Do you live in the USA and like to keep the 4th of July or “Americana” decor up all summer long? Then you’ll love the America Marquee SVG I designed for the new SVG group I have joined.
I live across the state border from Portland, OR and this is a pretty famous sign in the city.
It’s definitely fun to see it lit up at night, and it was the inspiration for my America Marquee design!
Use this form to get the free America SVG delivered to your email.
You can resize it to fit any kind of project you want to make.
If you’re going to cut out the vinyl in single pieces to go on a tall porch board like I have pictured, you’ll want to use a Silhouette, or a Cricut “3” machine that can cut vinyl without a mat.
You could also cut the design from stencil vinyl and paint on the design.
For more fun red, white, and blue designs to use for the rest of your summer, visit each link below
To get the most out of the designs you download from Crafting in the Rain, here are some useful posts.
An alleged arson attack destroyed a giant installation of the Venus of the Rags sculpture in Naples, Italy, by the famed contemporary artist Michelangelo Pistoletto on Wednesday.
The installation was first created in 1967 and several versions of it are on display in museums around the world but the new, massive version of it had just been inaugurated two weeks ago in Naples’ Piazza del Municipio in the center of the city.
The work juxtaposes a statue of the Roman goddess Venus with a pile of rags and is meant to provide commentary on consumerism and the degradation of society.
“Deep dismay at what happened to the Venus Of The Rags,” said Naples Major Gaetano Manfredi in a statement translated from Italian.
“Now, however, is the time for a response from the city: I have already heard from Pistoletto, the work will be redone. Violence and vandalism will not stop art, regeneration and culture in Naples.”
Pistoletto shared a video message to his Twitter on Wednesday in which he also addressed the destruction of his work.
“My first reaction was a strong control of emotion because reason must always win for me,” Pistoletto said in Italian.
Piercamillo Falasca, vice secretary of the Piu Europa political party, said in a statement he was returning home on his scooter and stopped admiring the sculpture as he often did – just hours before it was burned.
“Naples is doing a huge job to find itself. The city is more lively and attractive than ever, but it still has within itself that evil plant of incivility that we must all, all, work to eradicate. Solidarity with the mayor Gaetano Manfredi and the artist Michelangelo Pistoletto,” Falasca said in Italian.
Manfredi told reporters that the work would be recreated and Falasca said crowdfunding efforts to raise money for the new work had already begun.
More Trending Stories:
What Opulence Lay Behind Marie Antoinette’s Secret Bedroom Door? The Palace of Versailles Has Just Reopened the Queen’s Hidden Chambers
An Ornate Viking-Era Relic Unearthed by a Metal Detectorist in the UK Could Fetch More Than $30,000 at Auction
A Rediscovered Portrait of Katherine Parr, Henry VIII’s Sixth Wife, Fetches Four Times Its High Estimate at Sotheby’s
Art Industry News: More Museums Distance Themselves From David Adjaye After Allegations + Other Stories
For Their First US Museum Show, Artist Wynnie Mynerva Has Reimagined the Creation Myth as an Act of Rebellion Against the Patriarchy
An Israeli First-Grader Stumbled on a 3,500-Year-Old Egyptian Amulet on a School Trip
Why Hasn’t Atlanta’s Art Scene Flourished Like Other Cities in the South? A Tragic Tale May Hold the Answer
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Every week, Artnet News brings you The Gray Market. The column decodes important stories from the previous week—and offers unparalleled insight into the inner workings of the art industry in the process.
This week, the past isn’t through with us…
The Duveen Agenda
Few things help put the present-day art market in perspective more keenly than studying key figures from the art market’s past. After reading SN Behrman’s biography of the bravura early 20th century art dealer Joseph Duveen over the past few weeks, I’m struck by the ways that a few of Duveen’s signature strategies show what has changed and what has stayed eerily similar about the trade in the 84 years since his death. The split is instructive. It shows that while some key aspects of any era’s art sales are grounded in mutable market conditions, much of it comes down to human psychology, which is all but guaranteed to endure not just from decade to decade but from century to century.
