Pink Bathtub
With no formal training in the arts one might wonder how Noelle from PinkBathtub.etsy.com became the creative person she is today. It all started with an old map from Los Angeles she saved and a visit to an art supply store back in 2004 when her husband suggested she purchase a basic block printing kit. If memory serves Noelle correctly, she remembers looking at him a bit funny but then agreed. Still not sure about the whole process she carved a few rudimentary blocks, but wasn’t really sure where she would go with it all until her very creative sister (aubreyhyde.etsy.com) inspired her to “think outside of the box”…do groupings of images, use repetition, make lemons blue, these kinds of things.
Noelle likes to use Staedtler Mastercarve blocks, Speedball carving tools, Palette ink pads, Thomas Guide maps, Micron .005 black pens and Neenah cardstock. She buys most of her supplies on line from Dick Blick - dickblickblckheadstamps.com. Most of her maps have come from ebay, and her cardstock from Neenah.com.
“I love my cardstock, its super heavy and 80% post-consumer recycled!”
Mastercarve blocks are made of a soft vinyl material. I find them the easiest to carve.
Inspiration is never an issue for Noelle.
“I know it may sound cliché, but inspiration is literally all around me. I am inspired by items in my kitchen, studio and of course by whatʼs growing in my garden. Flipping through a magazine or gazing out a window. I am certainly energized by other artists and the sea of art/design related websites out there. There are too many to name! Of course Etsy.com, decor8.com, printpattern.blogspot.com and I love perusing Flickr.com.”
