Loved this High Heel mixer with bling!

Custom Hand Painted Polar Bear KitchenAid Mixer

Polar Bear Themed Custom Painted KitchenAid Mixer

Mama and baby...

The Knot is doing a bit on KitchenAid mixers (well, they are the #1 requested item on registries) and pretty excited that a few of my pieces will be included as a small part of it.

A special thanks to my lovely friend Heather Lynn She does all of our amazing shoots here at Un Amore. Her work is so creative, colorful, and unique!

This is a great event to take part in or even share for any bride to be! So please pass this information along. Looks really cool and I can’t wait to see it myself!

Special thanks to The Knot!!! Thank you for the consideration and opportunity!
Much love, Nick

So please if anyone can help, we would all be so grateful!! I will be working on other ideas as well as a few fellow artists / friends.

Even if you can spread the word. Anything helps. 

http://www.giveforward.com/ursulastocke

Custom 22kt Gold {vinatge styled} KitchenAid mixer with Swarovski Embellishments.

Dubbed with one of my personal favs, DINO! <3

I’ve been very honored to have worked with Lisa Gal from Hollywood Baskets. She’s the lady in charge and the go-to-girl for all things fabulous! I love working with her and we have a lot of special projects in the works….This was one of them.

This custom KitchenAid was designed for Beyonce. There are only two. One, unique hand painted one (to be given away) and the other (Hers) was done in 22kt gold. Both are similar, but not the same.

The contest is held by People Magazines Celebrity Baby Blog. So all the entries and details go through them. Click the links below for more details.

Not only are you having an opportunity for a free custom KitchenAid by Un Amore, you are also getting amazing swag from a whole bunch of other talented businesses / artists! Check it out! ENTER NOW

This is the actual mixer you have a chance to win…Giveaway starts today! Good Luck!
 

I am considering doing newsletters. If you’d like to sign up you may do so on my Store in the left tab.

For those who are not on my FB…some eye-candy!

Ostrich Egg done in a Union Jack:

Sunflower themed Custom hand painted KitchenAid Mixer. Colors to match her remodeled kitchen. Love!

This one is flowers from her garden on her really cool vintage Pro5 KitchenAid Mixer

Real fire for the man in the house

This one was custom painted and inspired by the original artwork of

This one will be given away in Jan 2012! Details to come soon!! One of the most technical ones to date!

I have wanted this for some time and happy that I got an opportunity! I’ve been featured on a few cable TV shows, but not just about my work. So this was very, very nice!!

They came out to document a few, but very awesome custom painted KitchenAid mixers. I hope I did well, cameras totally freak me out… I did several custom pieces, but after editing who knows what they’ll use. Here are some (really bad) pictures to share from my honey bunnie’s phone. Thinking it may air in Dec, but at the latest, most likely FEB 2012. If I can, I will share here.

Pay no attention to details. I modified prep, and artwork to fit “TV” schedule. You can’t do hours / days of prep and artwork into a 3 hour slot…

Love behind the scenes pictures!

Please excuse any and all grammatical and punctuation errors

I understand my work seems expensive, but I also know it’s worth more. But I do my best to keep it as low as possible.

Some responses to emails are “that’s just for artwork?” Yes, it is. A mixer is additional. The additional cost varies based on the model chosen, or you may provide your own. I tell all my clients if you would like to save a few bucks Amazon sells them cheaper, here in Seattle, and drop ship it to me for free.

I work in a full service shop, not out of my home, not in my garage, so I have overhead. It’s expensive too. A quart of my paint (at my cost) varies from $60 (for one color) to over $140. That also doesn’t include a reducer, clear, catalyst, and other related materials I use.

Next, you’re buying AN ORIGINAL piece of art. Not a stick on decal, not a reproduced piece, not a water transfer. Hand painted for hours. I take a lot of pride in my work and I am a professional. I bust my butt on your project. I want it to be the best I can provide for you and for me.

Another response “I see others out there, I can go to them.” If you’re saying this to me to try to change or lower my prices, then maybe I’m not the artist for you. I stand 110% behind my work. I know these machines, and I am extremely passionate about them. I can guarantee I put more work into some than I get paid for.

Lets take a walk through this design:

Looks simple right? It’s the easiest looking ones that are the most challenging sometimes.

I spent a good part of a day for internet research…because I needed to find inspiration. Finally it came to me. Then I do a digital rendering on a mixer to see if I like the vibe of it and if it speaks to the client. Another hour or so…if my computer likes me, less.

From there, I send the design to Zach our graphic designer. He takes the digital concept and draws it out, sometimes modifies it or changes it etc…to what I need. This design took Zach a few hours to vectorize, space properly and added a subtle pattern in the pattern. He plots it out of our plotter, prepped the masking material for layout. (sticky tape like).

After Zach has started, to save time I am disassembling the mixer, removing the hardware, sanding it down and cleaning it for paint. Reassemble it before I apply the design. Since you are trying to put a flat design on a curved object, it takes longer. This design was another few hours to apply. I am really weird about having it perfectly centered. From the under belly to flow under the neck and over the top and down the back. Then, the design has to be the same around the sides.

