Reading Weather in the Swirls
April 9, 2013
Inspirational Art
For me, swirls and curls represent, more than anything, the liveliness of Mother Nature, especially the drama of changing weather which is very much the theme here for us today in Colorado.
I grew up in Los Angeles where I think they pay Mother Nature to stay away as much as possible. Here at the foot of the Rocky Mountains we get all kinds of weather, often several wide variations in the same week if not in the same day. Yesterday it was warm enough for shorts and sunbathing but by evening we were getting blizzard warnings. It can be rather exciting and amazing to see clouds spilling over the mountain peaks in billowing curls, the swirl of leaves and dust on the sidewalks as the storm builds then the twisting fall of the snow as it comes down. Quite inspiring I have to say.
This piece of Daniela D’Uva‘s (same piece, four views) also reminds me of the power of weather. It could be seen as the icy blue of a harsh winter wind or the swirling pools on the side of a rushing river.
The repetition of the curling lines, echoed in the winding wire creates nonstop movement, the motion becoming an element of repetition unto itself. The near saving grace here, that which might keep us from being overwhelmed, are the three almost too small beads of blue. A touch larger or with more contrast and the beads would provide a solid resting point for the eye. I’m not saying it needs that, not if Daniela wants us to feel a little overwhelmed and lost here. It is certainly matching the crazy weather outside my window today.
Daniela is quite the master of polymer and wire work as well as completing some of the most interesting ‘back sides’ in polymer jewelry. If you’re stuck inside or just want a break from work, take a minute or two to look over the gorgeous work on her Flickr pages.
The Journey of The Broken Telephone
April 6, 2013
Inspirational Art, Polymer community news
For those of you who followed the blogging I did from Synergy, you may remember Dan Cormier’s Broken Telephone Project. We couldn’t reveal much then because Dan and partner Tracy were going to roll out the series on The Cutting Edge Facebook page and who was I to spoil the surprise.
Well Dan has now revealed all the beautiful brooches, their creators and his thoughts on the project and related subjects. The conversation he’s started on his wrap-up post (posted on both Facebook and Flickr) is very important and I would encourage you all to take a minute to read it.
While there, take a look at all the gorgeous pieces that came out of the project.
I was lucky enough to get a close-up look of each of these brooches as I helped pin them on Tracy who became a walking exhibition on the last night of Synergy 3. I’ve held back photos of this unique exhibit until the roll-out was complete. Tracy was easily the best adorned lady of the evening!
Pushing the Switchplate
April 4, 2013
Inspirational Art
I have never been very fond of hand-decorated switch plates, not because I have anything against switch plates but because, unfortunately, they aren’t usually created with any real consideration. The switch plate is a blank canvas that so much could be done with yet most covered switch plates have no composition, focal points, lines of movement, balance of elements, or anything else that would make them art rather than just simple decor. I think the covered switch plate has to date been a lost opportunity.
Here however we have a clayer that has played with the open canvas much more than is usualy seen. Florida’s Tammy Baker works with multiple elements rather than cover the plate with a continuous pattern and even breaks out of the switch plate’s boundaries.
This is the direction I would love to see decorative polymer arts head. Mind you, there is room for improvement here, in the composition primarily. Where does your eye continuously go when looking at this? The bottom right? There are two ‘pointing’ elements on this piece–the wrist of the hand and the upper left corner element–that direct you down and right but unfortunately, the heavy grouping in the bottom right doesn’t have any significance or order and doesn’t have any additional directional elements to move the viewer further around the piece. This makes the pieces seem a bit chaotic. However, the colors and mix of textures are rich and pleasing, and the hand breaking the upper border, and thus the orderly confines of the canvas, helps to balance the chaos of the interior elements some.
Tammy’s other switch plates (you can see them on her Etsy site) also play with the broader possibilities of having this wide open canvas. Some work, some could use further consideration but regardless, she’s exploring the possibilities and that, more than anything, is what differentiates an artist from a crafter.
A Rich and Moving Monday
April 1, 2013
Inspirational Art
Post-holiday Mondays can feel so drab after a weekend of fun and festivities with family and/or friends. So let’s start this Monday with some rich colors and textures.
This pendant was created by Sylvie Peraud of France. Controlled alcohol inks and careful finishing make this one impressive piece.
