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:
Organizing: Turn ‘Em Upside Down
July 11, 2012
Tips and Tricks
How many tiny bottles of paint, alcohol ink, glue, etc. you have taking up drawer or shelf space in the studio? If they are taking up valuable space, here is a fantastic idea from paper crafter Brianna Walling–it takes just a few magnets, some glue and an old baking sheet.
Attach a baking sheet or other flat sheet of metal (not aluminum … it won’t take magnets) to the underside of a shelf. If you have wire shelves, drill a couple holes and use ties to attach it, otherwise some well place screws should hold it to wooden shelving. Glue magnets onto the bottom of your bottles and pop them upside down onto the sheet. It’s a bit of space in your studio not often used and it keeps your paint and ink in the top of the bottle. Nice.
Brianna wrote a blog piece about it for paper crafters: http://wecanbeaoriginal.com/blog/2011/07/beaorganized-glitter-glue/
Crafting with Light: Hollow Faux Glass Beads
July 10, 2012
Inspirational Art
Kathrin Neumaier of Germany has been focused on translucents for well over a year now using layered translucent clay and liquid polymer to create a glass effect. Her work has a natural feel to them, like they might be something you would find washed up on the beach. But the simple elegance of the forms also makes me think they could be something you’d pull out of long forgotten collection of odds and ends in an old relative’s attic. Regardless, they are intriguing, not only because as polymer artsits we know this effect is not easy to achieve but because the forms rely on light to create interest.
The translucent hollow forms bounces light around and through the forms giving pieces like these simple earrings an enticing liveliness. This is the kind of thing we emphasized in The Polymer Arts’ Spring 2012 article “Design Beyond Form” where we talked about using light in the composition of your piece. Using glass (or faux glass), reflective surfaces, and shimmering texture can add that extra dimension that allows your piece to play with the light in the room–an element that changes based on the viewer’s position or, in terms of jewelry and adornment, the wearer’s movement. How cool is that?
Vote for Polymer Clay!
July 9, 2012
Inspirational Art, Supplies & other fun stuff
Recently The Crafts Report asked readers to help them chose the artwork for their upcoming October issue. And polymer has done quite well in this little competition. If you are not familiar with this magazine, you really should take a look at it, not only for business ideas but also for artistic inspiration. This comes out monthly, focusing on issues relevant to crafters of all types.
The Crafts Report has been particularly kind to polymer clay artists. With all the many different types of crafts out there, most of which are much more established than polymer, they still regularly feature polymer art on the cover. Even though we work in a newer art material, we do, actually, comprise a huge portion of the craft artist market. So, The Crafts Report does pay attention to polymer artists and keeps our art in the lime light. Thanks Crafts Report!
Today they resume a cover contest they are conducting on Facebook. It’s down to 4 pieces, and one of them being the beautiful polymer necklace here by Loretta Lam. If you are interested in helping polymer get yet another Crafts Report cover, find The Crafts Report on Facebook and toss in your vote!
Wisdom from Warhol!
July 8, 2012
Ponderings
A little food for thought on this Sunday –
Get that art critic off your back and make what feels right to you.
Test Drive CraftArtEdu
July 7, 2012
Technique tutorials
I know I put a note out in the last newsletter but I want to catch others here who may not know about CraftArtEdu.com. The idea is that instead of you having to pay for expensive classes with artists who can only come to your area once in a blue moon, you can take great, in-depth classes at a fraction of the cost and view it on your time and at your own pace.
The classes are basically videos but far more than just something you might find on YouTube. They can be quite lengthy as the instructors lead you through every step in detail. You can post questions, browse by chapter, click through from the video page directly to suppliers for items you might need, and you have unlimited access to all this and it never expires.
There are a handful of free classes to get a taste of how they work. You can check those out on the website here.
Break it Up!
July 6, 2012
Inspirational Art
I found this beauty in a Jewelry Making Daily email post a while back. I was intrigued by the casualness of the lines and shapes contrasted with the skilled craftsmanship and elegance of the gems. Primarily though, I was drawn by the broken frame. Who says a frame must be straight and closed? If you balance out any divergence from the expected norm with an element like the aquamarine placed in the open corner of the frame, the break seems almost necessary.
This silver-in-quartz in silver bezel setting by Helen Driggs (photo by Jim Lawson) was previously published on the cover of Lapidary Journal/Jewelry Artist in January 2010 (deservedly so) before making it into the JMD post.
So … if you have a composition that is stumping you, try ‘breaking it up!” Remember … there are no “musts” and “shoulds” in art. Only options.
Scenes & Stories
July 5, 2012
Inspirational Art, Technique tutorials
With our art, we are always telling some kind of story. But in these pieces by Estonian artist Katja, we get a literal scene from which we can draw a story. This link takes you to Katja’s LiveJournal page and her tutorial about how she makes these bracelets. It’s a fun process to see and a project all level of artists could try. The only real challenge I saw was how she made these with those long nails!
Next time you are working on a bracelet, necklace, vase or anything that allows you to work with a horizontal canvas, consider building a scene or story, even if it’s abstract. Using the scene layout as a design element can bring what might otherwise seem a random placement of shapes and color into a perceived order. And its fun!
Letting it All Stand Out
July 4, 2012
Inspirational Art
Céline Charuau’s work absolutely fascinates me. Her forms are obviously inspired by the shapes and patterns in nature but she chooses to exaggerate or focus on one aspect and push it until it no longer resembles anything we are familiar with but does emphasis the beauty of that one characteristic.
Céline’s work has been in the magazine as an example of how to creatively copy from nature (you may have seen her beautiful feather inspired necklace in Christi Friesen’s “Filling Your Well of Creativity” article in the Winter 2011 issue of The Polymer Arts magazine).
Here is another example in this pointy petaled flower where the extensions of the flow stand so far out from the base that they almost seem menacing. Building a piece into the available space rather than letting it just sit calmly back makes the form a forceful and undeniably attention grabbing piece. If the coloring and shapes were softer, this might not feel appropriate but with the slim, pointed petals and fiery tips, the dynamic use of space works wonderfully.
Tinting Liquid Polymer Clay
July 3, 2012
Supplies & other fun stuff, Tips and Tricks
There is more than one way to tint LPC! You can buy it already tinted with Kato Liquid PolyClay or you can make your own. If you make your own, you can use most any dye or paint that is NOT water-based. The most common colorant is oil paint but alcohol inks or mica powders are also used.
I also recommend cosmetic colorants … see the article in the Spring 2012 issue of The Polymer Arts magazine for cosmetic industry options for all kinds of materials. Each tint medium produces different results and requires slightly different approaches to use them successfully.
Luckily, our friends over at Craft Test Dummies did a lot of the experimenting for you. These ideas greatly expand your options if you haven’t tried them.
Scientifically Artistic Finds
July 2, 2012
Inspirational Art, Supplies & other fun stuff
Polymer borrows from every other art form and many other industries and the scientific industry is no exception. Our tissue blades for instance are for biological and physiological studies (yep, the tissue referred to is not Kleenex!) I also know many polymer artists who use dental tools, pipettes and chemistry scales not to mention the multitudes of hardware and containers that a scientific supply source can offer. So here is one supply source for such things — American Science & Surplus — a very fun and inexpensive supply site with just a mind-boggling number of items that a polymer artist would want … or maybe, need!
Here’s just one example of what can be done with scientific hardware. Julia Sober is quite fond of incorporating microscope slides into her polymer and metal jewelry. Here she uses cane worked polymer clay, glass microscope slides, gold-filled wire, aluminum tubing, and glass beads for this beautiful set.
