ASTM Issues Standard For Arc Protective Blanket Testing

Arc protective blankets are used in many electrical applications to protect workers who are stationed near energized electrical parts. While these blankets have been used for years, there have been no testing criteria for their evaluation. A new ASTM International standard will be used to determine the effectiveness of arc protective blankets in suppressing the combined effect of an arc flash and an arc blast. The new standard, ASTM F2676, Test Method for Determining the Protective Performance of an Arc Protective Blanket for Electric Arc Hazards, was developed by Subcommittee F18.65 on Wearing Apparel, part of ASTM International Committee F18 on Electrical Protective Equipment for Workers.

Now companies have the ab ility to evaluate blankets with a repeatable standard that can be done at many test labs using an electric arc and a high speed camera, says Hugh Hoagland, technical consultant, ArcWear.com and e-Hazard.com, and a member of F18.

Research showed the most critical factor was the current in amps and the time exposed, says Hoagland. Now blankets can be compared. Hoagland also notes that, while ASTM F2676 will be initially used by utility companies, many electricity users in heavy industry will also benefit from being able to reference the new standard.

Subcommittee F18.65 is continuing its research in blanket use and care, and it next plans to investigate how blanket installation affects protection and how to further quantify protection. The subcommittee encourages participation, particularly from utilities, in its standards developing efforts.

Culinary arts schools help you to make delicious meal

To make a successful career in food service industry, get complete details of culinary arts schools at arts classifieds.

The culinary arts schools are for those students who think their passion is cooking. It helps them to turn their passion of cooking into an exciting new career. Here they develop their cooking and baking skills. The culinary arts school programs were created to help aspiring professionals to learn the techniques it takes to succeed in today''s fast-paced culinary environment. The Culinary arts schools gives you all the ingredients you need to launch a successful career in the food service industry. It prepares you to be a leader in the food world.

As a preparation for students, various skills such as how to become nutritionist and how to manage human resource is also taught which is helpful in becoming a successful entrepreneur. There are many culinary a rts schools all over the world but each of them having their unique way of teaching and every school has its own reputation that is good to know about. The difficulty level of each culinary school also varies a lot. But schools with the best reputation will usually be higher on the difficulty scale than others.

The art related to kitchen or cooking is known as culinary arts. A person working in the culinary arts is called as culinarian. They are responsible for making delicious meals. Culinary arts schools offer specialized programs in culinary arts, but one can also choose to take a general culinary arts bachelor program. An individual having culinary art degree can have access to about every possible job in the food industry. They primarily work in restaurants, fast food franchise, delicatessens hospitals and many other institutions.

Culinary arts schools are an independent, unbiased resource that''s designed to allow future culinary-school students to research and compare the diverse world of cooking-education institutes. If you''ve ever dreamed of becoming a head chef, line cook or restaurant manager, then India Classifieds site can help you turn those dreams into reality and plan for an exciting career in the culinary arts.

10 Tips When Putting Your Photo on Canvas

Are you planning to order your photo on canvas online? Then the following tips can be of great help to you in picking the right service provider.

1. The first step is to do a small research to find out the best company. You can start with a generic search using terms like photo on canvas, canvas prints, or photo to canvas. As soon as you hit the submit button you will find hundred of websites show up for the terms. It is better to avoid sponsored links placed either on top or on the right panel of Google. Look for naturally ranking websites these are the trust worthy ones.

2. Browse through the gallery to get a glimpse of their work. There will be options for you to enlarge the images and have a closer look because your photo on canvas will also come out in the same level of perfection.

3. If you can''t find samples or quality guidelines better abandon the site.

4. Watch out for the material used and confirm if t hey are canvas prints

5. Check out the choices of material used for frames.

6. Look for testimonials and reviews from customers

7. Next check the delivery schedules. Most of them can deliver it to you within three business days anything longer than that will make you anxious. It''s better to avoid such websites.

8. Check how your canvas prints will be delivered; make sure it reaches you without any damage.

9. Read the terms of service, refund policies, and privacy policies of the site thoroughly. Also check if the site is protected and secure while making the payment online.

10. Sit back and relax, wait for the product to reach you on time as promised. Don''t annoy them with numerous calls before the scheduled time. Any pressure on them will reflect on the product. Meanwhile decide where you are going to place your photo on canvas.

