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:
Outside Inspiration: Fiery Soutache
January 18, 2013
Inspirational Art
I’ve brought up soutache before. It’s easily translatable to polymer … all you need is an extruder and a steady hand. I thought an occasional return to ponder it’s possibilities wouldn’t hurt. Especially when you have such colors and form, as can be found in the work of talented soutache artist Alina of Antidotum.
Fiery! Just what we need in the midst of a chilly winter.
You can see more beautiful color combinations and forms on Alina’s Etsy page here.
Art that makes you go “Ooo!”
January 17, 2013
Inspirational Art
We all have those artists whose work stops us in our surfing tracks and makes us sigh, don’t we? Wiwat Kamolpornwijit is one of those for me. We featured him early last year in The Polymer Arts Summer 2012 gallery. Of course for that we featured some of his most elaborate and impactful pieces. But I was reminded earlier today while cruising through Pinterest that even his relatively simple pieces make me stop and go “Ooo!”
See what I mean? I’m not sure how he does it, but Wiwat works almost exclusively with this color palate–black, gold and silver (That certainly simplifies one’s clay stock!) and yet creates quite the variety of work. He’s all about form and lines, proving that careful treatment of even the simplest forms can be impressive.
A Bundle of Bails
January 16, 2013
Inspirational Art
Let’s talk bails. Some kind of contraption or addition or subtraction to a piece must be formed for pendants to do their hanging about a person’s neck. There are many approaches to this, with a good majority making the bail or connection either invisible or an accent, if even that. There is nothing inherently wrong with these approaches, but I just think its fantastic to have the bail as part of the pendant design. If it’s going to show, then let it shine.
I consider Susan Waddington of PolyDogz a kind of master bail-er. Although most of her bails are pretty simple in construction, they look like a necessary or at least a complimentary addition to the pendant’s design. Here is just one of her many interesting bail solutions. This one is directly integrated into the design–the pendant would be but half as stunning without it.
Different forms, overlaid shapes, textures, colorations, and ways of introducing the cord make her site a kind of treasury of bezel ideas. Oh … and her pendants are pretty darn fabulous, too.
I shall not waste any more of your time blathering away. Your time would be better spent exploring Susan’s website for ideas and inspiration.
Playing with Shapes and Sheets
January 15, 2013
Technique tutorials
Here is a simple idea that could quickly create a series of beads with a clean, contemporary look and lots of variation, not just between the beads themselves but between different sets you create.
This quick technique is posted on the Spanish retail craft site Manos Maravillosas (Wonderful Hands). It just requires a few sheets of clay of different colors. You punch shapes out all but one of the sheets, lay the shapes out on the uncut sheet, roll over it with a brayer or rod to smooth the surface, and now you have a sheet to punch flat beads from (punch two of the same shapes and layer them back to back) or to use portions from the sheet to cover bead forms.
You could use any combination or number of colors as well as different shapes. Go Mondrian like using square cutters and primary colors, or retro with ovals and subdued tones. You could also use strips of clay instead of cut shapes to adhere on your base sheet using your straight or crinkle tissue blades. There’s no real limitations here. Just lots of potential play time!
Coming into One’s Own
January 14, 2013
Inspirational Art, Ponderings
There comes a point in some artist’s lives when their work veers a comfortable and well traveled path and into something wholly unexpected. Last week, I posted images of Kathleen Dustin’s first translucent beads, which marked the beginning of the direction we all know her so for now. So it makes one wonder, when you see a very different and amazing piece from an artist, something you hadn’t seen from them before, something you wouldn’t have even recognized before, if this is the start of a new and amazing journey for them.
Dorothy Siemens has been working in polymer for several years making nicely finished jewelry and decor using a fairly wide range of, but common set of, techniques and forms. However, just last month she posted some stunning, and quite unique sculptural objects. The images below are of the same piece, top and side view. I would not have at all guessed they were from the same person represented in her collaborative jewelry website.
What happened here? I don’t have that story exactly, but Dorothy did admit that she just let her imagination go, which was probably a key approach that allowed her to develop something that looks nothing like any work being done by other polymer artists. But what was it that gave her that sense of freedom or need to just let her imagination go?
