October 2019 – Raw Materials Art Supplies

We made the news!

Posted on October 30, 2019October 28, 2019 by Jim

Celia organizing brushes in a screen grab from the news segment. — Celia organizes some brushes in this screen grab from the news segment.

Nic Cha Kim reported for Spectrum News 1 SoCal with his segment, “Raw Materials Art Store Reopens in Larger DTLA Location.”

Thanks for the spotlight, Nic!

Introducing Wrapped Wood Panels by Lucius Hudson, Inc.

Posted on October 28, 2019 by Jim

PVA-sized linen wrapped on a cradled wood panel by Lucius Hudson, Inc.

Lucius Hudson, Inc. has been making fine art stretcher bars and wood panels for artists since 1966. Their dedication to detail and the quality of their products is legendary, and you may have heard of some of their clients. (Does Takashi Murakami ring a bell?)

When they approached us to be the first-ever retailer for their products, how could we not want to put these beautiful surfaces into the hands of our amazing customers? We are excited to start with a selection of their linen-wrapped wood panels in two popular sizes.

These aren’t your every-day cradled wood panels: these are made using torsion box construction: a matrix of 4″ × 4″ inch boxes glued between two plywood sheets produces greater strength and stability over traditional cradled wood panel designs. For acid and moisture protection all panels are sealed with shellac. Each panel has a full cleat, allowing it to be hung from any side. Panels that are wrapped in canvas or linen are cut with notches in the corners so the fold doesn’t protrude.

Back side of the panel, showing the cleat edge (and a hint of the notch for the fold).

Let’s talk a little more about that notch, because this is one of those design details that just demonstrates the commitment to quality that Lucius Hudson, Inc. has. When you stretch a canvas (either on stretcher bars or over a panel like these), you have probably noticed the bulges on the corner where the canvas has to be folded. (Or, worse, had a canvas eventually fall apart because someone had the bright idea to cut the overlapping fabric.) They’ve solved that problem by engineering the panel with small notches, so the fold naturally tucks in and no longer causes that unsightly bulge.

So dig deep into your wallet and prepare to pay highly-inflated prices for these highly-engineered surfaces, right? Wrong. Lucius Hudson really wants to get these into the hands of artists, so they’ve worked with us to offer special pricing on a curated selection of sizes and varieties. We have started with a couple of sizes of panels wrapped with PVA-sized linen, and we would love to hear from artists what other varieties they would like to see us have on hand.

(And they don’t just make wrapped wood panels, stay tuned for more exciting products in the future!)

Happy Inktober! Meet the New Piñata Alcohol Ink Colors

Posted on October 3, 2019September 29, 2019 by Celia

New Piñata Alcohol Ink Colors: Teal, Blue-Violet, Coral, Pink, and Golden Yellow

5 NEW reasons to love Piñata Color: Golden Yellow, Pink, Coral, Blue-Violet, and Teal! Piñata Colors are fast-drying, super vibrant alcohol inks for non-porous surfaces like glass, metal, plastic, ceramic, YUPO^®, leather, polymer clay and resin. Indelible and impervious to water, Piñata Colors clean up and re-wet with alcohol, allowing for unique effects and techniques not easily achieved with water-based inks.

WHY 5 NEW COLORS? Some colors are more challenging to mix from scratch than others. This is especially true of complex colors like teal and coral. Alcohol ink artists have been asking for these colors, and Jacquard is proud to announce their release.

NEW PIÑATA EXCITER: Jacquard is also proud to introduce the NEW Piñata Overtones Exciter Pack! This collection of 9 alcohol inks includes the 5 NEW colors + Blanco Blanco, Copper, Brass, & Pearl. The Piñata Overtones Exciter Pack makes a superb companion to the original Piñata Exciter Pack, offering a complex palette to compliment the more elementary colors in the original set.