Orbiting Frames
December 10, 2014
Inspirational Art
Strangely, this week has become all about frames, which, of course, fits with the theme of the new issue, but my thoughts and the pieces I am being drawn to are these multilayer frames. So, here is one other option for playing with multiple frames in one piece.
I love this idea of creating windows and multiples of them layered on top of one another, but not lining them up. The tiered windows still bring focus to the center image as frames will do, but the off-kilter layering of them creates such vibrant, yet contained movement. These are a beautiful bit of genius created by Vee (Veesuel), who has several versions of these; primarily with more solid colored surface treatments. I am rather fond of the cane work versions, as it adds to the energy of the pieces; an energy matched by the movement the varied placement of the frames create.
Vee does some beautifully finished work in a variety of styles. And her site is quite pretty and easy to navigate. So, why not grab a cup of something yummy and warm and go visit her for a while?
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Framed Opportunity
December 9, 2014
Inspirational Art
I think we are all rather familiar with the idea of a decorative frame. We’ve seen them on old paintings, antique mirrors and even around windows and doors. Frames can be a work of art unto themselves. So when framing your own work, why not go ahead and consider pushing the decorative aspect just as you might with your bails, clasps, spacer beads or any other element added to your work? Just how far can you take it?
Well, one possible answer as to how far you can take decorative framing can be found in the work of Julie Eakes, who is the featured artist in Maggie Maggio’s “Color Spotlight” section of our winter issue. These highly-detailed and deeply, layered frames may not fit a lot of work since the business of the frames would compete with the image it is surrounding, but in a case like this, it rather matches. Julie is best know for her face cane and pointillism, so the images she frames are the strongest types of images we are drawn to (we gravitate to faces before any other easily, recognized imagery), and her canes are quite complex, so the frames work with these images rather than drown them out.
How far could you take your frames so that they work with what you are framing? Or could fun with complex frames push you to create more complex images? You can read more about why and how Julie creates these canes and frames in the article and read more about her work on her blog.
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.
Round and Round the Edges
December 8, 2014
Inspirational Art
So the Winter 2014 – Boundaries issue is in hand or on its way to all our readers and retailers. If you’ve read through your copy, then this week will be a little addition to the lessons to be learned there. And if you haven’t gotten your copy yet, this will be a bit of a preview and introduction to the concepts we explored.
The theme of Boundaries encompassed anything that delineated either elements in polymer art work or boundaries developed (or not) in the way we live and work. One of the recurring concepts is about edge. There is an entire article on the concept in terms of how to look at edge as a part of your design including ways to finish off an edge and what the different types of edges can convey within a design. In the issue, we weren’t able to go into some of the more complex angles of that concept including considering multiple edges in a piece.
Debbie Crother’s newest pieces are featured in the gallery section where you’ll see she works with a lot of open edges (not framed or otherwise treated.) The open edge can allow a piece to feel bigger than it is since there is no frame or treatment to stop the viewer from imagining the scene, images or lines from going off into the space beyond what they see. This piece is actually both framed and has open edges. It’s actually like a series of frames, but instead of the frame holding in and drawing focus to interior elements, the frames are one of the primary elements of the design itself.
The even, nested circles create a bulls eye, which would usually bring you to focus on the center, but between the open edges, the lines within the surface treatment and the white drops, your eye is kept quite busy and is directed across the width of the piece with the occasional stop where the white spots have landed like scattered stars. The series of edges, however, slow down your visual glance across the landscape, so you find you spend a little more time taking it in. Which is a good thing. Also, the natural, uneven landscape lines of the surface contrasts with the orderly rings just to keep things interesting. The overall result is a piece that is not overly complicated, holds your attention and feels rich with small, but satisfying details.
Debbie creates these with variation in the surface treatment of each ring which makes those pieces much more about the contrast of each ‘frame’. She’s explored this design in great depth bringing her around to a number of well-designed options. This particular design, along with painted polymer veneers, is the subject of her newest class on Craft Art Edu “Concentric Circle Pendants”. So, should you find yourself intrigued, go get yourself a class. You can also see some of her other new designs in the Gallery section of the Winter issue of The Polymer Arts (get your copy on our website or from one of our retailers listed here) or take a trip through Debbie’s Flickr photostream.