We each have a truly personal aesthetic which can remain quite buried when we ‘borrow’ continuously from what we see around us. There is not anything wrong in drawing inspiration from other art but our own true voice should also be allowed to come out. The number one bit of advice I got in writing school was to wake up every morning and, before even getting out of bed, stop and write … not anything specific but just freeform thought. The idea was that if you write just after waking, you are writing with your own true voice, not influenced by any tv show, conversation, news article, email or any other written or verbalized language. If you would like to work on developing your own personal visual voice, try sketching or getting into the studio first thing in the morning before you’ve looked at any other art form–this means no media of any kind. See what you come up with if you do this for a week or so.
If you don’t have the luxury of getting up and sketching or jumping into the studio right away, try napping then upon wakening, get to work. (The napping trick also works when you find yourself stuck on a piece. It’s amazing what you’ll be able to see after letting your brain rest and reset.)
Living, Breathing, & Shopping Artistically
January 13, 2013
Ponderings
I so agree. Art is creating something that didn’t exist before the ‘artist’ decided to create it. Every moment of our life we are creating something–an impression, a memory, a step forward–something that didn’t exist before. Make every moment a good moment and you’ve made a great life and by extension, great art.
Building on Repetition
January 12, 2013
Inspirational Art
We had a rather lengthy and in-depth article on rhythm and repetition in the Fall 2012 issue of The Polymer Arts. The impact of repetition can be so undersold. But take a look at these cuff bracelets by Patricia Underwood. Basic shapes with some color variation and texture just repeated, the same shapes layered on top of one another. The density of the repetition gives the cuffs a rich, intricate look, even though the components are fairly simple.
You do not need to labor over complex treatments to achieve a higher level of complexity in your work. The various forms of repetition (outlined in the great article by Jainnie Jenkins in the Fall 2012 issue of The Polymer Arts) give you a wide variety of options for adding interest and richness to your work.
Speaking of not needing complex treatments for a great outcome … Christi Friesen will be on Jewelry TV tomorrow (Sunday January 13th) and Monday. You can find out if you have access to JTV by going to their website here. Christi said it would be on at 7am but my TV guide says 10am here in Colorado so look at your channel guide for more information.
Outside Inspiration: Scratch the Surface
January 11, 2013
Inspirational Art
It is really amazing the number of techniques that can be used to color and texture metal. It is almost (I said almost!) as varied as it is for polymer. I have this wonderful book called The Jeweller’s Directory of Decorative Finishes with over a dozen ways to achieve coloration using chemicals for patina and oxidizing as well as enamel. But there isn’t anything like what Lauren Pollaro does here with this copper and silver pendant/brooch. Can you guess what she uses to color it?
Her coloration is pretty darn simple. Nothing toxic or hard to find. She just applies acrylic paint and then alters it with what looks like rough sanding and some kind of sharp-pointy tools for more definitive scratches. Nothing overly advanced, but what a great looking treatment.
I have yet to find a surface treatment used for metal that cannot be emulated in polymer. This translation is easy enough and I personally am itching to try it out. Just bake a formed/cut piece of clay, then paint, sand, and scratch as you desire to bring out the clay color below and develop this kind of unrefined but rich finish. Then seal and you’re set. Easy peasey … and nice looking!
Fun with Disks
January 10, 2013
Inspirational Art
How often do you consider the tactile aspect of your work? There is such an opportunity to add yet another wonderful aspect aside from the visual appearance to jewelry, covered handles, or anything else that might be regularly touched.
These bracelets by Maria Belkomor are visually fun but can you imagine wearing one and not constantly riffling the stack of disks?
What makes good or interesting tactile characteristics? A well-defined, and at least moderately dense, texture as well as variation, repetition and/or a regular rhythm can make a visually alluring piece also irresistible to our sense of touch.
Pushing Mokume
January 9, 2013
Inspirational Art
The texture and color of mokume gane doesn’t necessarily warrant any additional work other than applying it to the chosen form it will adorn. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t push it a bit more.
Ann Dillon works in primarily straight-forward forms to display the texture and color of her surface treatments. But occasionally she add a little bit more.
In this pin, she goes back in and adds scratches and pin points to help define the shapes, add richness, and impart more definite direction in the existing lines. It probably looked nice without the additions but the marks really do make the pin pop.
