The Fall 2014 cover of The Polymer Arts & 2015 Themes!
August 9, 2014
Inspirational Art
A lot of great news over here this week. First …
The cover for Fall 2014 is ready for viewing! Yay! Here you see the newest cover for the Fall 2014 issue themed “Time to Play” with a beautiful wall piece by the talented Tammy Durham. Subscribe, Renew, or Pre-order single issues today to be sure you are in the first mailing that goes out. The files and mailing list go to the printer on the 19th, so purchase before then!
The second set of very exciting news is … The Polymer Arts 2015 Themes have been decided!
–Spring 2015: Diversity – We chose this word to encompass all the many mixed media and contrast suggestions. Certificate Winner: Danette Kazala
–Summer 2015: Connecting – Connecting, connected and connections were all direct suggestions from readers and can encompass so much; from visually cohesive design to adhesives, to cold connections to networking and community, etc. Certificate Winner: Beth Petricoin
–Fall 2015: Elements – This was not a suggested theme, but one we devised to include the many suggestions for mosaics (as in the many pieces/elements in one), organic/natural elements as well as ancient and found inspiration (elemental and/or worn by the elements). Certificate Winner: Claire Fairweather
–Winter 2015: Hidden – This was also a way to includes great suggestions like boxes, etching/carving into clay techniques, translucents and business secrets (as in hidden opportunities). Certificate Winner: Sue Hammer
Thank you to everyone who sent in suggestions. Nearly every suggestion brought up some good idea that fed into the creation of these themes or article ideas we have set aside for further exploration.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Outside Inspiration: Extruded Fall
August 8, 2014
Inspirational Art
This is the look of fall I think of as the season approaches.
The burning colors of orange-reds with yellows against ashy whites. But then, I live in Colorado where the aspen trees light the Rocky Mountains on fire as they change from lush to stark. These pieces are extruded wall vases. That is extruded ceramic clay. I really want to see that extruder. It must be amazing! I hope it has a motor.
Luckily, artist Michael Macone, is aided by his two sons, Miles and Clayton, (does anyone else find it funny that he named one of his kids Clay-ton?), so whatever extruding they do, it’s not one set of hands and arms on that. Michael looks to be best known for a unique engraving technique he developed that allows him to etch his designs right into the clay, rather than placing them only on the surface. This looks to be the technique on the top-end tiles of these vases. But, I just really like that simple twist to them. It allows more than one side to show from any view and gives it a bit of movement.
As in polymer, classic fall colors are fairly popular in ceramics, probably more so since earthen clay in these earthy warm-colored glazes go so well together. If you are looking for natural fall palettes, perusing through ceramic arts on Pinterest, Flickr or Google images will bring you many wonderful and inspiring combinations.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
All Autumnal
August 7, 2014
Inspirational Art
Searching for brighter fall colors in the suggested colors from Pantone’s 2014 fall collection has been a fruitless effort. It doesn’t seem that this year’s collection of colors is really the in-thing with the crafters. I rather agree. Individually there are some great colors in there, but these are not the color combinations that craft people from any medium seem to be geared towards. So, I’m rebelling, and instead, I am going to show you a very classic autumn palette and imagery. Because aren’t these what we love about the fall?
This set is by a Ukrainian artist who lists herself only as Aleksanta. The organic is definitely her thing and in particular, faux looks; leaves, flowers, stone, wood and especially, patinaed metal. The antiqued texture and the richness of those orange petals combined with the blue-green of the patina-look is just lovely. This is classic autumn beauty. I say, we have to have those oranges! All that Pantone suggested this fall was a neutral looking brown; nothing even close to orange. Nope. Give me those copper and rust colors; that eggplant and Bordeaux! Okay, Pantone did suggest a decent Sangria red, and the Cypress green is really nice. But, yes, I think I’ll create from my own fall palette this year. But, that’s just me.
I do like exploring the forecasted colors that Pantone puts out, but I also reserve the right to ignore them. In the end, your work is your expression, and if you have a color combination you prefer for the season, go for it! Your enthusiasm and excitement over personally satisfying color combinations will shine through and make the work far more appealing to your potential customer than a palette you were lukewarm about in the beginning. Create what pleases you, and the customers will follow.
