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:
A Touch of Metal
August 16, 2016
Inspirational Art
Have you ever considered combining polymer and metal but shied away because you just don’t have the metal working skills? Well, you don’t have to be a metal smith to have fully integrated polymer and metal pieces. I thought I’d share a few ideas for you to consider if you have been hesitant to try adding more than a metal chain to your jewelry or even if you do some metal work, might want some ideas for easy but sophisticated projects to stock your store or next show booth.
Here is probably the easiest and one of the best ways to bump up the perceived value of your polymer jewelry. Get yourself some good quality precious metal bezeled jewelry elements. Pendant bezels are plentiful with a wide variety of designs and sizes. Creating the right sized polymer cabochon or inlay doesn’t take much more than impressing your finished sheet or veneer with the bezel itself, cleaning up the polymer edges, and then, after curing and properly finishing/sealing your polymer, glue it into the form with a compatible glue such as E6000 or Gorilla Super Glue Gel.
You may want to build up and round off the element to give it more of a cabochon shape as Rebecca Geoffrey does here with these beautiful sterling and polymer pendants. To do this, cut a thick piece of polymer scrap in the same shape as the bezel but trim it down, cutting slivers of clay off the edges that are the same width as the treated clay sheet is thick. Then you can round off the edges of the scrap clay, lay your treated polymer sheet over it, and smooth it over the shape.
I use deli paper over the treated clay as I smooth so my fingers do not smear or dislodge any of the surface treatment. You will also want to check that it fits the bezel before curing. If it is too big, press the sides in. If too small, gently press the cabochon to spread it out, going around the edges first and then move towards the middle until it fits. You might want to practice with a few scrap clay versions to see how it works with your new bezels before working on some precious mokume veneer or painstakingly treated sheets.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Try a metal bezel! If you’ve done bezel pendants before, try a ring or bracelet with a channel or try a more complex bezel set purchased through fine jewelry suppliers. Better yet, collaborate with a metal smith to create unique bezels. If you do wall art or decor, try bezeled polymer as elements or accents.
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Outside Inspiration: A Tall Order
August 14, 2016
Inspirational Art
As promised, a little weekend dose of art is here for you. This piece is a mixed media painting by Amy Longcope and definitely something that would bring joy and energy to a room. I’m going to let an excerpt from her biography speak for her process:
“Amy Longcope’s approach when creating a new piece is not to paint something specific, but rather to unleash her intense desire to create with beautiful colors and varied shapes that encourage and evoke meaningful thoughts in both her and the viewer. Amy uses various mediums and gels to build layers and textures of color.”
Tall canvases are wonderful to create on (ones just about this size, 4′ x 1′, are what I often worked on in art school) as they allow you to explore strong vertical elements and imagery that even portrait orientation could not. They also fit in those odd spaces between furniture, next to a door or even on a door.
Amy’s intuitive color choices are stunning and fearlessly saturated. Take a look at her website or spend some time going through this great gallery of her work.
I am going to switch up blog days this week so I won’t have one for you two days in a row. I know how much we all have to read these days! So we’ll see you Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Work on a piece that emphasizes the vertical. Tall and thin can certainly do this but how imagery or elements are laid out will emphasize vertical composition as well. Follow any path on this idea that playing around with it leads you.
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Curative Clay Doodling
August 12, 2016
Inspirational Art
I tried to get something up on Wednesday but fate was not going to let that happen. I have, however, been relieved of my elderly parent watching duties until the end of next week so I should be able to keep up and will try to plan ahead. Plus, I’ll sneak in a little something more over the weekend to make up for that missed day. So look for that by Sunday.
Wall art to cheer the poor souls who have to stay put and convalesce is still on my mind. I do think this lovely Klimt inspired piece by Tammy Durham would be just the thing to add a bit of cheer and a sense of fun to just about any place. I really liked this side view because you can see just how dimensional the piece is as well as getting a bit closer on the detail, at least from this one end.
All the winding trees look like a kind of doodling. I can imagine rolling snakes of clay and just adding whorls and curls, letting the trees grow by instinct. Just a bit of clay doodling which would be great for the artist and almost as much fun for the viewer. You can even see this in the process that Tammy has posted, including a full front view, with a dozen or some images throughout her feed on Facebook.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: You know what I am going to suggest … clay doodling, of course! Roll snakes, balls, and/or pods of clay. Wind snakes into swirls, squish balls into dots, press pods into leaf shapes, or just whatever you like, and start building your clay doodle on a sheet of clay. Let you mind go and enjoy the process!
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Sprucing Up the Place
August 8, 2016
Inspirational Art
I’m sorry I am a bit late getting this out today. I have, unfortunately been spending a lot of time at the hospital where my mom is laid up with a fracture of the spine and also at the family home where my dear father is valiantly fighting the vagaries of dementia made more difficult by my mother’s absence. So this week my timing might be off but we’ll get everything done as needed including sending out beautiful things to admire every other day.
