Can I customize the artwork by size, color, etc?
In short, YES. Pretty much anything you see on our website can be customized to your taste. We have onsite designers and engineers, a full metal fabrication studio and high-end woodworking shop, a massive paint booth, and high-resolution printing capabilities with our state-of-the-art flatbed printer. As a general rule of thumb, pricing for a single custom size of an existing piece will likely scale roughly to the increase in surface area (with a few additional factors like the graphic design work, cut/print file preparation, material yield, and packaging customization.) Pricing for significant changes in size, detail, finish and/or quantities will be quoted individually. We can also custom fabricate just about anything you can imagine, so if you don't find what you are looking for just contact us with the details and we will get you a price to customize it from scratch!
How can I see the artwork in person before I buy?
While it is not always easy to make buying decisions online, we try to provide as many opportunities as possible to make it painless. Depending one which piece you are looking at, we may have any combination of options: we can create digital renderings of any of our work on your wall if you send us a photograph of your space, we exhibit at several art shows around the country each year, we can send small physical samples of the work, and of course we have hassle-free returns to allow you to send the artwork back to us with no restocking fee (see our return policies and procedures here.)
How do I hang my wall art?
The answer varies depending on the style of artwork you purchased from us, and even within each category there are variations. Standard gallery-wrapped canvases typically hang on nails, screws or hooks, and much of our metal wall art can hang on the same. Clocks tend to have a slot or hole on the back of the motor to hang on a nail or screw head. For publicly displayed art or hospitality projects we typically offer security brackets that have a more complex locking mechanism on back to deter theft or accidental falls. We created a "How to Hang Your Wall Art" guide here to hopefully answer all of your hanging questions.
How much does it cost to ship my artwork?
Most of our packages ship domestically for $9-$19, and our larger packages in the $39-$49 range. Custom or freight orders vary based on size and weight, but those typically fall in the $79-$249 range, or as a rule of thumb, roughly 10% of the cost of the order. International shipping varies as well, but typically the smaller packages can go for $39-$79, and larger packages for $99-$249. Most standard orders will see the shipping amount auto-calculated when you check out on our website.
How do I go about exchanging or returning my order?
Please review our return policies and procedures here.
Do you offer wholesale or bulk discounts?
We do offer wholesale pricing to furniture stores, galleries, and other retails, as well as discounted pricing for interior designers, art procurement companies, and general bulk orders. All discounts vary based on the category, quantity, and details of your order. Please feel free to contact us to make arrangements.
My clock doesn't seem to be working properly, how do I fix it?
Here are some quick troubleshooting tips for the most common clock issues:
- Make sure you are using a 1.5V AA battery. 1.5V is the standard voltage for most AA batteries, however they do come in lower and higher voltage options for certain applications and those batteries can damage your clock motor.
- Try replacing the battery just in case it is simply a low or faulty battery.
- Our motors have a catch inside the pin that does not allow the motor to initiate unless the second hand is snapped firmly into place. Lay the clock face-up on a table and press firmly on the circular part of the second hand to make sure it is snug and tight on the pin.
- Make a quick inspection of the three hands: if one of the hands does begin moving but slows or stops mid-rotation, lay the clock down flat and look at it from the side to see if any of the hands are slightly kinked, curved or angled (even if not badly bent) just enough that it is overlapping and bumping into one of the other hands. If so, carefully straighten out the hands so they don't cross paths.
- Look to see if any of the hands are perhaps loose on the shaft: can you spin it with your finger with little or no resistance? (Don't do a lot of that because it can actually strip a good gear, but it is something to test at least.) If so, gently wiggle and press the base of the hand (where it wraps around the pin in the center) and try to snap it back into place. On a related note, if you have previously set the time by spinning the hands manually rather than using the dial on the back of the motor, then it is possible that the teeth of the gears have been worn or stripped and the hands are not rotating properly.
- If none of the above apply, then you may need a new clock motor, which you can purchase (along with your preferred hand style and color) on our website here: Replacement Clock Motor/Hands.
See video at right for a quick demo on how to replace the motor, or follow these steps:
- The second hand just snaps on - you might be able to pop it off with your fingernail, otherwise something like the edge of a credit card or thin nail file should work to get some leverage to pop it off.