Who was Joseph Duveen? The question enlivened not only Behrman’s 1951 book (which is titled simply duveen) but several others written to chronicle his life and career in the family business of selling increasingly fine things to increasingly fine people. In just two generations, the Duveen patriarchs progressed from dealing Delft tiles and furniture to window shoppers at an overstuffed storefront in the British port city of Hull, to brokering the sales of the most prized artworks on the planet to British royalty and the American robber- barons whose names still adorn some of the most august cultural institutions in the US
Although Duveen’s father, Joseph Joel Duveen, and his uncle, Henry Duveen, deserve real credit for the rise of the family business, neither of them have ever so much dabbled in selling paintings. It was their son and nephew who pushed the Duveens headlong into the market for fine artworks. After his father and uncle died, Joseph took control of the family business and supercharged it into immortality, becoming the primary (if not the exclusive) dealer to the steel magnate Henry Clay Frick, Arabella Huntington (who, in an unorthodox turn, married both the railroad tycoon Collis P. Huntington and, after his death, his nephew and successor, Henry E. Huntington, founder of the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens), and the banker and industrialist Andrew W. Mellon, to name just a few.
Recounting how Duveen did this is where the real fun begins. He created an international network of informants by doling out cash and kind words to the butlers, valets, housekeepers, ship crewmen, and other support staff to as many of the world’s wealthiest individuals as he could manage. He accused rivals of selling forgeries that he knew to be genuine purely because of the damage it would do to their client relations, even if it meant Duveen himself would be dragged into court with a losing case. He sometimes bought works that he believed were beneath his collectors (including then-contemporary pieces by the likes of Monet) for the express purpose of burying them in his gallery’s basement, minimizing the odds that his clients would ever see and potentially thrill to anything else than his Old Masters.
A 1929 courtroom illustration from the slander lawsuit brought against Joseph Duveen by Mrs. Andree Lardoux Hahn, whose sale of a purported Leonardo da Vinci painting to the Kansas City Art Museum was canceled after Duveen cast doubt on its authenticity. Image credit: Bettman via Getty Images.
In fact, one of Duveen’s signatures was to channel this last tactic into an even more audacious form. It’s nothing short of a monopoly mindset. Here’s Behrman on this point:
Professor CM Bowra of Oxford has said that Duveen was “the most symbolic figure of the twenties.” Certainly Duveen was a man of his time. It was a time of monopoly, and Duveen out-monopolized the monopolists who were among his biggest clients. In some people, the impulse to own everything appears to be congenital. Beyond the first victory, the horizons widen; they have to control not only the main stream but its tributaries. The impulse becomes a drive that demands the extermination not only of rivals but of potential rivals—a refusal to allow them to live, or even to be born. This temperament is not confined to businessmen. Some artists, scholars, and professional philosophers have it, and even, frozen in the dictates of ideology, some humanitarians; once you’ve palmed the truth, it becomes logical to destroy those who don’t share it… Duveen’s career was dominated by this monopolistic drive.
First off, what a paragraph! More importantly, though, it’s important to understand how Duveen acted on this impulse. Strategically, tactically, and financially, he would go to extraordinary lengths to instill in his clients that they could only get the very best works through him, and only when he determined they were ready for them. He did this most often by buying everything he considered to be of real quality before anyone else could manage to do it. Hyper-aware thanks to his web of informants, he bought works privately that his competitors didn’t even know were on the market. He bought pieces at auction, winning bidding war after bidding war. He bought entire collections in bulk even when he was only interested in a small subset of the inventory.
Duveen worked for and against himself on this front by doing one thing over and over throughout his career: paying the highest prices he possibly could. Although Duveen had been generating sales and raising hell in equally notable proportions within the family business since several years earlier, Behrman contends that Duveen’s true introduction to art dealing came in 1901, when he bought his first painting, John Hoppner’s Lady Louisa Mannersfor what was then the highest price ever paid for an artwork at a British auction: $70,250. He broke through that ceiling again and again over the next 38 years, and he did so entirely by design.
Most telling of all, Duveen was known to bid things up even when he was only competing against himself. Early in the book, Behrman recounts how he once asked a minor noble to name her price for a particular artwork, then balked at how low the number was when she complied. He only agreed to buy the work for a multiple of her price.
This might sound like idiocy. In reality, it was cunning. Among Duveen’s many hall of fame quotes about art dealing, none is more memorable to me than “When you pay high for the priceless, you’re getting it cheap.” This would scan as self-aggrandizing if not for the fact that he managed to get the richest people on the planet to believe it. Here’s Behrman again:
How did it come about that great money man of that era gradually came to accept Duveen’s simple, unworldly view that art was more important than money? One theory is that Duveen had inculcated into them that art was priceless and that when you pay for the infinite with the finite, you are indeed getting it for a bargain. Perhaps it was for this reason that they felt better when they paid a lot. It gave them the assurance of acquiring genuineness, rarity, uniqueness.