I do wish hospitals had a bit more color, don’t you? The care my mother is getting is absolutely wonderful but there is nothing on the walls anywhere but the lobby at this hospital. I was thinking some wonderfully colorful polymer art would be just the thing so I thought I’d just ponder what might really spruce such a place up. This intriguing piece by Alev Gozonar would just be so lovely in the halls or, better yet, in the room. The rich autumn colors of the fluttering leaves so beautifully contrast with those strong lines made from steel cable. It would be something lovely to contemplate besides the TV and all the machines one has around the bed.
Well, I can dream that someone someday will turn hospital rooms into galleries of art but in the meantime, I am off to find a cheerful flowering plant I can take to my mother, the retired horticulturist and to pick up my dad’s favorite candy, licorice, to bring him some good cheer as well. And a bottle of port for myself for later. We do need to take care of ourselves as well as all those that need us!
For more beautiful wall art work by Alev, visit her website or her Facebook page.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Design or create a piece of wall art specifically to brighten up a place in your house you don’t usually hang art in such as a bathroom or a garage, maybe even in closet. What colors, imagery and textures would positively change the atmosphere and make one smile when they opened the door or walked in?
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Outside Inspiration: Rings and Resin
August 5, 2016
Inspirational Art
If you are one of those clayers that, like myself, sees something cool in another material and immediately asks yourself, “How can I create that in polymer?” then the rings from this group will really get your gears going. This ring is made from wood and resin. But why not polymer and resin?
Why not, indeed. The mysterious landscape and that rising gold cloud within just snares the imagination. The group, My Secret Wood, is a team of artists that create hundreds of these one of kind rings using different woods, varying inclusions and a range of tints in their resin. I imagine these are done with molds and some very refined resin skills to eliminate large bubbles but I could see this kind of thing being very do-able with polymer as the ring base. Not that I think one should just up and copy this form. Obviously not. And besides, polymer acts so differently than wood that the outcome would be a world away from this. But a resin cap would help protect surface effects and fragile forms that otherwise would be risky to have on the surface of a ring.
Do take some time today to wander through their gallery of available rings. It is sure to get your imagination going if not tempt you to buy your own.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Design or create an object of your choice in a way that shows an inner world. That could mean any number of things to you so don’t try to be literal but let the idea roll around in your mind and see what “inner world” means to you and see how you can transform that concept into a work of art.
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A Ring to Start With
August 3, 2016
Inspirational Art
Have you ever made a polymer ring? It’s not one of the more common polymer jewelry forms but it sure is fun and they are becoming more and more popular. They can be a bit intimidating since they need to be durable and they need to be sized. When creating ones to sell, you have to either make a wide range of sizes or you have to stick with just a selection of the most popular and then maybe offer custom-made ones. In any case, rings can be a touch tricky but I think once you’ve made one, they are kind of addictive.
So to start your addiction, you might want to try out this simple but elegantly styled ring using the online tutorial on the Craftliners blog. These simple but pretty little rings get their style from the special effects clay in the Glamour and Nature line of clays from Cernit. You can get granite and other faux effects by mixing your own clay with inclusions or just start with solid colors.
The Craftliner blog is posted in support of the online wholesale hobby and craft suppliers Craftlines. Although the shop is wholesale, the blog is for everyone and has a lot of great little gems in a variety of mediums. You can check out what they have to offer from the blog home page.
For more specific polymer ring ideas and how to make them, take a look at your copy of the Winter 2012 of The Polymer Arts or get your copy here.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Make a simple wrapped ring. Give yourself all of 30 minutes to condition, roll, cut, and form the ring. The time limit will keep you from over thinking it. Just make one and don’t worry about the outcome, just enjoy the experience. Then once you have that one under your belt, let your imagination run wild and make more!
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Challenging Rings
August 1, 2016
Inspirational Art
Can you believe it’s August already? More than halfway through the year! How have you been doing with your New Year’s resolutions? I have 2 out of 3 down pretty good. But like me, many of us have not been able to keep up with polymer challenges and studio goals and have had to adjust them. That’s okay. The real purpose of a challenge is to keep at it and see what you can discover if you push yourself. Just this week, I have finally been able to keep a steady studio schedule (a couple of hours every other day which is a 100% better than what I had managed at any time the first half of the year!)
Then there are amazing people like Wendy Jorre de St Jorre who have done this kind of thing at least a couple of years in a row. That’s dedication. Last year she did bangles and this year she’s been doing rings, one each week. She takes her amazing canes used for necklaces and bracelets as well as various decor items and works them into beautiful bands. Although some of the original canes distorts quite a bit as it is wrapped around the small domed band, because she has such great color sense and keeps an eye on the balance of contrasts, the abstract (and even not so abstract) results are just gorgeous.
To see what she has accomplished aside from this beautiful ring here, hop over to see Wendy’s adventures on her Flickr photostream.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Take an application usually used in a different kind of jewelry or decor and create a ring. Or if you do create a lot of rings, create something unusual like a hat pin or an ear cuff.
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IPCA Auction … Join the Madness
July 29, 2016
Inspirational Art
Live auctions are mad. There is such a scramble for the items up for bid because you know it’s your only chance to get that rare piece that caught your eye and you can feel that same energy from others in the room. Online auctions won’t have that same live energy but there is a scramble nonetheless! The IPCA, in an effort to include members that were not able to attend Eurosynergy this year, saved about half the donated items this year and created an online auction that you can participate in.
