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:
How To Clay Doodle
January 17, 2015
Inspirational Art
Have you started doodling yet? We talked about doodling as a drawing technique yesterday, but you know what … you can also doodle with clay! The main objective in clay doodling is to create something unplanned, to let your mind and hands work up a design that comes from unconscious ideas and to follow the patterns that emerge with your directionless play. Like drawing doodles, this kind of clay play can relieve stress and help you break though design problems and the creatives blahs.
These cabochon beads are clay doodles by Jael Thorp. See just how beautiful a bit of clay doodling can be? Jael actually does a lot of clay doodling. Even those pieces she doesn’t list as doodles, such as cane-covered ornaments and extrusions decorated hearts, have a definite doodling feel to them. They are great examples of how limitless this doodling with clay idea is. There aren’t any restrictions as to how you doodle with clay. Use extrusions, bits of clay, cane slices, sheets of clay you take hand tools to or embellishments. It’s about letting the mind and hands go and seeing where they take you.
To see more of Jael’s work, visit her Art Fire shop or her Flickr pages. You can read about her process on her award-winning blog site, “Jael’s Art Jewels Blog.”
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Outside Inspiration: The Art of the Doodle
January 16, 2015
Inspirational Art
So yesterday I brought you a wire artist who got into carving rubber stamps. Did the carving idea pique your interest? I think the hardest part of carving a stamp is not going to be the carving itself but deciding on a pattern to carve. How do you come up with stamp design ideas? Well, besides copying someone else’s patterns or designs — which would negate the point of creating your own original stamps — you can find your own personal patterns by doing something you probably did a lot as a kid or as a bored teenager in class. You can doodle.
Doodling is not as pointless and aimless as it might seem. It is really a translation of what is going on in your subconscious or, or it’s an expression of your mind’s reaction to what you see and hear around you. If you are doodling without a preconceived idea of what you are drawing, especially while otherwise occupied (such as being on hold during a phone call or listening to a lecture), the doodling can create a very personal design and set of patterns pulled from subconscious thoughts.
A recent doodling-related development is the Zentangle which uses repeated patterns and lines to lend your doodling direction. The original Zentagle method includes a series of rules, such as drawing only in 3.5 inch squares, only drawing in pen so you can’t erase and only drawing abstract designs. So it’s not quite doodling, but it can result in similarly personal designs. A lot of people have expanded on the Zentangle idea, throwing many rules out the window and developing cool abstract art like the Zentangle doodle you see here, by illustrator Angel Van Dam. Her doodles are a bit more organized and purposeful than your standard notepad doodle but aren’t standard Zentangling either. The thing is, it doesn’t matter how you approach it –doodle loose and randomly, mark off the 3.5 inch square to Zentangle in, or use a contractor to draw concentric circles, as Angel did for this illustration, and fill it in as you like.
And why should you want to doodle? Because it can offer so much for your polymer play! Use doodles or Zentangles to create the patterns for your carved rubber stamps. Doodle with colored pencils, and use it as an image transfer onto clay. Use the patterns, imagery or colors to inspire or directly design a polymer piece from.
Doodling is also thought to help you problem-solve so, if you hit a creative block, stop and listen to some music, a book on tape or podcast, and then just doodle away! The solution to your creative work can then bubble to the surface, or you may find a whole new idea there in front of you. No matter what, it is no waste of time. The other thing about doodling that has been discovered through clinical studies is that it reduces stress and can make you more aware and mindful. So doodle for your well-being as well as for your art!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Of Stamp Carving and Swellegant and Wire and Whorls
January 15, 2015
Inspirational Art
Do you like to mix things up? Today we have a blog post that will give you a taste of a number of techniques you can apply to a wide range of other work. Carve your own rubber stamps, create colorful patinas on stamped polymer clay and wrap up your patina-colored pieces with wire frames full of loops and whorls.
This great mixed media approach is a result of explorations by wire artist, Gayle Bird. She seems unafraid of trying and mixing it up with all kinds of materials to create her intricate pieces. Wire is her home base material, but polymer, glass, stones and found objects play important roles in her neckpieces and rings.
