The Party is in Full Swing. Come join us!
May 31, 2023
Polymer community news, The Polymer Arts magazine news
What party is this? The latest project from little ol’ me, Sage. The Sage Arts podcast is more than up and running… I have 25 episodes up as of this posting, ready on your favorite podcast player (New to Podcasts? Click here to find out how easy it is to enjoy them!) and a new one coming out every week.
What’s This Podcast All About?
This podcast is all about feeding and exciting your muse. By enlightening or reminding you about important and maybe unconsidered aspects of creating and living as an artist, I hope to help you find more joy and satisfaction in what you do, sharing ways to create with authenticity and fearlessness, while supporting your uniquely defined version of success.
Now what the heck does that all mean? Well, let’s look at what this is and what this is not…
It IS…
… a way to consistently feed your muse
… all about you. Myself, my guests, and my guest co-hosts speak to the issues, curiousity, and hurdles that you as a creative deal with on a regular basis.
… focused on creating a more fulfilling, joyful, and meaningful artistic journey.
… a conversation that goes both ways with lots of opportunities for you to be heard.
It is NOT…
… all about polymer clay or any one medium, as it’s important stuff for all artistic folks.
… focused on “how-to” or the latest tools and materials.
… just interviewing successful artists and talking at you. Rather it is like a coffee house chat or other friendly gather and I include you, the listener, in every way I can.
I created this podcast to supercharge your creativity, motivation, and artistic style through novelty, story, conversation, and community. Everyone has how-tos and ways to increase your sales – valiant and necessary stuff, of course! But what does your muse need? What does your work and your love of your art need to thrive? That’s where I want to help.
I aim to give artists ways to further hone their unique voice, increase their joy and productivity, and create a version of artistic success that is meaningful, satisfying, and anything but ordinary.
Come Join the Conversation
If you have something to share, would like to be a guest (for a chatty interview), or be a guest co-host (you and I banter on a particular subject) drop me an email me via my contact page on the show website: https://thesagearts.com/contact/ or send a voice mail (use the red button on that same site, bottom right corner of any page.)
And join me on social media!
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thesageartspodcast/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheSageArtsPodcast
And don’t forget to click “FOLLOW” or that little arrow on your favorite Podcast player so you get notices of new episodes. New Episodes come out weekly on Friday evenings, barring natural disasters or other bits of interference, of course. I hope you’ll join me there, on The Sage Arts podcast!
There are new artists and creatives joining every day with tons of great things to say…
“Just what I needed!”
“I just binged-listened … and I can’t wait for more!”
“There is so much validity in your presentation…”
“Looking forward to all the thinking and creating that they prompt.”
Taste test on my RSS website: https://rss.com/podcasts/thesagearts/
Or on the podcast home website: https://thesagearts.com/
Or start with this episode:
Blended Rainbows
February 13, 2014
Inspirational Art
Using a lot of color doesn’t mean creating a piece that is bright and bold. Colorful can also be subdued, antiqued, pale, dark or work with any number of alterations to the elements of color. They can also be nicely blended to tone down the graphic impact like Anarina Anar does here in this blended polymer Scarf necklace.
Anarina’s work is all about color with a rough, organic yet light-hearted style. She does a lot of blending of color which allows her to be so colorful yet retain that organic feel. Just open her Flickr photostream to get a serious dose of color and texture today.
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.
Stack ’em Up
February 12, 2014
Inspirational Art
Stacking layers of polymer clay can be a new way of looking at this material sculpturally as well as way to combine and reveal color. Spain’s Natalia García de Leániz (known as Tatana on Flickr) makes these chunky polymer beads by stacking the sliced clay and making bold bracelets with these large design elements.
As Nataila says, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” She works with her husband, Daniel Torres, in an “artnership” where they share ideas and yet they work in different, complementary or even opposite styles. Natalia makes all of her work in polymer clay, frequently working with textures and paint effects on clay. There are some tutorials on her website (and of CraftArtEdu) as well as a lot of additional photographs of her work. They plan to be at EuroSynergy in Malta this year, and if you want an excuse to travel to Madrid, Spain, the couple holds workshops in their studio and throughout Europe!
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.
What Color Lies Beneath
February 11, 2014
Inspirational Art
With the 22nd Winter Olympic Games being held in Sochi, Russia right now, it seems like a perfect time turn our focus to art work from the area. Oxana Volkova, a mixed medium artist with a serious love of color living in Moscow. She calls these bracelets Color Splash 2 for what is probably an obvious reason.
The kaleidoscope of colors here works well due to the relative simplicity of the design. I know, it doesn’t appear simple but there are only the elements of texture and color being used and in a limited way. The colors and lines of texture both run across the width of the bracelet but the variation in color and the unevenness of the texture give the surface a bit of tension and energy.
