Make These Holes Your Own
November 20, 2014
Inspirational Art
Let’s do something a little different with our participation week today. This image does not contain finished pieces, but rather they are a technique developed by Violette Laporte. You can go here to read about what she was doing and her thoughts, but what I’d love to see is your thoughts, not on the design, but on what you would do with these to finish them. Or, how would you apply this technique to things you already do? Even if it’s not your kind of thing, try to think of a way you could incorporate it into your work.
Also, if you go ahead and actually make something from this, please send me photos! I would love to see what this post might inspire!
And, don’t forget to go back to the previous day’s posts to see how your observations compare to other peoples. There is an amazing amount of similarity in comments. I got to speed read through them all, but we still had technical problems to fix yesterday, and today, I am getting on the road for some time with family and my other half. But you know, I’ll be here every day too!
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Holey Under the Sea
November 19, 2014
Inspirational Art
First of all, thank you everyone for participating in Monday’s fun and games. You all are amazing! I was going to go through and pick some favorite comments to post today, but I’m afraid we’ve been having some serious technical issues over that have kept me from being able to read them all thoroughly yet. And apparently kept this from posting–that was user error, tired user that is. I’m sorry about that. I will get to all the comments later today, but you can read all the great observations by returning to Monday’s post and reading the comments below it.
Let’s keep this going! All participants will be tossed into the hat for the product giveaway at the end of the week.
Today we’ll ponder this set of holey bracelets by Dina Kovalkina. I found this on her Flickr page where you can look at more of her work if that helps you to learn more about what she’s doing and why. What do you think about the placement of the holes; their density? How do the elements from the holes to the ruffled edges work together or do they? How about the colors?
Let me know your thoughts! I’ll get back to fixing technical stuff and we’ll get back on track tomorrow!
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Outside Inspiration: Hidden Aesthetic
November 14, 2014
Inspirational Art
Most of what we see in nature has a very particular purpose or is an expected result of some process or circumstance. Something a person makes, well … it can be such a mystery! When something in nature opens up to reveal its treasure, usually it is something that has to do with its survival–seeds in a pod, a pearl in a oyster shell, the brightly colored interior and/or stamens in a flower. But, when man makes something that is opened to reveal something, it can be simply a show of that artist’s aesthetic, or it can be a statement.
Which do you think we have here? Andy Rogers is heavily influenced by nature, but he will mix up the components, so you have to stop and think about what it is he’s showing us. This form with its alien-looking exterior and mysterious red seeds feels like both his aesthetic and a statement about our curiosity. This is just one in a series, and one of the few whose seeds can be seen in the photographs. But, many of the other ones have truly hidden treasures stashed away where you have to be in its presence and take a peek inside to see what Andy has to show you.
Since we can’t see what he has inside from his photos, go ahead and jump over to his page and take guesses at what forms and colors might be the most eye-catching or surprising to find inside these forms. Would that get you thinking about what could be hiding in your own work? It’s kind of fun to consider! While you’re there, take a look at the rest of Andy’s gallery. I think his forms, colors and textures are particularly inspiring for the polymer artist, especially if your aesthetic leans towards the organic.
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The Dark and the Light
October 30, 2014
Inspirational Art
I love that polymer illustration is coming more and more to the forefront. There are some amazing illustrators out there. In our last issue of The Polymer Arts we featured Tammy Durham’s playful work and in the upcoming winter issue we have the honor of being able to include an article by Joseph Barbaccia, the creator of the amazing illustration you see here. The article reveals the steps in his process, as well as how he came to this new calling after a full and successful prior career in graphic design and years of traditional sculpting.
This image is a beautiful and striking mix of the dark and the light, the two sides, as I mentioned on Monday, that are needed for either side to be appreciated, and in this case, create the heavy contrast that is the basis of the dramatic atmosphere here. The beautiful range of additional color beyond black and white have added to the drama. Look closely at the lovely saturated teals and magentas in the raven and the various shades of blue that make up the rich and glowing night sky. Even the moon gives into off-whites and various yellow and green relations to gray.