Have you ever dreamed of owning an original Jeffrey Lloyd Dever, a Melanie Muir, or a Bettina Welker piece? Those big names and others have donated their gorgeous work to help raise money for the IPCA projects. So it’s not only a chance to own a beautiful piece, like this unusual Kathleen Dustin necklace, but its money that goes to a cause dedicated to polymer artists. The IPCA has a lot of ambitious ideas on the drawing board but they need money to get them of the ground. So take a look at the items up for bid on the IPCA auction page.
Our contribution was a copy of Polymer Journeys signed by 25 of the contributing artists. If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, this is the copy to have. Or if you have one but want one signed by so many of the artists you love, you can bid on this rare copy here. If you just can’t wait, get your copy from our website at 10% off the cover!
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Into the Forest
July 27, 2016
Inspirational Art, Polymer community news
Okay, so this might just be a week of announcements but they are exciting announcements, let me tell you.
During her general assembly presentation at Eurosynergy, Laura Tabakman spoke about her projects, many of which are huge undertakings involving installations of her work and the work of others in anything from organic floor compositions in a gallery to entire bridges yarn bombed by the whole of the local community. So it wasn’t a complete surprise that she has a very ambitious project up her sleeve right now. The difference is that this project can include you!
Laura paired up with the very organized and motivated Emily Squires Levine to work on a project inspired by their time under the aspens in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Living here, I completely get what got their creative juices flowing. I am constantly amazed by the color, variety and just stunning beauty of the mountains here. I honestly have yet to find a place in the world I think is more beautiful than the scenery here. Laura and Emily were similarly impressed and started working out an idea for a large Rocky Mountain forest inspired installation. Later on they got Julie Eakes on board and between the three of them the seeds of the “Into the Forest” project was born. And just hours before Laura’s presentation, the threesome set up a Facebook page to help facilitate what is certainly to be an immense and fascinating project.
So what is “Into the Forest”? The image here is their first assembly based on the project idea and here is their description:
“An international collaboration of polymer artists and enthusiasts inspired by the high altitude aspen groves in the Rocky Mountains, “Into the Forest” is an evolving mixed media international installation organized by collaborating artists Laura Tabakman, Emily Squires Levine and Julie Eakes. Imagine yourself in a forest. On the ground beneath a canopy of branches and leaves, unexpected life exists. Look closely, be amazed at the variety of these organic forms. Be a part of our Forest and help it flourish! Create pieces which will form its life elements. We will combine them into living colonies of varying shapes, colors and sizes. We are looking for 1000s of elements, created by our international polymer community, to inhabit our Forest.”
To get involved, request an invitation to the “Into the Forest” Facebook group. There are already over 150 polymer artists and enthusiasts that have pledged to help. I know I’m excited. Jump over to the Facebook page to get more information and follow the project on Instagram (intotheforest17).
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Here’s a simple one … join the project! Make one element a day or at least every other day, to send off to the project. I started on leaves on the weekend and ideas for lichen and other creeping color. We have until April 4th of 2017 which, making one little simple piece a day means you could have a couple hundred to contribute by April!
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Serenity and Simplicity … the new Fall Cover!
July 25, 2016
Inspirational Art, The Polymer Arts magazine news
I’ve had this waiting for its final tweaks for nearly a week but, like half the Eurosynergy convention goers, I have been trying to rise up from the flu that knocked so many of us out. But I am now down to maybe 4 naps a day instead of 12 and got this done over the weekend. The flu and the loss of one of my main staff has got me behind so its nose to the grindstone for me now!
Don’t you just love the simple beauty of this neck-piece by Sonya Girodon? She is the featured artist interviewed by polymer pioneer Lindly Haunani for the Color Spotlight section of the Fall issue of The Polymer Arts. As you might know, Maggie Maggio has been the interviewer and conductor of that section of The Polymer Arts for nearly three years but now that her focus is shifting to expanding color education in grade schools, she has passed the torch onto the gracious Lindly. Lindly has taken it up with much gusto and has for you an absolutely entrancing article, highlighting Sonya’s color choices and philosophy.
Of course that is but one reason to be sure you have your copy of the next issue when it comes out at the end of August. Dan Cormier has written an absolute treasure of an article highlighting all the ways you can use scrap for easier, distortion free canes, mokume and other sliced veneer techniques along with other priceless tips and tricks from this master. Tory Hughes will help you access your creativity, Anke Humpert will show you how to make a variety of mandalas for a truly zen art experience, Julie Cleveland has all the basics on bangles for you, and I will reveal the secrets to creating great simplicity in design with exercises included to hone your skills. There is much more but we’ll chat about that later. Enjoy the sneak peek of the cover!
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Challenge your use of color. Find an artist whose work you admire but whose color palette is quite different from what you usually use. Borrow one of their color palettes and integrate it into a piece with your more commonly used techniques and forms. How does the color change the way your work appears? Does working with different colors cause you to create differently as well?
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