Pre-Order Christi’s Flourish
October 13, 2012
Polymer community news
Last night local Denver guild member Laura Schiller and I had the chance to have dinner with Christi Friesen who is in town teaching a class for the Mile High Polymer Clay Guild. The subject matter was wide-ranging … from health to the mystery of men to, of course, polymer art. We also talked about the publishing projects Christi and I both have in the works or on the drawing board. Christi’s latest endeavor is her book Flourish, Book 1: Flora which is due out in December of this year.
Christi talked about how she is emphasizing technique and creative exploration in this book alongside the presentations of step by step projects. That lead to a rather passionate discussion about the need to teach not just the skill involved in claying but the ability to be creative and expand upon what a clayer learns from books, periodicals and classes. Of course, if you read The Polymer Arts magazine you know that I am a big proponent of this approach and so I get quite excited to see this focus in other publications. Of course I’m a tad excited about this book anyways since Christi is using one of my techniques and art pieces to explain the creative deduction process that can lead to new discoveries in the studio. I’m so honored.
Consider pre-ordering a copy of the book so you get it shipped to you first thing when it rolls off the presses. In the meantime, look forward to a fantastic article on Icy Bling by Christi in the Winter 2012 issue of The Polymer Arts coming out next month.
Outside Inspiration: Air-Dry Clay Doll Faces
October 12, 2012
Tips and Tricks
The sculpting process is not terribly different from one medium to the next although the finish and considerations are. Still, you don’t want to miss out on great sculpting ideas because it’s a different medium. And taking a break from polymer can be great for increasing skills and giving yourself a new challenge.
How adorable are these doll faces?
Art doll creator Marlaine Verheist designs these whimsical, expressive and award-winning dolls heads. Air-dried clay with Marlaine’s techniques create a porcelain-like look without a kiln or oven. The techniques she uses with air-dry clay can easily be transferred to polymer as well. For more inspiration, you can visit her website or better yet, if you’d like to learn a new material that can be combined with polymer as well as create cuties like these yourself, Craft Cast has a class with Marlaine this weekend you can take.
A Little Sparkle Goes a Long Way
October 11, 2012
Inspirational Art
We started the week talking about glitz and how to use it well. With the holidays approaching, and a little sparkle being a big seller, I thought I’d share one more piece by an artist known for her caning and laser cuts, not so much for sparkle. But combine some great canes, an inventive design and a few crystals then you have yourself quite the holiday neck piece.
Jana Roberts Benzon is a master of color and patterning. Her designs are complex and involved and keep you entranced whether its a small pin or a intricate necklace. Jana will be featured in an upcoming 2013 issue of The Polymer Arts so keep up your subscription. You won’t want to miss the upcoming Shimmer & Shine Winter issue or any of the things we have in store for you in 2013.
To subscribe or buy any single issues, go to our website at www.thepolymerarts.com. If you are overseas and want to support your local retailers, you can buy print copies through these retailers in the UK and Austrailia.
UK:
EJR Beads
PolymerClay.co.UK
Austrailia:
The Whimsical Bead
Over the Rainbow
Trolls in Your Own Backyard
October 10, 2012
Inspirational Art
I really was planning on getting away from the Fall theme but then, I thought, why ruin a good run? 🙂
So for a little happy fun on a beautiful Fall day, how about a wee little Fall troll to get you smiling? This kindly looking creature is a creation of Dawn Schiller. She is known for her personality-filled fantastical creatures and recently published a book, FaeMaker, all about creating your own gremlins, goblins, faeries and the like.
Originally Dawn was to be at this year’s Clay Carnival Las Vegas teaching her sculpting techniques but unfortunately health issues have interfered. Donna Kato and Leslie Blackford have teamed up to replace Dawn’s class with a new class on sculptural pub signs for those attending.
Unfortunately, Dawn is not the only one whose health is getting in the way of their fun. I was suppose to be at Clay Carnival as well but have had a resurgence of some health issues and have decided that the wise thing would be not to push it and stay home this year. It’s nothing very serious but I need to keep it that way, right? So, there may still be a seat or two left at the Carnival if you are a spontaneous clayer in need of a serious creative injection. The event is just fantastic.
Covered Studs
October 9, 2012
Inspirational Art, Technique tutorials
Big colorful earrings have been rather popular of late. Polymer hanging from ear wires and attached to post backs are the common approach but how about really pushing it by covering the earring post front and back?
Here is a beautiful and fun earring tutorial with striped pod shapes by Anna Potsar of St. Petersburg, Russia.
Unfortunately, the tutorial images can’t be translated but it’s pretty self-explanatory. At the very least, you can take away the idea that the back side of the earring can be just as fun to build and show off your skills as the front.