Behrman follows this assertion with another art market anecdote from the Gilded Age, this time concerning second-generation American Joseph Widener, the heir to a trolley fortune and one of the eventual founding benefactors of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC:
A lesser dealer had a Rossellino bust for which he had paid $22,000. Joseph E. Widener went in to look at it. The dealer needed money and offered it for $25,000, thinking to tempt Widener into a quick purchase. The moderateness of the price was fatal. “Find me a better one,” Widener said. Duveen would have asked a quarter of a million, and got it.
It’s possible that no one in art-dealing history has weaponized high prices as deftly as Duveen. It wasn’t just that he found a way to finance such knee-buckling deals for individual artworks and entire collections; it was that he marketed his spending so that everyone with at least a passing interest would associate his name with the most valuable artwork on earth. Duveen even regularly tantalized the American press into publishing not only what his most recent major acquisition abroad was but how much it had cost him to get it––a fact that I can’t wait to mention to the next living dealer who scolds me for being gauche enough to ask about prices at an art fair.
It’s between Duveen’s hunger for monopoly and his genius for price psychology that we can triangulate the present-day art market. Although the trade is still a niche one in 2023, its scale looks galactic compared to the early 20th century.
Duveen’s central insight at the time was that almost no one with means in the US was using those means to buy great artwork, a market inefficiency memorialized in his quip, “Europe has a great deal of art, and America has a great deal of money .” Implied in this matter-of-fact statement is that there was almost no one else who had recognized the potential value of correcting the mismatch. (I say “almost” because the only rival mentioned multiple times in Behrman’s book is Knoedler & Co., and in Behrman’s telling, Duveen was nearly undefeated against them.) Even the most respected observer of the 21st century art trade has to admit that we’re well past a point where a single dealer could corner the market on a budding national superpower.
Duveen’s ambitions were also aided by the fact that there was only one genre and region of artwork considered worth paying top dollar for: European Old Masters. In comparison, it sounds like a utopia of choice to have five global mega-galleries and dozens of slightly lesser blue-chip dealers promoting an international array of living artists and estates with equal fervor, to say nothing of the auction houses and reaching private sellers deeper into the past for more high-end opportunities.
That said, Duveen’s insight about the mesmeric quality of a sky-high price on wealthy buyers is evergreen, at least when it comes to artwork and other subjective luxuries. Just as people tend to think cheap wine tastes markedly better if they’re told it’s more expensive, they also tend to think that artwork looks better (and has more meaning) if they know it is extremely costly. Despite all the scholarships and connoisseurship available, at some level we’re all just making arguments to back up our innate preferences within categories where there are no verifiable measures of quality. In this land of intuition and guesswork, price is still a signal that nearly everyone responds in the same way. We can’t help it. It’s just the way our lizard brains are wired. And it won’t be any different in 2201 than it was in 1901, when Duveen set his first auction record.
This doesn’t mean that every rising art dealer can or should slap a million-dollar price tag on every piece in their inventory. It doesn’t even mean that they can or should pay high for the priceless—even if, like Duveen, a combination of favorable circumstance and wily maneuvering has put them in a position to secure the financing. But it is a reminder that, for a certain class of buyers looking for either incredible luxury or a taste of transcendence, it’s wrong to say that price means nothing. In fact, it means everything.
That’s all for this week. ‘Til next time, remember: we’re always juggling what’s changing and what’s staying the same. But the only chance to do it well is to be honest with ourselves about which is which.
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The more craft supplies you have, the more important it is to organize and label them so you know what you have and where to find it. Ditch the boring labels from the store, and instead make your own creative DIY labels for organization.
Then you can add your personal style and create labels that match the supplies you own. Here are some unique labeling ideas to help you organize your craft stashes in a creative and personalized way.
Paper Labels
Paper labels are versatile and can be easily crafted using plain cardstock or patterned paper. You can stack multiple layers to create a framed look.
Customize them with your own handwriting or calligraphy, or if you prefer a more precise look, write on them with a Cricut machine.
Another option is to choose a computer font you like and print the labels using your home printer. To make the printing process even easier, consider using premade template kits like those available from Avery.
Their online program allows you to enter the product number for the labels you’re making and align everything perfectly so your words print in just the right places.
