November Giveaway!

Check out our November giveaway over at the other blog!

New website, new blog.

Hey friends!

I wanted to announce that we have a brand new website. If you haven't already checked it out, hop on over! Also, along with the website we have a new blog, so be sure to peep that on occasion as well. We'll still be updating both blogs. 

Visit us at:

 www.ivebeenframedpdx.com

Jacquard Procion MX Dyes

New at I've Been Framed

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Jacquard Procion MX Dye

This cold water fiber reactive dye is known all over the world. The undisputed king of tie dye, Procion MX is also one of the most versatile dyes available. This cold water concentrated dye, which you add to tap water, is the most vivid of all dyes for cellulose fibers. You can easily create a palette of colors ranging from light pastels to deep, vibrant hues. For best results onprotien fibers we recommend using Jacquard Acid Dyes.

For more information and instructions visit the Jacquard website!

Tie-die how-to videos using the Procion MX dyes

Derwent Inktense blocks

We now stock Derwent's Inktense Blocks!

If you've never tried these before, you must! So much fun, have a  look...

These chunky water-soluble ink blocks bring a new sense of freedom and color to your drawing and painting! Derwent Inktense delivers pure vibrant color, but when water is added it is transformed into a translucent ink-like paint which, when dry again, can be worked over again for amazing results.

The blocks are extremely versatile and can be used for a wide range of creative effects. You can use them like pans of paint. Dip them in water and apply color directly to the paper, use dry on their side of apply directly to wet paper for instant intense color.

The blocks complement the Inktense range perfectly opening up an exciting world of endless possibilities. They may also be used on fabric to create stunning silk paintings and quilts.

Here's a great video demonstrating some of the different techniques that the inktense blocks are capable of!

Big changes at the store!

Somebody let our fire-cracker of a manager out of the office which means lots of changes have been happening on the floor. Most of her vision and inspiration gets a bit suffocated when she's forced to crunch numbers and take calls all the live long day, as you can understand I'm sure! So it's inevitable that serious business is goin' down once she gets out to bury  her hands in the store displays and merchandise. 

I am super excited about some of the changes that have gone on. While it may not be as big of a deal to some, better organization and use of space is always enough to make me jump up and down with joy.

 And of course, with cleaning and re-organizing always comes markdowns and closeouts, clean it up and get it out of here! So with all of the new changes, the sunshine, sidewalk sales and the killer deals happening right now, paying us a visit is strongly recommended.

Here's a few sneak-peaks of some of the fun stuff going on....

Top to bottom:

*The next month is all about brushes! Come see our new brush display and take advantage of some crazy markdowns. 

*The palette/container section gets a complete move and makeover

*Lots of discounted Golden products %50 off!

*Golden Acrylic section gets moved and completely revamped!

New, used, sales and closeouts!

 Hey IBF friends!
In case you missed it, we were only kidding about moving to Hawaii and if we got you with our April fooling and gave you quite a scare, then we'd like to make up for it with this great blog post full of a lot of our current sales and good buys.
A lot of this wont last long, so make sure you come in to see us soon!

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*A bag of shorty pencils...

 You just never know what you might find here!

 *Closeout new and used paints. Oils and Acrylics.

*Beautiful wood block carvings for printing.

Use for cards, clothing, wrapping paper etc...

*Encaustikos Hot Cakes

*Beautifully hand-bound sketch books ready for a personalized cover!

                                            *New card stock                    *Lots of used oils

*Golden interference gold fine... AWESOME color. Lonely gallon needs good home. Manager might need to find a new job but she is willing to let it go for $50!! Excellent for sparkling under painting, glistening highlights and general hints of metallic magic. Please help this gallon find a new home! (thats discounted $350?!?!!) only one in stock.

*Slightly used & non used prisma color markers...

 Won't be here long

*New watercolor sets in... AWESOME quality & prices

Jack Richeson. (Really similar to the Yarkas if you've ever used those.)

*Who likes whiskey & painting? This palette/flask really need a good home! The manager will work an insane deal on it! Like sell it at our cost! ($45) just for being so cool & buying it you can have the 2 pads of W/C paper here with it for free! That's a $24 free value plus $45 discount on palette! 

