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:
Sporadic Growth
December 5, 2013
Inspirational Art
Now for something completely different. Both for our theme and for polymer in general. Jasmyne Graybill has been a huge influence and inspirations for me since I first discovered her work some 4 years ago. Her pieces are pretty but not comfortable. Her subject matter is organic but not of a type you see often if ever. She takes old, ordinary objects and turns them into works of art but if you didn’t know it was polymer, you might try to clean it, or more likely run in the other direction. That’s because she takes inspiration from that part of nature that we try to erase, destroy, hide and kill off. But its these forms that in the end, will take over what we try to create.
In this piece, polymer has been shaped and textured into the likeness of some unknown mold which has taken over a pretty floral plate, turning a stacked composition of flowers into a scattered composition of nature taking over a manmade object.
Mold, mildew and fungus do not usually grow in any kind of pattern or regular application. They grow where their spores land, chance being their primary organizer. This chance approach is a valid composition as long as there is a relationship or visual connection among the elements. In this case, they are all the same basic form created in a color palette to match their host object.
I know many of you are probably grimacing at this piece. Yeck. But these less admired inhabitants of the organic world create some wonderful textures and forms. You don’t have to create faux mold, but you might find the textures and the way groups of fungi form, interesting enough to consider recreating what you see only in a context and with an approach that reflects your idea of beauty. Here are four dishes of other fungi possibilities that Jasmyne created. Quite pretty, I think.
If you, too, find Jasmyne’s work rather fascinating, you can see more of her pieces and installations on her website. She does not work solely in polymer, which is another reason I admire her work. She uses the material best suited for what she wants to represent. It just so happens that polymer can emulate so much. Even the icky things.
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.
Making an Impression … all over.
December 4, 2013
Inspirational Art
We have another example of scatter composition in this necklace from Aniko Kolesnikova. Since we’ve already done this for a couple days, why do you think this composition works? Or do you?
I think it does. The elements, although different colors and irregularly placed, are all the same basic form–impressed and filled with colored clay, or in some cases a little extra bit of cane. The overall surface texture of the pieces are also impressed with hand tools so the overall surface is similar.
Hand tool texturing can be widely varied and works great for the scattered look or when kept in an orderly pattern. (By the way, we have a great article in the most recent issue of The Polymer Arts by Anke Humpert. It explores a variety of marks and various pointed hand tools, and explains how to explore them and other tools on your own–don’t miss out on that!) Aniko does quite a lot with hand tools as you’ll see if you spend some time 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.
Strewn and Balanced
December 3, 2013
Inspirational Art
Here is another example of scatter in a composition. There is no organized pattern. The many elements are different in color and size and although most are round, there is smattering of crackle on the outside edges to counter that. So why does this pendant by Cecilia Button still work?
The approach that holds this together is repetition and relationship. All the elements are arranged in a vertical alignment so although they are not quite lined up, the items scattered across the face of the pendant follow a general up and down path. The gold is also repeated, foil on either side, gold-green clay and those gold micro beads in the center. Then the gold micro beads are primarily on the darker colored clay while blacks beads roughly mirror them, sunk into light colored clay. Both sides have large muted green or gray spots. Repetition, mirroring and carrying characteristics of the elements across draws the relationship between them all and creates a cohesive piece.
Cecilia says the technique on this was adapted from a tutorial from Leggende Segrete although I can’t figure out which one, probably because she so very much made it her own. Cecilia is highly innovative with whatever technique or form she works with. Time on her Flickr pages and her blog site are worth more than just a quick perusal. Get some coffee or tea, take a little break, and spend some time with her work!
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.
Scatter Composition
December 2, 2013
Inspirational Art
Composition is sometimes considered a matter of controlled placement. Which it is and isn’t. The thing is, I don’t believe control is the best word to explain what composition is about. I would say it is more specifically about choice. Where do you choose to place elements in your piece? What relationships or connections will that placement convey? Are your choices conscious or intuitive or do you leave it up to chance? I don’t recommend leaving it completely up to chance but allowing for a lack of control in pattern and placement can create wonderfully expressive results. When you choose to use this.