Supply options for making paper labels
Sticker Labels
Sticker labels are convenient as they come with their own adhesive. Sticker labels work well for labeling file folders, boxes, and plastic drawers.
For permanent applications, you can use Neato sheets. Alternatively, try Cricut printable vinyl if you prefer something repositionable.
If you have a Cricut machine, take advantage of its Print then Cut function. Design your own stickers, search Design Space for label templates, or browse Creative Fabrica for ready-made options.
Supply options for making sticker labels
Fabric Labels
If you enjoy sewing, chances are you have some favorite fabric scraps that you don’t want to be part with. Fabric labels are an excellent way to use them while also keeping them on display.
To create fabric labels, use an iron or EasyPress to apply some Heat n Bond fabric stabilizer to the wrong side of the fabric.
Then use a rotary cutter to cut the fabric to the size you want for the label. The fabric will have some structure and hold its shape without fraying.
Cut iron-on vinyl and apply it to fabric scraps. You can also embroider the letters directly onto the fabric for a more handmade touch.
To hang the fabric labels, attach them with a clothespin or add a grommet and loop the string through to hang them from a basket handle.
Supply options for making fabric labels
Chalkboard Labels
Chalkboard labels are still popular too. You can either make them yourself or purchase ready-made sets from stores like Michaels. If you prefer a DIY approach, take wooden tags and paint them with chalkboard paint.
To ensure that you can easily erase the chalk markings, prime the chalkboard surface before use. Write on the chalkboard labels using regular chalk or chalk markers for a more precise look.
Change the label writing by first wiping with a slightly damp cloth and letting the surface dry.
Supply options for making chalkboard labels
Wood Labels
Wood surfaces can be labeled in various ways, including using paint, vinyl, or laser engraving.
Painting allows you to add a personal touch by hand, and you can even look for simple painting tutorials online if you’re a beginner.
Consider florals, vines, or abstract decorations for the wood labels.
For something more precise, laser engraving is a more hands-off way to add text and decoration to these wood tags.
Supply options for wood labels
Vinyl Labels
Adhesive vinyl labels are great for hard surfaces like plastic bins, cardboard boxes and glass jars. You can apply the vinyl right to it.
It’s a great plan of attack if you have a Cricut or Silhouette. Just remember that you’ll be weeding everything before you apply it. So don’t choose fonts that are too skinny, too small, or too jagged – all of them can be hard to weed.
If you don’t have a cutting machine, you can use pre-cut vinyl stickers. Just be aware that it can be tricky to get them to line up well, so they might look a little sloppy in the end.
Supply options for vinyl labels
HTV Labels
Heat transfer or iron-on vinyl comes in so many colors, styles, and patterns that you can match any craft room vibe.
HTV can be added to fabric and felt bins, and the fabric labels mentioned before.
Applying iron on vinyl to a storage bin is of course much more permanent than a hanging label, but it can still be a good choice.
This example is actually in my laundry room and not my craft room, but I think it gives a good idea of how to use it.
Supply options for iron on labels
Temporary Labeling Ideas
A great way to help sort out items when you’re getting started is to use pieces of washi tape or painters tape. Write on it with a sharpie, apply to the box, basket or container, and remove it when you’re ready for your more permanent solution.
Dry-erase markers can be used on glass or smooth plastic. I recommend testing on a small spot on the bottom to make sure it will wipe away cleanly later.
Post-it notes are easy to rearrange and even color code if you like. Just remember that there is only a strip of sticky on the back, meaning they may get knocked off or fall easily. So again, good for labeling in the short term.
Supply options for temporary labels
DIY labels for organization
I hope you can use these tips and ideas to organize your craft stash with style and fun.
Organizing and labeling your craft supplies not only helps you maintain a tidy workspace but also saves you money!
I’m not saying I’m a perfect example of this, but when your craft supplies have a labeled place and you know where to put them away and find them you don’t have to buy extras 🙂 It’s something to work towards anyway!
So go ahead, unleash your creativity, and have fun crafting unique labels that will make your craft space a joy to work in. And if I left out a good way to make creative DIY labels, let me know!
Look at all the cute free Smores SVGs I got to share today! They’re perfect for cookouts, camping, and really, any summer-wear. I designed this Boom Roasted SVG.
This phrase will always give me a flashback to the episode of The Office when Michael was so excited to have everyone Roast him, but he discovered the jabs all sting and hurt his feelings. So then he comes back to roast everyone else and yells “Boom, Roasted” after every insult
You can get it for free using this form and it will be emailed to you.
