Not Copying Nature
We have an abundance of faux effects in polymer. Many aim to duplicate what we see in nature. Which is great. We can then easily and inexpensively create fantastic forms that would be hard to acquire from nature. But I am of the mindset that if we have a medium that can be anything we can imagine, why not imagine things that do not exist and create those? I love stones and have worked toward developing techniques that emulate the real thing just so I can go and push the texture and colors that nature has. (See the Elabradorite technique in the Winter 2011 issue of The Polymer Arts magazine)
Kristine Taylor has been doing just that. As she told Jewelry Making Daily in an interview last year, “Polymer clay is a wonderful medium for mimicking other materials like stones, but I like to use polymer clay to create stones that nature does not produce.” She uses a simple marbling technique combined with mica powders and acrylic paint to create focal and accent beads that come out looking like some rare semi-precious stone.
If you often create faux stone, metal, wood, bone, etc., why not try to push it a bit next time? How about purple turquoise, pearl green bone or jewel tone wood grain? We do work with a medium that can do just about anything, so it would only be natural to take natural inspiration and create something completely new.
Totally agree! I love beautiful stones and often combine them with my polymer in designs, but why try to imitate when you can innovate? Polymer still astounds me as to the endless effects one can achieve. So many ideas…so little time!
Interesting. I agree completely. I stopped working in polymer many years ago because I was tired of the focus on so many faux effects. I’ve recently gotten back into clay and am so glad to see the medium being embraced for what it can do, not merely for what you make it look like.