The rough, and yet wispy, edge created by just leaving the tapered tendrils of clay displays an unusual and effective treatment of the boundary for the image. It really brings out the dimensional quality of the work that may not be as apparent seeing it just as a photograph. To learn more about Joesph’s work, take a look at his website and, of course, be sure you are subscribed or pre-order the winter issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, due out November 28th.
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.
Darling Darkling
October 29, 2014
Inspirational Art
With the popularity of vampires still high these days, I would be remiss in letting a week of beautiful dark things go by without presenting at least one of the well-loved creatures. And this one is not hard to appreciate. She’s actually a “Darkling” as envisioned by sculptor Barbara Key.
Darkling is actually not a noun in any standard dictionary I could find, but the concept of a darkling is described broadly as just a creature of the night in listings and records of our pop culture nomenclature. So, an artist’s rendition is really wide open for interpretation. And Barbara does run with it–a vampiric fairy with a thing for leather and lingerie and what looks like a either a rough day on the job, or she just finished a good tear-jeaker of a movie. But truly, for a creature of the dark, she is rather darling.
Barbara is always good for a few unexpected details on her art dolls as well as an elegant beauty even in her darkest creations. To enjoy similar seasonally appropriate darlings, spend a little time visiting Barbara’s website.
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.
Gorgeously Dark
October 27, 2014
Inspirational Art
This week counts down to that one very dark and ominous day (or fun and frolicsome, depending on your approach) sometimes known as the All Saint’s Eve, Day of the Dead, Samhain, Allantide among other things, but most commonly known as Halloween. It’s that day when, in many Christian-based religions as well as pagan and European folklore, we either have a chance to speak to loved ones passed on and/or we must hide from the demons and other creatures that have the opportunity to walk the earth the one night when the veil between the worlds of the living and dead are thinnest. That makes the holiday seem rather dreary, but truly, it’s more of a celebration of the lives that have lived. Death and the things of the dark exist in contrast to the vibrancy of life and the light. Without the dark, how would we appreciate the light? And even the dark things can be quite beautiful.
So this week, let’s look at the beauty of dark things. I promise it will not be all spooky and ghoulish. But, okay, we’re going to start off kind of on that end. If you are familiar with the movie Aliens then you would likely then recognize the imagery of Swiss sculptor, painter and set designer, H.R. Giger who designed the alien and extraterrestrial environments for that movie, in the work of Aniko Kolesnikova that you see here. This journal cover is a display piece that Aniko uses to show off her hand tooled polymer sculpture techniques. The melding of Aniko’s skills and the Giger imagery makes for gorgeous lines and intriguing textures as well as being an combined example from two different artists of how beautiful the dark renditions of the imagination can be.
Most of Aniko’s work is not that dark, she just embraces this as part of all that is beautiful in this world. Or that’s how I see her work. I mean, her moniker is “Mandarin Duck” (I don’t know why … ) and commonly refers to her blog readers as “honey bunnies”, so she’s definitely not all about the dark side. See more of her varied work on her website and more journals on this Pinterest board.
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The Future Faces of Polymer
October 25, 2014
Inspirational Art, Polymer community news, Polymer issues
This is Sean Mitchell. He’s 12 years old, home-schooled, and the youngest person to ever take a college-level polymer clay course.
Wait … is Sean the real news or is it the fact that this past year, the first college-level credit course in polymer art was actually accepted and implemented at an accredited American institution? Well, they are both news in their own way, aren’t they? Both Sean and the class are bright lights for the future of polymer art.
The class, “Art 200: Polymer Clay” was taught at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin by Diane Levesque who was also the curator for the exhibit at the H.F. Johnson Gallery of Art at Carthage College, A Re-Visioning: New Works in Polymer. Diane presented her overview and thoughts on the course at the Polymer 2.0 Symposium along with inviting a number of students who took the class to attend the presentation and symposium that day. Sean was one of them.
