Living, Breathing, & Shopping Artistically
January 13, 2013
Ponderings
I so agree. Art is creating something that didn’t exist before the ‘artist’ decided to create it. Every moment of our life we are creating something–an impression, a memory, a step forward–something that didn’t exist before. Make every moment a good moment and you’ve made a great life and by extension, great art.
Building on Repetition
January 12, 2013
Inspirational Art
We had a rather lengthy and in-depth article on rhythm and repetition in the Fall 2012 issue of The Polymer Arts. The impact of repetition can be so undersold. But take a look at these cuff bracelets by Patricia Underwood. Basic shapes with some color variation and texture just repeated, the same shapes layered on top of one another. The density of the repetition gives the cuffs a rich, intricate look, even though the components are fairly simple.
You do not need to labor over complex treatments to achieve a higher level of complexity in your work. The various forms of repetition (outlined in the great article by Jainnie Jenkins in the Fall 2012 issue of The Polymer Arts) give you a wide variety of options for adding interest and richness to your work.
Speaking of not needing complex treatments for a great outcome … Christi Friesen will be on Jewelry TV tomorrow (Sunday January 13th) and Monday. You can find out if you have access to JTV by going to their website here. Christi said it would be on at 7am but my TV guide says 10am here in Colorado so look at your channel guide for more information.
Outside Inspiration: Scratch the Surface
January 11, 2013
Inspirational Art
It is really amazing the number of techniques that can be used to color and texture metal. It is almost (I said almost!) as varied as it is for polymer. I have this wonderful book called The Jeweller’s Directory of Decorative Finishes with over a dozen ways to achieve coloration using chemicals for patina and oxidizing as well as enamel. But there isn’t anything like what Lauren Pollaro does here with this copper and silver pendant/brooch. Can you guess what she uses to color it?
Her coloration is pretty darn simple. Nothing toxic or hard to find. She just applies acrylic paint and then alters it with what looks like rough sanding and some kind of sharp-pointy tools for more definitive scratches. Nothing overly advanced, but what a great looking treatment.
I have yet to find a surface treatment used for metal that cannot be emulated in polymer. This translation is easy enough and I personally am itching to try it out. Just bake a formed/cut piece of clay, then paint, sand, and scratch as you desire to bring out the clay color below and develop this kind of unrefined but rich finish. Then seal and you’re set. Easy peasey … and nice looking!
Fun with Disks
January 10, 2013
Inspirational Art
How often do you consider the tactile aspect of your work? There is such an opportunity to add yet another wonderful aspect aside from the visual appearance to jewelry, covered handles, or anything else that might be regularly touched.
These bracelets by Maria Belkomor are visually fun but can you imagine wearing one and not constantly riffling the stack of disks?
What makes good or interesting tactile characteristics? A well-defined, and at least moderately dense, texture as well as variation, repetition and/or a regular rhythm can make a visually alluring piece also irresistible to our sense of touch.
Pushing Mokume
January 9, 2013
Inspirational Art
The texture and color of mokume gane doesn’t necessarily warrant any additional work other than applying it to the chosen form it will adorn. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t push it a bit more.
Ann Dillon works in primarily straight-forward forms to display the texture and color of her surface treatments. But occasionally she add a little bit more.
In this pin, she goes back in and adds scratches and pin points to help define the shapes, add richness, and impart more definite direction in the existing lines. It probably looked nice without the additions but the marks really do make the pin pop.
Stocking up on Texture
January 8, 2013
Tips and Tricks
There’s nothing quite so energizing in the studio as new materials or tools. But after the holidays, sometimes the budget is a little slim. Don’t let that stop you, though.
You can always make a new set of texture stamps or plates from scrap clay. Simple, easy to do, and inexpensive, you can pull texture from anything around you or ‘doodle’ on a sheet of clay. Here is a sheet by Cynthia Gordillo that employs the doodling approach with wonderful results. This kind of design might take a little time, but what wonderful texture sheets you’d end up with.
Cynthia documented her texture sheet creation on her blog here so you can see the tools she used to make these marks. But you needn’t stop there. You can do a couple other things with these sheets besides creating the initial texture.