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.
Taking a Simple Step
December 6, 2014
Inspirational Art
My aim today was to bring up something to encourage you to create a simple piece; to make something with a minimum of detail, but that still has eye-catching impact. There are a lot of options. You could look at anything we posted this week, and after finding the element that most intrigues you, create something of your own. You could also look through the links for the artists featured and find other pieces that speak to you.
If you like the idea of attempting a simple piece, but would like some direction, there are many tutorials out there that could get you on your way. I found this one by Gretchen Amberg on the Sculpey website. Simple graduated color and bead size brings enough variation to carry the simple composition. A careful finish would be key to making an elegant piece. This tutorial uses Sculpey’s new hollow bead tray, but you could use light bulbs and various cutter sizes to accomplish the size difference and still retain the volume of the bead forms.
In any case, I hope this week’s theme has inspired you to try your hand at simplicity, even if it doesn’t seem to be your style. There are great lessons to be learned by reducing a design to very simple elements.
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Outside Inspiration: Challenged by Simplicity
December 5, 2014
Inspirational Art
It would seem that successful, simple compositions would be fairly easy to achieve, but I have found that in order to be successful with simple creations is many times more difficult than with complex ones. When the elements are few and spare, every single choice made counts in a big way. This is how I see the challenge in the work of Jon Ryan. His work is gorgeous, but rarely even approaches complexity.
This carved scale aluminum brooch of his epitomizes this. There is really only one color, and that is slightly graduated. There is one texture in the scales, and the form is balanced. That is all that is here, and yet, you can recognize the genius of the design and the bold beauty of it, even if you don’t have any idea why that is so apparent. The genius is in being reserved while choosing elements that make the brooch feel alive. Scales are, of course, an element of reptiles, so there is a hint of a living creature. The slight change in the tint of the color makes the blue glow, so it gives off a sense of soft light and energy. Also, the form curves just enough on either end to introduce movement. These choices along with an impeccable finish is what makes this feel so masterly. I have a hard time imagining how I would go about creating something anywhere near as elegant with such minimalism. I find it quite amazing.
Jon’s body of work is all about simplicity. And, lucky for us, there is an easily recognized correlation to be seen between his metal work and working in polymer. Take even just a few seconds to look at his Flickr portfolio album to see what I mean. If you are intrigued by his work, you can read more about his process on his blog.
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.
A Few Floating
December 4, 2014
Inspirational Art
Simplicity often works best when presented in an unexpected manner. A necklace of leaves is nothing unexpected. A necklace of three leaves floating, however, is.
This interesting neck-piece is the creation of Delphine Roche de Montgrand of Paris, France. There is grace in the simple triad composition, the slight variation of the leaf sizes and the way they are arranged. But, we are halted by the way they float around the neck, and then, I think, we linger because of the rich color and the naturally attractive fan shape that makes ginkgo leaves so popular. To add anything else here would ruin the quiet feel of an autumn morning so succinctly replicated here. Do you agree?
Delphine works primarily in replications of nature with a little splash of illusion thrown in here and there. You can read more on her blog through Google translate if you don’t speak French.
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.
Simple Green & Winter 2014 is Here
December 3, 2014
Inspirational Art
First of all … yes, the Winter 2014 issue is being released today. I am pre-scheduling this blog to post at its usual time, and then I am getting back to testing and getting access ready for the digital issue today. If you are waiting on your issue, digital access should be in everyone’s inbox by dinnertime in the United States, which would be around bedtime in Europe, I believe. I am hoping for earlier, but with our plague of technical issues lately, I am going for some pretty thorough testing before we send it out. Send prayers and coffee sacrifices to the technical powers that be asking for a smooth digital release today. As for the print copies, they were not supposed to be at the post office for sorting until yesterday, but apparently our service got them out early because people are already receiving them in the United States. Keep an eye on your inbox and mailboxes! It is on the way, if not already there for you!
