ACEO backs

[ozarkgypsyart]

How do you keep your art cards clean on the back ? I try so hard not to get paint on the backs and some always shows up. I've seen the backs of some that are so nice and neat but I just can't figure it out or I'm just a really messy painter :) Juli

[artistjillian]

I actually don't mind messy backs. I think it adds to the 'original' quality. Doing watercolors, it sometimes just can't be helped. If it's really messy, then I might mind a bit more. You can always put a sticker over it, or else, if it's paint, add more color, and a small ink sketch to look like it was intentional, abstract. :D Then again, I have cards with VERY professional looking backs, and ADORE them! ~Jillian

[sunshinesketches]

I don't mind messy backs either. If you really want to avoid them, I guess you could leave a margin around the ACEO size, then crop it later. That way the paint wouldn't bleed around the edges. I used to worry about the backs too, but then realized that it doesn't matter much, that's the size that few people pay attention to! /Karen

[ozarkgypsyart]

Thank you both ! I also don't mind the messy backs but I've seen some really fancy backs on some and thought maybe it was the way they should be. They did look very cool. The only drawback I've found to ACEO's is that sometimes I worry so much about the details (backs that aren't for sale anyway) that I forget that I paint them becuase I love to paint. Juli

[pattyspaintedpretties]

I'm picky here. I do touch up to the backs of mine. I guess I don't mind on the ones I buy, but the ones I sell I want to be as neat as possible. I feel I am selling the back as well and it shows that I cared enough to make it as attractive as possible. Just my thoughts.

[enchantedmosaics]

Interesting! I just assumed the backs would be finished. I mount the painting on cardstock, and print a lable to glue on the back with a glue stick. The lable has my logo, company name, medium, title, and signature.

[artistjillian]

Well I put all my information on the backs of mine. But in doing watercolor, it sometimes, mysteriously, gets on the backs. The time I spend with my watercolors, I'm not about to destroy the painting just because that happened, nor reject wonderful artwork that has a less than pristine back. I write direct onto the card in most cases. I am reluctant to use a label (though sometimes do), in case the glue weakens in time and the 2 become parted.

[ozarkgypsyart]

I mainly use acrylics and no matter how hard I try, some always creeps round the corners. I love the fancy backs, they look very nice ! But I think I'll just go with the au naturel look. Kind of goes better with the tiny organic homestead they're painted on lol I did buy an acid free pen tho :) Juli

[mountainshack]

I like the variety that artists do with the backs of cards. It doesn't matter to me much what the back is like. I bid on the front, not the back. If I liked the art on the front, then I wouldn't care if it was chicken scratch on the back! I do try to make mine as professional as possible though. But that's just my style. If you looked at my son's cards though, you could definately tell that an 8 year old wrote it out! But that's just his style!

[christine34243]

This is an interesting thread to read! I loooove the messy backs, but I always cover them up because I just thought buyers would NOT like it. Hmmmm........ I am a preschool teacher, and when my easel at school is clean, it looks like no one paints there -- so the messy backs, to me, just mean someone was busy creating!!! Christine

[jeanze]

Though I'm not bothered by messy backs on the back of art cards I purchase, I manage to keep the backs of mine clean by (as Karen mentioned) leaving a border and cropping the art card when it is completed, and when working with paints, I sometimes even use a tiny bit of masking tape on the corners of the borders to keep the card flat on my surface. My "surface" is usually an old re-used piece of the same kind of paper on which I'm working. This also gives me space for swiping brushes or testing colors and mediums (pencils, pens, markers, paints) and so on. Leaving a border while working on your card is also a terrific help if you are planning to mount the card on card stock or mat or whatever. I trim the card stock to just a bit larger than the bordered ACEO, apply the bonding agent, mount and let it dry. Then when I crop, the results are even edges and a nice tight bond with no loose spots, and no glue or rubber cement getting near the edges of the art card. Tah dum! :-) Jeanne

[southshoreartist]

I too get a little paint around the edges on the back. I used to worry about it, and would try all kinds of things to clean it up. I don't anymore. I think paint stains just adds to the "originality" of the whole card. I write over top the paint and and my label.

[beachindeal]

Good grief...if I worried about making the back pretty too, I'd never get anything listed. And leaving a border to be trimmed is a great idea, but I'd feel like I was wasting paper. As it is, I have a pile of pieces of what remains after I cut a 9 X 12 into cards...can't throw them away but doubt they'll be used for anything! I'm pretty tidy, but I always wind up with *some* smudgies on the back. I think it just looks like what it is -- the back of an original painting. I then neatly print the title, medium, and date, and add my signature. Some collectors request that the pieces they purchase are initialed on the front as well, otherwise I don't sign the front. Maybe someday I'll do some "special editions" with fancy backs...

[jeanze]

LOL! Beachindeal, first off, I love your eBay ID! I used to save all the trimming from the 9 x 12" papers, too, but it got a bit out of hand. Then came the moment when I just kinda' traced my template(the card outline)on the 9 x 12, and then scissor cut leaving the borders, since I'd made a conscious decision to stop saving the scraps. I didn't feel the need to be meticulous and discovered the joy of borders. I've done it that way ever since. The borders are all of 1/4" if that, but a really handy spot to test and dab and compare, and I just trim them off after the card is completed.

[art-by-darla-h]

I have a question for those that use playing cards what do you do with the backs of those? Darlene