Faux Burl Bangles
October 8, 2012
Inspirational Art
I’ve been working full bore on the next issue of The Polymer Arts which is themed “Shimmer & Shine”. How to properly balance glitz for a sophisticated and beautiful piece and avoid having it just look garish is one of the issues we have when working with bright and shiny bits.
One of the things that can make glitz successful is to present it with a neutral or subdued surface. Here Liz Hall uses a peek-a-boo approach with beautiful iridescence showing through the holes of a faux burl wood overlay. This makes the brillant shimmer of colors a surprise and treat at each point that it shows through.
Liz Hall works with a lot of iridescence and gems and all very tastefully done. You can ogle many more of her gorgeous pieces on her Flickr page.
Art Can Be Oh-Too-Cute
October 6, 2012
Inspirational Art
This was just too cute not to share. It does bring up a question though since I propose to share ‘art’ with you here. Does cute have a place in serious art?
I think so … Isn’t art all about eliciting a response – getting the viewer to feel something as directed by the artist? Don’t you feel some pull of childhood, a moment of dreaming and play from looking at this? Yep, cute is art too.
We can thank Sandra Plavšić of Croatia for this adorable moment. See more of her work, some cute, much of it contemporary but usually still with a fun edge, on her Flicker pages.
Outside Inspiration: Literally Outside
October 5, 2012
Inspirational Art
So I got out – actually drove and hiked through the colors that I have been exploring online. There really is nothing like being immersed in color out in the natural elements from which it came. But since we can’t take it back to the studio in much of a literal fashion, there’s always photography.
I took this picture in the Colorado Rockies in an area known as Squaw Pass last year. (If I have time this coming week, I’ll edit and post some from this week’s adventure.) I have – in the past – mistakenly considered bright saturated colors as unnatural. But as I traveled more and more I came to realize that, no, most of the time those artifically produced colors aren’t living up to what nature has to offer.
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Of course, I had to look for something in theme with my favorite holiday today. I find Halloween, the Day of the Dead and similar observances so very intriguing. Our passing is as much a part of life as our living and an acceptance and even celebration of it can so very much help be at peace with it as well as helps us appreciate each day we have to live, love, create and share.
I am not, however, a year round observer but I think Tamra Kohl of Sacramento, California may be. She has the most varied presentations of the Day of the Dead theme I think I’ve ever seen. With a well honed sense of humor about it, she has been making dolls, dioramas and cake toppers with the well known skeletons and flowers motifs of the holiday. Only she doesn’t stick with just the famous Fall holiday. Her skeletons can also be found lounging in a bubbly tub for Valentines and in Santa suits. Others are out getting tattoos, having acupuncture, flirting with a playboy bunny while seated at a slot machine and even skeletons dogs can be found surfing as you can see here.
There seems to be no boundaries for these Day of the Dead spirits. And why should there be?
You can enjoy Tamra’s many renditions of the Day of the Dead motifs on her Flickr page and website.
Read MoreIf you have seen crowds photographed from above, you may have noticed there tends to be a pattern in the way people group. Sometimes there is a definite direction as it will be during a concert with everyone facing the stage. Sometimes there is a pronounced flow, a line of people moving back and forth on a path through the throng. Crowded spaces, be they at an event, within an abundantly planted garden or the result of a busy day at your studio table, have some pattern and impression to impart.
This piece by Klavdija Kurent of Slovenia is the kind of crowd I can get into. Like little faces or tiny, blooming flowers, the silver ball accented folds of polymer open up to the space outside their crowded circumstance in an almost expectant and lively manner. The fact that it is black and white rather than multi-colored keeps the crowded space from becoming overwhelming. There is always a danger of over-doing it when you crowd elements in your work but if it’s well balanced with simplicity in other aspects, it can result in a delightfully subdued complexity.
Speaking of crowds … how are our Eastern US friends doing? I’m hoping you and your families are all doing well, are safe and comfortable, and if you are crowded into shelters that your stay is very short and you get to go home soon. Good energy and wishes going out to you all.
Read MoreEtched metal bails, thoughtfully crafted ear wires, and spiraling wire rivets are just a few ways we add the necessary findings and connectors to our art jewelry to make theme functional. But what if you used the items that you need to make your art jewelry functional as an integral and primary part of the design instead of just having it as an accent or as a way to disguise the connection to the art?
In Laura Bocchi’s “Lazy Cloud” necklace, ball chain, which is commonly used for more casual and even industrial designs, is wound through translucent polymer clay to help define and add movement to a simple cloud formation.