Canvas Prints: A History

History of canvas prints date back to centuries. Earlier canvas was used for the purpose of showcasing of masterpieces by artists. The texture of the canvas and its rough surface has a different effect on the paintings. Earlier, there were no techniques to overcome these effects which distorted the realistic feature of the paintings. Today with modern technology it is possible to paint better quality pictures using special paints specifically manufactured for transfer of photos to canvas. One other reason for low quality of canvas prints during olden days is because of the texture of canvas that was made using linen.

Modern day canvas for printing are made out of cotton and these material seem to be much better when it comes to printing photo on canvas. Not only is the quality of canvas better for higher quality picture but also has been designed to last longer. In fact, photo on canvas can last for hundred years! Yet another feather to the cap is that photo on canvas looks like a handcrafted one while it really is printed using sophisticated machinery that involves software programs to transfer photo to canvas.

Knowing some of the technique involved in canvas to photos will help you understand the process better.

Repligraph: In this process of canvas printing images are reproduced from negatives, using oil based-paints. These works of art can be intact for over a century.

Digitograf: In this process oil based-paints are used to print images and a gel finish provided makes it last long. The image quality also resembles much nearer to the original.

IRIS Printers: In this process images are printed using organic dyes with the help of a computer and an inkjet printer this process is mostly used for recreating water color paintings. If you opt for this process for canvas prints get it coated with a UV protectio n layer to avoid quick fading of the image. Application of varnish to the finished product is one other way of preserving it for a long time. Apart from being a protective layer varnish can also add a glossy look to the painting.

Difference between digital colors and CMYB will let you get the right color for your photo on canvas. In digital outputs such as cameras or monitors or even in inkjet printer the primary colors, RBG, are used in different combination to produce millions of hues. Whereas, commercial printing uses a combination of CMYB colors to obtain desired colors. Service provider can assist you in choosing the best option according your needs.

Once the printing of the photo to canvas is completed the canvas is stretched and wrapped around a frame to make them look great. This requires special tools such as stretcher bars and after the required stretching the canvas is stapled to the frame and the staples are concealed behind the frame. And at last your photo on canvas is ready to be hung on the favorite spot of your home.

Can You Learn to Sing Online?

I decided to take the time to talk to you about learning to sing online. I know a lot of you strive to be the next greatest singer. You may have dreamed of going to an American Idol audition to see if you can qualify. Even if you consider yourself a prodigy, you''re probably rough around the edges. I''m sure you''ve seen the audition taps from American Idol and people show up that can''t sing, yet they''re so confident they''re going to wow the judges. This shows that most people have a complete disconnect with the way they sound in their head and the way they sound to other people. With a little training and rounding of the edges, your singing can be greatly improved.

When it comes to hiring a professional to go to on a daily basis, you''re going to pay. There is only a slim minority of people that can sing and there are even fewer that can teach the art to you. You''re going to be paying several hundred dollars for an hour of 1 on 1 training. Unless you have a thousand t o put down every week than you probably can''t afford it (which is pretty standard for most people). You can get online courses that are pretty good. They''re not as good as having a professional, but it''s cheaper. Basically you can get videos produced by professionals and you can see everything you need to see.

I''ll be the first to say that it isn''t the perfect way of doing it, but it''s a lot cheaper to get instructions and videos to follow right from home. You get the advice and techniques of a professional, but you get it at a discounted cost because the same information is sold over and over again. As long as you are dedicated and have a lot of heart, you can definitely learn everything you need to with a simple online course.

Promoting Art For Change -- USA Painting Tour Stops in the Grand Canyon

How could a painting tour of the United States raising funds and awareness for children and art education be complete without a visit to the Grand Canyon? When I headed out of Los Angeles recently to begin my Across the USA from the Eyes of an Artist Tour, I decided to make the western rim of the Grand Canyon the second stop.

The journey marks my re-emergence into the art world after two decades of global travels and social activism. Currently based in the USA, my focus today is on promoting art for change. I first launched my artistic career in New Zealand 1976 after I abandoned formal art training and opted to learn my craft by capturing the beauty of the New Zealand wilderness on canvas. Culminating in New York near the end of September, the USA tour captures the "places, faces and homes of American on camera and on canvas."

Traveling with my husband, Bruce, our first tour stop was Lake Arrowhead, CA. As we moved on from there, we decided to drive through the night i n order to watch the sunrise at the Grand Canyon. Seeing streaks of white light illuminating vast desert plains and alien shaped mountains was a captivating sight. Stalwart Joshua Trees silhouetted against the dawn, their branches looking like hands groping for the light, created further mystique.