You can get two plates for your efforts by making a negative of it–prep your new baked texture sheet with your favorite release (I am big on ArmorAll for this kind of thing) and press a thick sheet of clay carefully and thoroughly onto it. Pull it off and bake and you have sheet #2. You can also take that same negative sheet of clay and cut circles, squares, or odd shapes to include the most intriguing parts of the design so you have smaller stamps to work with. To eliminate some of the roundedness of the texture’s raised surface, you can sand the positive or negative sheet on a full piece of sandpaper laid flat on a table. If you sand with coarse sandpaper you’ll have a contrasting matte or slightly textured surface.
In Praise of the Bolo
January 7, 2013
Inspirational Art
Praising the bolo? Yes, actually, I am. They had a bit of a comeback in some circles last year, circles outside of cowboy fashion even. And why not? It’s a neat little accessory with a central decorative piece and two points on the end caps for additional color and/or pizzazz. And they are a lot easier to put on in the morning than a tie. Not to mention that it is actually an interesting composition for a necklace if worn as such.
Melanie West got into bolos because of her father but now she likes to wear them herself. Bolos, like these of hers below, have me thinking about the potential for this overlooked accessory.
Melanie’s own words on the bolos: “They are light, colorful (well, mine are), and unexpected (at least on a woman). Throw in my kooky organic “cilia and cell” patterns, and they can generate a lot of surprised looks from folks – in a good way, that is.” I imagine so!
You can read about Melanie’s bolo journey on her blog.
Art & Health
January 6, 2013
Polymer community news, Ponderings
What are your goals for this New Year? Improve your skills as an artist? How about improve your health? How about doing them both together?
I think we can all agree that good health certainly helps us in creating art. It’s hard to create when we don’t feel good. So, our friends over at Crafty Link (same gals that run Polymer Clay Productions) decided to help artists get healthier. They have a 12 week course titled The Art of Healthy Living that is “designed to teach real-world, healthy lifestyle choices while using art as a means to work through the thoughts and emotions that accompany weight loss.” Sounds rather intriguing.
I do have a few holiday pounds to lose myself. I am also working on reducing stress and having more time to laugh …
I had to share this image … it has fractals on it! I’m a bit nutty about fractals. They are all around us in nature but can also be created using math. Crazy pretty stuff.
The Serendipity of Kathleen’s Inspiration
January 5, 2013
Inspirational Art
Do you ever wonder what the first efforts of some of our polymer greats looked like? If you ever make it to Buford, GA, you can get a look at some of the earlier work in our community. It will make you feel better to see that Barbara McGuire’s first face canes look like, well, someone’s first efforts at making face canes. Unfortunately, looking at some of Kathleen Dustin’s firsts is not quite as affirming. I think she was born an artistic master.
These beads are her first experiments in layering translucent with her now well-recognized style, experiments that led her career off in another direction and into the realm of mastery we know and admire her for. She confesses that she was just about ready to abandon polymer and return to ceramics until circumstances got her to into the exploration of this technique. (Can you imagine a world without those purses of hers!)
We can’t all be Kathleen. We will make some horrible pieces before we make our master pieces. Just keep that in mind as you work. Your art will evolve and improve. Just don’t give up on it.
You can read more about Kathleen’s journey with layered translucents on the Polymer Art Archive post here.
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It must be the mid-winter blues that keeps drawing me to the dramatically colored this week. I know whenever I am in need of an injection of bright and colorful and I can always count on Silvia Ortiz de la Torre. She is never shy and always experimenting with color, form and texture and how they work together.
Here is her latest post on her Flickr page. It’s a piece that almost shocks you into looking closer. The colors are so vibrant and the textures used make the whole piece seem alive.
You have to stop and wonder how something so colorful, created with fun little balls of wound polymer string and puffy pillows beads still comes across as being more sophisticated than silly. There is something in the boldness that exudes that professional level intent. I could see this on runway models or rich movie stars wandering Rodeo Drive. It’s kind of crazy. So crazy you have to envy Silvia’s talent. And maybe even aspire to be that bold and confident someday yourself.