Her post on these mixed media pendants can be found on her website. You won’t find a lot of very specific instructions but rather a series of ideas. For those ideas that really pique your interest, take it a step further and seek out independent instruction for more details. If you’re looking for a how-to on carving rubber stamps with linoleum cutters, try this Stamp Carving 101 lesson here. For using Swellegant, B’sue’s Swellegant articles are some of the best. And for wire work, well, there are many, many sources for that, but you can start with some of Gayle’s tutorials or go to Pinterest and search for “wire work tutorials” to show a wide range from which to choose the approach that interests you.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Vintaj Patina Time
January 14, 2015
Inspirational Art
Who here likes mokume and also likes working with inks? I bet I’d see a lot of hands raised if I could actually see you all. This link will send you to a kind of exploration, that doubles as a tutorial, on working with Vintaj inks with a mokume technique. Vintaj is an opaque ink created to be used with metals, but Amy Crawley decided to try it out with polymer.
What I’m getting from her experiments is that this is a good alternative for opaque color layers. We already have metallic foils and gilder’s paste, and you can use oil paints or alcohol inks for varying levels of transparency, but we don’t have any good opaque options. Acrylic paints, because they become a stretchy plastic when dried, stretches when cut, so it makes a rather funky color layer that can also pull your layers apart when cutting. Trust me, I tried, and it was a mess. But the Vintaj ink doesn’t stretch. It will crack, though, which is actually kind of cool.
So I thought I’d share this with you all as an alternative idea for mokume layers. It made me think that maybe tempura paints would work in a similar manner — crackling, not stretching, when manipulated and cut. In any case, if you are up for exploring mokume layer options, this set of three blog entries and her results may get you thinking and get you playing.
Her original experiments with Vintaj just on the surface of clay is the first post Amy write on Vintaj. Then go here for the first half of her mokume and Vintaj process, and here for the final steps.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Vibrant Caning
January 13, 2015
Inspirational Art
This tutorial caught my eye, I have to admit, because of all the vibrant color. It’s also a nice form that undulates, not unlike those glowing bullseye canes that make the center of the outside slices.
The tutorial and the finished set you see here were created by Karina Formanova and include a number of simple yet effectively combined canes, as well as a how-to on creating the form and building up the layers it needs. Although you are supposedly just learning to create a bracelet, you learn some further composite caning, forming, finishing and color combining. So, really, it’s a pretty full little tutorial when it comes down to it.
You can find the full tutorial on Karina’s LiveMaster pages. Also, drop by her page of buttons and other fun bits also there on LiveMaster for other fun ideas and color combinations.
A Dusting of Design
January 12, 2015
Inspirational Art
So, I thought this week I’d simply do what is trending for the new year on Pinterest. Turns out tutorials and how-to tips are the big thing right now. That was rather heartening to see really. Its great that so many people are looking for ideas to expand and explore. So this week will pretty much be that … showing some of the better tutorials and resources for you to expand your polymer knowledge base.
Iris Mishly’s website, PolyPediaOnline, is a wealth of wonderful, easy to follow tutorials. The PDF and video formats explore all kinds of techniques and forms. This stencil tutorial looks a lot like silk screen, but the look is actually created with easy-to-use pastel chalk and craft stencils; you can find them at pretty much any large craft store. Not only that, this tutorial is free!
Like silk screen (which I still would encourage you try at some point — we have all the tips and resources you might need in the The Polymer Arts‘ 2014 Winter issue), this stencil method gives you quickly patterned surfaces that can add visual texture and contrast to your pieces, without the mess of paint. While the lines may not be quite as clean and some of the application looks lighter than with silk screen, that could be more desirable since it can give an aged or rough look. The only thing Iris doesn’t mention is sealing the chalk. You can use any polymer-compatible sealer, but spray sealers such as PYMII or water based Varathane would likely be best so as to not dislodge any chalk while sealing.
You can find this tutorial on YouTube and on Iris’ website, but be sure to check out what other goodies, free and otherwise, she has waiting for you on PolyPedia Online and PolyPedia Online Express.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Making Your Own Fire
January 10, 2015
Inspirational Art
Especially for those of you who are still dealing with those extremely low temperatures and tons of snow, how about ending this week of warm creations with a warm creation of your own? I looked around at canes of flames and found this lovely version. This tutorial is by Russia’s Viktoria, who goes by Nika on Livemaster.