As for our simple theme this week, what can be simpler than monochrome and free-form? With the right color and overall texture, something as simple as this faux beach glass can be mesmerizing. This is a pendant by Maria Petkova, author of the blog Polymer Clay Diaries. According to her image description, this is a polymer, beach glass and acrylic paint. Which is the real beach glass, I am wondering? Or is there any real beach glass? Even not knowing the listed description, I would be fascinated by what this is made of, and why it is so eye catching. Like the last two pieces this week, it comes down to a sudden change in what is a broad, evenly treated surface. Interruptions and surprises always catch our eye, don’t they?
You can find more inspiration by Maria on her personal Flickr pages as well as on her blog as listed above.
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.
Random Lines
December 2, 2014
Inspirational Art
Our piece today is not dissimilar from yesterday’s piece, but it’s differences delineate another approach to the simple application of elements.
A large swath of continuous color is halted by a mix of color here as well, only in this vase by China’s Frank Khow (known as Beefball Papa on Flickr),the feel is crowded and energetic instead of being quiet and still. Yesterday’s work was simple and sparse, but today’s is more about abundance. As you can see, abundance doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, abundance is an easily visible proliferation of one thing, which in this case is a series of revealed extrusions. The draw to this comes from the impact of textural contrast–busy visual texture against a smooth and solid visual texture.
The effect is so strong here that the same busy versus quiet application can be presented with different color combinations or forms, and you’ll still have a similar feel and impact. You can see what I mean simply by visiting Frank’s Flickr photostream where he has several examples of this technique to compare.
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.
Simple Interruptions
December 1, 2014
Inspirational Art
“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” You’ve probably all heard this adage and may even find yourself repeating it like a mantra as you sit at your studio table while tempted to add just one more color, one more accent or one more layer. Many, many times, you should really opt for the more simplistic approach. I want to focus on that this week. Let’s talk about simplicity as an approach and see just how beautiful simple can be.
This pendant is one in a series by Belgium’s NiQui that I think is very successful for it’s restraint. The mash of color within this monolithic black form is all about contrast and restriction, which makes what little color there is very strong. The stripes of marbled color break the line of the bar of black very suddenly and certainly, and then pulls your eye immediately to it. Depending on your view, or maybe even how your day is going, you can see that as lines breaking into the solid bar or as color being compressed to nearly nothing by the black. Either way, you probably sense that there is energy and some kind of relationship between the contrasts of no color to a mishmash of it, and the question of what that relationship might be is what holds you there. It may be simple, but it holds the potential for complex ideas.
Simplicity is Nicole’s (NiQui’s) hallmark. If you want to see a lot of exploration in this area, do take a look around her Flickr photostream.
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One of my more highly recommended ideas for new inspiration to try this year is to use a variety of other mediums with polymer. The versatility of polymer leaves open a vast number of compatible mediums to combine with, to accent with or to be accented with. Even if you are using other mediums with polymer now, why not try something new to you? It could open doors to entirely new ideas.
Annie Pennington, Associate Editor over at Art Jewelry magazine, mixes all kinds of mediums together. Polymer, fiber and metals have been her staple materials for a while but with them she also uses other things such as colored pencils, acrylics, and paper. None of her pieces are really well-seated within any one material category, but then why should they be restricted to that kind of categorization? This brooch does not jump out at you and say, “I am polymer!” and I think it is better for that even. We see the brooch, its form, color and textures, before we start to consider the materials. Granted, discerning the materials used in a piece is primarily done by other artists, but knowing the piece transcends such distilled defining gives us as fellow crafters a greater appreciation for the work. Don’t you think?
A little time on Annie’s website will show you many more examples of not having any one medium restrict or define the work. You might also take a look at our Summer 2013 issue of The Polymer Arts, Mix it Up, for more mixed media inspiration. You’ll also want to ensure your subscription is up to date so you’ll get our Spring 2015 issue, with the theme of Diversity, where we will offer tons of new ideas for trying different mediums and processes in polymer to get your year off to a very inspiring start.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
We definitely have a penchant for making jewelry in this community, but have you tried other forms to see if you have an affinity for other forms? Non-jewelry forms can be very freeing as engineering them is often less complicated. There are a lot of people trying their hand at home decor objects, decorating furniture, covering sculptural shapes and applying polymer to clothing.
