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:
Staging Simplicity
July 24, 2014
Inspirational Art
Pushing the construction or composition of a necklace doesn’t have to be overly complex. Simplicity is sometimes the best path to unusual pieces.
With this composition by Russian artist Oksana Aleksandrovna Vedernikova (she works under the name Silverpepper), the rather stark presentation really helps us focus on the delicate details of these of the gorgeously crafted polymer beads. The uneven drop length keeps the composition from feeling stagnant and gives each bead a separate height from which to be admired.
Oksana rarely creates in typical or classical composition. If you enjoy the idea of pushing construction and presentation of your polymer within the art jewelry form, you will find further inspiration within her other creations. Just head on over to her Flickr pages.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
The Simple Hinge
July 23, 2014
Inspirational Art
This necklace isn’t so off the beaten path when it comes to composition, but it is a bit different in its construction. The hinge construction is somewhat of a trademark for Louise Fischer Cozzi; although, I have wondered why this kind of simple way of connecting hasn’t been seen more. The metal wire goes through one shape into another in order to form the hinge upon which they are connected. This allows the flat beads to move and rotate while on the wearer. This rotation hides and reveals the surface of the shapes as the wearer moves.
I love the simplicity of this type of construction, but I also think this could be pushed, using that hide and reveal result, to allow unexpected images that come and go. This would create compositions at the point where the surface textures meet up. Yes, this would take a bit of planning, but how fun and intriguing a piece it would be!
To see more of Louise’s hinged jewelry, along with her other beautiful decor and quilts, take a look at her website here.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Barely Met
July 22, 2014
Inspirational Art
Let’s look at the simple idea that necklaces don’t have to be a complete, fully attached, encircling item nor does the closure for it have to be at the back of the neck. If the point at which the necklace opens can be integrated into the design, it can be placed anywhere on the piece. And if you have a firm, but pliable structure, it doesn’t even have to connect.
Olimpia Corvino used this approach with a number of her designs. This necklace breaks the usual standards of using wire as structure. This breakaway from the norm allows for a front entrance and two large pieces of polymer to just barely meet in the middle. That “barely there” touch is fantastic as it causes tension and a point of focus. I really enjoy that she has used wire work to break the swathes of polymer at a point that would have normally been the center had the necklace used a standard wire structure in order to join it. It’s another subtler point of tension, but these near connections do a lot to enliven the design.
For now, Olimpia’s designs seem to exist only on Facebook, but as it is a business page, you can actually access it whether or not you have a Facebook account. Take a look at her wide range of pieces, which are sometimes nontraditional, sometimes standard, but always bold in color, texture or approach.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Unusual Construction
July 21, 2014
Inspirational Art
I have to say that necklaces are both my favorite and most dreaded form to create. I love the wide ranging possibilities but because of that I tend to come up with some really difficult design ideas that I then can’t help but try to engineer and probably fail in doing so successfully about half the time. That’s the dreaded part, knowing I won’t always be successful and getting frustrated by that. But, when it works … it’s just such a great feeling of accomplishment!
Pushing necklace designs beyond stringing beads is a challenge we may not all be up for, but I do encourage you to consider trying some challenging designs every once in a while. It can add to your skill set and give you great confidence in your abilities to design and execute each time you do have a great success. So this week, let’s look at a few unusual necklace designs to get you thinking about the ways in which you can stretch your ideas of how to create a neckalce.
This piece is not so far off from the classic multi-strand designs usually created with chain, pearls or other small beads. But rather than working with a flexible set of elements, Claire Maunsell created these continuous organic shapes that, although they will not move and sway the way chain does, do give a sense of soft, flowing movement.
Can you think of other possibilities for necklace design that either incorporates a continuous piece of polymer encircling the neck or that can also convey a sense of flowing movement in polymer that doesn’t require a string of beads? Just something to ponder.
Claire is quite the master of implied and visual movement not to leave out her amazing organic textures and colors. She has a number of websites, shops and blogs to take in her work from. Start with her Flickr photostream to get a idea of the breadth of her work then, go to her Flickr profile page for the list of other sites for more art and information on Claire and her work.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Contest: 2015 Theme for The Polymer Arts
July 19, 2014
The Polymer Arts magazine news
It’s time for us to start planning our issues for 2015!
This year we thought we’d get YOUR input on what type of articles you’d like us to research and write for you. 
You can contribute by giving us a theme word or phrase, describe a concept, or just tell us what kind of subjects you’d like us to cover. Any ideas that describe or even just lead us to a theme idea will be eligible to win a little something to show our gratitude. We’ve set aside (4) $20 Gift Certificates to The Polymer Arts to award to the readers with the winning themes/concepts, or in the case of multiple similar suggestions, to award to four people based on a random drawing. All you need to do is contact us at connect@thepolymerarts.com with your ideas. Here’s how we usually determine a good possible theme:
- Themes should address design concepts, issues, and/or trends in the polymer community.
- The single word or phrases we use for themes enable us to encompass any number of broad possible ideas that we can base articles around. For instance, the present issue’s theme “Light” encompasses such topics as illuminating light, light weight or visual light effects like shiny or reflective.
- Suggestions can even be previous themes, but with suggestions on how we could look at the theme differently or add other types of articles to it.