Are you looking to increase the professional impact of your work? We’ve an article in the upcoming Spring Issue of The Polymer Arts magazine on just that subject. Don’t miss out on the issue. Pre-order it or get your subscription here today: www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscribe.html
Read MoreIt’s hard to find a polymer artist who doesn’t also have a love of beads. Many found their way to polymer through collecting and wanting to expand their bead options. So, it only makes sense that we combine them.
Stringing a necklace is one common way to combine our love of varied bead materials. Embedding beads into the surface of the clay is another. And below, we have yet another method outlined by Anne Poncet on her blog using seed beads to create a frame.
The process involves seed beads and wire, which is embedded in a backing of clay. She has two versions of the tutorial on her blog; one simple, quick and with lots of photos, then below there are detailed explanations for each step. Something fun to try out next time you are pondering what kind of finish you want for the edge of a piece.
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Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning “circle.” These visually engaging patterns have spiritual and ritual significance for some eastern religions and western communities and have been growing in popularity as an art form.
Susan Buhrman is one of the most prolific mandala artists that I know of in our community. She uses cane slices, cut sheets of clay, beads and other objects to create the patterns for these wall pieces.
Mandalas aren’t just a beautiful art form; the creation of them can be quite a therapeutic activity. Take a number of scrap canes, sheet clay or what not and simply start placing them in a balanced and repetitive pattern on a board or other stiff, movable surface. Don’t think too much about it. Let your inner artist just play. This should get you into a very relaxing zone, and at the end of your time creating this, you may find yourself surprised by what you end up with. Just something fun and relaxing to try when you need it.
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I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It was a little rough around here. There were numerous friends, pets, and family having more than just a little bit of a hard time. My heart goes out to all of you who are dealing with so much sorrow and frustration right now.
So today, I’d like to bring a little sunshine to us all. These beautifully bright beads are just the thing. The pure, highly saturated colors, a nice glossy polish and the graphic lines call for smiles and grins. We have Sagit of Karmiel, Israel to thank for this ray of sunshine this Monday.
Sigat is not afraid of color. In fact, our bold artist pushes bright and brilliant past what our little packages of clay would seem to hold. How is this possible? Actually the spacers of white and black separate the colors so we see them each clearly, and the contrast against the non-colors make them appear as saturated as possible. If the colors where side by side, our eyes would blur and mix them, even going so far as to tone down some of the characteristics that the colors have in common.
For instance, find the points in the clover canes on the flat beads where the reds and oranges touch. Where they meet there is far less drama and the colors don’t seem to have the punch where they meetup. Imagine a bead with just those colors pushed up against each other. It just wouldn’t have the punch.
Color is actually pretty crazy stuff. If you have never done any color study exercises, you can find some on the internet and in books that will just blow your mind. Try Marilyn Fenn’s pages for online exercises or Maggie Maggio’s and Lindly Haunani’s “Polymer Clay Color Inspirations“.
Have a beautiful and brillant start to your week.
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Doing the cover for each issue has to be the most nerve-wracking part of putting the magazine together. It’s what people see first. It can determine whether someone wants to buy it or not. It is that ever important first impression. It is ineveitably the one part I am never really satisfied with. But as I said earlier this week, one must know when to stop and decide a piece is done. So, this is my moment. Let me (and the talented Layl McDill) know what you think.
If you like this or just really like The Polymer Arts magazine, I would love for you to share this with your polymer friends and cohorts. For those who need to get their next issue ordered or renew your subscription, you can do so at www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscribe.html
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Earlier this week we talked about pushing your art, knowing when it’s time to stop perfecting it. But there is another side to that coin … knowing when to push it a little farther.
Being able to discern whether you’ve added to or worked out a design enough can be difficult, and it’s not something someone can readily teach you. It takes practice and mindful awareness of your process. So how do you know when to take your work a step or two further?
Well, here is an example. Fiona Abel-Smith created this image using a polymer technique first explored by Sue Heaser. It’s based off a mineral mosaic like technique called pietra dura. Fiona starts out with the first image, inlaying clay. Pretty nice as is, right? But then she adds little bits of clay in a painterly manner and the image goes from just nice to quite impressive.
The depth and dimension the bits of clay add takes it from great craft work to rich illustration. The texture gives it a liveliness it just didn’t have before.