One of the most interesting explorations in this area this last year, at least from what I’ve seen, are the vessels Donna Greenberg has been busily creating. I don’t even know how to explain her journey, but she has really been pushing her form and application of her clay treatment in some really intriguing ways. I’m going to leave it at that and give you this beautiful close-up of one of her newest creations to get your interest piqued. Then go on over to the Donna Greenberg Arts page on Facebook to see the many pieces she’s made and her journey itself.
Then I might suggest you spend a little time on Pinterest or Flickr seeing what else people are up to these days. Perhaps you will find a form that you just must try this new year.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
It’s that time of year, isn’t it? When we start thinking about how we’ll do things differently in the coming year. A lot of us will be considering what we can do to increase our sales, make our work vs art lives easier, improve our skills or simply get inspired to do something new to invigorate ourselves and our work. Well, I thought I might be able to help with the last bit here. It is what I try to do daily on this blog, but this week let’s just pull out a few pieces of work and talk about how the pieces might be used to inspire you to try something new.
For instance, how much variety to you have in your beads? Do you stick with primarily one shape or one type of treatment for them? Do you mix up the canes or texture you apply? If you feel like you’re in a bit of a rut in your bead making, shake it up by challenging yourself to a bit more variety. Here is an example of this from MaryAnne Loveless, who created these large hollow tube beads with a ton of different applications. She uses canes, textures, pressed clay bits and hand tooled marks. There is some dimensional contrast in all the beads, but some have more than others, which creates a wide variety of surface designs.
Varied surface design is MaryAnne’s forte, so if you want more inspiration in that area be sure to take a look at her Flickr photostream and her blog.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
To end my week of favorite things, I’d like to share a nice little tutorial on a landscape surface treatment. I am rather partial to landscapes as they can represent so much. They can be calming, dreamy and make us feel small in the enormity of open land before us. But mostly, for me, landscapes feel like the beginning of a story. Maybe I’ve just watched too many movies that have opened on a wide open landscape, but I do like to think about seeing all the possibilities in that openness.
This French artist, who goes only by the name Joelle, is a crafter of many materials but seems strongly drawn to textures and organic color palettes, both of which you can see in this tutorial of hers. I enjoy the mix of additional mediums to get her textures and create little focal points. Switch up the colors to your own preferred palettes, and create a landscape that could hold your own story.
You’ll find the step-by-step tutorial on Joelle’s blog, along with the many other creative projects she gets herself into.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
I don’t know how long I’ve had these candy-colored goodies on my list, but every time I see them they make me smile. There is something so playful about the forms, colors and what must be an amazing tactile texture, yet they don’t exactly come across as toy-like. I think it may be the very energized color pairing on each that make them too pretty to be a child’s plaything.
These were created by Demi Chao, who was a Birmingham School of Jewellery graduate student at the time she created these. I cannot find a note of what these are made of, but a close-up shot I found looks like rubber. Do you wonder where she got her inspiration for these though? Here it is in her own words:
“Just like the organisms in the natural world, this series of brooches are colorful and textural. They are inspired by the microscopic photographs of pollen cells and sea corals which possess vibrant colours and peculiar shapes. They always make me want to touch them. Therefore, the idea of making playful and tactile jewellery came to mind.”
We do tend to play with our jewelry anyways, sometimes nervously, sometimes while daydreaming or thinking deeply. Why not create work that our sense of touch responds heavily to? I know I have a number of designs in my sketchbooks specifically focused on the pieces’ tactile nature, but I never did anything with them. When I see these, I know I need to revisit that idea.
Take a look at more of the delicious color combinations and other organic forms on Demi’s website.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Today’s piece celebrates both the holiday and my love of this incredibly talented sculptor. Forest Rogers imbues her work with some of the most fluid, dynamic and ethereal choices of form and detail. Her work can be equally ethereal and disturbing, but her pieces are never anything less than wondrous. This is all my humble opinion of course, but I think many people agree.