Oxana loves bold, brilliant colors and likes to mix media. She mixes her mediums so expertly, it is sometimes hard to tell where one stops and the other begins. For more color and texture ideas in a variety of mediums, take a look at her Flickr photostream when you have a break today.
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.
Stringing a Story in Color
February 10, 2014
Inspirational Art
During our search for random design last week, we came across a lot of very colorful pieces, many using the entire rainbow and getting away with it beautifully. It’s not that easy to make a piece with every hue in it. That wide variation in color calls for cohesion in other elements, be they characteristics of color itself, or in the form and other elements of design.
In Margit Bohmer’s necklace here, she comes very close to chaos with so much color, a large variety of shapes and many different motifs. So does it work? I’d say. Quite delightfully.
The answer is in the color of course. Margit uses fairly saturated colors but they are all shaded or tinted a bit which subdues their impact. Many are also semi-transparent which further tones down the potential brilliance. It’s this slight but consistent understatement that allows these hues to harmoniously co-exist in one piece.
Looking at Margit’s work on her Flickr pages and in her Etsy shop, you’ll find one bold artist unafraid of lots and lots of color!
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.
Color Randomness Extruded
February 9, 2014
Technique tutorials
I know this artist, Anna Kokareva (aka Annie Bimur), intended this to be a mini-tutorial for open beads but this would, rather obviously, be a great way to make interesting frames for polymer cabochons, image transfers and resin (backing the open frame with polymer before pouring the resin). I know I am harkening back to last week’s theme but put the last two weeks together and you get wonderfully random colored frames!
This type of frame would be relatively easy to make with an extruder. Select the colors of clays, extrude the strips, press into molds or form by hand, and layer as desired to make your frames. It would be fun to experiment with this process and see what you can come up with.
This same Russian artist has a cute polymer picture frame and a framed lid to a box on her live journal 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.
Cohesion of Elements
February 8, 2014
Inspirational Art
Minnesota artist Jan Geisen’s necklace is a cohesion of elements achieved through composition. By connecting these seemingly different elements, a relationship is built between them that strengthens the design. This particular design is reminiscent of the Native American jewelry carved from wood bark with the outlines burned into the surface and painted with pigments derived from the earth. Even though it is polymer, it has the look and feel of materials that are much heavier.
Even though Jan likes to work in multi-media, she has been hooked on polymer since discovering it about 20 years ago. She fell in love with its versatility because it was perfect for an “improv” artist like herself. She explains, “I just work with it and it tells me what it wants to do!” Be inspired by Jan’s work on her Flickr page and let your clay tell you what to do.
Thank you for supporting The Polymer Arts projects and our advertising sponsors below! Your purchases support the magazine, this blog and our upcoming “Best of” and “Workshop” books. To get even more out of our projects, subscribe, get our newsletter (see form on the left side of our home page), and follow us on Facebook.
Let Them Fall Where They May
February 7, 2014
Inspirational Art
Olga Permjakova‘s work is all about randomness, a collection of colors and shapes … This Russian artist gives the bib necklace a contemporary modern edge with her use of geometric shapes and textured colors. Notice how the randomness of all of the shapes build on one another and the individual shapes give the necklace a happy, playful attitude. They are wired together as a piece that makes an exciting necklace or it could even be a piece of wall art. The power of the design allows it to stand alone on its own.
Olga shares, “I like to create extraordinary jewelry and individual things for special women.” She does not like to repeat any of her work; each custom piece is unique and the only one like it in the world. She likes to design and make jewelry using polymer, natural pearls, stones, pressed paper, leather, fur, wool, Swarovski components, wood, fabric, Japanese seed beads, glass, and other mixed media for her creations. Visit her website to see more of her work and to be inspired by this artist!
Thank you for supporting The Polymer Arts projects! Your purchases support the magazine, this blog and our upcoming “Best of” and “Workshop” books. To get even more out of our projects, subscribe, get our newsletter (see form on the left side of our home page), and follow us on Facebook.
Spring 2014 Cover Revealed …
February 6, 2014
Inspirational Art, The Polymer Arts magazine news
We interrupt this week of randomness with the next issue’s dramatic cover! Spring 2014, themed “Wrap it Up” is due to come out around March 1st.
In this issue we’re exploring many of things you do after you’ve created a your art as well as a lot of in-studio exploration:
- Best finishing sealants
- How to make finishing easier
- Packaging your art
- Using software to create great photos of your work
- The fine line between Copying and Being Inspired By
- Wire wrapping with polymer
- Making and using a neck form (to make things like the piece you see on the cover)
- Close up color analysis of millefiori canes
- Unique studio tools (many that you can make yourself)
- Book & product reviews, artist galleries and more!
Now, before I tell you who the artist is on the cover, can you guess? I think this is a bit different for her which is why I was particularly excited to have this piece for the cover.
Have you come up with a name? This is not her usual form. In fact, the only other collar form I’ve seen like this was in my own studio. That comparison led to this artist and I having a fun chat about the construction processes needed for adding fiber and fabric to polymer (something for a future article, I’m sure!) The unusual form and the “wrapping” of polymer around onto itself is not so unusual for her. Do you have it?