Obviously my first thought was to put this SVG design on at shirt, but it would also be really cute on a tote bag, notebook cover – or even flatten it and turn it into a Print then Cut sticker.
Next you’ll see all the designs my friends made. You can click on the pictures to go access the files from them!
If you make any of these, please send us an email or tag us on Instagram or something. We love to see your creations!
Photo Credit:
thekingstonhome.com
Make cute tags for a S’mores party, or neighbor gifts
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Photo Credit:
artsyfartsymama.com
Hot mess is a good thing when you’re talking about marshmallows and chocolate!
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Photo Credit:
madincrafts. com
Check out the cute friends in this Smores group hug
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Photo Credit:
heyletsmakestuff.com
These are great friends to have in your corner! Smores Squad SVG.
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Photo Credit:
100directions.com
Look how cute the Smore Love svg is on a mug!
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Photo Credit:
everydaypartymag.com
Turn all the elements of Smores into part of your party decor with a whole smores station
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Photo Credit:
craftingintherain.com
If this Boom Roasted shirt reminds you of Michael Scott, then we can definitely become friends
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Photo Credit:
hellocreativefamily.com
This S’more Memories SVG is adorable on a shirt and would make a perfect scrapbook page too!
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To get the most out of the designs you download from Crafting in the Rain, here are some useful posts.
This was a fun video to film, and a fun project to make! One of my teenagers has already swiped the resin mushroom hair clips, so I must have created something on-trend. That’s always a good sign, right?
I found that this is a great small-scale project to help you get used to working with resin.
The cute plastic mushrooms are embedded in a resin mold, given a glitter base layer, and glued to a blank hair clip.
Supplies needed for resin mushroom hair clips
Prep mushroom resin clips
Check that the mold you have chosen will fit on the hair clips you have. Also, check that the mushrooms (or other fillers) will fit into the mold.
To make my mushrooms fit, I pulled out the wire attachment, sanded away the bottom to make a flat stem, and a bit of one side that would be flat and face up.
Spray the mold with mold release spray. Skipping this step can make the resin much harder to get out of the mold later.
Mix resin for hair clip molds
While the mold spray is drying, mix the resin together. This epoxy resin is an equal part, so I used 10 mL of A and 10 mL of B.
Follow these instructions for your specific type of resin, if using something different. This required a mix time of 4 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom while mixing so that there aren’t unmixed portions.
NOTE – If using a paper cup for mixing, make sure it’s not wax coated on the inside. It can flake off and get stirred into the resin.
Pour resin mushroom clips
Fill the mold about half way full and let rest for about 10 minutes. Then use a mist of alcohol or a heat gun to remove any bubbles that rose to the surface.
Use tweezers to place the mushrooms into the resin, flat side up (this will be the bottom side of the hair clip.)
Pour more resin on top to reach almost the top of the mushrooms.
Over the next hour or two, as the resin starts to gel up, rotate any of the mushrooms back if they have started to twist.
After 4 hours of curing, the last layer can be added and the color or glitter won’t mix with the first pour.
Mix 5 mL of A and 5mL of B, stir for 4 minutes, and add glitter or mica or dyes – whatever you want to be the “base” layer of your clips.
Let the resin cure for 24 hours then remove from the mold. Flip the mold upside down and push on the bottom. That helps pop the resin shape out.
Make hair clips from resin
Restore the shine to the resin surface with a sealer spray like this. A couple of light coats will make a big difference
To finish the clips, glue the resin onto a blank clip. I clipped mine onto a silicone mat to make sure that my glue didn’t seep down and accidentally seal the clip closed.
When the glue is dry, the resin mushroom clips are ready to be packaged, gifted, or worn! Who do you know who would love these?
Watch the YouTube video here if that’s more your style!
Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most consequential developments coming out of the art world and art market. Here’s what you need to know on this Tuesday 20, June.
