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Opposite the bus stop where I wait every morning is this lovely empty shop. There's a flat above, also empty.
I have a little ten-minute fantasy about opening it as a bike shop every day.
It's in a rougher area of town, so rent would be cheaper, plus it's on the commuter highway for people from one side of town to the centre, so would get passing trade.
I'd probably call it Sparky's and it would be awesome and hugely unprofitable.
Now I just need to win the lottery, which will necessitate me buying a ticket. Maybe I'll do that at lunch time (the 5 minute period where I run out to buy a sandwich and worry about missing calls).
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I know nothing about this - just stumbled across it. Might be of interest to some here.
http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/job/1066890/membership-development-officer/
From the website it looks like they could use a littlehelp...
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Agreed, But when was the last time you or someone you know bought an *original *piece of artwork? Art's a luxury that is low on most people's priorities, so there is not really a market for it at a low level.
So become a contemporary artist,, live off art's council grants, and never have to suffer making art the proles would be interested in...
i did last year.
it was from a freelance graphic designer. -
thats a nice piece of work you got there Sparky!
I used to do screen-printing quite a lot. Making prints are wonderful because a limited edition is original in many ways- each print is hand-pulled thus unique, but at the same time you can sell each print for cheaper since there is more than one. Thus people who appreciate good art but obviously can't afford a picasso can buy something they like for affordable prices.
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A print of something can mean that it's just a file that's been printed out, like a poster in an art shop.
It can mean it's a silkscreen, which is an image that's been burned into a mesh screen that will allow paint to go through some bits but not others, this is used on fabric and on paper.
What I do is essentially the same thing that Goya, Rembrandt and Durer did, and that is to work into a metal plate and run it through a massive printing press.
In the case of the print that I've sold, I've done this by painting with a sugar and indian ink solution onto a zinc plate, then letting that dry.
Once it's completely dry I varnished it with a thin varnish, then let that dry.
When the plate is the submerged into water, the sugar treated areas should lift off, leaving you with the image that you want in bare metal and the area that you want to keep white still covered in varnish.
Then I let the plate dry and spray it with tiny little droplets of a chemical that is designed to resist acid.
Thid is called aquatinting, and the point of it is to create a surface that will soak up the maximum amount of ink. Think of it like the difference between rubbing oil paint on a smooth surface, then rubbing it off and putting it through a press and then doing the same thing to sandpaper.
Once the aquatint is on I place my plate in acid. The parts with the varnish should stay white, the parts with the aquatint with print darker the more depth I let the acid eat into it. This is tricky because if I leave it in for too short of a time I get a grey, too long and the surface will break down and become smooth again.
Once I have the plate perfect, I then rub ink into it, then using differnt kinds of cloth I take most of the ink back out of it, then put it through a massive roller press.The process takes a few days, and each print can be very different depending on your wiping techniques. I can do roughly 5 prints of a plate in 4 hours, it normally takes a few days to do a plate.
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I would be happy to follow up on the arguments proposed. It was the industrial revolution which led us to the world we know today. There are many professions where you get paid for lesser and many professions where it is too little. Needless to say, the disparity is so great and this is clearly reflected in many facets of our culture. Many professions and certain expectations are rather "spoilt".
Someone brought up journalism -- its manufacturing and fabrication "behind the scenes". Again, a clear reflecion of the state of society.
Should I continue in venting this can of worms..?
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I didn't know the graphic design world operated on a Guild basis. I've learned something. Indeed, my trade - journalism - could do with that approach, as basically any 'nice' journalism job is now unpaid.
The backbone of most national newspapers (ahem The Independent, The Guardian) is now unpaid interns and low-paid workers on short contracts.
In the mainstream journalism business, the day-rate for a complete beginner is NEGATIVE. (Which is why only people with money go into sought-after journalism jobs nowadays. Which - abittapolitiks - helps explain why national newspapers are so sh*t)
Their is no guild. And there is a lot of touchiness about rates as times are quite hard.
Money is only a minor factor in motivating designers. I imagine it to be similar for good journalists too? But it's really sad when trained talent cannot earn a living doing what they're good at, whichever profession.
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I would be happy to follow up on the arguments proposed. It was the industrial revolution which led us to the world we know today. There are many professions where you get paid for lesser and many professions where it is too little. Needless to say, the disparity is so great and this is clearly reflected in many facets of our culture. Many professions and certain expectations are rather "spoilt".
Someone brought up journalism -- its manufacturing and fabrication "behind the scenes". Again, a clear reflecion of the state of society.
Should I continue in venting this can of worms..?
What did you make today?
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designing a layout (after interpreting the brief) and producing artwork is not something that just anyone can do.
Easy now. Its not rocket surgery.
Anyone can do it, its just a question of** how well**. I don't mean to degrade the work of good designers but the crap ones (who may well quote low) won't get much work if their stuff is crap. If designers are good then they shouldn't have much to worry about. Maybe too many ppl are designing (or calling themselves designers) hence the lack of work. I can think of about 1000 that I know personally.
Surely Shirley?
Sparky
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@brain-flick
you'll be lucky. Loads of people itching to work in the bike biz in Leeds.
You might try the Leeds Fixed Gear lads though.