At 12 years old, Sean isn’t quite of college age and is not one of those kids skyrocketed into a university education at an early age, although I have to say, after hearing his participation in our discussions and talking with him myself, I think he could have been. He’s exceedingly bright, curious and well-spoken. It was fortunate that special circumstances and the need for a creative option in his home school curriculum landed Sean the opportunity to take this class in which he excelled. He brought this sculpture to share with us. That piece alone was pretty impressive.
So, I had to ask him … “Do you see yourself continuing to work in polymer?” His answer was yes, but he did confess that he was actually interested in going into industrial engineering. So, we may lose him to another creative area, but nonetheless, Sean as well as his fellow students, were very enthusiastic about their experience with the medium, which brought up the question, “How can we introduce polymer as an art form to more of the younger generations?”
Well, we can start with the kids in our own life. I’ve had quite the year of introducing the many facets of polymer clay to the young people in my family and beyond. I now have at least one niece that seems to be inextricably addicted to it, and she introduced it to her friends as well. Word of mouth works well in spreading the love of creating as well as in business! And, of course, if we can continue to push for college-level courses and maybe even introduce it into high schools and after-school programs, polymer can continue to expand its range and the world’s view of it as art, not just hobby craft. Wouldn’t that be exciting?
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.
Outside Inspiration: Bead & Fiber on the Verge
October 24, 2014
Inspirational Art
Before I write up a blog, I search what I’ve posted over the years to insure I’m not showing the same artists over and over, and that it’s been a while since I’ve posted their work. It’s a way of spreading the love around, so to speak. I don’t usually have to worry about that with posts from artists working in other mediums, but I was afraid I’d already shared the stunning work of Amy Gross and maybe shouldn’t be sharing it again. But, to my surprise, I never have! I don’t know how that happened. However, since her work was in the Racine Museum of Art’s (in)Organic exhibition I saw this past weekend, I can now correct that.
Amy is so one of my very favorite artists in the realm of mixed media art. The richness of the textures and colors are what draw you in, but it’s the imagery, both realistic and implied, that holds you there. At least it does me. It helps that I have an interest in both the growth and decay that is the cycle of nature. Amy’s work filters what she sees in this cycle through her own personal experiences as she notes in her artist statement on her website:
“My embroidered and beaded fiber pieces are my attempt to merge the natural observable world with my own inner life: I’m trying to remake nature sieved through my own experiences. I’ve always been attracted and frightened by things that are in their fullest bloom but on the verge of spoiling. There’s such beauty and sadness to them, heightened by the undeniable inevitability of their ending.”
I was so immensely thrilled to see her work in person for the first time at Racine Art Museum–I had read her work would be in the exhibit–that I was having a hard time containing myself. But, jumping up and down or squealing with glee is not museum-appropriate conduct. So, I am happy I have a chance to to do so here. The first image is one I was given permission to take at the museum. I really wanted to capture the colors in that top leaf in contrast with the darker colors below. The second photo is from her website and gives you more details of the lower half. See even more shots of this and other pieces of Amy’s in her website gallery pages.
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Are you familiar with something known as the flow state? This is that space you get in where you are lost in your own little world because you are so wrapped up in what you are doing. It happens quite commonly when people are working on creative projects and it’s a really good thing for you, both because it dissipates stress and because it increases your level of “feel-good” chemicals like serotonin and dopamine. It’s also defined as an “optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best.” Now, who wouldn’t want that?
I bring this up because I want to talk about mosaics. I think a lot of people look at all those tiny pieces and think, “That looks like a ton of work!” And, yeah, there might be a lot of steps to putting a mosaic together, but the technique is also one that really gets you deep into a flow state. It can be kind of like doodling but with little pieces.
It would not be a hard thing to start on. Most of us have access to tons of tiny pieces, either through leftover canes, unused polymer sheets, or failed projects we haven’t had the heart to toss out. Just slice up those canes, cut up those sheets, and/or start chopping up those cured elements and you have all you need to start creating mosaics. Of course, you can make pieces specifically for mosaics from fresh clay, too!
