Freebie Friday-Two vintage digital downloads today

My apologies for being late for Freebie Friday….so I am making it up to you with two high resolution vintage images instead of one. One is a beautiful turn of the century floral, and the other is a vintage advertisement. To download, click on the image. Enjoy, and tell your friends about Vintage Art Download, the ONLY website on the ‘net with a huge, unprecedented selection of high resolution vintage and fine art downloads WITHOUT user restrictions.

No, I Don’t Like Cafe Press.

Like many artists, I was excited when I found Cafe Press. About ten years ago, I was looking for a way to print and resell my art on products, and Cafe Press seemed like a dream come true. I was able to simply upload my image, have them print it on products, fulfill the order, and I would just sit back and collect the commission checks. I wouldn’t have to worry about building a website; I wouldn’t have to deal with stuff like inventory, production, shipping, customer service, credit card processing. Not only that, I was able to preview what my product would look like before I created it, and I could do that right online with their nifty software. Wow, such a deal! Who can resist that?

My first red flag came after my computer crashed and I lost a goodly amount of original art. As a digital artist, my life is literally residing on my computer. Although I have huge eight external drives today, in those days I was working off one shaky hard drive, and when it finally exploded I knew I was in deep trouble. I had to beg Cafe Press–and I mean beg, and even cry hysterically on the phone—to talk them into sending me a disc with my own artwork on it.  After many phone calls and emails during which my sanity hung on a thread, they finally did, but grudgingly.  I found myself thanking them with embarassing, sniveling, tearful humility even though in actuality what I was asking for was not unreasonable–access to my own art. As I look back on that episode, it’s really no surprise that this arrogance manifested in many other, more sinister areas.

As many artists do, the first order of business when signing up with Cafe Press is creating products and ordering stuff for themselves, as well as for friends and family as gifts. I was no different. When my delivery came, the excitement with which I tore into the box subsided quickly once I saw what was inside. Crap. And no, I don’t think I am being harsh here. The wall calendar and greeting cards were printed on crummy, low quality paper stock and the colors were as washed out as if the pages been tossed in a washing machine; the tile coasters were not terrible, but the colors were way off–blues were too green and reds were more orange than red, and the tiles had none of the subtle gradations in hue and levels present in the originals; the clock was made from the crappiest, shoddiest plastic and I immediately dumped it in the trash–it was more suitable for a political slogan than for a piece of art. Okay, I thought: I’ll stick to the tiles and mugs and maybe my customers will like it.

But the real surprise came when I received my first order. I was told a “Mary” from “Oregon” had bought some mugs. I was very pleased about the sale and I couldn’t wait to thank her personally. I looked at my customer information, but couldn’t find any way to contact “Mary.” No address, no phone, no email. Nothing. Not even a last name. Confused, I emailed Cafe Press and asked them to send the my customer information. “We don’t do that,” I was told. Company policy. Were they kidding? Evidently not, as they didn’t consider Mary my customer, but theirs–even though it was my artwork she purchased. This was simply outrageous. I couldn’t believe they were actually getting away with this incredibly unfair policy, but, seemingly they were. Let’s get this straight: the artist is Cafe Press’ customer, the only one. The end buyer is the artist’s customer. Period. This glaring, unethical lack of transparency is terribly unfair to artists, not to mention exploitative. But there was nowhere else to go, so I continued promoting and adding to my store, but with markedly less enthusiasm than before.

And then I received an email from a lady in Colorado. She absolutely loved the multiple sets of “Black Cats” coasters she had purchased six months before; could I possibly make them for her in another color? I started to write back–of course I can change the color–but then I realized I never received any notification (or commission) from Cafe Press regarding this order. I logged in, checked my stats to make sure. Nothing. I emailed the customer, asking her if she was certain she had purchased from my store. “Oh yes,” she replied, and attached her invoice. There it was, in black and white. I wrote to Cafe Press, armed with proof of their error, but did not receive a response.

After another customer thanked me for the “pretty mug” she bought, another order I was first hearing about, I logged into my Cafe Press account, and angrily deleted my store. I called Cafe Press to complain about what happened and to tell them why I shut my store down and what I thought of the way they ran their business. They apologized, insisted it was an honest oversight, and though I asked for a full accounting of my orders and due commissions, I never received it. However, I did receive a check in the mail about four months later–without any corresponding accounting.

Now, I doubt very much if Cafe Press needs to steal commissions from a couple of mug and tile sales to make a profit. It probably was an oversight, and an honest  mistake. I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. However, this is the kind of thing that happens when you have zero transparency and refuse to give a vendor artist access to their own customer information–information they most certainly have a right to access. It’s also dumb business practice–nobody will promote their art the way the artist will, and to deny personal interaction between the artist and the customer—with the accompanying personal touch, news, sales, promos, works in progress, answers to questions–is undoubtedly costing them revenue. But hey, secrecy works for them, the artists don’t question/fight it, so it doesn’t seem to be hurting them.

When Glen and I opened Color Bakery in 2004, our goal was not only to custom print/manufacture my own work on quality products, but give other artists the opportunity to do the same. Cafe Press is the largest of an array of companies who offer custom printing and fulfillment services for gift and apparel items, but the fact remains that artists have precious few avenues to produce and resell their art on high quality items, items like glass and tumbled marble and fancy wood or metal serving trays, as well as items with lower price points.