For today, just enjoy the faerie herald here, and when you have a quiet moment between festivities, do go visit her blog and website for sculpture that just pulls at the soul.
For those of you that celebrate the Christmas holiday, a very Merry Christmas to you all. To all my readers, regardless of what this day means to you, thank you so much for joining me so often and allowing me to share the many beautiful things I find in my searches. Being able to do this is the best gift, and I am gifted with this every day! How wonderful.
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 know, I know … this is not polymer, but there was some question about that as it was posted on a few Pinterest boards under polymer. And that colorful inlay could be polymer, right? It could, but it’s not. It’s painted. The reason it was popping up under polymer searches was because it was posted to the polymer tutorial site, claylessons.com, in a message posted to encourage people to visit the Daily Art Muse blog (let’s see how many plugs and links we can fit into one blog post, shall we?). So there is the polymer connection.
But why am I featuring a non-polymer piece today? Because it’s nearly Christmas and if I can’t break some rules now, when can I? Well, yes, I do break rules on occasion for no reason at all, but let’s say this is because it’s a holiday week. And because this piece is gorgeous. It is all carved wood by wood artist, Joey Richardson. The detail is amazing. The form and intricacy are so fluid and natural you might wonder if it’s not alive. It also reminded me of my favorite gourd artist Mark Doolittle (we needed another plug and link here, right?).
But wait, there’s more! More incredible work like this that is (although more links will certainly happen). After holding onto this, waiting for the right themed week to share it in for nearly a year, I finally found out who the unattributed artist was, opened her site and just got lost there. I don’t know how Joey has the patience or hasn’t ruined her fingers with all this fine carving, but I am grateful that she does. What a treat. Treat yourself as well by heading over to her site and be sure to read her About page. Her feeling about her sources of inspiration really fit the season.
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 love creating polymer components, but I have never been that big on the stringing and adding findings and all that. I enjoy making something that didn’t exist before it came into my hands; although a couple store-bought ear wires can be integrated into a design, they are still not wholly mine. So I started making my own ear wires. Much better but not quite as much fun as polymer. Then I saw basic gauge earrings made from polymer on Etsy some years ago and thought … ah ha! No ear wires at all. You create a whole piece, and then it goes into your piercing. Cool. Let’s try that. And that is how gauge earrings ended up becoming my primary form sold through my Etsy shop.
I don’t get much studio time these days so I don’t create and sell gauges, but I occasionally stop and see what other people are doing with them now that polymer clay gauges have caught on. These have been my favorite by far. They are created by a pair of artists, the Ukraine’s Ira and Evgeniy Abramov, who run a shop on Etsy called RybaColnce. The concept is simple but wonderful. The traditional contrast of black and red with the beat of those repeated slices into the clay to reveal the hidden crimson inside covers some of my favorite approaches: contrast, repetition and things hidden. Plus they are both serious (like edgy serious) and fun at the same time. Yes, they might not be the most comfortable pair to put in, but they’d be worth it!
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I am going to use this week to pull out some pieces I’ve been holding onto but haven’t found a place for in our themed weeks. Just a few of my favorite pieces and artists to drool over this holiday week.
I am not sure what in this is polymer, but it’s in the description of the work so I’ve been hanging onto it. If you read the Fall 2013 issue of The Polymer Arts, then you probably saw (and maybe read?) my article, “Ravages of Time”, on faux deteriorated surfaces. So yes, I have a thing about rust and patina and anything that represents a passage of time and the later cycle of life for inanimate materials. Knowing that, you can probably figure out why I am drawn to this piece by jewelry artist Tish Collins. The piece is titled “Time Machine”, which I easily interpret as the passing of time as shown by the disintegration of elements seen in the rust and patina here. But that is just my take on it. Then again, isn’t that what the purpose is behind art–to pull from it what resonates with you and put your own story to it? How would you read this?
Polymer is not a primary medium for Tish, but I do urge you to look at her jewelry, both with and without polymer. She has some beautiful forms and compositions to share with you on 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.