I want to look at compositions that choose a scatter approach this week to demonstrate when and how this choice works. We see this in nature all the time–the starry night sky, the growth of lichen on a rock or the fallen leaves strewn across the ground in Autumn. But for all the seeming randomness, there is a relationship and cohesive elements in all these. This is what you want to bring to any composition with random or scattered elements.
Natalja Ivankova, Belarussian in living in Slovakia, took the randomness of Autumn leaves and translated this type of scattered composition to create this perfectly balanced bracelet.
Her approach is more evocative of the feeling of Fall than being a literal representation. The colors and small scattered bits are what bring the season to mind as well as being the cohesive elements. Rather than relying on a discernible pattern to hold the composition together, the limited color scheme and the loose organic shapes and placement of the bits of clay anchor the look of the bracelet. This makes a composition that could appear chaotic, if she hadn’t chosen these limitations, actually feel serene.
I think this piece, by far, is one of Natalja best to date and I really look forward to seeing what other gems she brings us in years to come. She is obviously inspired by nature, especially the floral variety, as well as gathering small elements together. You can find more of her work on her Flicker page and on her blog.
CYBER WEEK SPECIAL! (Yep, let’s make it a week not just Monday) $2 off single Print Issues of The Polymer Arts magazine when you buy 2 or more. You can purchase those here: http://www.thepolymerarts.com/Single_issues.html Code: CMUSP2 Sale ends Sunday Dec. 8th
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.
Scars
December 1, 2013
Ponderings
I thought it would be hard to come up with a quote related to carving and cutting for this Sunday’s thought, but then I opened my folder of quotes and this one was sitting there in the first row. It has more personal relevance than artistic application, but I think we can all relate to this thought on some level.
I have a lot of scars. Some were imparted during some very hard times, others are actually reminders of blissful moments. I have always had a kind of affinity for scars. They all have stories. Scars, like discarded art projects, are simple evidence of the journey you’ve been on. They are nothing to be ashamed of and are quite often something to be proud of, especially if you are still getting out there and taking chances .
For Your Wish List
November 30, 2013
Technique tutorials, Tips and Tricks
If you’ve ever done any scrapbooking, you may be familiar with the Cricut machine, which cuts out complex shapes loaded into the machine’s little onboard computer. It really saves on the aching hands that comes with trying to make small, intricate cuts in paper. Did you know, though, that you can use it to cut polymer too? Jenny Barnett Rohrs explored this idea on Craft Test Dummies a couple years ago. I’ve been wanting a machine ever since.
Although this post made the rounds back when it was posted, I thought it was worth revisiting. Not only can you cut polymer shapes, you can also cut on a variety of other materials to create templates, stencils, and shapes for impressing in your clay. So if the family is complaining that you’re impossible to shop for because you have everything, maybe you can get this on that list. Unless, of course, you do have everything, including this!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription to The Polymer Arts magazine, or buy the latest issue. We also encourage you to support our wonderful advertising partners!
Just released! The Winter 2013 issue …
Polymer Clay Workshop Tutorials
The Whimsical Bead–polymer art supplies
Outside Inspiration: Glass Reveals
November 29, 2013
Inspirational Art
I know very little about making glass beads, so I can’t even begin to guess how Harold Williams Cooney made this amazing piece.
So … do you cut into glass to get this? Grind it down? Carve it out while hot some how? Yep, I’m clueless on the technique. The only thing I do know is that this kind of thing could be done beautifully with polymer clay by cutting, carving, or grinding. It reminds me somewhat of Jana Roberts Benzon’s lazer cut technique, just with more form and less cut away. Also, consider Vera’s beads from yesterday’s post. If they were covered by a solid sheet of clay and the cuts were farther apart to allow more surface, the cut-out areas would look something like what we see in these glass beads. But it’s definitely something to think about–especially for all you extrusion-mad clayers.
