Vinally

Motorcycle Cover

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:30:00 +0000

I have a fabulous client, Sarah, who wants to give her husband a motorcycle cover for his cruiser-style motorbike.

A while ago, I would have said this kind of thing is not possible because vinyl covers for boats, barbeques and motorcycle covers typically have a fabric lining underneath.

But this time, I thought that if I could successfully glue some fabric onto the underside, then recycled billboards could be used without scratching or sticking to the item that they are covering.

I did an experiment where I glued an old T-shirt to a section of tarp with Vynabond. It adhered well, so now I am going ahead with the design.

I asked my client for some measurements so I could get the geometry of the cover. I used TouchDraw on the iPad to make a scale model. With this scale model I can easily determine the length of the outside edge and the angles over the handlebars and seatrest. (The picture doesn't show the actual model of the client's motorbike, I just put it in for reference.)

I'm going to use some flannel sheets for the fabric lining.

Prototyping

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:18:00 +0000

I have been prototyping lately for a potential client. So I made this apron. It has the benefit of being reversible, since the ties are encased within the seam allowance. I don't know if the job will actually go forward at this point, as I don't control the decision-making, but I enjoyed the process of putting my own stamp on an apron design, and putting forward some good work. It took three iterations to get to this point. The picture shows the back side of a frontlit tarp. It is blackened to prevent show-through.

I learned that thinner billboards -- front lit tarps -- work better than the thicker backlit tarps. The backlit ones are so robust and are better suited for things like wallets.

This apron uses 1" twill tape, which has tooth in it so it will stay tied. I was glad of previous experiments in working with various edging materials so I knew that the twill tape would be suitable.

My new Art Cards Site

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:38:00 +0000

alisonlait.yolasite.com

I have been thinking about making my iPad art for sale, so to get started I made this website. Right now I'm offering art cards. Once I figure out what the costs are for gallery-wrapped canvases I'll add that product, too.

You know what would be cool? a mashup of an old vinyl advertising tarp, sanded away or partially sanded away, then reinked with another design (by Yours Truly) to make an artwork. I'm going to have to approach the printing company where I get tarp scraps and see if they'll be amenable to trying this experiment. I haven't a clue whether it would work, I just want to give it a try.

Heat Sealing Vinyl Tarps

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:18:00 +0000

I had tried some experiments with a soldering iron to make a heat seam on vinyl tarps. But I couldn't get a good looking, scorch-proof result. I think the commercial ones cost an arm and a leg. As I recall they are like flat irons for the hair, only more robust.

So I recently got a Seal-a-Meal from Canadian Tire, and I thought I'd try fusing two pieces of recycled billboard vinyl tarp together with it. I had to do it twice with this particular vinyl in order to attain a good enough seal. But the ink doesn't migrate onto the machine and I'm happy with the result.

Test tarp with two sealed edges.

I don't know all the applications for seaming the vinyl this way, but one I can think of right now is making vinyl envelopes for my art cards. I had been sewing them but this method is quick and fun.

Well what do you know, the seal is waterproof. I filled it full of water, no leaks.

Motorcycle Cover Material Experiment

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:19:00 +0000

A while ago I got asked about making a cover for a boat. I said at the time it would have to be experimental because my tarps aren't flannel-lined. The inquiry came up again when faithful customer Sarah asked about a cover for her husband's motorcycle. So then I thought, "What if I glue some fabric to the underside? That would work." So I decided to see if t-shirt material would effectively glue onto a used vinyl billboard. And it does. So used vinyl tarps can be fabric-lined for reuse as barbeque covers, bicycle covers and motorbike covers. The fabric lining is to ensure the tarp doesn't scratch or stick to the surface of the motorcycle or barbeque.

The style I have in mind. for the motorcycle cover.

Vyna Bond glue test, T-shirt to tarp

Seeing how well the glue adhered by pulling on the unglued edge.