For the last 30 miles we traveled down a winding gravel road before reaching the final point where we could go no further except by tourist bus or helicopter. My desire was to paint the Grand Canyon -- but not just the vista laid out for tourists and sightseers. I wanted to paint in the stark grandeur of the desolate mountain forms from a point right in the middle of the remote wilderness.

On the way back we stopped our car on the deserted gravel road. I got out my paints, easel and canvas and we trudged into the desert until we found the perfect spot. I have painted many outdoor scenes in various parts of the world but this was a unique experience. Painting in utter silence, interrupted only by the cry of a hawk or the call of a desert bird and the slight rhythmic sigh of a hot desert breeze, is something I will never forget. We then headed west, out of Arizona and back into Nevada.

As we continue this journey, in addition to recording the scenic beauty and people of America in my paintings I will also be organizing kids art projects along the tour to promote and raise funds for children and art education. On this point I have partnered with Free Arts for Abused Children to get the message out.

Next we head for Mammoth Lake and the Sierra Nevada Mountain Regions of Sequoia and Yosemite. Then San Francisco, the famous Redwood Forest and up the coast to Oregon and Washington. Yellowstone National Park and the Badlands in South Dakota are next, followed by Minneapolis/St Paul in Minnesota and Green Bay and Milwaukee in Wisconsin. Crossing to Illinois we will visit Chicago and move onto Lansing and Detroit in Michigan. On the final leg will b e Niagara Falls, the Pennsylvania cities of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and our final destination of New York City.

Art Board vs. Stretched Canvas

Board vs. Stretched Canvas by J. Bright

Art board vs. stretched canvas / which is the most appropriate tool for presenting painted art?

Art critics and artists alike have been known to disregard art board as a viable art surface for ''real'' artists (pity the ''fake'' artists among us), believing board should be used for experimentation or student projects only due to its lack of material longevity. The argument follows that art board, being made only of compressed cardboard and canvas, is unlikely to last the lifetime of the ''artpiece'' it becomes. But what exactly is the lifetime (life expectancy) of an artpiece?

Recycling statistics suggest a piece of cardboard left to biodegrade in extreme outdoor, conditions will take 3-4 months to do so. How long then, will a well treated canvas art board survive? And given that a painting on canvas board will comprise a piece of ''art'', would it not stand to reason that the board will be treated ap propriately and accordingly? Kept dry and temperate; away from destructive tools, rain and oily hands and maintained in ''normal'' (not extreme) conditions?

And is this question of ''life expectancy of art'' even relevant? Emily Carr''s early works were created on paper bags; Jackson Pollack painted with ashes; early Pompeiian artists painted on plaster in the first century A.D., and fabrics and textiles from thousands of years past remain today. These creations have survived to present despite either conscious disregard or lack of consideration for ''life expectancy''.

Creativity, experimentation, genius. Where does one end and the other begin? And if a moment of inspired genius should accidentally be captured on a canvas art board does that mean it is worth less?

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Learn about Different Frames of Canvas Prints

When it comes to photo on canvas, it is the frame that plays a major role in making the canvas prints look at its best. The secret lies in perfectly stretching the carefully printed images across the frames. This is why many popular companies that offer photo to canvas services emphasize on the frames when it comes to canvas prints. The role of frames in canvas prints is not only limited in providing a quality finish to the end products but also is a deciding factor of the budget and the end use of the photo on canvas. Ordinary frames are the best ones when it comes to hanging the photos on the wall at your homes. It also can drastically reduce the price of the product and save you good money. This would be ideal if you are planning to create a photo gallery at your home. However, when it comes to special collections or gifts to your most respected ones, there are better choices that you could opt for. Some of the special fr ames include frames made of walnut wood, antique frames, and even gold frames. Walnut wood frames could be a good choice if you like to have your canvas prints decorate your home gallery or your gifts to be within your budgets. An antique frame although costlier could be an excellent gift to someone who loves antiques. When it comes to presenting anniversary gifts to close friends or relatives, and if you like escalate your image among your family and friends canvas prints in gold frames could be the choicest ones. You can get more information on frames used for photo on canvas in the web. Do away with the traditional gifts and present your kith and kin memorable cute canvas prints.