NEED TO READ
Jordan Wolfson Speaks to Photographer Heji Shin – In a wide-ranging back and forth, the two artists discuss therapy, karma, and the wise words of Jeff Koons before pondering which character traits tend to push someone toward expressing themselves through art. (Interviews)
Architect Michael Hopkins Dies at 88 – The British architect best known for Portcullis House, a 2001 governmental building in London that presents a contemporary take on the Victorian Gothic style, has died at age 88. He also designed the Mound Stand at Lord’s cricket ground. (Guardian)
Takashi Murakami Loves and Fears AI – The art superstar was admitted in a new interview that he anticipated dramatic changes would be brought about by AI, shifting the power from artists to tech engineers. “The wackiest ideas, those that even AI cannot generate, will become even more valuable,” he said, while “artists who create familiar things will be left behind.” Even he has fears of “one day being replaced.” (Japan Times)
Indigenous Masks Were Treated With Toxins Before Repatriation – A pair of wooden masks were repatriated to the Kogi community in Colombia, but they arrived with a warning that they were most likely no longer fit for ceremonial use. The objects had been treated with toxic chemicals while held in the German museum collections. (Guardian)
MOVERS & SHAKERS
National Photographic Portrait Prize Winner – Artist Shea Kirk has won Australia’s annual portrait prize for her photograph of her friend artist Emma Armstrong-Porter. “I’ve always struggled with my weight” Armstrong-Porter said, but I’ve begun to reclaim my skin, by designing symbols about my life so far that I’ve been getting tattooed. I’m starting to feel more at home in my big queer body.” The work is on view now at the National Portrait Gallery. (Guardian)
Elena Filipovic to Helm Kunstmuseum Basel – Elena Filipovic will begin her new role as director of Switzerland’s Kunstmuseum Basel on June 1, 2024, taking over for Josef Helfenstein, who is retiring after eight years. Filipovic is currently a curator at Kunsthalle Basel, organizing shows for artists including Anicka Yi, Deana Lawson, and Michael Armitage. (Press releases)
Art Collector Puts Trove of Video Works Online – Hong Kong-based collector Shane Akeroyd has made his entire library of video art, featuring more than 90 artists’ works, available to the public online. On the Akeroyd collection website, viewers can see seminal works by artists including Joan Jonas, Wong Ping, and Vvzela Kook. (South China Morning Post)
Postponed Berlin Biennale – It seems Covid-related delays may not yet be a thing of the past. The 13th edition of the Berlin Biennial has been postponed to 2025 due to “organizational delays” caused by the pandemic. It also hopes to avoid getting lost in the onslaught of biennials that were postponed until 2024. (Monopol)
FOR ARTS SAKE
Turkish Modern Museum Unveiled – Istanbul Modern was five years in the making and is now, finally, welcoming the public inside its 108,000-square-foot Renzo Piano-designed building. It hosted an official inauguration today with the celebrated Italian architect in attendance, and released a horde of impressive new photographs. Visitors to the newly opened restaurant can also enjoy views across the river to one of history’s greatest cultural wonders, the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque. (Press releases)
Modern Istanbul. Photo: Cemal Emden, courtesy of Istanbul Modern.
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If you’re thinking of giving your kitchen or bathroom cabinets a makeover, you probably want to know is the Rustoleum cabinet transformation worth it?
You don’t want to do all that work just to have your new finish chipping and fading in just a few months.
4 years ago I painted my bathroom vanity with a Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation Kit. So that’s given it a lot of use and time to give a good long-term review of the cabinet kit and results.
What comes in a Rustoleum cabinet transformation kit
Deglosser – to remove dirt, grease and grime from the original cabinets
Base coat – the tinted layer – this will probably require 3 coats
Decorative glaze – if you want a brownish glazed look over the color of your cabinets. Makes the most difference if you have “fancier” cabinets or trim.
Plain flat surfaces won’t have all the edges that show off the glaze. I skipped the glaze while doing my dark blue bathroom cabinets
Protective top coat – this is the last step. It dries clear, gives a satin finish shine, and protects the paint color underneath.
As you can read in my original tutorial, it’s not super user-friendly and it’s hard to eliminate all pools and drips, which then dry cloudy and white – quite obvious on dark cabinets.
IN ADDITION, THE KIT ALSO INCLUDES
Instructional DVD
Decorative Glazing Cloths
Scrub Pads
Steering Sticks
Pros and Cons of a Rustoleum Cabinet kit
So, the cabinet kit promises an easy way to transform your cabinets, providing all the layers you’ll need. Is it better to buy them separately on your own?
Here are my pros
You know the products are designed to work together.
No primer is needed (although you will find some people who used primer before painting with white and recommend it for the best coverage)
Cabinet paint really does dry with no brush marks
Here are my cons
You pay for the glaze even if you aren’t going to use it
The clear top coat can be finicky, so if you choose to use satin polycrylic, you still have to pay for the Rustoleum version in the kit.
