Outside Inspiration:PMC & Enameling
Even though it may feel like it at times, we aren’t the only craft material that struggles with it being new in the art world. Precious metal clay and polymer are like cousins in that sense. They’re both part of a family of craft materials that still has to prove itself and is still being heavily experimented with.
Joy Funnell is extremely passionate about precious metal clay. Like polymer, there is still much to learn about how PMC can be worked and many persevering ideas about what you can and can’t do with it. Joy took on the myth that enamel was incompatible with PMC by creating pieces entirely made of silver clay with enamel. One of her signature techniques is Enameled Accents which creates jewel-like colors in fine silver wire outlines like in these beautiful masks below.
Of course, I saw this and thought, easy to translate to polymer! Using extruded polymer and colored liquid polymer, you could have the same colorful and delicate look. Or if into PMC but not sure you want to expand into enameling, LPC is an alternative to using enamel on PMC. Because some of us just do not need to add another art material to our repertoire!