Now, you might be saying to yourself, “I kind of like the one on the left better or at least as much.” In truth, the pietra dura is not better, it’s simply a different kind of piece. That is partly why knowing if you have taken it far enough is so hard to determine. So, when working on a piece, there are a couple questions you need to ask yourself. “What do I want this piece to be?” or “What is the purpose of this piece?” and then ask yourself, “Is there anything else I might do with this to accomplish what I am after?”
If you are unsure, you can add to and reaarange your work or try ideas out on a scrap piece before answering that last question. Playing with options is part of the process and certainly part of the fun. Just don’t ‘give up’ on a piece that you sense could be taken farther for what you want it to be. Push it a little, see what you discover. You can always go back if you don’t like what happens when you take it a step further.
And speaking of Sue Heaser, she’s already well-known for her many books on polymer and other crafts … she’s just recently released her first eBook, Polymer Clay Jewellery for Beginners: Book 1 – Millefiori Canes and it’s only $5. It’s a very clear and well laid out book for those who haven’t yet explored Millefiori and for those who teach, it can be a great tool to recommend to students for preparation before they come to your class so you don’t waste precious time getting them up to speed on basics.
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Today, we bring you a great combination of both visual and tactile texture, perfectly juxtaposed in this metal brooch by Judith Kinghorn.
We have on the left treated metal with a soft, warm antiqued coloration and almost stone like texture broken by rhythmic while on the right, granulation set into nautilus like cells whose partitions precisely repeat the lines on the surface treated metal. Two completely different textures. Not the same type of texture, not the same form, not the same depth and even the golds are different tones. But it works. Well. Simply because of the continuation of those rhythmic, swirling lines.
You don’t always need much to bring cohesiveness to a design. In fact, simple, direct and obvious elements can be your strongest tool for this. Contrast in a piece is a wonderful way to give it energy and excitement, but it does have to have something to bring it all together. But as you can see, it doesn’t need to be complicated. Theme for this weekend then … don’t over think it.
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Today we’re going to sit back and admire a great combination of materials. These bracelets are mokume gane polymer bangle bases with moving add-ons in the form of pmc, sterling silver, brass, and bronze rings that transverse the bangle as the wearer moves.
Celie Fago explains her rather lengthy process on the IPCA Synergy 2 page I found these on: “These bracelets evolve, in fits and starts, over the course of years. They mix many media and processes; they are material collaborations. I work in relays: I make the polymer bracelets, then the embellishments: I put them on the bracelets, take them off, move them from one to another …”
This brings up a couple thoughts. One … no work of art is ever really complete, is it? I think we could tweak and changes pieces forever, always seeing ways to improve or change them. The real talent is knowing when to stop.
The other thing that hit me about what she said was that these are “material collaborations”. We think about people collaborating but yes, why not consider how materials can “help” each other not just how they can fit together? In these bracelets, the variety of metal seems to actually increase the flash and depth of texture in the mokume gane. The metals and polymer are working together in a synergistic manner to make the parts, which seen on their own would not be so very impressive, integral and intriguing points in the whole of the composition.
Speaking of Synergy … if you plan on going to Synergy 3 in March, be sure to come and find The Polymer Arts in the vendors room and join me for my workshops and discussions on writing for the craft arts market, centralizing polymer information, and a interview panel of publishers chatting about what we do and why we do it for you. See you there!
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Mind you, its not me calling the process Natalija Pap used to create these splendid pieces below ‘simple’. Maybe it wasn’t Natalija either but the Google translator. This is how Google translated the introduction to her Live Journal entry: I finally seduced simply sculpting technique … It’s super! Show most recent work (much). They call ‘fungi’ “
Don’t you just love these translations? They are so entertaining! But art, at least, does not need translation and we can appreciate the work and vision of these “fun-gi” pieces without translation.
There are a number of applications using small pointy tools here. It’s possible i’ts all done with the same tool–the texture on the flowers and background, the pin-points, the decorative dots, and the dashes around the edges–but the variation is delightful.
These pieces had to take a fair amount of time and patience so I wouldn’t call it simple because the effort put into these really was not. However, if you break down the steps of many techniques, they are pretty simple. The question is, what is done with those simple steps. Much beauty and intricacy can come from the simplest things.
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