The repetition is simple but effective … the rounded triangular shapes fall from the neck cord in a gentle curve that is mimicked by the loose strands waving at the end of it. The off-balance arrangement and size of the shapes and strands give you the impression that is may be blowing in the wind. I do wish we had a shot of it hanging on a neck to see how it balances when worn. I bet it’s eye-catching in the way it moves on the wearer as well.
You can actually learn this technique, including how to make your own molds for the forms, via a class Sylvie has on CraftArtEdu titled Pearl Crackled Bracelet & Pendant.
The Secret to ‘Charming’ is Variety
March 27, 2013
Inspirational Art
I guess I’m on a variety kick this week. The mixture of color in these bangles by Lauren Abrams are particularly attractive but I think it’s the uneven repetition of the elements that gives them true charm.
Bands of color filled with stripes and crackled metallic are repeated but in uneven, varying widths and not predictably ordered. The pin head beads, although of the same shape and size, vary in color and spacing. The bangle underneath boasts but one accent, which if worn alone might seem a bit unbalanced but if worn together, the variation would feel supported. Actually an arm full of them would be truly charming.
I’m not saying orderliness can’t be charming, but quirkiness, unpredictability, and a disregard for expected order is what we find most delightful in children, pets and ourselves when we let go. But even when letting go, there needs to be some underlying order or consistency to keep things from falling into chaos. In the bangles it is a repetition of color and visual texture as well as repetition of common elements including the consistently used bands. A simple device but highly effective and easy to apply when you want to have a little fun.
Gather Your Flowers
March 26, 2013
Inspirational Art, Technique tutorials
My mother is a horticulturist so although I have never been heavily drawn to flowery things, I learned through her to fully appreciate the beauty of a well-formed bloom. Polymer artists, as a whole, do like their flowers likely because so many of our ladies are drawn to their inherent beauty, but also because the complexity of a flower can easily be achieved through the repetition of relatively simple petals. But the petals of a real flower are, in reality, quiet complex, each petal with its own curls and waves and way of enfolding the flower’s center. To properly reproduce this complexity, each petal needs to be given a little individuality. That is what I enjoyed so much about finding these little beauties by Taisa Chernyak.
It might take a bit longer to give each petal its own form but don’t you think the individuality of each gives the whole a much more convincing and natural beauty? Take a look at her tutorial on how she produces these life-like blooms.
The idea of each individual providing the character that creates the true beauty in the bigger picture is true on so many levels. Even as individual artists, bringing our own personality and uniqueness to the artwork we produce creates a more splendid picture of polymer art overall. Repeating what has already been done will add very little to the art world, but your own unique art adds much, much more.
An Abundance of Color
December 17, 2012
Inspirational Art
My weekend was largely spent judging entries for the IPCA’s Progress & Possibilities competition. (If you are a member, you are eligible to cast votes for the Member’s Choice portion of the competition. Check your email for you invitation to vote or go to the IPCA website to request a voting token be sent to you.) The use of color this year was either very bold or completely subdued. Going subdued can be relatively easy compared to going bold and having to judge when enough is enough.
I thought this when perusing pendants created by Cathy of Dumauvobleu. Her work is a bombardment of color as well as visual texture. But, for the most part, she does keep it from getting out of control. This pendant below is, I think, pushing that boundary but it just sits on the edge of tipping over. The well dispersed use of blues manages to hold it together and the sun like image created by the cane slice and radiating lines on the bottom right create a focal point that where your eye can rest, even if it can’t do so for very long with all that is going on.
After that, the success of a piece like this comes down to skill and finish. The inlay is well done without any noticeable spaces and the edges are blended with the use of pin prick points so even if the color and texture strikes you as a bit overboard, you can still call it a well done piece.
Make note as you look around at the work of various artists, how some can pull off a great looking piece even when the attention to finishing is obviously not a priority. Then there are pieces that may not be particularly original or dramatic but you are entranced by how well finished they are. Of course, when both design choices and finish are well done, it is a work to just drool over.
Appreciating Accomplished Art
November 28, 2012
Inspirational Art
I’m going to put this out there so no one has to feel like they are the odd one out. The art piece I am posting today by German artist Angelika Arendt is not something I find particularly beautiful. There you go … I said it. So if you like the piece, great. If you don’t really care for it, just read on. Let’s talk about why we might want to take a closer look at work we may not personally find aesthetically pleasing.
