Hello everyone! This is my very first post on People Watching. I actually struggled a lot when trying to come up with who/where to draw for my first post, so I ended up going in a pretty simple direction. Each of the students I drew was spotted walking (or skateboarding) in front of the UMMA and Union on Wednesday October 18th, 2023. I really enjoyed just using marker here but a goal for the future is to branch out into more colorful illustrations that still feel consistent with my style.
Hello everyone!
My name is Marissa Woods and I am so excited to be returning to Arts, ink. this year as an artist and writer. Last year my content primarily focused on my illustration work and relatable content for students on campus. This year, I am taking the leap of journaling about my fiber arts practice. I plan on posting different techniques i am studying so you readers can learn along side me. This is a great opportunity for me to be able to log my progress over the year, as well as create more community awareness about fiber arts and the various topics I am passionate about.
I am going to cover a variety of topics such as weaving, sewing, embroidery, knitting, crochet, tapestry, etc. I plan to inform you readers on how to do them! My ultimate goal is to teach. Occasionally I’ll have free patterns uploaded for you to try on your own at home. I encourage you to become involved with fibers, it can be a great outlet and art form.
Our first topic, fiber slashing! (Sewing). I love the texture that this technique beings to the fabric. I am a huge fan of frayed ends and loose threads. This specific piece in the image was inspired by the women’s reproductive system. I am currently taking a women’s health course, which has majorly broadened my perspective. Feminism and fiber arts go hand in hand the more you look into its history. I will write more on this topic later!
In order to to do this technique on your own at home,
1. Lay 1 piece of fabric down
2. Lay a billion different little scraps of fabric on top of the first piece.
3. Layer a top piece of fabric, the same size as the first piece.
4. Sew with a machine around the border of your fabric sandwich, locking your inner fabics inside of a closed pocket.
5. Sew up and down, equally spaced apart, about 1/2 inch. (The wider the stitch gaps, the more fabric will come out when you get to the slashing. A smaller width can make it too small to get the fabric to pull up and out of the slash.
6. Using a seam ripper, CAREFULLY! rip into the top layer of fabric in the in between spaces. Be sure not to accidentally rip all the way through your back panel. If this happens, you may add additional stitching by hand on the back to re-form the support layer. Experiment with ripping into different layers of the fabric, instead of staying at the same depth!
7. Go crazy! Pull as many fibers as you would like to be frayed or pull out which specific colors interest you the most!
I hope everyone enjoyed this week’s first post! I am so excited to continue sharing my practice as well as educate about fiber arts! See you next Fiber Friday!
Hello, and welcome back to another week of Industrious Illustrating! Last week I talked about profit margins on mass-produced art merchandise, but that’s only part of the equation. This week I’m going to give a brief introduction to different types of manufacturers/suppliers who can produce your merchandise for you so that you don’t have to front the cost of expensive equipment yourself. For my merchandise specifically, I’ve ordered directly from manufacturers as well as through middlemen.
Read more: Industrious Illustrating #44 – ManufacturingFor absolute beginners, there’s Print on Demand services like Redbubble that do all the manufacturing and deliver merchandise directly to your customers for you, but they take a large chunk of the revenue (even larger than using a paid storefront like Etsy!) and the quality of their merchandise is harder to keep under your control. I don’t personally use these services, but they’re more accessible to artists who are just starting out with selling merch than ordering directly from manufacturers, especially as you don’t also need to purchase shipping supplies and fulfill orders on your own time.
Redbubble’s logo
For beginners who want to get a start on making their own merchandise and selling it directly through an online store or at conventions, Vograce is a Chinese manufacturer that specializes in acrylic charms but also does a lot of different merchandise types, all with very low MOQs and a relatively accessible website through Shopify. However, Vograce is a middleman for non-acrylic products (meaning that they charge more than directly ordering from the manufacturers they source from) and also has experienced a decline in quality in recent years because of an increasingly large number of orders. (By the way, the decline in quality that manufacturers sometimes experience when receiving too many new orders is why a lot of artists are reluctant to disclose their manufacturers publicly!) I’d advise ordering through Vograce only if you don’t want to spend time researching other manufacturers and are willing to accept the risk of receiving defective products.
Vograce’s logo
Middlemen are agents or companies that contact manufacturers on your behalf and help you set up and fulfill your merch orders for an additional cost. In fact, the case study I went over last week (my bottle cap pins) was ordered through a middleman who has a direct line of contact with a Chinese factory and did the file-checking and payment on my behalf. Some advantages of going through a middleman include tighter quality control, saving the time needed to vet manufacturers for quality, and being able to try out more types of merchandise that otherwise might require high risk and investment costs. Specifically, I was in a group order with other artists, so we could all order smaller quantities of merch and hit minimum order quantity (MOQ) as a group rather than fundraise for a large order or take a risk by paying out of pocket for hundreds of items that may or may not actually sell.
Directly ordering from manufacturers is generally the cheaper option over using a middleman, as you’re only paying for the time and supplies used by the manufacturer instead of also paying for the time and expertise of a middleman. The site I personally use for finding manufacturers is Alibaba, a website meant for businesses to directly source from manufacturers located around the world (although mostly located in China). Generally, Chinese manufacturing has lower prices and more specialized products than you can order domestically.