It is a little frustrating when I hear from artists who are inquiring about the possibility of Color Bakery custom-printing their art on their products for resale, and they initially compare us to Cafe Press. If I say that comparison is akin to comparing a stick figure to a Renoir, people will call me arrogant. I’m really not being arrogant, I’m merely telling the truth: the breadth of our services, intensive personalization, customization capabilities, product diversity and quality is a million universes away from what Cafe Press does. I make it a point to work with the artists with issues such as color management, cropping, and product mix. I guarantee you nobody at Cafe Press sits at their desk fretting over a low resolution image (I’ll enlarge it); or taking a washed out scan and correcting the levels/removing the moire pattern; or making sure a rectangle crops into a square without compromising the artwork. In fact, I defy anyone to do those things

Bottom line? If someone is making and selling Obama tee shirts, Cafe Press is probably a great way to make some supplemental income. But artists who care about quality and the integrity of their work need to look around for other options.

New Victorian/Vintage French Style Romantic Glass Clock

Priscilla, Color Bakery’s newest Limited Edition 12″ glass clock features antique, vintage styling–a distressed floral background acting as a “canvas” for the vintage beauty carrying a basket of flowers. (The distressing surface is the artwork, the glass itself is not distressed). The clock numerals are from an authentic 18th century French clock. As with all our products and art, the Priscilla Clock is exclusive to Color Bakery. Perfect gift for Mother’s Day! Can be displayed on wall (ready to hang) or using clock stand.

We do not have a product photo yet, but this is the artwork from which it will be reproduced. We will get a photo of the product online as soon as possible, but this is a very accurate representation.

Beautifully reconstituted, (earth-friendly) smooth glass, delicate pale gold hands and incandescent color make this wall clock a stunning way to tell time. The stand-alone clock (no border or frame) enhances its beautiful design, compelling in elegant simplicity. Mounting hardware on back; takes one AA battery (not included).

Click image to see full size, and/or to purchase.

Freebie Friday: Compagnie, Les Maitres de L’affiche (Masters of the Poster)

Sorry I am a day late with this Freebie Friday vintage poster art. 300 dpi, 3000 pixels at its longest side, this French Chocolate Poster (Compagnie Francaise des Chocolats) is one of my favorite art posters from that glorious era of poster art. Click the image to download the full size. Please don’t forget to visit Vintage Art Download for much more vintage goodness at high resolution and no user restrictions.

Country French Vintage Grapes Clock

Beautiful 12″ glass wall or desk clock, Country French distressed antique styling. Click here to purchase/learn more.

Vintage Country French Floral Art Tray, “Jardin de Roses”

This elegant little wooden decorative personal tray (eight inches square) was designed with Mother’s Day in mind, whether she’s eighteen or eighty.

Featuring our newest vintage pastiche, “Jardin de Roses” from our vintage gallery, the tray has a vintage Country French distressed feel. You can choose any image and we will customize the tray for you, and you can choose between black and natural wood finish. If you would like to order the tray as shown, just type “Jardin de Roses” in the empty field.

Click HERE to order, click the image to see full size.

Distressed, vintage style glass clock: Tulipes Francais

I finally got around to designing the kind of clock I’ve been wanting for our foyer–an authentic vintage French stylized clock with a beautiful floral design, banked with delicate vintage scrolls and flourishes. We don’t have a product photo yet, but this is the artwork which will be printed on our newly designed 12″ round glass wall clock. This is a Limited Edition clock, exclusive to Color Bakery. The artwork is adapted from an actual vintage French clock. This is a *perfect* gift for Mother’s Day.

To find out more/purchase, click the image, or click here.

Freebie Friday: Cosmydor Savon, Vintage French Poster Download

No verbosity from me today; woke up with extreme nausea (nope, not pregnant) and feeling a bit shaky today. This beautiful image has no restrictions on use, and is 300 DPI. Click the image to download the high resolution size. Wonderful for derivative works, ATC, altered art, collage, scrapbooking, web design, etc. Enjoy. Remember, if you want the best selection of vintage and fine art in digital format, high res with no user restrictions, visit Vintage Art Download. Whether you’re looking for the masters (Renoir, Klimt, Mucha, Van Gogh, Degas) or vintage ephemera, posters, ads, labels, and much more, here’s no site even remotely like it.

Free Desktop Wallpaper Download: “Unrequited”

A moody piece I did a few years ago; altered photography. A bit romantic, a bit Goth, a bit edgy.  For your desktop pleasure and for private use *only*. Enjoy

Click the image to download.

Why I love (and highly recommend) Irfanview.

Every time I use Irfanview I discover some other little magical power-packed feature that comes in handy.  Besides being able to view all your images in the way you like them, it does a lot more than just resave and resize in different formats. If you install of Irfanview’s free plugins, this little, non-bloated program packs a huge punch and can help you with very sophisticated requirements. And I mean more than viewing slideshows, although it can do that, too.

There are a lot of image viewers out there, such as the popular (and commercialware) ACDSee, but none of them can hold a candle to Irfanview.

With Irfanview, you can implement sophisticated batch processes such as twain processing (scanner, camera);  mass image renaming, batch resizing, batch image type, batch processed rotating, batch saturation changing,  batch DPI, batch sharpening, brightness, contrast, color balance, text overlay, color depth and RGB assigning, and more. You can add and strip EXIF data, add EXIF comments, take screenshots, assign desktop wallpaper. It’s also a multi-media player–and a damn good one that can handle anything you toss at it.

Irfanview is not a big bloaty program, and its interface is simple and intuitive.

Irfanview is constantly upgrading and improving their fabulous software, and it still remains (amazingly) free. Just make sure you download all the plugins so that you get all the benefits of Irfanview. I love it, I couldn’t work without  it, and am grateful to the folks at Irfanview for continuing to make it available for free. Download it, you’ll love it.

Click on image to see bigger screenshot.