We don’t have to find something beautiful or visually pleasing to appreciate, learn something from, or be drawn to it. I’m drawn to this piece even though I would not consider having it adorn a shelf in my home. Being a texture junkie, I can’t help but be drawn to the visual and tactile nature of this sculpture. The piece is kind of nuts. Not in any derogatory way … I just imagine the painstaking hours it took to apply and pattern a piece like this. It’s really rather amazing on that point alone. But why share a piece if I don’t find it aesthetically pleasing?
Well, of course there is the “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” thing. I can’t just post what I like. But I think the real point is that accomplished work isn’t always going to be found beautiful. It is, however, always something that makes a good majority of people stop and contemplate it. Don’t tell me you don’t keep looking back at this undulation of color and dots. It’s kind of unnerving how visually magnetic it is. And for us as artists, knowing what kind of work went into this, we may be in awe or at least garner some serious respect for the effort involved.
So what makes this piece accomplished? It’s the fact that it does draw your attention. Its not the busy nature of the texture or color either … anyone can slap a lot of tiny bits onto a form–but there is the choice of colors mixed across the surface. We recognize that the colors do belong together, that there was thought that went behind the choices. In a less accomplished work where conscious decisions aren’t made about color and placement, that lack of planning is usually pretty obvious. What’s hard is making something look random and even chaotic but still whole and ‘right’.
Bottom line here … a variety of shapes, colors, patterns and applications can be used to create an accomplished piece of art. It just needs some intelligence and intention behind it. Even with that, you don’t have to like it but it is worthwhile to see and appreciate it.
Amazing Cane
November 19, 2012
Inspirational Art, Technique tutorials
There are many amazing, detailed canes out there by some incredibly talented artists. But there are some that just amaze and stay with you. When I saw this caned butterfly by Jane Zhao it was simply hard to believe it was a cane.
The details are really quite incredible … well thought out and executed. The best part is, I found this on CraftArtEdu … as a class. So if you’re intrigued, you can check out the class which promises many a tip and trick for great canes, here on CraftArtEdu.
Would you call yourself a selfish person? I doubt very many of us would think that way about ourselves. Yet, as artists, we often find ourselves “stealing” time away from others or other things to do what we love, reveling in it when we have it. Is that selfish? I mean, it is more about us than anyone else, isn’t it?
Yes, it is about us, and that is as it should be. In the requested comments for last week’s giveaway (scroll down to see the winner and this week’s giveaway), participants mentioned some version of the “me time” aspect of getting to sit down and create more than anything else. I mean, I know we create because it is something we enjoy, regardless of what anyone else thinks, but I just love that so many people acknowledged and celebrated it. We should!
I strongly believe that everyone should have something of their own, something they can turn to in order to express themselves or at least put something out into the world that would not have existed without their desire to create it. The art we create gives us purpose, exercises a uniquely human part of our brains, and helps us to love ourselves. Not to mention that we deserve the joy we get from it!
But, by definition, that is selfish—doing something because it’s what we want. I wish our society would get over the idea that doing something for ourselves is bad. I think not doing things for yourself is self-negligence. Why is that not a commonly understood thing?
This also highlights the bigger, contradictory world that we inhabit. We live in such strange societies where selflessness and humility are expected or requested, and yet we are also pushed to strive for excellence in what we do. How do we reach excellence without focusing on ourselves? And then there is this silliness where we are not supposed to acknowledge when the work we do is good or that we’re proud of it. If we do, others may think we’re being arrogant or grandiose.
So, do we strive to be great and then pretend that we’re mediocre? We talk about contrast being good in art, but this is so not the right kind of contrast!
I’ve long found the dichotomy of these contradictory but societally prescribed behaviors beyond aggravating as well as having the potential to be debilitating. I think that is why it made me so happy to see so many people acknowledging their creative hours as me-time, self-care, and a time of wonderfully selfish joy. Keep it up, I say!
Now, let’s talk about the good kind of contrast in art.
Design Refresh
Let’s look at the beautiful brooch by Lyne Tilt that opened this post. What do you notice first about this? There’s a lot going on in this little space, isn’t there? What are the three things that jump out at you as far as design elements?
I’m going to say color, shape, and texture. Did you come up with the same three? There is also a lot going on with marks and size. So, any combination of those would be spot on.