If you would like to investigate more work by Aleksanta, she has plenty of pages to choose from, including her LiveJournal pages, her LiveMaster shop and her VK social network page.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Carded Fall
August 6, 2014
Inspirational Art
Have you ever tried your hand at art trading cards (ATC)? I am rather partial to them; although, I haven’t had the chance to do one in a while. They are such stress-free types of creations because you know you are trading them with other artists who will appreciate your time and your creativity regardless of trends. You are not making them to sell, so you don’t worry about whether buyers will like them. There is no engineering of them like jewelry and no durability concerns as you would have with functional items. They are purely art and you doing whatever you like.
This whole idea of working without constraints or judgement is part of what the article in the next issue of The Polymer Arts, “Time to Play” will discuss. Allowing yourself the freedom to be creative without restriction or demands. Such playful creation is necessary to keep your creativity fresh and keep the childlike curiosity in you that pushes you to grow and discover, alive and well.
So, if you have a fall palette chosen, why not create a card or ten? That way, you can play with the combinations, the imagery and the textures that you are considering for use in the upcoming autumn season.
Daniela D’Uva of Alkhymeia is the creator of this very fall-esque ATC. All those swirls and the lines of dots running alongside them actually convey movement and a sense of growth in a classic autumn copper and moss green palette. And why not? More than a farewell to summer, fall is about the last push from nature to ripen its bounty while it the hails the impending Winter.
I am a huge fan of Daniela’s polymer and wire combinations, as well as her full consideration regarding the back sides of her pieces. Her wonderful jewelry and other work can be found on Flickr and her own website.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Bright in Fall
August 5, 2014
Inspirational Art
There is a bright side to fall colors, at least according to the fashion industry. Deep, dark and rich is not for everyone, even when it’s in season, so designers and fashion magazines put together lighter and brighter palettes as well. Pantone released their Fall color forecast several months ago, but I am not as yet seeing many in our community who are following Pantone’s rather vibrant colors. I had to reach back a way to find this lovely piece by Ronna Sarvas Weltman that displays many of the upcoming forecasted colors; the magenta, reds, lavender and yellows.
There is definitely a feel of fall to this necklace. Although, I don’t think Ronna was thinking of the season when she created it. She was thinking about the various design considerations that would make it a necklace different from all the others.
In her words, “This necklace has a bunch of similar disks at the back portion. Looks a bit boring in a photo, as if I stopped being creative and just put a bunch of disks in to finish it up. But, when it is worn, it works beautifully. I knew designing it that it would look better on than off and maybe wouldn’t even be all that advantageous vis-a-vis marketing. Just thought I’d bring it up as another element in the design process. What a piece looks like on a table surface can be entirely different from the way it behaves around a neck.”
Excellent point. Ideally, necklaces would all be photographed while being worn in order to show how they fall and lay. This would also display which portions of the design are visible and whether they stand out as designed.
Because of Ronna’s organic and often antiqued look, much of her art jewelry would fit in wonderfully all throughout the fall season. For more ideas and other color palettes to ponder, take a look at Ronna’s work on her Facebook page and her website.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Classic Autumn Palette
August 4, 2014
Inspirational Art
We’re coming up on one of my favorite times of the year soon; the fall! I am a autumnal girl in many ways, but mostly I just love the richness of the colors. I even love the fleeting aspects of nature’s palette; it is so brief and so bold. It is never around long enough that we lose an appreciation for it. Well, no one that I know. If you make a living by creating, it is that time of year in which we must decide what direction to take our fall line. We want to make creative decisions in order to entice our loyal customers at our local fall fairs with all our newest designs and creations. So, we’ll spend this week taking a look at a few classic fall palettes as well as the newer trends.
We’ll start with classic autumn colors, which are my favorites. The classic colors of fall are deep greens, vibrant rusts, lush burgundies, rich, dark purples and glowing yellows; all colors that revel in the flora’s graceful and grand departure with an undeniably majestic beauty that cannot be matched elsewhere in the natural world. Although, we see a lot of leaf imagery during the season, it is really the colors that carry the spirit of the fall.
This gorgeous necklace by Cecilia Botton is like the end of summer tipping into autumn with the greens, some deepening and some fading, contrasted with the coppery orange that we all readily associate with the fall harvest while still maintaining a basic leaf pattern.
