Back in September I participated in a few mini quilt swaps. You guys know how much I love those! They were all super strict and themed, and I loved making each and every piece. Sometimes guidelines are just what I need.
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I talked yesterday about Art School Dropout’s new look, and all of the benefits of a bold new logo. Today I’m going to tell you how I made a large stamp of the new logo for packing material and bags!
One of the selling points for the Silhouette Portrait was its ability to make custom stamps. You can either buy a Stamping Starter Kit, or buy the pieces separately (which is what I did). I bought the Stamp Material, the Cutting Mat and a Fiskars Stamp Press (this thing is great for centering and getting even presses with no ghost markings).
The first stamp I made was just the logo, no boxed in areas. It ended up being a pain to transfer the cut silicone sheet over to the stamping press. So for the second cutting I added the background, and everything that was positive turned into negative space. I still lost the little piece inside the tiny “P”, but I’m cool with it, it adds character.
I did a few test runs on paper which looked a bit distressed, but again there was that homemade character, and I like that. I watched a few YouTube videos that said different inks react in different ways with the stamping material. So I may try some others out when I have the time and money. For now, the stamp is great!
It’s about 4″x4″, which is a little on the big side. I don’t plan on using it for product packaging or anything like that. I really only wanted it to stamp on the back of outgoing boxes and shopping bags at shows. Brand recognition!!! For those purposes its mostly perfect. My only complaint has to do with the boxes themselves, not the stamp. The currogated texture makes for a very striped logo. Again, it looks handmade, and not in a bad way. I imagine when I stamp bags, it won’t be striped.
I wish I could make all of my stamps this way, but the process really doesn’t allow for super detailed designs. So instead I ordered some self inking stamps for tags and product packaging. I’ll show the process for those once they come in.
I’m so excited for the switch over this weekend! I can’t wait to hear feedback from you all!!
On a side note: I’m almost done reworking the ecommerce side of Art School Dropout, and once thats done I’ll be looking more at this here blog. Trying to figure out what to share here. As a reader, would you like to see more blog posts like this? If not, what would you like to hear about?
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I have been itching to give Art School Dropout a new look for quite some time now. The current logo is 8 years old. I just didn’t know EXACTLY what I wanted. what I did know was I wanted a clean and simple website, but not TOO simple. I wanted a less colorful logo that didn’t compete with my super colorful products, but at the same time I wanted it to have some personality.
I tried to design it all myself, but I am not that great when it comes to illustrator, and truthfully I needed a second set of eyes and talent to help me out of my teeny tiny design box. I put a feeler out there online back in September, seeing if anyone knew who I should contact or what I would need to do it myself. I’m so glad I did that. My friend Sara Harvey messaged me and offered to help out. Our tastes and styles are similar in ways and she is super talented and easy to talk to, so of course I took her up on it!
I told Sara the look and feel I wanted, and she sent me back a bunch of examples to sort through and say what I did and did not like from each. After a bunch of back and forth emails, and many weeks of horribly busy schedules and then the holidays, a new logo was born!
I absolutely love the new logo!! Sara did a great job!!
It’s not super short and wide like my previous one, which got in the way a lot when it came to banners and ads. It’s nice and compact. It incorporates my arrow design around the edge and has a unique shape, but not too unique. I can still make my own die cut tags, labels and signs. It’s also one solid color! This means I can have stamps made for packaging and even make my own! No more relying on print companies, and having to purchase 1000′s of tags at a time. This cuts back on overhead, which means I can afford more advertising and invest in some new tools.
So yeah, it’s a win win situation all around!
I’ve been spending the last two weeks prepping everything to be switched over to the new look. New tags, new packaging, new business cards and more. It has been exhausting, but so much fun at the same time!
With help, I’m also reopening my own personal shop. The one I had for 8 years before I closed it and switched over to Etsy last year. I missed having complete control over design, and somewhere that was my own. I love having rotating huge banners on my front page, I don’t like having a landing page that sends you all over the place. I’d prefer everything in one place. I like saying “yeah, you can see everything I make on artschooldropout.net” not “yeah, just visit artschooldropout.net and the click this link to go to etsy where you can see what I make”. I didn’t start on Etsy and never felt at home there. Also, again, it was overhead. The money I will save on fees will go right into a savings account to buy some new equipment and supplies. The Etsy shop will be kept open purely for downloadable PDF’s and custom designs. Everything else will be switched over.
I’ve fought with myself over this part of the change for the past few months, I was afraid of leaving a site that has a rating system and switching to one that doesn’t. I was afraid customers would feel uncomfortable. Though I would still be using Paypal, which has a buyers guarantee and gives customers the option of filing complaints, receive refunds and more. In the end I feel like this was best for my business. It’s more ME, it’s more Art School Dropout. Also, it doesn’t hurt to try. I can’t learn from my mistakes if I don’t ever make any, right? I need to stop fearing the unknown.
I will be revealing the new shop in the next few days, I just have to wait until a friend can come help with the switch over. So keep an eye out, because it will also be when I update the new Juxtapose Necklaces! Seems fitting, bring back the product that started it all while switching back to the original way of doing things!
If you’ve read this far, thank you! I know I rambled on for a bit there, but I needed to get it all out. Before now it was mostly inner dialogue or small conversations with friends and family. I’m excited about Art School Dropout’s new look, it has been a long time coming!