How about design principles? What do you think is the number one principal used in this design? Sure, we could refer to scale and proportion considering all the different sizes of the layers, or we could talk about focal point or even just key in on the centered composition. But the one thing this has in spades is contrast.
Obviously, there is color contrast in all the major color characteristics—she has a vibrant trio of warm colors contrasting the cool of the blue and cyan; color values range from the dark blue and deep red to the moderate orange to the light yellow and pale polished silver; and, if you check your CMY color wheels, you’ll see that the color of the bottom layer is a blue-cyan whose complementary AND split complementaries are the yellow, orange, and red that you see in the upper layers.
But doesn’t a color palette have to have at least one common characteristic between all the colors? Well, ideally, yes, and this does. Here it’s saturation. These are not muted colors. The orange may be slightly tinted (has some white in it) but not enough to feel it’s gone off base from the saturated characteristic that ties them all together.
Now, look at the contrast in the textures. The top and bottom layers might have the same texture, but the rest are vastly different. There are even different materials—metal and clay. But they work together pretty well, don’t they? Why?
The textures work together in part because they are all drastically different—the wide variety is part of the charm of this piece. But, like color, they need something to tie them together.
Did you notice that the textures are applied to the entire layer from one edge to another? Thier differences are connected because the application on each layer is the same. That does seem to be enough to allow them to exist in the same piece and not have it feel completely chaotic.
The shapes, on the other hand, are not completely different but they are not the same either, right? They are all some version of a hand cut circle, but some of them are definitely more oval. I think pulling back on the amount of contrast between the shapes also helps to rein in the potential chaos all this dramatic contrast and color and texture could fall into. The centered composition also adds a bit of calm to the piece.
Let’s take this week to consider the design principle of contrast. Would your pieces benefit from more contrast, or do you need to rein some of that in? Remember, it all depends on your intention. There are no wrong levels of contrast, at least not in art.
Last Week’s Giveaway
Drum roll please…
This last week’s randomly chosen winner is Eloise B! I’ve spoken to her and her clay is already on the way. Congrats Eloise!
This Week’s Giveaway
Thank you to everyone who participated in last week’s giveaway through comments on the post. As mentioned above, it really made me happy to see all the fantastic, positive and self-caring observations. I also hope it gave you a moment to focus on and appreciate what you love so much about creating.
So, let’s do this again.
The Goodies:
- This week I have a selection of Sculpey clays in 2 new Soufflé colors, 3 new Premo colors, and 2 big 8 oz. blocks of clay stash basics—Sculpey III in Pearl and Silver. That’s 26 ounces of fresh clay along with a three-piece set of Sculpey silkscreens.
- Or if outside the US, I have a $25 Tenth Muse certificate, since it would be such a gamble to ship clay outside the US.
How to Win:
- Put a comment in the blog comments* (below), telling me what type of contrast you enjoy creating most in your own work, or the type of contrast you wish you used more of. And, yes, if you want to share pictures, you can do so by including a link. Just don’t put more than one link in or it may spam filter the comment.
- Note: It can take some time for the comment to appear if you’ve not commented before since, due to annoying spamming, I have to approve it .
- Giveaway winners will be chosen by random—it will NOT be based on your answers. I do hope you’ll give it some thought anyway. The answers could be helpful to you as well as interesting for the rest of us.
- And let’s say you can only win once this month so we can spread the love around.
- Get your comments posted by Wednesday March 17th at midnight Pacific time to get in for the raffle.
- I’ll announce the winner here on the blog next weekend!
I’ll put together yet another pack of goodies for a giveaway in next weekend’s post, so stay tuned here!
You can support this blog by buying yourself a little something at Tenth Muse Arts or, if you like…
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We are going to be dropping in on some big names this week and next to see what they are up to and what they have to inspire us with.
First up: Bonnie Bishoff. Her focus on jewelry these last couple years has been a journey through a variety of styles as she moves from working primarily in veneers on furniture with her partner J.M. Syron to smaller and more intimate work. But regardless of the style, her quietly strong and confident sense of color and pattern mark each piece like a signature. These lovely earrings are paired almost solely by color scheme although they do work within a limited set of variations in composition, visual texture and shapes. Each variation relays a slightly different mood, adjusted through the level of contrast in value and hue. The subtlety of this communication is what really brings home how masterful her color work is.
You can see what I mean by looking at the body of her work. You can do so by jumping onto her Instagram page and the website she shares with J.M. Syron.