Hockey Game Crowd Sign

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:12:00 +0000

My husband and son found themselves on the Jumbotron at a recent hockey game. After that, the plan was to see if they could have a "camera-catching" sign when the Edmonton Oilers came to town. So this was the happy result! Go Flames! The presence of the letters "CBC" is to promote the broadcaster. They get a crowd shot AND some promotion. So fans put those letters in to make the signs more attractive. Edmonton has the sign "City of Champions" at the edge of town, so that's why the "City of Chump-ions" reference.

I'm actually from Edmonton, and I enjoyed many seasons of cheering for the Oilers. But family trumps hockey loyalty! So here it is. It would have worked better if the flames were in adhesive vinyl instead of glued-on foam from the dollar store. The large amount of Vynabond glue I used caused the tarp to warp.

Cut out using a Cricut Expressions, with Sure Cuts A Lot software, which is now vintage due to the lawsuit. (If I ever get another vinyl cutter I'm going to make sure I get one where I can design and print my own designs.)

Stencil Terminology

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 15:35:00 +0000

Stencil technique in visual art is referred to as pochoir, e.g. Banksy. When a paper-cut, stencil-like image is the artwork itself, it's known as scherenschnitte (scizzor-cut). It's kirigami (paper-cut) when the cutwork is symmetrical, as in a paper snowflake. (Although I've seen asymmetrical kirigami.) Cutwork is usually used for the effect on fabrics, I've seen the term applied to jewelry also. Openwork is a term I've seen used for jewelry and crochet. I have been using cutwork mesh up to this point for my work. But the 3D animation folks are also using mesh. To be honest, right now I don't know what I should call my work.

When I design a cutwork mesh the challenge is to make the bridges the right size. If the mesh is to do a job like hold a bar of soap, it has to have robust enough bridges, while still letting in lots of air so that the soap can dry out well. If I design at one scale and then try to shrink the design, the bridges shrink, too, so I have to keep aware of what's happening. I make a test cut and see which bridges are problematic, then adjust the elements accordingly in Illustrator to make bigger bridges, or smaller holes. 2 mm or about 1/16" is about as small as I want a bridge to be.

I don't just design on Adobe Illustrator, sometimes I use TouchDraw on the iPad to design meshes. With TouchDraw, I mail the drawing file as a pdf which I can email to my main computer put it on a thumb drive and take it via sneakernet to my other PC which has Illustrator on it. From Illustrator I export an SVG file which is the file format for Sure Cuts A Lot. Sometimes I sing the Madelina Catelina song and juggle a few oranges while I'm at it.

What's Etsy

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:20:00 +0000

When I tell people I sell on Etsy, they say "What's Etsy?" Here's a Nate Berkus Show video of their head office in New York.

Product photography and pricing.

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:10:00 +0000

Now that we are inside for the winter, here's my product photography setup. Don't laugh, my photography teacher uses desktop IKEA lamps and something to soften the light. I don't have any tulle so you can see the reflections on the underlying tile.

I had a number of travel soap bags for a recent craft show that didn't sell, so now I am getting around to photographing them and listing them.

Recently, I read that one should value one's product as to what the market should bear rather than the hourly wage one wishes to make. That's because we arts-and-crafters get to work when we want, make what we want which has value as well. The price can be found out by doing a lot of shows, by raising and lowering the prices until you find that sweet spot. However, I haven't had the opportunity to do a lot of shows so I don't really know what the market will bear for my travel soap bags. After all as far as I know, I'm the only one making these. Well, there were a group of buyers from Taiwan who bought some from me so they might be making them by now. As soon as I see these in the dollar store then it's off to make something else.

Notebook experiments

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:40:00 +0000

Here's a "cane chair mesh" notebook and a "What The Heck" notebook. The word "What" is on the spine of the book on the right. The Cane Chair mesh has a rather unsuccessful stencil font which says "Inspiration always arrives unannounced." The insert is also not the right size. the What The Heck notebook is made out of a fibrous tarp which is rather too fibrous in my opinion. I had hoped that these would have turned out, but it seems they require more iterations.

(As I write this I think I'm going to use the cane chair mesh on a decorative box to store my music books. That way I can put the shelf back on the floor. I had been keeping it on top of the piano while our puppy matures into a non-chewer.)

