the honest young lady about town. Then we have a cool blue little number with a somewhat cute looking kitten in a cat-size tank. Perfect for the discerning young lady to wear on the winter days which will be with us far too quickly…

Cheers

id-iom