If you can, please explain a little about the theme or concepts that you are suggesting and why you think they would be a good idea. Any article suggestions are welcome! So, get any and all your ideas in by the end of the day on July 27th for a chance to shape the subjects you’ll get to read about in 2015, as well as having a chance to win a $20 Gift Certificate! Want to see all the themes we’ve done in the past? You can see them and all our articles listed on this page: http://www.thepolymerarts.com/TPA_TOCs.html
Variation by Chance
July 18, 2014
Inspirational Art
I was thinking about the many ways that we use to establish our variations when I came across this interesting selection of wall hangings created by melting crayons. That’s when I realized that one of most obvious ways in which we achieve variation is by letting randomness and chance have a say. We’ve all had that moment (or 20) when we were messing around with the scraps on our table and a whole new idea arose. Well, you could do that intentionally with the components you have for certain pieces that you have in mind by letting your mind and fingers wander until something wonderful emerges.
Here, the various ways the crayons melt, as well as the colors, look to be the inspiration for each of the silhouetted subjects. That same approach can be used to renew, revive or reinvent a line you’ve been working with for a while. Be spontaneous and play to see what that clay suggests.
I couldn’t find the creator of these pieces, but I did find out this is ‘thing’ in the home craft world. Much of this melted crayon art is not very well done, but these three are great examples of what can happen when it is done artistically. If anyone, by some strange chance, knows who made these, I would love to give them credit. They are another victim of unattributed Pinterest pinning that ended up on a blog with the online storage URL being the only information that came with it.
Even if you just pin for yourself, at the very least, please do the creators the well-deserved favor by putting their name in the comment section. Or pin to a private board. Otherwise, these things get picked up by random people, spread around and the origination of it becomes lost. That just seems terribly sad.
Be sure to check in tomorrow for a contest we’re now running in which you can help shape upcoming issues of The Polymer Arts as well as win a little something for yourself!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Just the Clay
July 17, 2014
Inspirational Art
It’s certainly not going to be news that if you want to create variation in a piece, it can be done by strictly using the clay itself. Polymer is perfect for creating all types of color and textures! Here’s a straight-forward example by Nora Pero using various colors, translucency, visual texture, and color blending to create variations in her pinched petal form.
Lining up all these necklaces together leads us to another idea we can explore that we don’t see here, and that is the combination of the various petals into one necklace. Maybe those blues and greens together on one necklace, or a trio of the red, gold and fuchsia/yellow petals that alternate across around the neck. That sounds kind of yummy!
Petals:
Although Nora has been wonderfully focused on some glass and beading options of late, her Flickr pages have plenty of images showing further variations in mokume, crackle, and extruder cane decorated beads. In addition, you can get a tutorial on how to create these various petals in her Etsy shop. Fun stuff!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
One Idea, Many Minds
July 16, 2014
Inspirational Art
If you are ever in need of an inspiring push to get out of a creative rut, the classroom is the place to go, especially those that encourage variation in the end result. Fabiola Perez Ajates, (known simply as Fabi) encourages a broad range of expression in her classes, and she photographs and posts collages of them on her wonderful blog Con Tus Manos (With Two Hands). Just last week she posted many shots like these of her students’ little trinket bowls.
It’s obvious that Fabi encourages brave color combinations and individual ideas. Take a close look at the various choices the students made. The pieces are basically the same form, but color, textures, canes and the sculptural additions such as stands or handles are all handled quite differently. Find some applications that you like, and ask yourself if you could aim for something like that in some of your creative endeavors. Seeing the wide open possibilities in a group of unique, creative minds can really stretch your own creativity.
You can also see how she uses collaged images to promote her classes in this post here. If you want to skip the blog information (it has to be translated from the Spanish if you don’t speak it), you can see many of these same images on Fabi’s Flickr pages.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Arrangements in Layers
July 15, 2014
Inspirational Art
Another collection of work for your consideration of examples in variety are these brooches by Betsy Baker. She takes similarly treated sheets with variations in color and texture, cuts them in an assortment of shapes and layers them to create compositions with different effects and impact.
You could do the same thing with some standard pieces you have been making. Vary the form, imagery, combinations and composition to see what you can come up with. Betsy actually does this quite a bit and shares her results in collages and close-ups on her Stonehouse Studio Flickr pages.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Variety is the Spice …
July 14, 2014
Inspirational Art
I’ve been seeing a lot of collage and photos of groupings of people’s work. These images are a great idea especially for sales materials and websites–it can show your breadth of work as well as give customers ideas for custom pieces. For us artists, it’s a great way to compare similar pieces side by side and get ideas about how to vary the same forms, techniques, or applications.
These donut focal bead bracelets by Gema Belinchon are a great example of taking a few small changes and recombining them to come up with a wide variety of finished pieces. She had six basic things she’s recombining–color, different canes, two types of leather cord, the number of cords she uses, crystal accents and three types of silver slider beads. I can’t figure out the math, but I know that could be hundreds of combinations.
Can you identify one bracelet as you favorite? Can you say why? Would you make a different combination of elements to create something more to your taste? Why do you think you choose those? Asking these kinds of questions can help you understand your own taste and what kind of look can be derived from a change in combinations.
I like the one with the three crystals, but would prefer it in that wonderful lime green Skinner blend bead next to it, and I’d go for unbraided leather so the cane texture is the only busy texture. The cane would really stand out that way while the rest of the bracelet would appear smooth and subdued, which would add a touch of sophistication versus casual and fun. But, that’s just me. What are your preferences?
Gema goes by Belserart on Flickr where you can find more variations on the same types of pieces. They aren’t all in one image, side by side like this, but they are definitely worth a stroll through them.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