At the end of it all, when I have completed all the background work, will hopefully be some nice products. It takes a lot of behind-the-scenes work to produce something worthwhile. Only the best items will make it onto my online shops.

Retired Vinyl Tarp Wallet

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:00:00 +0000

I wish I could say exactly how long I used this wallet. But was a long time. This particular tarp scuffs according to the wear spots and along the raised parts of the internal mesh. I retired it and I'm using another.

I designed this wallet to hold up to 40 cards, because that's life these days. Lots of cards.

After I emptied it out my 5-month old golden doodle got ahold of it for a brief period of time. She can make short work of a lot of things very quickly. I wouldn't make dog toys out of this because I reckon the polyester mesh isn't good for puppy's teeth. And the inks aren't food safe.

Cane Chair Mesh Journal Cover

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:42:00 +0000

This is a test cut of a mesh design based on the classic "hole-cane" design on chairs with woven reed seats. To arrive at the geometry, I experimented in Adobe Illustrator with a number of long rectangles until I found something that looked similar to the pattern. Then merged the shapes, Compound path...release to arrive at the hole pattern. Export to SVG, import into Sure Cuts A Lot, size to fit, and so on.

In the lower right of the photo I was experimenting with a stencil font. It features the quote "Inspiration always arrives unannounced," by Vanna Bonta. The font is too small in this experiment so I'll have to enlarge the quote. The reason I'd like to put quotes on the notebooks is that I'd like to have notebooks feel good in the hand and inspire the creativity of the owner. Lately I had been using my iPad for journalling; but I'm going to go back to coil notebooks because I like, for example, to see my old ideas and different insights and the pains that I've worked through.

I like how the cane chair mesh looks. I might try it on a wallet. I think I'll keep on the lookout for an old cane chair and replace the seat and back with my mesh. It would be a cane chair with a pattern!

This project would benefit from cutting it out twice, and using a relatively low-internal-fiber mesh for the tarp. Too many chads to punch out and very time-consuming if one has to punch out all the holes. I don't yet know how strong the mesh would be in use on an actual chair.

Vinylschnitte Notebook

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:51:00 +0000

Finally got one of these notebooks listed. A year or so ago I had a lot of ideas for notebooks. The hanging chads issue is largely solved by using the multi-cut feature on the Cricut Expressions. Rounding the corners makes for an attractive edge without binding. Cutwork is trending right now. Therefore, I hope these get some interest.

With this notebook the red insert is reversible to a teal color for a more subtle color combination. Or the insert could be left out entirely for a white background. Three colorways in one notebook!

I had been journalling on my iPad, but there's something about having a physical notebook to thumb through. I enjoyed looking at past sketches for cartoons, things I haven't done yet, as well as all that journalling. I think I'll start using a physical notebook again. After all, one never knows when the cloud will go "poof," and there goes all your entries.

Did you know that the German word for paper cutting is Scherenschnitte? I guess what I'm doing is Vinylschnitte.

Cutwork Notebooks

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 19:23:00 +0000

These cutwork notebook covers work like jackets for the coil notebook inside. When the notebook is filled up, it can be swapped out for another notebook.

The other feature of these notebooks is that you can change the color of the insert by flipping it around to the white side. Two looks for one!

I was able to use some of the same mesh files that I have designed for the soap bags. It is nice when files can be reused, all that hard work can go towards another purpose.

They are sewn on an industrial walking foot machine, and I make sure that the top thread is on the outside for the nicest effect. I'm looking forward to the reaction these will get when I show them at this weekend's craft show.

The flyer didn't have the address, it is 1919 79 Ave SE Calgary, in Ogden. At this show I will have a ton of soap bags, wallets and notebooks that aren't currently listed on either of my online shops.

Brothers Bloom Notebook Cover

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:39:00 +0000

First I covered the page of the underlying coil notebook with white adhesive vinyl decal. I put the same cutwork design on the inside and outside. But I think that it will work better with no cutwork on the inside.

Rounded corners make it nice so that I don't have to add seam binding.