Ok, so how does the Rustoleum cabinet transformation really hold up? Naturally, most of the images and reviews you will see online show you the before, and the IMMEDIATE after.
Of course it’s going to look good, right? It hasn’t been used yet! It can be a little harder to find a review of the cabinet makeover months or years later.
Our cabinets looked really good for 3 whole years! I do have to admit that these cabinets are in a bathroom, and a kitchen will likely have more traffic. But the paint has held up really well in that humid environment.
Once a spot starts to wear, it will deteriorate more quickly. But I’m going to show you how to touch up cabinets painted with a Rustoleum kit. It will really make you feel like a RustOleum Cabinet Transformation is worth the effort.
Like I mentioned, I first noticed some spots that needed help around the 3-year mark. And finally got around to working on it at the 4-year mark.
Watch the Touch Up tutorial video here
Here’s what the worse area looked like. It’s one of the drawers where this is used to open the drawer more often than the handle.
Supplies for touching up painted cabinets
Paint in the original color – best case scenario, you have some of the bond coat from your original cabinet kit. Be sure to mix it WELL so that all solids and colors are completely combined
If you don’t have some of the original, at least know the color you used so you can get the color matched at the hardware store. Ask the paint expert what kind of paint they recommend. And get the flat finish.
Clear Satin Polycrylic
Brush designed for clear top coats
Paint brushes
Micro sander 220 grit
Tackcloth
The method I’m going to show you worked perfectly for me. However, I still recommend that you find a section of your cabinets where you can do the whole process and make sure that it will look good with your specific cabinets and color.
If you have one side that’s not very visible, or a small section that’s separated from everything else, that will be a good place to experiment.
Steps for touching up painted Rust-oleum cabinets
Lightly sand the whole area where a paint touch-up needs to be made. For example, the whole drawer front, a whole side panel.
Sand smooth where any chips happened, so that the new layers will also be smooth.
Use a lint free cloth or tack cloth to remove any sanding dust.
Paint at least two coats over the worn areas, waiting 2 hours for dry time. You don’t need to paint over the whole sanded area. Be sure to feature out the edges so there aren’t any drips.
Let final coat dry for 8 hours.
Cover the sanded area with a coat of clear satin polycrylic. Work with long brush strokes, and don’t overload the brush. This helps eliminate drips.
** If you are adding a second clear coat, wait 8 hours, lightly sand and remove dust, and repeat step 6.
Let the clear coat dry at least 8 hours before using any of the cabinets, and then over the next 24 hours it will cure completely.
This method should create a finish that doesn’t show any of the spots that were touched up with paint.
Ways to extend the life of a Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation makeover
Here are some ways to make your painted cabinets look better for longer.
Make sure the cabinets are treated with the deglosser and well prepared. This helps the colored bond coat adhere the best.
Install hardware to the drawers and doors if they don’t already have it. This way fingers are kept from touching the paint and wearing through the finish over time.
Clean up drips and splashes ASAP. Wiping away a fresh mess will always be easier than waiting for it to dry. Since it will require less scrubbing, it will preserve the cabinet paint.
When you start to notice some spots where paint is chipping or wearing away, follow the process for painting patches, and add a second polycrylic coat for extra protection.
Is Rustoleum cabinet transformation worth it?
I would definitely do my bathroom cabinets over again just like this. In fact, the kids’ bathroom vanity definitely needs this same kind of treatment. I just need to decide what color!
And is the Rustoleum cabinet transformation worth the time? I can only speak from the experience of doing a bathroom sized project, not a whole kitchen – but for me it was!
I hope this gave you some tips and confidence to touch up your painted cabinets if you need to. Or helped you decide if the transformation kit lasts like you need it to.
Thanks for reading, and let me know if you have any questions!!
Read here if you prefer to learn how to transform cabinets with a paint sprayer
Art Industry News is a daily digest of the most consequential developments coming out of the art world and art market. Here’s what you need to know on this Friday, June 9.
