FREE Enkaustikos Demo with Jeff Hirst: This Friday May 23rd at 1pm

ARCH will be hosting a FREE Enkaustikos wax painting demo with local artist Jeff Hirst this Friday May 23rd at 1PM. Jeff will cover mixing encaustic paint, working with opaque and transparent color and color theory, paint applications, surface manipulations, transfer processes, mixing oil and wax, making medium and more. Jeff Hirst has been teaching encaustic and printmaking workshops since 2005 and has taught at many venues across the U.S including The Int'l Encaustic conference, The Encaustic Center in Dallas and Vanderbilt University.

ARCH carries a large selection of Enkaustikos wax painting supplies including Hot Sticks, Hot Cakes, Wax Mediums, and other encaustic supplies. Join us for this workshop and receive 10% OFF of your in-store purchase. Bring your friends and spend Friday afternoon at ARCH!

Saturday April 5th - FREE Pentel Brush Pen Demo with Chris Koehler 1-3pm

California College of The Arts Faculty member Chris Koehler will be presenting a Pentel Brush Pen demo at ARCH. Join us to learn tips and techniques for using this popular product in a variety of ways. For more about Chris, visit his website.

Chris Koehler is an artist and illustrator working out of San Francisco. His work has appeared in Popular Science, Utne Reader, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Wired, The Boston Globe, OnEarth Magazine, Stanford Magazine, and SF Weekly, among others. Chris also teaches in the illustration department at California College of the Arts and regularly shows in galleries.

Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

Looking for a gift for your Valentine? ARCH is your local place for unique locally hand-crafted Valentine's Day gifts; from the traditional to the unusual. Come in and see our selection. ARCH carries locally-made jewelry by Bird of Virtue including the reversible "Love" Braille Virtue Necklace above.

"These reversible necklaces have one side in braille and the other in a sweet handwritten script – its up to you as to which side you display. These petite necklaces are laser cut out of walnut wood, then hand-painted a champagne metallic silver, sanded + finished on gunmetal-plated brass chain."

A great gift idea for the guys in your life, this San Francisco-based Henley Brand flask comes with a steel funnel for filling and is covered in a heavyweight canvas cover. It is made of food-grade steel and can hold 8oz of your favorite beverage. ARCH also carries other Henley products including a tool set, collapsible pen, and a collapsible cup.

Amano Studio, based in Sonoma County, makes great delicate and stylish necklaces like this Golden Arrow design. Measures 1.25" brass with a genuine antiqued gold finish, 18" chain with 4" extender, lobster clasp. A special gift for your sweetheart. Thank you for choosing ARCH for all your gift-giving needs!

Halloween Gifts and Supplies

ARCH is ready for Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos...are you? We have a great assortment of Halloween gifts and supplies to make great masks, costumes and props. Have an idea that you need help executing? Come by and pick our brains!

ARCH also has face paint sets from Snazaroo for your Dia De Los Muertos makeup. Or bake some spooky sweets with this sugar skull cookie cutter kit. We hope you have a safe and creative Halloween!

Signed "Print Workshop" Book and Carve-A-Stamp Kit by Yellow Owl Workshop

Yellow Owl Workshop, is a local design studio based out of a small Mission District studio and owned by Christine Schmidt. Christine has published a great book called Print Workshop: Hand-Printing Techniques + Truly Original Projects, which contains instructions and inspirations for great DIY projects. A variety of processes are covered including relief printing, cyanotypes, screenprinting, and transfer techniques to create tons of useful products and gifts. Come into the store and pick up a copy that has been signed by Christine herself! Makes a great gift for yourself or any artist in your life.

ARCH also sells Yellow Owl Workshop's Carve-A-Stamp Kit which includes everything you need to create your own rubber stamps. Each kit includes an easy to carve stamping block, carving tools, a red stamp pad, a small travel bag and templates and transfer paper to create great designs. We also carry other great products by Yellow Owl Workshop including Stamping Kits, Stamp Pads, and pendant necklaces. Stop by and check out our selection!