I saw a window with a coil design in the Brothers Bloom movie, that's where the design takes its inspiration.

I like these, they go up pretty fast and they look very nice. Does anyone use paper notebooks anymore?

Sewing Machine Bloopers

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:46:00 +0000

I mentioned that I bought a Yakumo industrial walking foot sewing machine. I wonder how many previous owners this machine has had? I think I'll engrave my name on it somewhere when it's time to pass this one on.

It's a great machine, but learning to drive it I've encountered many speed bumps. It didn't come with a manual. I had it threaded wrong at one point. If I start up too fast the thread breaks. Sometimes it goes too fast; I'm still learning to fine-tune my foot pedalling.

The particular vexing thread situation shown in the picture was, I think, a bobbin tension problem. There were a lot of losses this week with my sewing machine, and my vinyl cutter skipping, ruining several cut jobs.

The good thing is, once you solve those four-dozen or more things that can go wrong, the machine starts cooperating. Or more appropriately, the operator starts cooperating.

Google Image Search on Travel Soap Bag

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:09:00 +0000

I was pleasantly surprised to see how many of the soap totes showed up in a Google image search for "travel soap bag" Even my avatar from the Scraplab design contest.

I was just saying to my husband, "If I can keep just one bar of hotel soap out of the landfill, it will all have been worthwhile." :)

Goldfish Decal

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 02:18:00 +0000

The PC I use to print decals is not attached to anything, so it's a bit of a production to transfer files from one place to another. I didn't want to be bothered with transferring my recently-created TouchDraw app goldfish outline to the PC.

Instead I just drew a few shapes in Illustrator, ovals and triangles, combined them and converted a few anchor points here and there and voila! A simplified fish.

Maybe if I'm a little less apathetic I'll add a few scales. Nah.

Decalwork is War

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:51:00 +0000

I have a new appreciation for those sign companies who do adhesive decal work. Worth what you pay for it, most likely! This particular decal is almost too fine to work. It is a gradual process to lift up the masking tape and make sure that the parts you don't want are removed. And then to get the decal to stick back down without rips or wrinkles.

I've worked hard at the soap bag design to get it to be as efficient as possible. But this decal stuff is still a challenge. I'm using recycled margins from actual sign companies. Sometimes the decal material off-cuts don't work -- not adhesive enough, or the wrong kind of material --and I have to recut.

However, now I can boast that the soap bags are 100% glue free! Also, I'm sewing the velcro closures instead of gluing them.

(Previously I had a trial batch of soap bags rejected because I used to glue the decals on with Vynabond. The potential reseller didn't like that and asked if the glue seepage could be removed. That would have been impossible, it would have lifted up the underlying ink. What a disheartening request, I didn't feel like continuing the joint venture after that. I paid to have them shipped back to me. That glue seepage was barely detectable, only visible at certain angles, and all of the bags I eventually sold with no complaints whatsoever by the customers. So I guess it was one of those agree to disagree situations.)

Card slot wallet

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:19:00 +0000

Here's another 12-slot folding wallet. Here you can see the pieces as they are now. I make notches so that the slots will align perfectly. Also so that I can get the upper thread, which is more attractive, onto the outside of the wallet. You can see on this wallet there's one seam that's a bobbin seam, not so attractive.

The other thing that occurred to me is that I can put card slots into other jobs that have extra space. So I can accumulate a bunch of slots in different colors as I am doing other jobs.

Trifold, 12-slot wallet

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:12:00 +0000

This is a prototype for a 12-slot wallet for my iPad art buddy Susan Murtaugh. I have devised a construction method to make the slots line up in perfect parallel configuration. I'm not satisfied with the appearance of the thread in the bobbin. Perhaps the tension or the thread itself needs adjustment. I tried covering up the threads with some adhesive-backed vinyl, but I don't think that's going to work.

What I like about the cut file for this particular design is that it fits nicely on my 12X24" cutting surface.

I'm going to tweak the cut file design so that I can put the good looking threads onto the outside. The industrial machine I have sews nicely, but I need to drive it some more to get used to it, as it, being an industrial machine, is designed to sew very fast.

