Lassco Vice Sketch

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Lovely to meet up with another artist friend on Saturday and do some drawing in the Lassco warehouse of reclaimed treasures in Rope Walk, Bermondsey.

The friendly Lassco team made us really welcome, there were chairs and a table for us to work at and a huge number of beautiful and quirky old things to draw.

I chose this vice…it did actually have red paint splattered on it but my interpretation looks quite sinisterly bloody, which I like. As the Lassco manager said ‘this one tells a story’!

We’ll definitely be returning there to draw again.

Campground Map and Sign

I was staying at Camping Schoonenberg, a beautiful campgound set in woodland in North Holland when one of the staff members saw me painting a portrait. He showed a photo of my painting to the manager who asked me to make a new combined sign and map for the campground. Delighted!

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I started by making a rough map of the campground as I walked around it, using an aerial view from google earth as a template for the outline. The manager then helped me number the camping places and mark which ones had electricity.

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I then drew the full size map out on paper and added all the details and text (above). 

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Once the draft had been approved I traced it onto a piece of primed marine plywood which had been cut to allow a narrow unpainted border.

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Since the sign will be hung in a place which is sheltered from direct sunlight and rain and will be stored inside during the winter months when the campground is closed I chose to use acrylic paints which are water based. That makes the whole process much cleaner and odour free.

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RetroNuevo Tags

graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board, sherry, garlic, chorizo, cheese, ham, paddle

When my friends at RetroNuevo asked me if I’d adapt my cockerel design to make vintage style tags for their hand crafted tapas boards I agreed with relish (pun intended). 

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I’ve long been an admirer of their magic mixing of reclaimed and modern materials with paint effects to make marvellous muebles (= furniture in Spanish)…

 

 

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…as shown in these drawer details above and right.

 

 

 

Making the Tapas Boards

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The wood was ‘harvested’ from century old wild Andalucian olive wood (acebuche) which had been felled naturally by the wind. No live trees were harmed in this process!

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The tapas boards were lovingly hand-hewn from hefty planks, each one unique in shape and grain.

They’re ideal for cutting and presenting food – tapas style, I also see them as works of art in their own right.

graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

Making the Tags

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These are the steps I took to make the cockerel side of the tag in Photoshop:

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  1. Scan a luggage tag to make a template in Photoshop
  2. Cut out the rivet and surrounding circle and place in separate new layers, make sure the rivet hole is the same size as the hole punch and ‘age’ the surrounding circle using scanned wax seal image
  3. Place the cockerel image above the background layer and below the rivet layers
  4. Deepen the colour of the cockerel image by duplicating the layer and changing the mode to ‘multiply’. Scan a vintage letter and place it above the cockerel layers in ‘multiply’ mode to add interesting stains
  5. Add the RetroNuevo logo
  6. Put a broken layer of white behind the logo to make it stand out
  7. ‘Age’ the edges of the tag by adding extra layers of parts of the vintage letter in ‘multiply’ mode

graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping boardThese are the steps I took to make the reverse side of the tag in Photoshop:

graphic design, Photoshop, process, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

  1. Scan a luggage tag to make a template in Photoshop, see above
  2. Add the rivet and surround as above
  3. Scan a vintage receipt, cut and paste lines in layers
  4. Add the scanned vintage letter in a ‘multiply’ / ‘soft light’ mode layer as above to add texture and colour
  5. Cut and paste the border from the vintage receipt. Download a vintage stamp from the correct era and add in two layers – multiply + soft light
  6. Add text and RetroNuevo logo
  7. Age the edges of the tag by adding extra layers of parts of the vintage letter in ‘multiply’ mode as above

graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

 

The double sided tags were printed locally on 300g watercolour paper to give them good heft and texture.

They were then cut, perforated with a hole punch and had their cut edges ‘aged’ with a brown felt tip pen before being strung with rustic twine.

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graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

These gorgeous and versatile boards will soon be on sale with other delightful RetroNuevo items such as wardrobes, doors, benches, vintage crates, fittings and other reclaimed treaures at the pop-up shop in San Ambrosio, near Vejer on the 9th, 10th and 11th of December 12-3pm . 

Click here for the exact location

retronuevo, reclaimed, upcycled, vintage, style, draw, paint effects, furniture

graphic design, vintage, fittings, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

retronuevo, reclaimed, upcycled, vintage, style, draw, paint effects, furniture, wardrobe