(She can always find a job somewhere!)

*New sketchpad only $2 bucks! each

Masters A-4 110gsm / 60lb 25 sheets acid free paper

*Have u seen our new origami section? Holy herd of cranes!

*New used water colors... They won't be here long!

Priced as marked GOOD DEALS!

$15, $10, $5 FRAMES!

Crazy deals!

*New USED books!

*Happy little trees waiting to be painted...

 Clearing out the Bob Ross mediums. 

Get them before they're someone else's happy little mistake!

*Blow out canvas sale! 2.99-4.99! Retails up to $15!

*Closeout Book Cloth

Priced as marked

As always, there's more to see than what we have pictured. Come on in to the store soon to take advantage of these great deals!

Lots of love to you all! 

Yours truly, 

The crew @ IBF

All about Adhesives!

Hey IBF friends!

March is all about adhesives at I've Been Framed!

If you haven't been in yet to check it out, here are some bits and blips of what has been going on at the store.

Kristi put a lot of effort into a glue chart that will help you see which glues work for gluing certain surfaces and materials. Super helpful and informative. Check it out!

We now have a "Try it" station located by the front door! We love when our customers get to participate and learn about different products with us. There's really no better way than to get your hands in it! But please be careful when handling the broken glass!

This month's try it station features a reclaimed sculpture currently in progress. We have a bin of broken up plates and cups and a bunch of different kinds of glues. Come help us piece together what will be the fabulous GLUE TROPHY! 

It's growing everyday!

Here we have IsaBellaFunk modeling a fabulous neck piece made out of hot glue! 

She's such a fashionista!

Here are some other hot-glue sculptures we have hanging above our display!

We are also hosting a contest!

Got some good glue tips and tricks? We'd like to know! We are running a contest until the end of the month at the shop. The rules? write down your best glue tip on a piece of paper. It can be for any kind of glue.. any tip or trick you know that is clever (see example below). Drop your paper complete with glue advice, your name and contact info into our contest entry box (located at the front of the store). We will chose a winner at the end of the month! The winner will receive the glue trophy and a glue goody bag. All of the tips and tricks entered will be displayed in the glue section of our store for all to see! Good luck and thanks in advance for all of you participants!

Example glue tip:

To make the annoying glue strings dissapear after using a hot glue gun. After your project is complete, get out your hair dryer and blast the project with a bit of hot air for a few seconds and watch the strings disappear  Be careful not to use the hair dryer for too long or else you might reheat the hot glue and ruin your project.

So that's only some of the sticky fun that we have going on at the shop. If any of this interests you, come on down and check it out! We'd love to talk glue with you. If you have any questions please call or come in and talk to one of our friendly and informative associates! 

Origami week at IBF

 It's Origami week at the store until March! Come check out our Origami display. We have lots of great paper packs, instructional books, Rolls of yellow paper for $1 each that you can make giant paper cranes with. We even have a free origami instruction booklet with free sheets of paper so you can try paper folding for yourself, or help us out in trying to make 1000 paper cranes!

The Meaning and Origin of Origami:

Origami, from ori meaning "folding", and Kami meaning "paper" (kami changes to gami due to rendaku) is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, which started in the 17th century AD at the latest and was popularized outside of Japan in the mid-1900s. It has since then evolved into a modern art form. The goal of this art is to transform a flat sheet of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques, and as such the use of cuts or glue are not considered to be origami.

Paper cutting and gluing is usually considered Kirigami.

The number of basic origami folds is small, but they can be combined in a variety of ways to  make intricate designs. The best known origami model is probably the Japanese paper crane. In general, these designs begin with a square sheet of paper whose sides may be different colors or prints. 

Traditional Japanese origami, which has been practiced since the Edoera (1603-1867), has often been less strict about these conventions, sometimes cutting the paper or using non-square shapes to start with. The principles of origami are also being used in stents, packaging and other engineering structures.

Almost any laminar (flat) material can be used for folding; the only requirement is that it should hold a crease.

Origami paper, often referred to as "Kami" (Japanese for paper), is sold in prepackaged squares of various sizes ranging from 2.5 cm (1 in) to 25 cm (10 in) or more. It is commonly colored on one side and white on the other; however, dual colored  and patterned versions exist and can be used effectively for color-changed models. Origami paper weighs slightly less than copy paper, making it suitable for a wider range of models.

