We have stickers now! If you've been hanging out on Draw With Me you've probably already seen a few of them, but I wanted to write a proper post about why we decided to make them, what they're actually made of, and the very scientific experiment we did in our kitchen to find out how tough they are. 😸
Why stickers?
Prints will always be my favourite thing to make, but a print is a bigger purchase and not everyone has a free wall waiting for one. I wanted there to be a way to take one of my paintings home for a few dollars, and stickers were the obvious answer. A lot of my paintings are of animals with very strong personalities, like a pigeon who is deeply unbothered or a seagull guarding his fries, and those guys make perfect stickers because they still look exactly like themselves at three inches wide.
They're also really fun to toss into an order with a print or some cards. I love the idea of someone opening their package and finding a Jimothy the raccoon in there too!
What they're made of
Every sticker is die cut, which means it's cut right around the shape of the artwork with a thin white border instead of sitting on a square or a circle. They're printed on vinyl with a matte finish, so they don't have that shiny plastic look, and the vinyl is waterproof, so rain, spilled coffee and a sweaty water bottle are all totally fine. Each one is about three inches at its widest point, and they're all made in Canada.
The dishwasher experiment
Here's something you should know about us: we drink out of old pasta sauce jars instead of normal glasses, and we are not ashamed. So when it came time to figure out how tough these stickers really are, a pasta jar was the obvious test subject. We stuck on the Majestic Fat Bird and an Ugly Cat Studio logo sticker, put the jar in the dishwasher, and ran it through several cycles on high heat.
"Majestic Fat Bird" sticker after several times through the dishwasher.
After all that, the colours didn't fade at all, which honestly surprised me! The edges did start to peel up a little bit, so I can't quite tell you they're dishwasher proof. What I can tell you is that they're pretty robust, and if they can survive a few hot cycles in the dishwasher, your laptop or a water bottle you rinse by hand is going to be no problem for them.
If you want to put one on a mug or a jar of your own, my advice is to wash it by hand and your sticker will stay happy for a long time. 🫙
Where to find them
All twelve designs are in the sticker shop, including Rocco the pheasant, Jimothy the raccoon, the Markham goose and the possessive gull who will not share his fries. More are on the way, so keep an eye out! And if you want to watch me paint the next one, come hang out on Draw With Me, live every Thursday at 7pm ET on Twitch and YouTube.