- Below that is a screw/nut that holds the minute hand in place - if you cannot unscrew that with your fingers, try using needle-nose pliers
- After that, the minute hand will just slide off and the hour hand should easily pop off
- After the hands have been removed, there is a small nut at the base of the rod that holds the motor in place. Unscrew that either with your fingertips or needle-nose pliers, then the motor and rod will slide out from the back of the clock.
- Note: The hands are made from thin aluminum, so if you accidentally bend them they are very easy to straighten out or bend back in place with gentle pressure.
What are your clocks made of?
We have a variety of clocks made from a variety of materials. Some are made from solid aluminum, some from plexiglass/acrylic, some from from wood veneer, and many crafted from aluminum Dibond (like our minimalist/midcentury style clocks.)
What is Aluminum Composite (aka Dibond or Polymetal)?
Some of our prints and clocks are made from a material called "aluminum composite" which is basically two thin sheets of aluminum with a polymer core. It is known as "sign material" in the industry because it is commonly used for indoor/outdoor business logo signage, because it is lightweight, has a nice hairline trim around the edges when it is cut, is easy to clean, is pre-finished so it can be handled without worrying about fingerprints (unlike natural aluminum), and is weatherproof. Even though it is lighter than solid aluminum (which usually implies "cheaper") it is actually more costly. So although many of our minimalist clocks may seem like a simple design, for example, they are quite pricey for us to produce. We design & manufacture them here in the USA, with a body cut from painted or printed aluminum composite.
What is your art made of, and what is the difference between the material and finish options?
- Aluminum Composite: This is our most common material. It is made from two thin sheets of aluminum with a polymer layer between them. It is lightweight and weatherproof, bonds beautifully with the acrylic inks from our flatbed printer, and has a neat hairline silver/black/silver edge.
- Pure White Aluminum: This is a 1/16" to 1/8" sheet of white aluminum with the image printed with a satin-matte finish directly onto the surface. The colors are rich and vibrant but with a softer finish that will not create a glare in the light.
- Artisan Sanded Aluminum: This is also a 1/16" to 1/8" sheet of aluminum, but rather than having a pure white coating we leave the natural silver color and sand the surface in an orbital brushed pattern. When we print on this we remove the white pigment from the image so any white areas are replaced with a metallic silver hue, and the multidirectional texture creates a subtle sparkle in the light.
- Hand-Ground Aluminum: This just just like the sanded aluminum, but instead of a subtle brushed pattern we grind an artistic pattern into the surface of the metal. Patterns might include a starburst, a wave, a cluster of circles, etc. In this case the expertly-applied grinding creates the art, and as light reflects off of the scratches in the pattern, it creates a three dimensional, holographic effect.
- Acrylic/Plexiglas: This option is a 1/4" sheet of transparent acrylic plexiglas with the image reverse-printed on the backside. Since it is behind the clear acrylic, this option has a high-gloss finish. This creates an attractive display with vibrant, shiny colors.
Is your artwork glossy/shiny or does it have a matte finish?
Most of our giclée prints on metal (or aluminum composite) have a satin matte finish. It is a fairly common misconception that metal art is inherently shiny; it is actually the clear coat that gives it the shiny finish. Just like you can make non-metal (like plastic or fiberglass) look like metal with metallic paints and clear coats, metal can look non-metallic if it is covered with ink or coated with different substances. Think of a Corvette for example; looking at shiny new 'vette you might assume it is metal like most other cars on the road, but it is actually fiberglass with metallic paints and a glossy clear coat finish. The material is aesthetically irrelevant.
That being said, the vast majority of metal prints you see from other vendors online use transparent inks and a clear coat finish. The downside to this is that metal is naturally grey in color so your transparent colors become darker and muted against a grey background so they require strong, direct light to make the colors pop again. Not only is proper overhead, track lighting uncommon in standard household settings, but with a glossy surface it is very hard to illuminate without causing a glare. So to address this problem, we developed opaque metal prints (with visual swirling and texturing effects in inks and design) and a lightly textured matte finish to make them more versatile. We then added a reverse-printed acrylic option (printed on the backside of clear acrylic sheets) for clients who do want a high-gloss finish and vibrant colors, even without excessive lighting. Any of our designs can be printed on either substrate (and others, too) and we certainly still can produce glossy clear-coated metal prints upon request.