Cecilia is no stranger to natural and bold color palettes. Her combinations are always inspiring and energetic. Meander through her her Flickr pages and her blog site for more color palette ideas for the upcoming season and beyond!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Get Ready to Hit the Wall
August 2, 2014
Polymer community news, The Polymer Arts magazine news
Well, if you are up for trying your hand at wall sculpture sometime soon, you may want to look at classes or supplies for your venture.
First, you might want to check out the series of articles on wall art that were published in the Spring, Summer and Fall 2013 issues of The Polymer Arts magazine. If you missed those, you can get all of the 2013 issues in a special package on our website in digital or print.
Secondly, start gathering supplies!
I just got a sale notice from Poly Clay Play. Trish is putting Pardo clay on sale to help raise funds to pay some pesky hospital bills her hubby incurred this past summer. Sale clay and helping a fellow clayer? That’s a win-win for certain! I personally am eyeing the new Viva Decor Inka Gold towers. Those are some yummy colors! So there’s a lot more than clay to search out here.
Trish also has great news about Pardo Translucent. There is a US supplier now, and her order is on the way. It’s coming by boat, mind you, so it might take a little while to get here, but hope is on the horizon!
So, do a little shopping at Poly Clay Play and help a really wonderful and long- standing member of our community.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Outside Inspiration: Letting Loose on the Wall
August 1, 2014
Inspirational Art
The cool thing about wall sculpture is there are no boundaries in how it is built, how big it is (unless planned for a specific wall, then you have space considerations), or even having all the components on the same substrate or even connected. It does not have to lie flat on the space, and you do not have to have just one angle of viewing. The wall is nothing but the space upon which the art will live. Otherwise, it is sculpture like any other and can take up space in 2- or 3- dimensions in any fashion you’d like.
This piece does follow a rather level plane across a wall and everything is attached, but the components really do live in their own space with the metal bars slightly connecting them to each other. Again, we are looking at individual items brought together to make a single piece. It is a very manageable set of elements that allow for contrast and comparison that take long minutes, if not hours, to take it all in. The use of many components brought together simplified the creation while making it a more complex piece.
I keep trying to imagine this with the metal bars gone. I think they would be implied in the way the individual metal items line up, but there would be this kind of airy chaos, like debris in space. I can see this being created in polymer like this, and it would be fascinating to behold.
The ‘artist’ here, C. Jeré , was a concept rather than a person. Sort of. I found the history of this venture, which was started in 1963, rather fascinating. As stated in Wikipedia: “Curtis Jere is a compound nom-de-plume of artists Curtis Freiler and Jerry Fels. The two founders combined pieces of their own names to create the C. Jeré signature. Freiler was the production chief and Fels was head of design. Their goal was to produce “gallery-quality art for the masses”. Prior to [this], the partners built a costume jewellery business …” So, as you see, the creation of jewelry can inform sculpture, and as I’ve been saying this week, sculpture can inform jewelry as well as any other kind of art.
Just don’t let the wall define what you are doing if it doesn’t make sense. Just as you shouldn’t let a neck, wrist or ear restrict your creations, particularly if self-expression is a primary goal. Let the work wander a bit. It could be surprising.
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Today is the day … The Fall 2014 issue of The Polymer Arts is out! The theme for this issue is “Time to Play” so we have tons of ideas for increasing your play time, drawing out your ability to let go and play, thoughts on the art of whimsy and humor, ideas for pushing faux effects, creating canes by numbers, creatively naming your work, and tons of other good stuff.
Print issues were sent to the post office for sorting and mailing on Thursday, and this morning, the digital issue was released. This collage gives you a peek at some of the articles you’ll find inside and a Flipbook sampler with many of the articles’ first pages is available on the website if you want a more thorough peek before buying.
Print Subscribers & purchases: Expect your copies to arrive anytime between today and mid-September; arrival times depend on where you live, but the closer to the northwestern US you are, where the issues are printed and mailed from, the sooner you’ll probably see them. International shipments take a minimum of a week and up to 3 weeks, again depending upon your location and mailing services.
Digital Subscribers & purchases: The issue was released digitally at 10am GMT (that’s 5am EST), so you should have a copy in your inbox if you purchased or renewed before Aug 28th. If you have this issue coming, but don’t see it in you inbox, check you spam or junk email folder. Keep in mind, issues are mailed to the email address that you gave us when you made your purchase, or if paying by Paypal, to your Paypal email of record (that’s the one you sign into Paypal with), which may not be this email address since the blog and subscription mailing lists are maintained separately.