When I first read this, I laughed of course. Then I thought, well, it really doesn’t matter. Even if you don’t consider yourself an artist — if you find something beautiful, your view is all that matters. But then I thought, if that’s true, why do we even have the concept of “good taste?” If we judge people’s choices are we not discounting their personal view?
In the northern hemisphere, we are all preparing for cooler weather. Many of us are saying good-bye to our gardens as they change colors and die off. Wouldn’t it be nice to keep a little garden or park right at hand … or literally on your hand?
This below is a ring. A little bit of green landscaping that will never die-off and go brown. A little pond-side view to cheer one up on a snowy day.
Kati Gumenius calls these impractical whimsy pieces. I suppose they could get caught on a few things, but I don’t think that would stop me from wearing them. What is art for but to cheer us, make us think, and put us in a place a little beyond where we are at the moment? If a piece does that, I think it’s pretty practical — at least for the purpose of transporting us for a moment.
Many thanks to Porro Salhberg for bringing this fun stuff to my attention.
Read MoreBelow is an intriguing, elegant necklace by Danielle Gori-Montanelli. Fairly simple with a calm yet random pattern and subdued colors. Nice, right? It’s felt.
Have you ever worked with felt? Dense, rich, durable and a really earthy medium. Great fun for the very tactile artist. It’s also pretty forgiving if you mess up and have to take your piece apart, rebuild, extract or expand. And still … my first thought when I saw this piece was “How cool. But it would have been so much easier to make in polymer.”
Now why did I say that to myself? It wouldn’t necessarily be easier or quicker — considering the conditioning and handling of the clay that would be needed before constructing it. But it did make me realize that I’m a tad bit biased. Okay, more than a tad. And that’s with fiber being one of my first loves.
I think it really comes down to an overriding admiration for the versatility of the medium as well as the very sharing and generous nature of the polymer community. It’s really hard to beat. It’s rather insane how many other art materials have been sitting in boxes — untouched — since I became a full-blown polymer addict some 7 years ago. I think I need some intervention.
All materials are valid. There are a very few that cannot work with polymer. So to temper my snobbery, I have been mixing fiber with polymer. It has been seriously all too fun. Has it been helping my prejudice though? Well …
Do you have a medium that you worked in before polymer? Have you tried combining the two? You should really try it if you haven’t. You will probably come up with some incredible works of art!
Of course that would further support a prejudice for polymer … what can’t polymer do? Oh, well. I guess those of us so inclined need more therapy … yep, we will have to spend more time in the studio exploring. Oh, how terrible.
Read MoreChoosing art for the cover for the next issue of The Polymer Arts magazine was a tad bit difficult this time around. I had all this great work by lots of wonderful artists but the gremlins of chaos seemed to be everywhere and with everyone the last few months. I had initially felt obligated to get kind of crazy with the bling since it’s the Shimmer & Shine issue but there were many last minute changes and getting high quality, high resolution images at the 11th hour is tough. So we went with a personal favorite artist of mine Nicole West (and hopefully soon to be one of yours if you haven’t yet seen her work) and her gorgeous Alice in Wonderland inspired sculpture which certainly shines! Nicole is sharing her work in the Mentor Gallery for this issue. It’s not to be missed!
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Movement in art is often times instilled with the use of lines just as they are in the earrings below by Carol Blackburn. But along with the lines, there is also a feeling of movement due to color changes.
The movement is not just from a cool blue to a warm brown but there is also a sense that time is working its way up the spirals from the tip, much like the browning edges of leaves to the clinging brights of a deep sky that has not given into to the change. It’s an interesting and intriguing color combination that emphasizes the active lines of the spiral polymer strips.
If you find the form of these pieces intriguing as well, Carol just released her class on these Shell Earrings on CraftArtEdu.com. Perhaps its time to try arranging your own spiraling colors.
Read MoreThere was some chatter a month or two ago about Fimo Deco Gel no longer being manufactured. Well, after a discussion with liquid polymer queens Ann and Karen Mitchell (they literally wrote the book on it) — they went directly to the source and have been told by Staedtler, the Fimo manufacturers, that there are no plans to halt production of the wonderfully clear liquid polymer.
Erin “Eirewolf” Metcalf created this Fimo Deco Gel butterfly for her mother some years ago. The clarity of Fimo’s liquid polymer allows for inclusions to shine through like the mica powders tracked through the wings here. The only difficult thing about Fimo’s Deco Gel is finding it. There are still suppliers on Amazon and in the UK there is supplier on Ebay. (Update–Polymer Clay Express is carrying it too: http://www.polymerclayexpress.com/fimo.html) Otherwise, you can still get it at some of the local and chain craft stores. But it goes fast — so if you see it, grab it!
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