Buy me a Ko-Fi? Yikes!

13/03/2023 by UKMA 9 Comments

Well, thanks to Theresa, who commented so kindly last week to suggest I have a look at Ko-Fi as a way for people who might be so inclined to “give back” with a small donation. Frankly it is coming at a good time. I am really running out of space her and I am just not clear on how to convert my free WordPress.com blog (which has been going since 2009!) over to another address. I have been working to clear out old stuff that is no longer valid (hello? calendars from 2012? No thank you!) to scratch back some space, and have flirted with adding downloads to Dropbox instead on here, but it really isn’t working. I am easily able to add freebies to Ko-Fi and can also add larger things there. Let me explain.

SO. I have been playing with digital designing for a while. And I am really working to learn the ins and outs of a few new programs. Some of what I shared last week, for example, I put up on Creative Fabrica. I explained why there in a previous post. But IDK, I am kinda feeling like that is not really where I would call home. Not sure. Anyway, another thing I have been doing is creating some digital Ephemera. Think The Graphics Fairy, but less French and more American LOL! I would love to find a ton of British ephemera, but American is what I have access to at the moment. Anyway, it’s a process. I try to end up with the highest resolution image, and provide it in a big file in different ways, but OMG.

The sheet that would be a PDF, so when opened in a program like Photoshop or (what I use, as it is a single, very affordable purchase rather than a monthly subscription) Affinity Designer and Photo, the elements can be copied over as transparent PNGs individually, is 6.9MB. The JPG sheet of the images is almost 9MB and the PNG sheet (which I am kinda thinking may not be needed, not sure) is 15.2MB. YIKES. The sample collage sheet I made to demonstrate how you might use the elements is 8.3MB. That is nearly 40MB.

I am still learning, of course, but this is not a bad beginning, I think.

I might have gone a bit mad with the spatters …. Mostly, I think it works well to show that the ephemera is great for collages. And yeah, I love the French themed stuff too, but this is a bit different. Most of what I have access to is from the 1800s, and is advertising type things. Note that the Spanish version of Marvilla is only one of three – there is a German language add and an English one, but this size fit the space!

The other elements were Public Domain items, and they all needed a TON of cleaning up. Being that the paper of the original was quite old, it was worn and stained and it was NOT as easy as a click or two with a magic lasso tool – it was inching over the edge with a 5px eraser in some places! But the result was good.

Ditto the butterflies on the collage. Painstakingly extracted from a busy background, and edges neatened up. I mean, I enjoy it, I really do, but it all takes time.

So I popped the large files of the Ephemera sheet and the Collage sheet (JPG only) up on Ko-Fi for free. And what I might do is add the elements that you can use for other digital design work up for a small fee. Not sure yet, still feeling my way with it all.

But never fear! Calendars will still be free, and there will always be a fair few digitals that will also be free, it may just be (to extend the time I can have THIS blog, with THIS http address live) you have to go to Ko-Fi to download them.

I should also say I did not set the Buy Me A Coffee fee, they did, You can over-ride it and by me an instant coffee LOL!