Mosaics have been on my mind these last couple weeks because, while working on the latest book, Polymer Journeys 2019, it became quite apparent that one of the bigger trends making a splash right now is polymer mosaics and so I thought we ought to take a closer look at this not so new but definitely interesting and flexible technique. (By the way, today is the last day to get the Pre-order Sale pricing on Polymer Journeys 2019! Go to the website to get it at 30% off the cover!)
Mind you, being the insanely creative and exploratory artisans and crafters that they are, polymer enthusiasts aren’t just slapping together any old standard expectation of a mosaic. They are mixing mediums, trying out every shape in the book, using three-dimensional forms, and generally just pushing the boundaries of what the mosaic technique is. Gotta love polymer crafters!
So, let’s take a look at what some people are doing as of late and we’ll end with suggestions for getting into the mosaic flow yourself.
Different Kinds of Bits & Pieces
One of the folks who, at least initially, takes a classic approach to the art form of mosaics but certainly adds her own flavor to it, is Christi Friesen. She cuts out squares of polymer, lays a base to adhere them to and then arranges the pieces in pleasing and energetic patterns. But of course, Christi can’t leave well enough alone — she has to add bling and embellishments of all kinds! She’s been mixing in glass, wire, charms, beads, and probably a bunch of other things I will never be able to identify, to create her whimsical tiles, vessels and jewelry. Can’t you just sense the depth of the flow state she must have been in creating this beautiful maelstrom?
You could say that Claire Fairweather is classically inspired too, but her work has a twist to it. That twist is a commitment to circles used to create these wonderful images of graduated color and varied texture. Using round elements instead of squares and straight-sided shapes that join neatly together, leaves more open space but it’s one that has a fairly regular rhythm that flows in and out of the carefully placed circles. This gives the imagery more orderliness and a softer look as you can see in the many sides of her mosaic globe below. (Be sure to jump over to her blog to get the rundown on what each side is showing.)
Keep in mind that a mosaic piece does not have to be all mosaic. Large swaths can be made up of other types of polymer elements such as textured, silkscreen, impressed, or hand tooled layers or forms. A lot of Susan Crocenzi’s work, especially earlier in this decade, consist of entire halves of her pieces being a kind of polymer landscape, surrounded by glass mosaics or a mix of mosaic mediums. Here is just one example below but you can find more on her website too.
For all of you mad caners out there, here is an example of how beautifully energetic a piece can be just by arranging thick cane slices on a simple form. This bib necklace is a yet-to-be-hung creation by Ivy Niles, who makes some of the most impressive canes. You can see how much more impressive they are when working together in this off-center mandala type pattern.
If you really like the idea of doing mosaics don’t relegate your sources of inspiration to the work of polymer artist’s, as unique as they may be. Take a look at what glass and tile mosaic artists are doing these days as well (just type “mosaic art” into your favorite browser or an image-centric site, like Pinterest or Instagram) if for no other reason than there is some amazing and gorgeous work out there to enjoy. Here is a gorgeous piece by Francis Green in what seems to be a rare piece of wall art. This woman will mosaic anything she can get her hands on! She kinda reminds me of some unbridled polymer artist with their canes. Just take a look at her website.
The How-Tos of Mosaics
So, are you itching to try some mosaics now? Here are a few places you could start:
- If you want to start with something classic, even, and orderly, check out this straight-forward mosaic tile tutorial by Korrina Robinson on her blog.
- Prefer a more open and visually textural approach that is flexible enough to use any type of clay sheets or even canes? Take a look at this mosaic vase by Kathy Koontz on the Sculpey website.
- If you’re ready to really dive in, might I suggest you invest in this great tutorial on micromosaics and faux glass by Pavla Čepelíková. The opening image of this post shows examples of some of the things she’ll teach you to make in this downloadable PDF.
- If you want to use mosaic as a way to diminish your pile of scrap clay and cured bits, take a look at Christi Friesen’s mosaic video tutorial here. You can also have fun creating mosaics Antoni Gaudi style on an unusually formed box with Christi in the Polymer Art Projects – Organic book (go to our website to get your copy!)