Update: I change the title of this post to trifold wallet, because that's how they are known in the industry. Even though there are only two folds!

Front Page of Etsy

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:47:00 +0000

My soap tote made it onto a treasury that was featured on the front page of Etsy today. This is the second time I've made it to the front page, last time was July 1, 2010. Treasuries are collections curated by members, and they usually follow a color theme. This one was browns and blues, looks like.

On Steve Jobs' Quote

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 20:58:00 +0000

I loved this quote from Steve Jobs' Sanford Commencement address from 2005:

"I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

I love how in another part of his speech he talked about how the calligraphy class he took purely for interests' sake inspired him to put beautiful typography into the Mac. It's neat how the education can come back in unexpected and creative ways. I'm so delighted that my first class of my certificate was Adobe Illustrator, I used it to make presentations, and to design my billboard vinyl cut files.

I am only now finding out what I love. I knew I didn't love what I did for my previous career. I guess for me that first career was a 12-year brick in the head. Except for the last couple of years thanks to the great folks at Petro-Canada. And while I make the effort with the house and family, to suggest that I be fulfilled as a 50's-Style housewife? Please! I'd need a lobotomy first. I have to have something creative or challenging to work on. So I decided to get more education on the side while raising my children. The vinyl stuff was so I had something to show for my new certificate. And the blog is something like a how-to book for working with the material.

Being unsuccessful in sales had a certain advantage, also. I learned to make videos, to tweet, to blog, make a website, and a boatload of other ways that didn't work, but imparted useful skills. I also learned that there's a lot of folks out there who don't keep their word. Who drop communication as if that was perfectly OK, there's not another human being at the other end. And that there's some customers who will choose to stay mad at you even after you have more than addressed your mistake.

But! Aside from the benefit of a thicker hide, I've also made great new friends in the arts community, and had lots of compliments and encouragement on my soap bag. My wallet ended up in a book! What great fun it was pointing it out to people in the library checkout line. More than once people have suggested I go on Dragon's Den. (I think I'll just stick to design contests and calls for contributions, I'm not up for any abusive-style scrutiny. Fair criticism, OK.)

So yes, I think I will keep on keeping on. "Stay hungry; stay foolish" as Steve Jobs concluded. Thanks Steve for the great speech, and for my iPad.

New dog blues

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 22:45:00 +0000

We have a new puppy in our house, and she isn't allowed downstairs where I have my shop. This is a problem because barking drives me batty. I will ask the dog trainer tonight what my solutions might be. I really need to get downstairs and back to work. Not only the vinyl stuff, but my color theory work, too. I have been very busy cleaning up dog urine and other fun stuff. You are welcome, kids.

On the other hand, it is good for a dog not to have the complete run of the house, so I have read. Also she is getting me out walking. Maybe there's a chance to become "all that" once again!

My New Colour Theory Blog

noreply@blogger.com (VinAlly) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:17:00 +0000

Years ago when I first started my Certificate in Visual Design program, the Colour Theory program ignited a passion for the topic of ideal clothing colours for the individual. I had noticed how wonderful Cameron Diaz looked in the movie There's Something About Mary. Also how stunning Julie Andrews looked in her golden yellow suit near the end of The Sound of Music. How I got compliments on how great I looked when wearing a certain shade of blue, even when I was sick as a dog. Conversely how my manager at Dairy Queen kept on about how sick I looked when I was wearing the orange uniform of that era.

When I was deciding on my colour theory topic I initially thought about the fashion side of colour. My initial lizard-brain said that it was a dumb and frivolous idea. Thankfully I ignored the inner critic and went ahead with it. I decided to ask the question: what makes certain colours ideal for the individual? That was the focus of my research, and I earned an A+ for my paper, and an endorsement from the prof that she expected to see me on the Fortune 500 list someday!

Life circumstances got me to get my research to a certain point and then shelve it. I intended to revisit the topic someday. I think now might be the time. http://colourinclothing.blogspot.com/