The translator says she calls it barbed wire, which could have been her intention, but you only see that effect when the cane is set back to back, as in the bracelet and necklace set below. Then it kind of resembles Melanie West’s cephalopod eye canes, which might have been her inspiration, but definitely with more of an edgy flame construction.
It’s not a difficult cane. However, when it’s used in consciously chosen compositions, it makes for some complex textures and patterning, as you see in her application here. And changing up the color combinations, as you’ll see at the end of her tutorial, creates some pretty cool results as well.
So go have fun and stay warm!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Outside Inspiration: A Clay-Fire Connection
January 9, 2015
Inspirational Art
Raku pottery is so fascinating. There are a myriad of variations and techniques, so much so that it’s rather hard to define. The only real commonalities between them all seem to be the low-firing temperature and pulling the pottery out of the kiln while still red hot. The Western method includes introducing red hot clay to a combustible material to halt the chemical reaction in glazes and introducing the black smoke that works its way into the cracked glaze, creating those characteristic black crazing patterns. But it has been the intense color that can be achieved with raku that has drawn it into such favor in recent decades.
I had a chance to build a few of my own raku pots back in art school and found myself drawn not only to the color and crazing but to the direct relationship the pottery had with fire and earth. We would bury our hot pots in a sawdust-filled hole in the ground, watch it smolder and then cover the hole with a heavy metal lid to let the pottery sit and take it in. There was this primal, raw feeling that the earth itself was assisting in creating this art. It was so unusual, to be outside, letting the fire, smoke and earth create the texture and design of my pieces, and I can’t say I’ve had quite that kind of experience since then.
I think it is that uncontrollable outcome in the surface design of raku that also draws people to this kind of work. That happenstance texture is dominant in the work of ceramicist Chris Hawkins. Yes, he works up some really brilliant colors, but it is his collaboration with the fire elements, allowing the heat, flame and smoke to choose the patterning, that makes it so breathtakingly beautiful.
You can find a gallery of Chris’s work on his website and a bit of insight into how and why he creates these pieces on his blog.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
The Look of Burning Embers
January 8, 2015
Inspirational Art
Don’t you love embers? Those lively, sparking, crawling fires inside a burning log that move in a seemingly choreographed dance? They are mesmerizing and calming and one of the neatest things about sitting in front of a fire and relaxing. I have tried emulating them in polymer. You can even see one of my modest attempts in an article on faux organics in the Fall 2013 issue of The Polymer Arts. But this particular photo of a copper inlaid bracelet created by Adriana Allen really seems to capture the light and liveliness of them.
It doesn’t seem that Adriana intended to create an ember-like appearance with the rubbed-in foil, but it sure gives one an idea about how to go about creating something like this. The way the copper is more rubbed off in the more open indentations and denser in the thinner lines does emulate that variation in the ember of a burning coal. It is lovely, as is the blue clay contrasting the orange of the copper.
Adriana creates beautiful cuff bracelets with a lot of texture, leaning heavily on faux antiquing and patina to get her signature look. Take a look through her Etsy shop for more beauties and ideas, while I go give my lively 8 month old German Shepard some much needed attention. Her name, by the way, is Ember.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Out of the Fire
January 7, 2015
Inspirational Art
We’re going to head to the orange and yellow side of the warm spectrum today, with a beautiful sculpture by Canadian artist Ellen Jewett. The warmth in this piece feels more like the warmth of sunlight with the white and yellows and coppery oranges. We see that sense of glow here as well, from the gradation of the colors, although most of the color change seems to be between the laid out elements and not in the clay. Mica clays also help to radiate a sense of bright light. This is to show that the visual illusion doesn’t come just from the soft change in color, as in a Skinner blend, but in the way we visualize the play of light. Light changes quality as it hits different surfaces, which, in this case, are the feathers of this dragon-like phoenix. The variety of the surface gives it a liveliness not unlike a dancing fire.
Ellen creates all kinds of very fantastical creatures with very dynamic forms and proportions. I suspect either her educational pursuits in biological anthropology and anthrozoology contribute to these amazing pieces or the same artistic drive to create pushed her to pursue her unusual combination of studies. It is quite worth taking a break to spend some time in her Etsy shop and her website.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