NEED-TO-READ
Hurvin Anderson’s Dispatches From the Barbershop –The familiar scene of Anderson’s local establishment recurs in the artist’s current exhibitions, “Hurvin Anderson: Salon Paintings,” at the Hepworth Wakefield in the UK “Apart from the home, it is one of the places Black men and women can speak freely,” Anderson said of the place that has inspired a range of canvases that delve into the “sociopolitical context of the shops.” (New York Times)
Artist Chinyee Dies at 94 – The first-generation Chinese-American artist, whose native home is Nanjing, China, and traveled around the world with the United Nations influenced by her colorful abstract canvases, has died. In 2007, her gallery Alisan Fine Arts organized a 50-year retrospective at the Shanghai Art Museum and two of her works are currently on view at the Fondation Vincent Van Gogh in Arles, France, as part of the traveling group exhibition, “Action, Gesture, Paint: Women in Abstraction, A Global History (1940–70).” (E-mail)
Joan Rivers’s Comedy Trove Heads to Museum – A collection of more than 65,000 typewritten jokes penned by the late comedian will soon be in the collection of the Jamestown, New York-based National Comedy Museum. The cache is in good company, joining collections of works by George Carlin and Carl Reiner.(NYT)
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Curator of British Pavilion Named – Tarini Malik will serve as the curator of John Akomfrah’s work on the next edition of the Venice Biennale, slated to open in April 2024. Malik has been a curator at London’s Hayward Gallery and Whitechapel Galleryand said that the exhibition will “draw on the legacies of the work John has made over the past 40 years,” and will both “feel connected to the city of Venice, but also look at the institution of the British Pavilion.” (The Art Newspaper)
Sukanya Rajaratnam Joins White Cube – The New York-based gallerist will join White Cube in the role of global director of strategic market initiatives this September. Rajaratnam left her position at Mnuchin Gallery after 15 yearsin January. (ARTnews)
AI-Powered Collecting Platform Launches – Docent, billed as the “Spotify for art collecting” is set to launch during Basel art week in Switzerland before going live in Paris, London, and Miami later this Fall. (Press releases)
FOR ARTS SAKE
Tate and Museum of the Home Acquire Rebecca Solomon Work – The two institutions now jointly own the Pre-Raphaelite artist’s canvas, which reflects the gender, race, and religious mores of its time. The central figure was modeled by Jamaican-born Fanny Eaton, who inspired many artists of the period. (Press releases)
Rebecca Solomon, A YoungTeacher (1861). Courtesy of Tate and Museum of the Home.
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The exhibition was intended as a modern riff on ancient Egypt, bringing contemporary figures of musical royalty such as Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Miles Davis into conversation with the rich culture of the land of the pharaohs.
Instead, “Kemet: Egypt in Hip Hop, Jazz, Soul & Funk”, which was organized by the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, the Netherlands, sparked a fierce backlash from Egyptian authorities. In an email to the museum, they denounced the exhibition saying it took an “Afrocentric” approach to Ancient Egypt, which equated to “falsifying history.”
The consequences? The museum’s team of archaeologists that since 1975 has carried out excavations at Egypt’s Saqqara necropolis, a sprawling burial ground and key archaeological site, is now banned from continuing its work.
The fallout over the exhibition is related to complicated Egyptian notions of heritage and national identity. In what has sometimes been labeled cultural misappropriation, there is a sense of frustration that non-Egyptians are bundling its culture together with other African cultures. Prior to this most recent dispute, Netflix was heavily criticized for portraying Queen Cleopatra as a woman of color in a docuseries. Egypt’s antiquities ministry insisted the ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt had Hellenistic features and light skin.
The National Museum of Antiquities disagrees with the charges levied against the exhibition, claiming the show is a sensitive exploration of the myriad influences that ancient Egypt had on Black musicians. Indeed, it hopes people will visit and make up their own minds. “[The museum] welcomes respectful dialogue on the cultural heritage of Egypt and Nubia,” he wrote on its website.
The museum told Artnet News in an email that it had nothing further to add on the decisions of the Egyptian Antiquities Department to no longer issue permits.
The tomb complex at Saqqara from which the Dutch team is now banned. Photo: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
There were, however, multiple warning signs ahead of the exhibition’s opening that a storm was on the horizon. Social media posts promoting “Kemet” saw a deluge of negative responses from mainly Egyptian netizens and Egyptian media outlets also covered the furor. In response to the pushback, the National Museum of Antiquities created a supplementary webpage outlining the background and goals of the exhibition.
The exhibition pitches itself as a journey through musical history that immerses visitors in both ancient and modern music. It explores the songs, lyrics and imagery of pioneering jazz, funk, soul, pop and rap artists through exhibits, artifacts and listening experiences.
“Kemet: Egypt in Hip Hop, Jazz, Soul & Funk” runs until September 3.
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