An Artist's Process

Tiny Robot Candle Co. hand carved stamp and Gift Card print.

Sometimes it’s nice to reflect on your own origin story and see how far you’ve come. While I have a bio on the about page, working on a project for Candle Co. had me thinking deeper, so I decided to write about it.

This mainly started because I offer the option to include a gift message when ordering candles. I usually send orders out with a “Thank You” postcard I designed and a hand written note (spoiler, for those of you who haven’t ordered before).

I like this personal touch. Each order really does mean a lot to me and it’s the easiest way for me to say thanks.

I realized after getting an order with the sweetest gift note that I didn’t actually have any small cards to include with gift orders. Since there’s no time to get anything professionally printed, and I hadn’t designed anything yet, I started problem solving.

“What if I made little cards and hand write the note on that? Okay, I can get blank ones at a craft store. Let’s see how small they make them”

(Full disclosure, I’ve been drawing my own cards for as long as I can remember at this point, I never really out grew the folded piece of printer paper with marker aesthetic of childhood, only upgraded to card stock and use better pens).

hmm… still working through this. What will be on the front of these cards?

“Oh yeah! I carved a stamp of my logo that I was going to print on my gift bags, it’s small enough already, I’ll just use that!”

Perfect. I’ll use my little Speedball printing supplies and get to work! The hardest part was already done, carving the Tiny Robot Candle Co. logo into that soft pink linoleum.

And since I’m a small business owner who does everything myself, I decided to record the process for Instagram, because as a small business owner, you’re also a slave to social media. Because of this, I also didn’t think to take process photos which would have been good for the blog but potato tomato.

Test prints. When I realized I had way too much ink on my roller and needed to thin it out significantly. Muscle memory took a while to kick back in.

I pulled out the inking tray, brayer, baren, spatula, stamp, and black ink. I unfolded all the 3” x 3” cards I purchased the day before. I squeeze out some ink, mix it up, and start the process of working it into the brayer. That smooth rhythmic motion of getting the ink to evenly distribute across the surface, looking for the little peaks, feeling the tackiness, the smacking sound every time you lift up.

Here’s where the flashbacks begin.

Rolling that ink out made me think of the countless Sundays I spent in the Hartford Art School print shop my senior year. By that last semester I was taking two design classes, one of which included working on my senior thesis, the other my portfolio, taking a junior thesis photography class for my minor, taking an art history class for my other minor, and falling even more madly in love with the printmaking process for my etching class.

If I could have (and boy do I wish I could have), I would have stayed at school for one extra year. I would have made my minor in Photography a second major and taken the equivalent of a minor’s worth of printmaking classes (I had 3 left to satisfy that requirement and more than 3 printmaking class I wanted to take), and because I’m so extra, would have sprinkled in a few more art histories, too.

I would have packed that 5th year with so much extra goodness, but I didn’t. And I still think about it often.

“What if…”

But the truth of the matter is, nothing would have changed that much. Sure, there’s a ton of knowledge I would have gained, further artistic pursuits, not to mention I could have pushed myself further. All worthwhile reasons to stay.

Regardless, I still feel like I’m one of the lucky ones.

I never stopped making art after getting that diploma, not for myself, and not as a career. I’ve been lucky to be both graphic designer and photographer at 4 different jobs post college, even if they weren’t what I had actually envisioned upon leaving college, they’re still nothing to poo-poo or dismiss.

And I still started my own photography business! Tiny Robot Studio was born because I was being asked to photograph events for friends, and I decided to make it official, but also leave it open ended. Danielle Capri Photography felt like it was to constricting, I needed a business that could be fluid, and grow, and encompass more art than just photography. I’ve never been able to focus on one medium, so why should my business?

And now I’m derailing from the topic, but I guess it’s all still relevant.

Inky.

Hand printing gift cards for Candle Co. reminded me that I’m someone who likes to make. And I’ll make as much of my business by hand as I possibly can for as long as I can. There’s something satisfying about saying “I made all this myself, from start to finish.”

At some point it will be time to grow and have help but for now and the foreseeable future, when you order something from Tiny Robot Studio, you’re actually receiving a little piece of me. Including potentially slightly off-centered hand printed gift cards.

That’s the beauty of being an artist, letting little bits of yourself live in the homes and lives of others. Sharing the beauty you see and experience with others.

And as final words of encouragement for other makers out there, continue to stay true to yourself and what makes you happy. It may be slow, it may take a while to catch on, it may never catch on. The important thing about art is expressing yourself and getting it out. Other people enjoying it too is just a bonus.

With glowing wicks and inky fingers,
Danielle