Alibaba’s logo
There are some American manufacturers you can directly order products like acrylic charms and pins from, but they may not have as many options available and could end up being significantly more expensive. If they aren’t more expensive, there’s a good chance that they’re actually middlemen sourcing from China rather than actually manufacturing domestically (a common bait-and-switch with enamel pin companies specifically). I only order my prints (and, when I still sold them, stickers) through US companies for this reason, as they actually print domestically rather than having an incentive to secretly order specialized products from abroad. In terms of US-based printing companies, I definitely highly recommend CatPrint for their low MOQs, high quality printing, variety of paper types available, and relatively fast turn-around.
Catprint’s logo
However, some manufacturers have high MOQ for their products — possibly 100 units per order or more — that make them prohibitively difficult to order from as an individual. You’ll also have to do all the communication yourself, which means dealing with a language barrier if you’re (most likely) working with a Chinese manufacturer even though they have English-speaking representatives who’ll communicate with you. Alibaba can also be a difficult and overwhelming website to navigate if you don’t already know what you’re looking for, and you’ll likely have to both do your own research and ask around for price quotes on your merch orders to figure out what your best options are.
That’s all for today’s brief-ish introduction to manufacturing! I may go into this topic again in more depth at some point, but I’ll also want to talk about other topics first before I come back to this. I hope to see you guys again for next week’s column!
This week’s post is quite predictable – I realized I want to take advantage of the two weeks of fall we have before Michigan winter takes over.
Name: Sophia Davis
Mix: Khmer & White-American
Major & Year: Astronomy & Astrophysics; Junior
Q: How has being mixed affected your campus experience?
A: It’s a bit of a bittersweet thing. I grew up in the Memphis metro area where there is a pretty decently sized Khmer community. My only issue was that I did not see a lot of Asian people in general in high school and in my day to day life. I come to Michigan, and I have met not only more Asian people but mixed people as well that understand the uniqueness of coming from a mixed background. While I have been happy to meet people that I can relate to and understand what it means to mixed, I have met very, very few people that are Khmer. It has been hard keeping connected to my culture when I’m so far away from my hometown, and I don’t see my family as often. It was a bit isolating at first, but it’s been more of push to go out of my way to stay involved in my culture.
Q: What do you wish more people knew about the mixed experience?
A: I wish more people understood that it is my choice how I identify and present myself. I grew up in a conservative southern town where I never quite fit the mold. With my dad being white and my mom being Khmer, I was born into a dichotomous cultural upbringing. I was either “too Asian” or “not Asian enough” just depending on who was making the judgment. I did not feel like I had a sense of community as I had no one to relate to identity-wise. Yes, there was my everloving mom, but how could I manage to look at the woman that gave me life and tell her I was ashamed of the gift she gave me? Yes, there was my younger brother, but how could I place this burden of thought upon someone I am supposed to uplift and inspire? It became such an omnipresent issue that it even began to translate and present itself in other aspects of my life such as academia. There were cultural expectations to succeed and never fail because the work I put in is a direct reflection of my family. There were societal expectations such as the “Model Minority” that negatively reinforced damaging stereotypes. For me, these standards often clashed with each other, creating my toxified perspective on education and school. I wanted to be the best because I felt as if that was what was expected of me by everyone. There was also nothing worse than putting countless hours of work and effort into a project only for the praise to be followed by “because she’s Asian!” Coming to Michigan has transformed my racial imposter syndrome. It was oddly cathartic to see so many multiracial people that understood the exact emotions and situations that I had also experienced. I loved being able to talk through it. We learned from each other, listened to each other, and continue to help uplift each other. I still struggle with it, but I am learning as I go. It is more than okay to love all of myself while recognizing the privilege and struggle in my identity. How I define myself is not based on anyone’s expectations or preconceived notions whether that be family, friend, or stranger. I am not meant to be told what I am; I tell others about myself.
Mixed on Campus was inspired by the Humans of New York project. The purpose of Mixed on Campus is to give a voice to this university’s mixed community and shed light on its members. Being mixed means to be multiracial, multiethnic, and/or a transnational adoptee. Through Mixed on Campus, mixed students have the opportunity to have their portrait drawn and share their experiences!
As a first post of this season, I just wanted to introduce myself – my name is Tola, and as you can probably tell from the header image and the bad pun in the feature series title: I am a photographer. This is my third and probably last year at Arts at Michigan (I am graduating), so you will see a bunch of new content, but also the good old posts like photography tutorials or themed series. For the new readers, I am a Biopsychology, Cognition & Neuroscience and Classical Archaeology student from Poland. I love traveling almost as much as I love sitting at home sipping a cup of good coffee. I will pet every dog I see on my way to class and in addition to photography I dance often and paint occasionally. This post is an introduction, so maybe instead of jumping into what I prepared for this semester, I will start by simply introducing myself – and since, after all, I am a photographer, I will cut the text short and instead show you through pictures the places that shaped me over the years.
See you next Friday,
T