Normal copy paper with weights of 70-90 g/m2 can be used for simple folds, such as the crane and &nb 100 g/m2 (approx. 25 lb) or more can be wet-folded. This technique allows for a more rounded sculpting of the model, which becomes rigid and sturdy when it is dry.

Foil-backed paper, as its name implies, is a sheet of thin foil glued to a sheet of thin paper. Related to this is tissue foil, which is made by gluing a thin piece of tissue paper to kitchen aluminium foil. A second piece of tissue can be glued onto the reverse side to produce a tissue/foil/tissue sandwich. Foil-backed paper is available commercially, but not tissue foil; it must be handmade. Both types of foil materials are suitable for complex models. Washi is the traditional origami paper used in Japan. Washi is generally tougher than ordinary paper made from wood pulp, and is used in many traditional arts. Washi is commonly made using fibers from the bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub (edgeworthia papyrifera), or the paper mulberry but can also be made using bamboo, hemp, rice and wheat. 

Artisan papers such as unrya, lokta, hanji, gamp, kozo, saa and abaca have long fibers and are often extremely strong. As these papers are floppy to start with, they are often back coated or re-sized with methylcellulose or wheat paste before folding. Also, these papers are extremely thin and compressible, allowing for thin, narrowed limbs as in the case of insect models.

Paper money from various countries is also popular to create origami with; this is known variously as Dollar Origami, Orikane, and Money Origami

TOOLS:

It is common to fold using a flat surface but some folders like doing it in the air with no tools especially when displaying the folding. Many folders believe that no tool should be used when folding. However a couple of tools can help especially with the more complex models. For instance, a bone folder allows sharp creases to be made in the paper easily, paper clips can act as extra pairs of fingers, and tweezers can be used to make small folds. When making complex models from origami crease patterns, it can help to use  a ruler and a ballpoint embosser to score the creases. Completed models can be sprayed so they keep their shape better, and a spray is needed when wet folding.

One Thousand Origami Cranes:

Senbazuru is a group of one thousand origami paper cranes, (tsuru) held together by strings. An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane. Some stories believe you are granted eternal good luck, instead of just one wish, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. This makes them popular gifts for special friends and family. The crane in Japan is one of the mystical or holy creatures (others include the dragon and the tortoise) and is said to live for a thousand years: That is why 1000 cranes are made, one for each year. In some stories it is believed that the 1000 cranes must be completed within one year and they must all be made by the person who is to make the wish at the end. Cranes that are made by that person and given away to another aren't included: All cranes must be kept by the person wishing at the end.

A thousand paper cranes are traditionally given as a wedding gift by the father, who is wishing a thousand years of happiness and prosperity upon the couple. They can also be given to a new baby for long life and good luck. Hanging them in one's home is thought to be a powerfully lucky and benevolent charm.

Several temples, including some on Tokya and Hiroshima, have eternal flames for world peace. At these temples, school groups or individuals often donate senbazuru to add to the prayer for peace. The cranes left exposed to the elements, slowly dissolving and becoming tattered as the wish is released. In this way they are related to the prayer flogs of India and Tibet.

In Western countries, the custom has been extended from giving a senbazuru to cancer patients to using them at funerals or on the grave.

Sadako Sasaki:

The thousand origami cranes were popularized through the story of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who was two years old when she was exposed to radiation from the atomic bombing of

 Hiroshima during World War II

. Sasaki soon developed leukemia and, at age 12, inspired by the senbazuru legend, began making origami cranes with the goal of making one thousand. In a popular version of the story as told in the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, she folded only 644 before her eath; in her honor, her classmates felt sorry and agree to complete the rest for her. In an alternate version of the story, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum states that she did complete the 1,000 cranes and continued past that when her wish did not come true.

Duct Tape Roses

Rachel's a very talented Rose-Maker

Roses say "I love you". Duct tape roses say "I love you forever!"

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Want to learn how to make your own?

Here's a great written tutorial 

Here's a great video tutorial.

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We have all kinds of Duct Tape available. 

Make some roses and send us pictures!