- And if that’s not enough, Christi sells mosaic kits on her website where you can also find tons of other embellishments and bobbles to assist in your mosaic flow. Just click here!
- I even have some exciting mosaics for you to look forward to too … We just found out that Staedtler/Fimo is going to sponsor Ann and Karen Mitchell, the Masters of liquid polymer clay, to create a mini mosaic tutorial for the next issue of The Polymer Studio magazine. This is a changeup to Karen’s tiny micromosaic technique published in The Polymer Arts back in the Fall of 2015.
Whew! I got into a flow a bit there myself writing excitedly about all this fun stuff. I hope you’ll give mosaics a try if you have not already, or at least give yourself some time to just get lost in your craft today. It’s good for the brain and the soul and you never know what will come of it later in your creative journey!
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I know I just featured Katie Way in February, but this is such a great example of taking a technique and making it your own that I didn’t want to pass by this opportunity. This seemed particularly apropos after an incident came up a week or so ago that I was consulted about involving a student submitting something to a contest that they created either in a class or based on a class. The problem was not in taking something that was learned in a class and creating from that knowledge but using the design choices that the teaching artist used. So, let’s just review what that means. In a way, it’s very simple – you can replicate technique, but you cannot use the design decisions of another artist.
I think part of the issue is that there is some confusion as to what’s is technique and what is design, so let me try to define that.
Technique is how you manipulate the material including how you apply texture, the process of forming/sculpting, the mixing or application of color treatments, the creation of mechanisms or use of materials for constructing the piece, etc. In other words, it’s about the process of creating.
Design is about the specific choices you make about how something is going to look. So, your choices about the type of texture (not how you apply it), the shapes you create (but not how you create them), the colors you choose (but not the source of the color), and the arrangement of your construction (but not the mechanisms used to put pieces together), are all design choices. If the majority of your choices are based on someone else’s examples, then you’re in danger of copying their design. Changing the color or shape is simply not enough, nor is it fair to the artist that inspired you and, equally so, it’s not fair to you and your creative growth to skip the exploration of what a piece could be by not making the design decisions yourself.
In the piece we see here, Katie Way took a class with Alice Stroppel and made a piece that is uniquely her own. You can see the influence of both artists in this work. The big, bold cane work shows Alice’s influence, but the color choices and all those bulls-eye circles are absolutely Katie. I would’ve known this was Katie’s right away, but it would’ve taken me a few moments to realize where her change in technique came from if she hadn’t made note of her influencer. And that’s really how it should be.
You can absolutely copy the work of the teaching artist in class as a way to learn. Most of them do prefer that. But when you go home, don’t make that same basic piece ever again. Have enough confidence and belief in your artistic self to work out your own designs. It is far more fulfilling to create from your own sense of aesthetic and ideas than to simply be successful with someone else’s design.
Okay, getting off my soapbox now. If you’re intrigued by Alice’s cane mapping class, go to her website to check out where she will be teaching next. And if you’ve somehow missed Katie’s work, check out her Etsy shop and her Instagram page.
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I spent a lot of time looking for differently constructed clocks in polymer and couldn’t find much that really illustrated the point I was hoping to make. What I wanted was to show that a clock does not have to be on a flat surface. It can be made of many parts, attached or not, and fully dimensional. As long as you have something that can house or hide the clock mechanism while holding out the hands, the rest is wide open. You can have the hour markers designated by any form and attach them with sticks or wire or be free floating–whatever suits the piece and your inclination.
These two examples are commercial designs rather than polymer art but I think they give you the basics of this idea of moving beyond the flat clock face. Not only do these kinds of clocks make for really interesting wall pieces, they give you the freedom to use pieces you may already have such as large hollow beads, faux stones, unhung pendants, small figurines, flowers, etc.
As a gift, giving a clock that has separate pieces might be best attached to something that can be hung as one piece, like a backing of Plexiglas or painted plywood. Or include instructions for a template to mark on the wall where each piece goes. There is little to no construction to deal with but you will have to make concessions in the design for how the individual pieces will be hung. Alternately, go for a design where the elements are attached like the flowers you see here.