If you have any questions about your subscription or order, write us at connect@thepolymerarts.com and we’ll be happy to help you out.
In the meantime, get some playtime in this weekend, be it in the studio or outside, and enjoy child like joy and discovery.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Early in the week it occurred to me that I hadn’t encouraged anyone to send me items that were NOT polymer, so I’d have something for our outside inspiration Friday post. However, the lovely Donna Greenberg came to my rescue and introduced me to a rather amazing enamel artist by the name of Liz Schock. This is not your typical enamel work, at all. There are a lot of wild texture and lines, as well as a carnival mix of colors in much of Lisa’s work.
I am bringing you one of her calmer pieces, actually, I just kept going back to it. This Seaweed Necklace has the intense intricacy of her other work, but for all the wild lines and uneven edges, there is a serenity in it. The color green, and this particular shade of it, has much to do with that. In addition, there is minimal contrast even with the one blue bead. It is still a bit of a mystery since it has so much rich texture, yet is such a calming piece. It is reminiscent of seaweed peacefully floating underwater.
I am especially fond of pieces that I can’t figure out, whose elements are not themselves able to reveal their effect. It is a synergy of the elements that brings about the mood or ‘read’ of a piece like this. It is also something that can’t be taught, not in the sense of defining concepts and outlining approaches. This takes intuition, being in touch with your own sense and reaction to your work, being open as you create to the emerging art and if the piece says ‘step back’, then you want to keep from over-complicating it. I don’t know that this is true for Liz with this piece, but I can imagine, with all the color and contrast in the rest of her work, that it might have been just such an experience that had her pull back from some of her more raucous tendencies.
I would really encourage you to see what I mean. She has a website that was working the other day, but seems to be offline at the time I am writing this. Try going to her website and/or her Facebook page to see what she does with her enamel work and art jewelry and let the idea of how the work presents itself. You may love some of it, you may really dislike a few pieces, but the fact is that with work like this, you will have a reaction of some sort. Isn’t that what we all want our work to do in the end?
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
I can’t give credit to the person who sent me this artist as I only have the email address it was sent from and a query back hasn’t received a response yet, but this was too good to pass by. (If you sent me this, write me back with your name!)
Astrid Brefort was the artist referred to and these fun, graphic pendants were what was sent in consideration of this week’s reader’s choice posts. It looks like texture, both tactile and visual in this piece, are what have been drawing readers lately. And layers! Here form created with layers again plays a role in enlivening the piece. Layers create depth and complexity while the halting swirl of the lines and the bright color contrast of the two colors bring visual energy against the white background. It’s simple elements brought together to create a vibrant and fun piece.
Astrid is one of those highly exploratory artists I occasionally talk about. If you take a look at her blog, she has been trying a little bit of a lot of things lately with great results. Go have fun poking around all the fun stuff on her blog and in her shop.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Today’s reader’s choice comes to you thanks to the talented Randee Ketzel who kindly sends me cool stuff on regular basis. This piece by Olga Ledneva caught her attention due to the layering and the perfectly applied application and juxtaposition of elements.
Yesterday, we got started talking about how the impact of texture can be enhanced by form, but it can be taken one or two steps further by adding lines and contrast to the mix. These forms are created by lines, both curved and straight, which, along with color value, provides dynamic contrast in what is a fairly well controlled composition.
The meticulous finish and balance of elements is key in the work Olga does. See more of her pieces on her Flickr page.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Today’s artistic inspiration was sent to me by reader Fran Harkes who only sent this to me yesterday, but it tied in so well to our first piece this week that I thought I just needed to share it right away.
These fantastic little pendants were created by Britain’s Nicola Morse. The reason I wanted to tie them in to yesterday’s post is that in both cases we are looking at some pretty, but simple, textures made so much more exciting and intriguing because of the forms they are shaped into.
It’s definitely easy to see how it worked in yesterday’s pieces because they were monochromatic beads, so texture and from was what it was all about. But, these pendants have the added bonus of some really intense colors. If you imagine the pieces from yesterday and today as flat, you can see how much of their appeal they would lose flattened. Shape helps make them.
