Minting Work as NFTs: Phosphate Font in Paper

I’m thrilled to announce I have a new body of work available as NFTs. Please visit my project page on Foundation to view and purchase a piece.

NFTs are a thing. No really, they are. My original position on NFTs up until the end of last year was, “Why would anyone want to do that?” I’ve had a few months to come around to the idea of creating and selling my artwork as NFTs, and I am super excited by the possibilities.

My partner, Boris Mann, is a technologist and entrepreneur, and he is always on the leading edge of where things are heading in the long-term trends and growth of the internet. He’s experimented lots with crypto, and has been a collector of NFTs for some time. Despite my initial reluctance, I now find myself fully invested in learning more and growing my art practice in the web3 and NFT space because of his advice and guidance.

Last week I took the leap into minting my first collection on Foundation, called Phosphate Font in Paper. The pieces are the 26 letters of the latin alphabet, utilizing the phosphate typeface, and created from multiple layers of cut paper.

Here’s what I wrote in my portfolio description for the original work, which are the letter portion of the series I created for 36 Days of Type in March and April 2022.

I worked with the Phosphate Solid font to create my letter and number forms. I chose a palette of four main colours for the letter layers, and a larger range of colours for the pattern layers. The elements are a mix of hand-cut, and machine cut patterns made with Canson Mi-Tientes papers. Each letter was composed and assembled from four layers of paper with foam core spacers in between each, photographed, and then disassembled for further use in the series.

While each letter was assembled from real physical paper elements as I described, these are ephemeral pieces: the “originals” only existed until they were photographed. The digital artifact represents the final version of the work.  They seemed like the perfect body of work to turn into an NFT art series.

What am I hoping to accomplish with this exploration of NFT art? Make money (of course), expand my audience, and connect with new collectors outside of the very limited space of selling physical pieces of art in the small market of Vancouver. There is a lot of ridiculously overhyped and overpriced art in the NFT space, and I don’t want that for myself. I’m just hoping to create a new income stream that is sustainable, and engage with collectors who have a long-term interest in supporting my work. 

I also want to start collecting NFTs myself. Because I am so new to the space, I haven’t yet started to do that. I’ve been buying art a few times a year for many years, and these pieces fill the home I share with Boris. What will it mean to collect NFTs?  I want to continue to support other artists with my dollars, as well as help mentor more artists entering the web3 and NFT space. 

If you’re NFT savvy already, you can follow me on Foundation @rachaelashe. I’ll be sharing more about my explorations and learnings in the space. If you’re a curious artist, you can check out some of the resources from a recent NFT artist workshop that I helped organize in Vancouver.

 

Daily Projects: 36 Days of Type, Numbers Part 1

The letters portion of the series wrapped up at the end of March, and then I began rolling on (on IG) the numbers part of the series. I decided I wanted a new element to use for the numbers, and hand cut a motif of leafy clusters in three colours. I had to create tiny foam core spacers at the back, which was challenging.

 

Daily Projects: 36 Days of Type, Part 2

36 Days of Type continues with the letters E through H. The composition of the H is my favourite in this batch of four. I’ve actually been composing, photographing, and processing these in batches of seven at a time. It takes a couple hours of work to do this but it’s more efficient to work this way than one at a time.

I cut a few new patterns to use starting with the H, and also began incorporating a series of hand-cut half-circles in shades of blue that have been languishing in a drawer for years. 

 

 

 

 

 

Daily Projects: 36 Days of Type

On Monday the latest edition of 36 Days of Type went live for the ninth year, and for the first time I am participating. I had planned way ahead to take part because I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to play and explore new ideas. 

I decided early on that I would not hand make everything and definitely not create finished paper-crafted pieces. It’s just too much to take on for a daily project. I decided to use my digital cutter to create many of the pattern layers, and I cut them each in more than one colour. The letter forms are hand-cut because I needed them to be perfect, and the digital cutter is far from perfect. It too often has sudden meltdowns that lead to mis-cut patterns and butchered paper. 

I compose each letter design using four or five layers with foam core spacers in between each, take a few photos, and then pull it apart to create the next letter. I’m working with six colours, and cycling through four of those colours as the top letter layers – red, violet, indigo, and bright blue. These are the first four of my upcoming 26 letters and 10 numbers.

 

 

 

In case you are wondering, the inner shapes of the A, B and D are floating there on tiny pieces of foam core. 

I was looking for a project to energize, challenge, and inspire me, and this is absolutely doing the job. It’s an incredible amount of work, even without hand-making everything, but so worth it.

 

28 Days of Hearts – Day 28

It’s Day 28 – the last day of 28 Days of Hearts! I love this final piece in the series, using a satin stitch to create a heart made of thread within the paper heart. I used a gorgeous variegated indigo sashiko thread that has been waiting patiently in my stash of supplies for far too long.

For the final piece of the project, I am going to put together another stop motion video of all 28 hearts. Stay tuned!