The sky is the limit with these kinds of designs. For more ideas, try searching “DIY clocks,” which was the keyword set that brought me to these two pieces. I hope these sparks some ideas and I look forward to seeing inventive clock designs this month!
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In my search for clock inspiration, I veered a bit off the polymer path, but then again, I kept running into pieces that I thought were polymer but were not. Of course, pieces like this splendid celestial clock by Natalya Polekh could be created in a very similar fashion with polymer. Large textured sheets and fun with alcohol inks and mica powders could produce similarly stunning results so I took a closer look.
Natalya looks to be a well-known mixed media artist in Eastern Europe and Russia and when I say mixed, I mean all kinds of things. Her primary materials look to be various types of acrylic paint, dimensional and pearling paints, 3D gel, embossing paste, and glass and metal accents of different types. She works in texture, mosaics and layered media that is applied in such a way that knowing the materials is rather superfluous. She creates a beautiful complexity of texture and motif with shine and shimmer applied in abundance but always in a tasteful and often intriguing manner.
She does much more than clocks although she has done quite few of them. Take a look at her shop for more clock and textural ideas as well as very well priced tutorials on how she creates this work. Her VK.com page has more images.
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A lot of the peek-a-boo designs you see peer in at just one contrasting surface although there are a few out there who add in a little charm or an additional focal point. But I really like what Czech Republic’s Jitka Petrů did with this opening in her pendant’s surface.
The many overlapping layers look like they are moving back, one depth at a time and seem like we will soon see the inner surface although it stops at just giving us the tiniest of peeks. But that effect really draws your eye in. When you pull back, it even has a bit of an optical motion effect, in part because of the angling of the layers but also because of the very slight change in color value and hue which makes for a gradual transition to the center.
Jitka plays around with this peek into layers in a number of ways as you can see in her shop here.
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Since we started out this week with a spooky something or other peeking out at us, I thought I’d try to make a theme of it and the idea of peeking into things is always intriguing. Spaces that allow us to look into things beyond is like the revealing of a tiny mystery, a look into a place that we might otherwise be shut off from. When this is part of a design, I think it automatically will draw the eye. Whether you can keep a viewer looking is up to the rest of your design.
The idea of a partly revealed letter that Samantha Burroughs chose for this beautifully textured pendant is certainly alluring. Who doesn’t get a little bit of thrill from the possibility of seeing the inner thoughts of another person? We are also very drawn to text in general as our brain wants to immediately read and decipher it so it was a good choice for the interior content of the holes here. It also creates a contrasting texture to the organic surface of the piece.
Samantha has honed her skills in a variety of established techniques and looks to be fully exploring quite a few of them. You can find her work on Etsy.
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Being that tomorrow is Halloween, I could not help but get in one last spooky bit of polymer creativity. The thing that makes something truly scary is the stuff you can’t see, or so I have always felt. The bogeyman under the bed, the creature in the closet, the shape of some beast in the bushes … just the hint that something is there allows our imagination to run wild. And in the dark and the shadows, our imagination comes up with some pretty scary stuff!
So, seeing the pair of eyes staring out from the forest in this polymer illustration by Korrina Robinson, what are you thinking is in there? You know I was thinking those eyes need to be glow in the dark and then I would so want this to be a light switch plate because how freaky would that be in a shadowy room to have to reach into that to get the light on and banish the very fears it invokes? Can you hear your inner voice saying, “Don’t do it! You’ve seen this seen in the movies and someone always loses a hand!”
Okay … enough with trying to spook you all. Especially since I think I am very much spooking myself in the process. But isn’t it neat how our imaginations can add so much to what we look at? And isn’t it great that polymer clay allows us to create any such thing our imagination comes up with?
For those of you who celebrate this holiday in which we face and often embrace our fears, have a very safe and happy Halloween.