Once it’s laid out, I finally get to spray some paint. After I am done adding color I take off all the mask and tape. From there to clean up any flaws. Once everything looks good I prep it for clear, clean it up, and make sure no oils from our hand are there. Again, disassemble it for maximum coverage. Abel cleans the booth to prevent any hair or dirt from possibly falling in the gloss as it dries. He spends 15-20 minutes adding a gloss coat. When he is done it takes two days before we can sand it again, then buff it to a glass shine. After that I hired Dave our pinstriper to come in. He adds the final touch of hand painted stripes (shown in second picture). It dries. I can reassemble it, then I spend time doing a photo shoot. Editing pics etc…Box up the mixer, and drop it off at our shipping company.

Lets go to this one below that requires a whole lot more of freehand work.

This design requires a lot of vector time by Zach, and a whole lot of paint time by me. The rivets alone are 3 stages of taping and painting. And prior to painting even making sure they are spaced perfectly.  Same rules apply to the shark mouth on both sides. Notice the checkered nose? Yes, seamless. The checkers are measured so that even with the head up, it meets together, not overlapping. This all takes a lot of time. And tweaking.

To two-tone the belly is a pain. It has to look centered on a surface that doesn’t really give you a visible marker. So I double-check a taped-off line from the top, table edge, sides and back. Once I think I’ve got it I proceed to cover the entire mixer with tape and paper to paint it.

The pin-up. The pin-ups face is only an inch big. Compare it to the bolt. A tiny face is hard because you’re trying to make something real sized down to the size of a quarter, with all the shadows, highlights, detail that real size has. This can take me from 4-6 hours just on a face. They are really easy to mess up. You still have the body to paint…

And all we’re taking about on this one is the artwork time and prep. Not even calculating the time on research I spent to make sure all is accurate. Or digital rendering time. Remember these are NOT decals, water transfers etc…They ARE Hand painted. And take many hours to do so. From the basic research, to concept, to vector time, to prepping and sanding, disassembly, to artwork, to finishing.

A gallon of clear (that I use) is nearly $500 alone a gallon with reducer etc…I use expensive products to achieve the results I do. I don’t take a spray can to it and leave the hardware on. I don’t paint on top of the existing KitchenAid color. Everything is done in a professional manner. If you take a few minutes and really look I don’t just paint the top, I paint the undersides to. I make all the colors myself, not out of the can. I go the extra mile. Because I love what I do.

BREAK DOWN per job *AVERAGE Project:

Lets say a $500 project

-Internet Research 2 hrs (shop rate is $65 an hour here, some places its more)

-Prep & disassembly 1 hour

-Base coat 30 minutes

-Zach’s time 3-5 hours

-My time in artwork..Days and I don’t just work 8 hours. I put in 34 hours in last two days.

-Clear, wet sanding and buffing 1 hour

-Assembly 30 minutes

-Actual cost of materials used per this project $134.00 This includes clear, paint, masking material, etc…

=$654. I didn’t even add my time.

Why don’t I charge this, well, because it’s on a mixer. I love what I do. If I charged shop rate people would think I was crazy. They don’t understand how much time and money it takes for each project. Now if I were to do this on a truck or motorcycle, you’re talking thousands. I would get paid for the time too.

So, if you want a $50 paint job, I am ok with that, but I am not your girl. That is why we are also working diligently to provide full color decals of my artwork at a fraction of the cost of custom paint. The decal site is www.customkitchencouture.com

And I do a custom painted KitchenAid giveaway twice a year, so keep an eye for those too!

I just wanted to provide insight and paint a picture of what I do. And with all of this, I am still answering emails and doing your renderings. Sorry for the super long blog, but it is the only way I know how to share with you what  I do, and the time it takes me.

You may purchase mixers on our online shop, or modify them as long as our schedule permits. We have very limited spots available. Please also consider shipping times. Local orders may be picked up.

We’re super excited for all the awesome designs to come! We can’t wait to share them, but unfortunately, most will be after the New Year!

***Don’t hesitate to ask questions to nick@un-amore.com. I appreciate your emails! If I don’t respond in a 48hr period (which is pretty long) please just send me a friendly reminder. Some emails may get past me. I apologize if that happens, but I am usually on top of it.*** This is my busiest time, so please understand if I am short and sweet. I may be answering you while I am painting. Oh, and please excuse my auto-correct too (in advance)! hahahaha

His words of encouragement spoke volumes and to me that says a lot about him. He was and always will be someone we look at and go “WOW!”

This video here helped me tremendously, not because I didn’t already know, but because sometimes you need to hear things again.

I have had a very challenging path to pave in my life, some that I may never share…but I chose to take the hard way. I pride myself on my hard work, morals, and integrity…to name a few. I never took the easy route and not even considered it.

Our actions do speak louder than words, and it takes forever to build a reputation, but a split second to take it all away. So true and words I live by.

There are few women in my industry, and yes, it is mainly men. That being said, it takes that much more hard work to stand out and to earn respect. And the women who I looked up to…well, they decided to play a card to accelerate that. At that point, I lose all respect. Sorry, but I do.

I am not perfect, nor do I claim to be. All I know is that I do the best I can and know how. I take pride in my work and when passion is involved it shows. That is why this video is so inspirational to me. I have had a few rough days recently and happy to be back at it, full throttle. We all have our struggles in life and sometimes we just need to regain the perspective that fuels our fire so we may continue harder and stronger than ever.

God has blessed me in more ways than I can count and I feel very appreciative of that.

Here is another video that spoke to me, narrated by Steve. This takes me back to a few people who told me I would never amount to anything…That because I am different, I wasn’t accepted. I hope one day they see that because some of us are different, doesn’t mean it’s wrong.