A small collection of art/business cards designed and printed at home (and the trials and tribulations in the process)
Preface
When my parents went to Europe they came back with a collection of sheets of toilet paper from each country they visited. Small, lightweight, and telling of the culture.
I think collecting must be built into our hunter gatherer DNA. And gathering things, other than the basics of food and shelter, feeds our curiosity among other needs and wants. Sometimes there are unintentional collections – that stuff we just don’t throw away (seriously I’m trying to use that stuff up).
To satisfy this peculiar proclivity I present to you my collectible art/business cards. To get one, though, you have to meet me in person, purchase a work of my art, or go to a one artist show of mine.
Idea/Credit
When I started making small batch business cards featuring my art, I stole the idea to turn them into collectible trading cards. I wish I could give someone credit for the idea, but I can’t remember where it came from.
Printing Problems
The actual printing of the cards has been a crap shoot. With document and printer settings that are easy to overlook (some of which I was unaware of until now, and in counter-intuitive places) and differences in papers and inks, some prints just wouldn’t align correctly (even when they looked correct on screen) and some came out dull. A lot of wasted paper and ink. And out of necessity I just gave in and handed out some disappointing outcomes anyway.
Collected Tools & Materials
Some of the software and hardware and settings used:
designed in:
Avery business card template,
custom template,
inserted table,
drawn on grid
in programs: Microsoft word
Apache Open office writer
Libre Office writer
Paint.net
settings tweaked within software: anchors, alignment, text & image boxes, wrap, fit/don’t fit to size (this one both in the word tables and printer programs)
saved as: Docs, Templates, PDFs, JPGs
printed with: HP photoSmart, inkjet dye based ink
Cannon pro 300, inkjet pigment based ink
printed on: Avery inkjet business cards (various),
regular card stock (apparently not specifically for inkjet- printed dull)
Fixed? & pivot
Finally with the most recent design (#13) I think I figured out the settings that were skewing the template. (Unfortunately, I did not write down the specifics, alas, and it was not a clean start with elements carried over from previous versions, but I do have the document.)
In addition, the batch of supposedly two-sided biz card paper ended up smudging and not absorbing/never drying on the second side. Therefore, I pivoted to the single sided design.
Collection of Designs
Anyway, here are designs so far (#s 1-13):
#1 printed 2014, Ears, ca.2009 (edition of 50). Find in the Original Dog Studies portfolio.
#2 printed 2015, Shadow Legs, 2013 (edition of 30). Also from the Original Dog Studies portfolio.
#3 printed 2015, Between, ca. 2009 (edition of 40). See other Archived Original Dog Studies.
#4 printed 2017, Me & Chip, 2017 (edition of 20). See other Selfies Family Portraits.
#5 printed 2018, Game Ball, 2015 re 18 (edition of 20). Find more small dogs in the Chihuahua Portfolio.
#6 printed 2018, Sleepers, 2018 (edition of 20) from the Medical Collar Series.
#s7a & 7b printed 2019, Doug, 2018 (edition of 15 each-30 total). Uses the same full portrait on the image side but with two different details on the text side. From the tongue series in Faces and Limbs portfolio.
#8 printed 2019, Shadow Bow, 2019 (edition of 20). See more Horses in the Faces and Limbs portfolio.
#9 printed 2019, Mookie, 2018 (edition of 20). Also part of the tongue series in the Faces and Limbs portfolio.
#10 printed 2024, Gaze, 2020 (edition of 30) from the Rounds and Reflections portfolio.
#11 printed 2024, Glimmering, 2020 (edition of 30). Also part of the Rounds and Reflections portfolio.
#12 printed 2024, Melvin, 2019 (edition of 30) from the Faces and Limbs portfolio.
#13 printed 2024-5, Sniff, 2021 (2-sided edition of 40 not yet released/single sided unlimited edition). Part of the Color Knife Paintings portfolio.
That’s it for now.
Afterword
At one point I could not help myself picking up odd things off the ground, in the parking lot, from the creek; A bodyless action figure leg, a perfectly flattened can, a pebble encrusted cooking pan lid… In the early 1990s I did a sculptural series of “Collectable Disposables” consisting of paper & plastic table ware made of recycled/upcycled paper and plastic trash. These days I’m slowly working on some paintings of animal related collections (not yet on the web site). Stay tuned.
What curious things do you collect?