Wednesday, September 19, 2007
"First Aid", "Rabindranath Tagore", "Robert Burns", "Walter P. Ruther" and "Tyres" are the latest TOBY CARDS to come off the drawing board. Click on any image to scale it up.
A few of the photographs that I employ come from screen shots from the internet and old newspaper clippings. I attempt to always use unattributed images and to alter the work to quite an appreciable degree. Naturally, should I receive notice of copyright infringement, I will immediately remove the offending image from stock and publish an apology immediately.
Remember, the colours you see on a computer's screen aren't necessarily those you'll see on the actual card. Printing on uncoated stock, one not produced especially for inkjet, has its drawbacks, but I greatly prefer the matte surface to a glossy one. I am also interested in using a paper that can be written on with any instrument, be it pencil, ballpoint, etc. Weight, opacity and score-ability (?)for folding are further concerns
A few of the photographs that I employ come from screen shots from the internet and old newspaper clippings. I attempt to always use unattributed images and to alter the work to quite an appreciable degree. Naturally, should I receive notice of copyright infringement, I will immediately remove the offending image from stock and publish an apology immediately.
Remember, the colours you see on a computer's screen aren't necessarily those you'll see on the actual card. Printing on uncoated stock, one not produced especially for inkjet, has its drawbacks, but I greatly prefer the matte surface to a glossy one. I am also interested in using a paper that can be written on with any instrument, be it pencil, ballpoint, etc. Weight, opacity and score-ability (?)for folding are further concerns
Monday, September 17, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
The Department of Disclaimers Department at TOBY HEAVY INDUSTRIES LTD., here to refered to as DDD, has forced me to provide you, the potential customers, with certain supersensitive industrial secrets heretofore never revealed to the unsuspecting and easily misled puplic. To wit: The charming and extraodinary cards and booklets which TOBY HEAVY INDUSTRIES LIMITED hawks on this site, and AS VIEWED ON THE SCREEN BEFORE YOU, may or may not exactly look just about but pretty darn near thereabouts to the real object should you be lucky and discriminating enough to purchase one in the near future and actually hold one in your hand and look at with your very own eyes, as prices and availability are subject to change with out notice. Please make out checks and money orders payable to: IAN C. SHORT.
The colors on your screen are subtractive hues based on the RGB system. Watch out! They're shining directly into your eyes and appear very vivid and super bright. Printed colors such as those on TOBY CARDS, on the other hand, are based on 4 or 6 color CMYK process systems. The colors you see are reflected off the paper with light from whatever crumby source you happen to be using. Anyway, the two color systems are different. So just give us some slack. OK?
And another thing. I print each card out individually. Heavy stock is a bit fussy to feed through my little Epson, so I don't walk away while it's working its little heart out to produce these exceptionally refined examples of contemporary art. I'm also apt to react to the color and image on my screen and tweek or even alter them drastically. You can see this in a couple of the cards shown. LIve with it.
There! That should keep the pencil pushers over at DDD quiet for another week or so! Thank You.
The colors on your screen are subtractive hues based on the RGB system. Watch out! They're shining directly into your eyes and appear very vivid and super bright. Printed colors such as those on TOBY CARDS, on the other hand, are based on 4 or 6 color CMYK process systems. The colors you see are reflected off the paper with light from whatever crumby source you happen to be using. Anyway, the two color systems are different. So just give us some slack. OK?
And another thing. I print each card out individually. Heavy stock is a bit fussy to feed through my little Epson, so I don't walk away while it's working its little heart out to produce these exceptionally refined examples of contemporary art. I'm also apt to react to the color and image on my screen and tweek or even alter them drastically. You can see this in a couple of the cards shown. LIve with it.
There! That should keep the pencil pushers over at DDD quiet for another week or so! Thank You.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Thinking things up as I go along.
My Name is Ian Short, father of bluegal. That kind of reminds me of the Tales of King Arthur book I had as a child. It was illustrated by the great N.C. Wyeth, father of Andy. The caption from one of my favorite illustrations was this, or very nearly like it: "My name is Sir Lancelot du Lac, King Bans' son of Benwick and knight of the Round Table." Take that!
My hope is to get everything straightened out on this site before the first snowfall of winter, or a certain person or two is impeached from office, which ever comes first!
I'm doing everything by ear, and every other day will realise that I haven't included this or that bit of information, or have omitted a perfectly striking image that got misplaced by being saved in the wrong folder, etc., etc. Most of my sins of omission are the direct result of the computer vs a person of my advanced age, raw inexperience, or years upon years of accumulated, blissful economic ignorance.
Case in point. If I'm making these cards with even the slightest intention of selling them, have I provided prospective customers with enough information about how to purchase the little buggers? Hell no!
Right now I'm without the knowledge or skills, or perhaps the required rosy optimism and intestinal fortitude to set up a PayPal account, or involve myself too deeply with whatever alternate systems have spontaneously arisen to deal with the tawdry details regarding the consumation of internet sales transactions. Later, perhaps.
Money orders are, of course, always welcomed. Personal cheques must clear the banking system before any of our tasteful products are shipped out of the vast and sprawling Toby Heavy Industries warehouses here on Pittsburgh's North Side. Sending cash through the mail is always a bit risky, and you won't have a receipt or cheque stub to prove that you've even ordered cards when and if they fail to arrive in your possession. But cash will work.
