Wanted - Mat Magic products

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deaconsbench

deaconsbench

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
May 30, 2005
Posts
1,750
Loc
historic Charleston, SC
Powders & inks. I've already sent an email to the Belgium company that seems to have some inventory.

I've been studying Brian Wolf's Mat Decoration DVD, and am looking to get started.

Other (similar) product names and contact info appreciated! Thanks!
 
I've got two bottles of gold Mat Magic inks - I have never used them - they are yours if you want them - just send me your address!

I haven't looked at them for a long time - they may be two bottles of the same shade of gold, or two different - I'll let you know tomorrow when I'm back at the shop.
 
db, Instead of getting stocked up in a product and technology that you can't easily re-nourish, why not embark on the more traditional methods of mat embellishment. The powders are little more than ground up chalk pastels and the inks are basically acrylic paint.
I have all the products they once made and find I use watercolor paints, acrylic paints and inks more than I use the mat magic. Another thing I have found is that when I do use one of the inks I have to make sure it is still fluid enough to flow from the ruling nib.
 
Mat Magic products are no longer made, but I think Don Pierec still owns the formuli for them. If you have any interest in taking over the company, maybe he would sell it. As far as I know, he has no intentions of coming out of retirement to market Mat Magic again.

United Mfrs Suppliers has a similar product line.

And Wally's right -- you can create similar mat decorations with pastels, powdered pigments, and intermixable paints, either traditional gouache, acrylic gouache, or watercolors.
 
Many thanks, Wally and Jim. I know there are newer, better product lines available out there, (and I certainly couldn't even consider buying the business rights to Mat Magic!).

I'm just looking for buying opportunities of a good product, and can learn (i.e. goof up) with these. When, if ever I get proficient doing French matting, I'll graduate into the better, higher quality / higher priced lines.

Thank you Mar and Rick. You have my email messages. I'm looking forward to getting started!

Anyone else have unwanted/unneeded product?
kaffeetrinker_2.gif
 
I tell folks who are learning, say, watercolor, that if they think this is something they wish to pursue, that they are wiser to start with the best materials. If one learns to paint using student grade watercolors, for instance, when the decision is made to 'move up' then one must learn again to handle the new stuff, because it handles differently. I think you will find the same for MatMagic. I use powdered chalk (Rembandt, best brand... OK, so I own a store that sells them), acrylic inks, watercolors and Winsor&Newton drawing inks.
 
Ellen makes a good point. Using old, deteriorated paints might be more trouble than they are worth. And if you figure a way to make them work, you can't buy them anymore, anyway.

I have an almost-complete Mat Magic set that's probably 15 years old. I'm sure the paints are all dried up (have used acrylic gouache & watercolors for years), but the powders still work...used them about a week ago.
 
Brian Wolf did a class for the KY/TN PPFA chapter a couple of months ago - he demonstrated using pastels and an ink called "F & W".

I rememember this for two reasons - 1) I already had some of this ink, and 2) he tells the funniest story about how the name came about...
 
Okay Betty, now tell us the rest of the story!
 
Not to get too far off topic, but...

Brian certainly is a wonderful teacher. I had the opportunity to attend a couple of his classes at PPFA Orlando.

He can be a bit fast paced for newbies, especially those that work night shift 6 nights a week normally, and caught the devil adjusting to being awake all day! (OK, me...)

He had a humorous catch phrase of "it's not (or it is) the Christian way to do this..."

All in all it was a pleasure experiencing his soothing speaking voice and dry sense of humor! He's definitely one of the good guys.
 
I agree about Brian as a teacher- he's wonderful. My favorite Brianism is from when he told how to mask the edge of a mat bevel before painting, by laying the mat in the (straightline) cutter face up, putting 811 tape on just at the bar, burnishing, and flipping the mat over to cut. This leaves a strip of tape just shy of 1/8" overlapped onto the fallout, and a perfectly masked bevel. This works because of the geometery of the cutter relative to the thickness of the matboard. Brian described this as, "Almost profound."
:cool: Rick
P.S. Feel free to use this technique in conjunction with the materials mentioned earlier in this thread for some great colored bevel effects.
 
Originally posted by Val:
Okay Betty, now tell us the rest of the story!
Click to expand...
Well, it seems that the inventor of the ink gave some of it to an artist friend of his to try. The artist liked it so well that he said "this is the best f'in wonderful ink I've ever used..." Thus the name F&W ink...
 
Ask him to tell his Lutheran jokes. They're gutbusters!

I'll give you a head start:
A Lutheran guy was stranded on a desert island for 30 years and finally gets rescued...

edie the recoveringlutheran goddess
 
'fraid to - they might turn into Methodist jokes, and I could tell you all about those!

Betty the "Always in the process of being reformed protest-ant Methodist"
 
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