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I was going to start off a week of spooky ghoulishness but I have to delay that for one more post as I wanted to take the opportunity to share a beautiful piece recently created by the ever-surprising Beth Petricoin. The glass vessel you see here, accompanied by a similarly styled neckpiece was part of an entry for a decorated table contest in a local town. I choose this image so you could see the work but it is best displayed in a darker setting when the side-sitting vessel and the necklace both are lit up by hidden LED lights.
Beth did not win the contest which was a disappointment for her but if originality and hard work had been what they were primarily grading on, it would have been an easy winner I think. But as she says in her post, it is easier to have your work appreciated by fellow artisans and this, unfortunately, was not really an art contest. But I thought we all could sure show our appreciation for the beautifully applied and finished work as well as the ingenuity of the design, especially in regards to its function as an eye-catching table centerpiece.
I won’t go on too long about this as Beth has written at length about the event and the piece. I do hope it gets a few creative wheels turning with some pondering on larger polymer pieces and maybe a few of you will now want to keep an eye out for more unique shapes for polymer-covered decor. Do jump over to her blog to see the lit up images and to read about how she created these beauties.
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Last week I had the very fortunate opportunity to spend a couple days chatting and exploring Los Angeles with Christi Friesen and one of my oldest polymer pals, Debbie Crothers. We definitely did more talking than anything else and one of the subjects that kept coming up was exploration. Exploration of a technique or of a design element in your work can reveal much about what you personally prefer to do in your work not just what the technique or element offers.
One great way to explore is to make a lot of elements using the same technique or the same design element. In this bold neckpiece by Hélène JeanClaude there are several variations on the dot. The dot as a colored accent, as repetition defining the structure of a visual pattern, and as negative space are joined together, linked by that same color of blue and the coppery brown. The curve of the shapes, as well as the colors and the dots themselves, create a cohesive whole of these three very different explorations of the way a dot can be used.
Hélène’s work often appears to be an exploration of a particular design element or perhaps she is simply not satisfied with an element being presented in just one way. Regardless, it presents a high level of sophistication and energy to her tribal-leaning aesthetic. You can explore the fruits of her explorations on her Flickr photostream and here on her blog.
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Your Thoughts on Lacy & A Giveaway
So, last week I was having an email conversation with the fabulous Debbie Crothers of Australia. We’re both ideas people with minds going a million miles an hour. At one point she said, “I absolutely love reading your blog. I try and do my own little analysis of the work before I read yours, and it’s always so interesting and educational reading your view on each piece.” Which was kind of funny because I’ve been trying to think of a way to encourage people to do just that–make their own decision about what is working or not in the piece before reading my thoughts. They are only my thoughts. I don’t always hit the mark, and I sometimes miss things I should have seen. But with thousands of eyes on this every day, I thought we could get a more well-rounded view of the work sometimes.
So, Debbie and I bantered back and forth about how to do that and came upon this very simple idea–I’ll present work, give you background and ask that you comment. Then we’ll publish some of the comments the next day, and I’ll add thoughts if any are needed. This way we’ll have readers chiming in like a true discussion. Sound like fun?
It also occurred to me that this is chance to work in more giveaways! I’ve started collecting items and getting some teachers and retailers on board, so we can have these interactive moments on the blog more often, spurred on by the chance to win some cool polymer related products or publications. So … are you ready to try this out? I’ll put the participation details below.
What you think about the color choices here? Do you think the lace quality of the structure helps or distracts from the design? Or do other aspects strike you first?
Put your thoughts in the comments below the blog post. That means, if you are getting this by email or RSS, or reading it on the opening page of the blog, you’ll want to click on this post’s heading to get to its dedicated page. Comments can be inserted at the bottom of that page. Be sure your correct email is in your ID information, and we’ll pull an email address at the end of the week and announce the winner on Monday. I will offer the winner a few options from my stash, so there should be something exciting for everyone. This week I’ll be offering Sculpey texture rollers, bead rollers or a set of floral texture sheets from a couple different manufacturers … or a $10 certificate toward any subscription or back issue of The Polymer Arts will always be an option. It’ll be your choice.
Comment before midnight Eastern Standard Time to have a chance to see your words on the blog site.
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