To that issue: what I will say in my defense is that I am generally honest; dread anyone feeling ill will towards me; am easy to track down, and am totally intimidated by the very thought of lawyers, police officers, or a guy named Lenny the Fish,* knocking on my door. (* I trust that this moniker is generic enough to avoid a particularly disparaging ethnic stereotype associated with certain gentlemen featured on the popular HBO television series, "The Soprano's.")
The cost, per card, is $4.00 including postage and handling. Any one ordering twenty cards with no less than four separate images, will receive one additional card, for a total of twenty-one, at no additional cost whatsoever! The name of each card, if I remember rightly, is typed under its image on the site. If you can't read the name or for one reason or another it's non-existant, a brief description should be enough to insure getting the card or cards you want.
Sorry about the copyright warning slash. I picked that up from stamp collectors catalogs. With it's white background and blue lettering, it kind of reminds me of the paper strip maid service personel leave on the toilet seat in a hotel room: "Sanitised for your protection."
Oh, yes! The address for Toby Heavy Industries Ltd. is:
Toby Heavy Industries Ltd.
The Running Dog Press Division
518 Foreland Street, 2-1/2 fl., rear
Pittsburgh, PA 15212-4911
(412) 321-8664
i.short8@gmail.com
My hope is to get everything straightened out on this site before the first snowfall of winter, or a certain person or two is impeached from office, which ever comes first!
I'm doing everything by ear, and every other day will realise that I haven't included this or that bit of information, or have omitted a perfectly striking image that got misplaced by being saved in the wrong folder, etc., etc. Most of my sins of omission are the direct result of the computer vs a person of my advanced age, raw inexperience, or years upon years of accumulated, blissful economic ignorance.
Case in point. If I'm making these cards with even the slightest intention of selling them, have I provided prospective customers with enough information about how to purchase the little buggers? Hell no!
Right now I'm without the knowledge or skills, or perhaps the required rosy optimism and intestinal fortitude to set up a PayPal account, or involve myself too deeply with whatever alternate systems have spontaneously arisen to deal with the tawdry details regarding the consumation of internet sales transactions. Later, perhaps.
Money orders are, of course, always welcomed. Personal cheques must clear the banking system before any of our tasteful products are shipped out of the vast and sprawling Toby Heavy Industries warehouses here on Pittsburgh's North Side. Sending cash through the mail is always a bit risky, and you won't have a receipt or cheque stub to prove that you've even ordered cards when and if they fail to arrive in your possession. But cash will work.
To that issue: what I will say in my defense is that I am generally honest; dread anyone feeling ill will towards me; am easy to track down, and am totally intimidated by the very thought of lawyers, police officers, or a guy named Lenny the Fish,* knocking on my door. (* I trust that this moniker is generic enough to avoid a particularly disparaging ethnic stereotype associated with certain gentlemen featured on the popular HBO television series, "The Soprano's.")
The cost, per card, is $4.00 including postage and handling. Any one ordering twenty cards with no less than four separate images, will receive one additional card, for a total of twenty-one, at no additional cost whatsoever! The name of each card, if I remember rightly, is typed under its image on the site. If you can't read the name or for one reason or another it's non-existant, a brief description should be enough to insure getting the card or cards you want.
Sorry about the copyright warning slash. I picked that up from stamp collectors catalogs. With it's white background and blue lettering, it kind of reminds me of the paper strip maid service personel leave on the toilet seat in a hotel room: "Sanitised for your protection."
Oh, yes! The address for Toby Heavy Industries Ltd. is:
Toby Heavy Industries Ltd.
The Running Dog Press Division
518 Foreland Street, 2-1/2 fl., rear
Pittsburgh, PA 15212-4911
(412) 321-8664
i.short8@gmail.com
Friday, September 7, 2007
Saturday, September 1, 2007
My name is Ian Short. I've made postcards for years and years, but only decided to get serious about the business end of things about a month ago. With the encouragement and assistance of a long time acquaintance of mine, the vituperative, foul mouthed blogger on the left, bluegal, I've set up this site as a means of allowing my work to be better known to a broader, and, yes, hipper audience!
I print out the cards on an Epson inkjet printer one at a time, so "inventory" is usually quite low. As of today, I have about sixty or so different card images stored on my little dual-core imac. All the cards were created from an eclectic pile of old images, a scanner and Adobe Photoshop 10.
When and if I receive enough positive feed-back on a particular selection or group of cards, I may very well abandon the least popular, and concentrate on the production of those that sell. I'll still try to come up with one or two new cards every week.
I make the cards primarily for self amusement, since I have absolutely no sense of how they'll be received, or even less of a true business sense about anything. Most of the people that I've shown my cards to respond positively. I've even sold some to a local museum's gift shop, and placed twenty or so on consignment with a pretty hip gallery in town. I hope you'll like them too.
I print out the cards on an Epson inkjet printer one at a time, so "inventory" is usually quite low. As of today, I have about sixty or so different card images stored on my little dual-core imac. All the cards were created from an eclectic pile of old images, a scanner and Adobe Photoshop 10.
When and if I receive enough positive feed-back on a particular selection or group of cards, I may very well abandon the least popular, and concentrate on the production of those that sell. I'll still try to come up with one or two new cards every week.
I make the cards primarily for self amusement, since I have absolutely no sense of how they'll be received, or even less of a true business sense about anything. Most of the people that I've shown my cards to respond positively. I've even sold some to a local museum's gift shop, and placed twenty or so on consignment with a pretty hip gallery in town. I hope you'll like them too.
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