Harold is a particularly prolific artist with a lofty goal. It’s hard to explain his single-source American Trade Bead collection, but basically he is collecting his own work in order to create the largest collection made by a single bead artist. If you’re interested in his concept, you can read more about it on his blog. But if you are more interested in wonderful glass beauties, go look at his Etsy shop. There are more than just this bead to inspire a polymer artist there!
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.
Just Released! The Winter 2013 issue …
Polymer Clay Workshop Tutorials
The Whimsical Bead
Snip, Snip
November 28, 2013
Inspirational Art
There is more than one way to cut into polymer! Yesterday we looked at cutting in to reveal many layers in extruded beads, but here we have a simple yet brilliant technique that requires cutting in with scissors, but not actually cutting away and removing clay as the other examples this week have shown. Here is the snipping portion of this technique by Kazakhstan’s Budanceva Marina (also known as Aquamalinka).
And here is an example of one of her finished pieces using the elements it creates. Wonderfully realistic clover flowers, aren’t they?
Although this technique is specific to creating these flowers, there is no reason why taking scissors to polymer in this manner must stop here. It’s a great texture that can be added as half dome accents, and if you snipped a little longer across the surface you could have small lengths of clay curling back on itself. I wish I had time to do some exploration and show you some possible ideas, but this week, I leave that to those of you who are inspired by this idea.
Go explore more of Budanceva’s predominantly floral work on her Livemaster shop page.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my US readers. I personally am very thankful for having such kind and enthusiastic readers who have allowed me to make publishing and polymer a focus in my life. Now, off to enjoy family while trying not to do myself in with too much turkey and pie.
Cutting In
November 27, 2013
Inspirational Art
Cutting and slicing is part of many different polymer techiques, most commonly to reveal the colors and patterns hidden beneath the layers. Germany’s Vera Kleist accomplishes this reveal with her extruded beads, but the cutting in also creates a tactile texture.
Its amazing what a little slicing can do, don’t you think? Are there pieces you usually leave smooth that might benefit from a little cutting in?
Speaking of cutting … there is cooking to be done for the holiday! If you’ve already done your cooking or have been spared the chore through not being in the US or having someone else to supply your bounty tomorrow, look through Vera’s Etsy shop and Flickr pages for more cutting and textural ideas.
Carve and Reveal
November 26, 2013
Inspirational Art
As I mentioned yesterday, we’ll look at ways to cut and carve polymer both in a raw and cured state this week. Today we’ll actually look at both from a single artist.
Rebecca Geoffery works in metal, enamel, and semi-precious stones as well polymer, usually mixing them. The possibility of carved polymer has a lot to do with what it will reveal beneath the surface. I thought that was the case with these pendants, until I read that the contrast is not revealed clay but paint. The paint makes it look like the carved portions were just scooped out, but it seems that they were actually solid black clay that was carved to provide a space for the paint.
But what of cutting away clay to reveal a layer below? Rebecca does this as well. With these pieces, shapes are cut out of raw clay and then laid over another layer so the contrasting color peeks out from beneath it. I love that she adds additional hand-tooled accents in the layer below as well as on the top layer.
What I think we can really take away from these examples is the variety of shapes the carved and cut clay can take on. The spaces revealed can also be just patterned or can be stylized or graphic or rough. Cutting and carving can help fulfill any mood, message or aesthetic, and adds instant complexity even when it’s not so complex.
Although this kind of work is not a major part of Rebecca’s posted collections, these pieces are making the rounds. Soon after I found and decided to write on these pieces, I found the same two photos in Cynthia Tinapple’s book Polymer Clay Global Perspectives. They are eye-catching. Most of her work is. You can see more of her polymer as well as her other work on her Flickr photostream and on her website.