The piece is called “Show Some Glamour” by Helen Breil. Helen has never been afraid try new things and push the form of polymer. She shares her thoughts and experiences in a great article on the subject of copying and giving proper credit that is in this issue. We also, incidentally have an article on making a neck form written by Lorrene Baum Davis in order to produce wrap around forms like this. So … lots of inspiration and ideas from Helen and many others this issue!
Pre-orders are now available as well as subscriptions that will get you started with this great issue or you can get the Winter issue right now while waiting for this to come out.
Get your Subscriptions here– http://www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscription_ordering.html
If you need to Renew, go here– http://thepolymerarts.com/Subscription_ordering.html#renewals (And yes, we’ll get you caught up with the Winter issue if your subscription lapsed.)
Back issues can be purchased here:http://www.thepolymerarts.com/Single_issues.html
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.
Chance Lines, Chance Texture
February 5, 2014
Inspirational Art
Randomness can be used, not just in the composition of a piece but in the way you work with your clay. Applying or sculpting clay with a random approach can add wonderful, organic and quite expressive elements and textures to a piece.
Klavdija Kurent has allowed threads of clay, wound up without asserting stringent control, and ended up with these intriguing beads and the resulting necklace.
Letting go of your strict control over the clay and allowing the material to create the visual result can be so appealing both in creating this way and in the loose, natural result. Here, the end pattern is random but its the same type of pattern–loose flowing lines and loops–complimented by organic, rock like central beads and a large looping bead as the focal point. I love how the braided strings of clay start out orderly on the left of the focal bead but then break down, giving way suddenly to the chaos. I don’t know if Klavdija intended it, but that bead is a great metaphor for life in general!
Klavdija will be teaching her twisted techniques in April at EuroSynergy in Malta. Are you going to EuroSynergy? There are so many amazing artists and creatives that will be there with workshops, presentations and discussions panels. I’ll be there conducting two workshop style seminars to help attendees develop their personal voice and online presences as well as leading what promises to be a lively discussion with the ladies of From Polymer to Art on what we have and what we want to see more of in print. You can find a list of all our presentations on the Eurosynergy website.
And take a look at more of Klavdija’s work on her Flickr pages and her blog.
Thank you for supporting The Polymer Arts projects and our advertising partners you see below! Your purchases support the magazine, this blog and our upcoming “Best of” and “Workshop” books. To get even more out of our projects, subscribe, get our newsletter (see form on the left side of our home page), and follow us on Facebook.
Working with Random
February 4, 2014
Inspirational Art
Periodically you will come across a piece of art that looks like it was cobbled together randomly–the various elements are all different and there is no order to the placement or arrangement. When a piece is truly created with pure randomness, we tend to find it unappealing and often baffling. But then there are those pieces that look random and yet we find ourselves drawn to it anyways. There is some beauty or underlying order we sense in it. We find this quite often in natural settings where beauty can be found in what would seem to be a random arrangement of mountain peaks, of fallen and scattered leaves on a forest floor or of erratic tree branches reaching out in every direction. The reason such seemingly random and chance compositions are found to be beautiful rather than just an incomprehensible mess is because all the elements we are looking at have a purpose and follow an order dictated by the physics and life cycles of our world. This tends to be the same reason art work that looks random can still be beautiful and appealing–because the piece was created with purpose and the elements were chosen with an underlying theme that gives the elements cohesion.
If you look closely at a good piece of art that appears to have a random composition or random elements, there is usually a common thread (or two or three) that brings it all together. For example, this bracelet created by Donna Greenberg looks to have just a bunch of scattered, random elements laid around the flat surface but there are a couple of things that make it cohesive. What would you say that is?
There are two things here that I think are primary to making this piece work. One is the limited color palette which sticks with variations on blue and blue-green. Had there been a wider array of color, the piece would have appeared a bit more chaotic. Not that portraying a bit of chaos is always a bad things but what a different feel this would have to it!
The other thing I think brings this together is the flow of lines, all running in more or less the same way, undulating counter clockwise from the inside towards the outside on the bracelet’s surface. This makes it feel that all the random textures, stippling, embedded beads and many colored metallic flakes are moving around the piece in a coordinated dance. It also gives the bracelet a very graceful sense of movement one might not expect with so many random elements.
Donna works more with randomness than with well-ordered patterns but there is always a sense of purpose and connection between the elements in each piece she makes drawn from organic inspirations. Go ahead and have fun honing your eye on what makes randomness work in more of Donna’s work on her Flickr pages.
Thank you for supporting The Polymer Arts projects! Your purchases support the magazine, this blog and our upcoming “Best of” and “Workshop” books. To get even more out of our projects, subscribe, get our newsletter (see form on the left side of our home page), and follow us on Facebook.
