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:
Trolls in Your Own Backyard
October 10, 2012
Inspirational Art
I really was planning on getting away from the Fall theme but then, I thought, why ruin a good run? 🙂
So for a little happy fun on a beautiful Fall day, how about a wee little Fall troll to get you smiling? This kindly looking creature is a creation of Dawn Schiller. She is known for her personality-filled fantastical creatures and recently published a book, FaeMaker, all about creating your own gremlins, goblins, faeries and the like.
Originally Dawn was to be at this year’s Clay Carnival Las Vegas teaching her sculpting techniques but unfortunately health issues have interfered. Donna Kato and Leslie Blackford have teamed up to replace Dawn’s class with a new class on sculptural pub signs for those attending.
Unfortunately, Dawn is not the only one whose health is getting in the way of their fun. I was suppose to be at Clay Carnival as well but have had a resurgence of some health issues and have decided that the wise thing would be not to push it and stay home this year. It’s nothing very serious but I need to keep it that way, right? So, there may still be a seat or two left at the Carnival if you are a spontaneous clayer in need of a serious creative injection. The event is just fantastic.
Covered Studs
October 9, 2012
Inspirational Art, Technique tutorials
Big colorful earrings have been rather popular of late. Polymer hanging from ear wires and attached to post backs are the common approach but how about really pushing it by covering the earring post front and back?
Here is a beautiful and fun earring tutorial with striped pod shapes by Anna Potsar of St. Petersburg, Russia.
Unfortunately, the tutorial images can’t be translated but it’s pretty self-explanatory. At the very least, you can take away the idea that the back side of the earring can be just as fun to build and show off your skills as the front.
Faux Burl Bangles
October 8, 2012
Inspirational Art
I’ve been working full bore on the next issue of The Polymer Arts which is themed “Shimmer & Shine”. How to properly balance glitz for a sophisticated and beautiful piece and avoid having it just look garish is one of the issues we have when working with bright and shiny bits.
One of the things that can make glitz successful is to present it with a neutral or subdued surface. Here Liz Hall uses a peek-a-boo approach with beautiful iridescence showing through the holes of a faux burl wood overlay. This makes the brillant shimmer of colors a surprise and treat at each point that it shows through.
Liz Hall works with a lot of iridescence and gems and all very tastefully done. You can ogle many more of her gorgeous pieces on her Flickr page.
Art Can Be Oh-Too-Cute
October 6, 2012
Inspirational Art
This was just too cute not to share. It does bring up a question though since I propose to share ‘art’ with you here. Does cute have a place in serious art?
I think so … Isn’t art all about eliciting a response – getting the viewer to feel something as directed by the artist? Don’t you feel some pull of childhood, a moment of dreaming and play from looking at this? Yep, cute is art too.
We can thank Sandra Plavšić of Croatia for this adorable moment. See more of her work, some cute, much of it contemporary but usually still with a fun edge, on her Flicker pages.
Outside Inspiration: Literally Outside
October 5, 2012
Inspirational Art
So I got out – actually drove and hiked through the colors that I have been exploring online. There really is nothing like being immersed in color out in the natural elements from which it came. But since we can’t take it back to the studio in much of a literal fashion, there’s always photography.
I took this picture in the Colorado Rockies in an area known as Squaw Pass last year. (If I have time this coming week, I’ll edit and post some from this week’s adventure.) I have – in the past – mistakenly considered bright saturated colors as unnatural. But as I traveled more and more I came to realize that, no, most of the time those artifically produced colors aren’t living up to what nature has to offer.
Faux Agate
October 4, 2012
Technique tutorials, Tips and Tricks
I was a bit of a gem hound in the years before I found polymer clay. That was probably one of the prime reasons I was drawn to polymer. I love the tranluscency of semi-precious stones combined with the variety of textures, inclusions and colors. And to then discover a material that can reproduce this in new and infinite ways! Dreams do come true.
This tutorial for agate from Jenny Cox, posted over on Polymer Clay Central is just fantastic – highlighting all those intriguing characteristics of semi-precious stones that draws us to them.
This a very simple and effective technique. My only thing is, why make it look like existing agate? I say take it a step further. Skinner blend the outside rings, add brillant foil inclusions or a few dabs of alcohol ink on the core before wrapping. Nature has done such a wonderful job but with the material we have on hand, why not see where we can take it?
Where might you take it?
Polymer Outshining Precious Metal
October 3, 2012
Inspirational Art
Polymer is not an expensive material but that doesn’t mean it can’t look more precious than it’s expensive competition. The mokume surface on this pendant by Spain’s Anna Belchi gives one the impression that the material is some rare and costly stone or complex and highly valued enamel process … something more than manipulated, pigmented plastic.
Perhaps it’s because Anna works with precious metals as well as glass and polymer clay that her approach results in a carefully crafted and impeccably finished piece where the polymer is being considered as valuable as the rest of her materials.
Starting to think Holiday
October 2, 2012
Polymer community news, Tips and Tricks
If you sell on Etsy (or have been considering it), you might want to take a look at this intensive and free set of weekly tips and goal-setting assistance that can really get your holiday sales a big boost. It’s their annual 10 week Holiday Boot Camp. They’ll cover inventory needs, optimizing for searches, photos and pricing, getting repeat business, holiday promotions and getting those important last minute sales.
And this is all free! You can check in on the Boot Camp page each week to read up on the subject of the week or you can sign up for the newsletter, so it’s in your email inbox each week. You might also want to sign up for the Etsy Success Team where you can get a buddy, cheer each other on, and get additional words of wisdom.
So … what kind of art work will you be focused on this coming holiday? I’m really into rings right now but I also hope to make more ornaments similar to this one I made last year.
Time to pull out that sketchbook and start designing!
The Beauty of Color Drained
October 1, 2012
Inspirational Art
The colors are turning over quickly here in the Rocky Mountains. Drought conditions have stressed the trees so their gorgeous display of fiery reds and oranges, bright yellows and deep burgandys are here but for a few days. Left behind are fantastic forms … thin delicate branches, finely textured tree trunks, and a forest floor with every shade of brown laid in waves from pale tan to deep near-blacks. And among this are the most interesting pods, drying flowers, and dried buds. These end stages of the flora are drained of color as we near winter, but they are not drained of the beauty of their form.
Here is such an example of form reigning over color. Ionela Zanoaga takes simple pale polymer forms, a little texture and combines them with some fairly unassuming copper findings. And it’s stunning.
Stripped of all that could be distracting, we see the lines, form and the beauty inherent in even the final stages of nature’s cycle and an artist’s unobtrusive vision.
