Round and Round the Edges

So the Winter 2014 – Boundaries issue is in hand or on its way to all our readers and retailers. If you’ve read through your copy, then this week will be a little addition to the lessons to be learned there. And if you haven’t gotten your copy yet, this will be a bit of a preview and introduction to the concepts we explored.

The theme of Boundaries encompassed anything that delineated either elements in polymer art work or boundaries developed (or not) in the way we live and work. One of the recurring concepts is about edge. There is an entire article on the concept in terms of how to look at edge as a part of your design including ways to finish off an edge and what the different types of edges can convey within a design. In the issue, we weren’t able to go into some of the more complex angles of that concept including considering multiple edges in a piece.

Debbie Crother’s newest pieces are featured in the gallery section where you’ll see she works with a lot of open edges (not framed or otherwise treated.) The open edge can allow a piece to feel bigger than it is since there is no frame or treatment to stop the viewer from imagining the scene, images or lines from going off into the space beyond what they see. This piece is actually both framed and has open edges. It’s actually like a series of frames, but instead of the frame holding in and drawing focus to interior elements, the frames are one of the primary elements of the design itself.

The even, nested circles create a bulls eye, which would usually bring you to focus on the center, but between the open edges, the lines within the surface treatment and the white drops, your eye is kept quite busy and is directed across the width of the piece with the occasional stop where the white spots have landed like scattered stars. The series of edges, however, slow down your visual glance across the landscape, so you find you spend a little more time taking it in. Which is a good thing. Also, the natural, uneven landscape lines of the surface contrasts with the orderly rings just to keep things interesting. The overall result is a piece that is not overly complicated, holds your attention and feels rich with small, but satisfying details.

Debbie creates these with variation in the surface treatment of each ring which makes those pieces much more about the contrast of each ‘frame’. She’s explored this design in great depth bringing her around to a number of well-designed options. This particular design, along with painted polymer veneers, is the subject of her newest class on Craft Art Edu “Concentric Circle Pendants”. So, should you find yourself intrigued, go get yourself a class.  You can also see some of her other new designs in the Gallery section of the Winter issue of The Polymer Arts (get your copy on our website or from one of our retailers listed here) or take a trip through Debbie’s Flickr photostream.

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