As it turns out, the beads from yesterday have an available tutorial. You can go here to learn to make those organic stamped beads. (Thank you to both Randee Ketzel and Sue Hammer for sending the tutorial link.) So, does anyone know if there is a tutorial related to today’s pieces? These hollow shapes would be so much fun to work with.
In the meantime, Nicola’s website has some other fun stuff to ponder, especially her approach to a faux ceramic look. Enjoy!
Thank you Fran, for such a great find!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Last week, I asked readers to send in images of work they felt should be featured and shared on the blog. That’s what we’re doing this week.
The very first person to chime in was Sue Hammer who sent me a link to Rebekah Payne’s website. I’ve actually had a couple of Rebekah’s images in my files, and it was fun to see that Sue had the same type of wildflower impressed ‘inside out’ beads, as Rebekah calls them, suggested for the blog.
These beads get their texture from tiny wildflowers molds. I am not certain how she developed the hollow cup with the texture on the inside, but I sure am curious. An outside mold and an inside mold used at the same time to impress the clay? That’s one idea.
No matter how it’s done, it’s wonderful to see such rustic and organic texture in a complex, but also very organic, looking shape. It feels completely natural that this texture should appear on such a form. This is true of much of the work Rebekah does. You can see this on her blog and in her Etsy shop.
I’m still taking suggestions for this week’s posts and maybe, next week’s as well. If you have a piece you’ve seen that you think we really need to share, it’s reader’s choice! Send links or images directly to me at sbray@thepolymerarts.com.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.`
Hopefully you’ve been having a fun week, but now for a fun weekend, right? How about something colorful and versatile to try in the studio?
These flower cup beads are created by starting with a rectangular, extruded cane then form a cup over a large ball stylus tool. I just like the stepping away from using circular extruded shapes for extruded canes. There is absolutely no reason not to make extruded canes with any shape you have available for your extruder. This long rectangular shape is particularly fun because of the striations you can make. You will see this in the bead on the first page of the tutorial that I am giving you. And why not reform the cane into long teardrops or flatten them out a little more and roll then into a rainbow jelly roll? Extrude a few and see what you can come up with!
On Poly Cat’s pages , you’ll find the Rectangular Rainbow Extruded Cane being used to create a bead, then there’s the flower cup bead steps you use the cane slices with as well. Pop the URLs for any of these links into Google translate if you want to read them in English, and your browser doesn’t automatically translate them for you. If I understand the translation correctly, the techniques she uses are inspired by others, and she has links and references to those sources so you have even more to check out if you like.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Okay, so I don’t have another snail for you. I went back and looked at fun stuff that I had collected to share, and this certainly fills the bill. Plus, I just feel like a splash of colorful fun is needed today.
These are glass beads created by Australia’s Regis Teixera. This is all lampwork glass. There is a great mix of colors from bright and saturated to pastel and earth-tones, but I think the unlimited palette works primarily because the mix is only happening on half of each bead. The frosted translucent halves have color peeking in from underneath, but the space is a resting place between the very active and colorful sections of the other beads.
In any case, it’s beautiful fun and definitely a mix of color and visual texture we can consider translating to polymer. Just the frosted translucent versus colored half of the bead has me considering how to do something like that.
More color and fun beads are to be found on Regis’ Magma Beads site to help move your Friday along.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Read More
I wasn’t planning a snail themed week, but I think I will try to find more for the rest of the week. Maybe. In any case, here’s one more today for you.
If you are lucky enough to be heading to the IPCA retreat in Ohio, find Ron Lehocky and get yourself one of his beautiful heart pins. He’s been adding nautilus images to them along with his usual beautiful abstract compositions. Obviously, this here is not a heart (he does make other things!), but a beautiful piece it is. It’s still a pin but Ron provides a chain and method to convert it into a pendant as well.
I’m not sure what method Ron is using here but this kind of conversion can be done with any pin that has a straight pin as the attachment. You use a short bit of hollow metal tubing or even a bit of a drinking straw, thread a chain through it and then put the straight pin through and close it. Ta da! You have a pendant.
If you do not have a Ron Lehocky heart pin yet, go to the Kid Center website or Ron’s Facebook page to get information on how to buy your own while supporting a great cause. As of this week Ron has created 27, 276 heart pins with every penny paid for them going to the Kid’s Center. Amazing work and amazing generosity.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