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Happy Monday, fellow polymer enthusiasts. I’m not sure how this week is going to turn out as I have not had time to put together a full-fledged theme so we’re gonna go with “things that caught my eye” for now.
I’m sure you can understand why this piece by Marion Le Coq aka Fancy Puppet, might have caught my eye. They are fun and refreshing pieces, wonderfully finished and composed. She connects all her elements with repetition of motifs, colors, or other things. For example, the leaf off the apple is reflected in the leaf addition on the back and hanging leaves. The carrot’s colors are reflected in its layered pieces behind it, and its crisscross of lines reflect the crisscross of the plaid.
I’m guessing the plaids and dots are silkscreen but the secret is probably available on her YouTube page where she has dozens of tutorials and review items. She’s also quite busy elsewhere online. You can find her on Instagram, Facebook, Canal blog, and Etsy.
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I recently realized that I don’t think I’ve ever talked about the lowly squiggle. But who doesn’t like a well-done squiggle? I guess it’s hard to take it seriously with such a silly-sounding name but the sound of the word itself describes it so well.
I myself am very fond of squiggles and apply them throughout my work, primarily as accents, but some people take the squiggle to wonderfully elevated levels as the central theme of their piece.
This pin by Petra Nemravová is an excellent example of the squiggle stealing the show. The organization of these wonderfully unruly squiggles brings a regular rhythm to their organic movement. It reins in the rambling energy that this kind of squiggle contains. The bright array of colors, which could also get out of hand, is held in check by a regular graduation from one color to the next, helping to create an energetic but contained feeling.
Petra is such an advocate of bright colors and cheerful compositions. Enjoy a stroll through her colorful world on her Flickr photostream. She is also the genius mind behind the wonderful selections found in the online polymer shop Nemravka, serving the European polymer and craft communities and beyond.
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I decided this week I would like to talk about work that speaks to me. Well, I don’t mean that I want to talk about me so much as use pieces that do speak to me as examples of what it means when a piece of artwork elicits a response from the viewer.
For various reasons, I ended up thinking and talking a lot about how we define art this past week. I have long felt that art should be defined as work that is made with expression and intention, with a goal of eliciting an intellectual or emotional response. Yes, I know a lot of people will say that it is the individual who should determine what art is to them but I would like to suggest that such a statement is not quite the right phrase. Each of us can determine what is good art or what is bad art—to that I absolutely agree. But shouldn’t a label such as “art” have a more specific definition than just whatever someone thinks is art, or just something that is made by hand, as the definition would seem to be nowadays?
I am guilty of this broad use as well so I’m not pointing fingers, I’m just a big proponent of using language to effectively communicate and I think it would be great if the English language had a well-defined use of the word “art” that allowed us to talk about work born of self-expression versus craftwork or artisan work created from skilled hands.
My definition also brings up the question of what does it mean to elicit a response? It is not as confined a concept as it might sound like so I thought I’d try to define that a little this week.
For a piece of work to elicit a response all it has to do is make the viewer stop and feel something, or stop and think. It could be something as simple as making them smile or as complex as questioning societal norms. It can be positive such as emitting a sense of peacefulness or negative such as work with a high shock value geared to make you appalled or angry. If the piece is made with intention, part of that intention will, consciously or unconsciously, be to communicate with the viewer, and if the artist is communicating then they are attempting to elicit a response. Good art accomplishes this. Bad art is too distracting in its failings to communicate or illicit anything of value.
This piece here feels like a very personal piece for Shannon Tabor who commented on her Instagram post of this that “I’m back to my roots in design with ‘Compass’. My Back To Basics study is over and I’m anxious to get all these design ideas out of my head and onto my clay!”
I can feel her excitement for this new work in the composition and surface treatment of this necklace. There is a buzzing kind of energy from the scratches and the asymmetrical placement of elements but there’s also a reservedness in the basic geometric shapes and the subdued and shaded palette. I found that I was drawn to the contrast between that reserved feeling and that feeling of excitement. It reminds me of that point in time right before things really take off in some exciting new venture, which I love, and so that must be what made me stop and spend time with this piece.
So, you see, Shannon may have been working on something specific to what she wanted to explore but the intention in her skilled design choices allowed me to connect with her emotion, or at least my sense of what her emotion must’ve been. That’s eliciting a response. And to me, that’s what makes it art.
See what else Shannon is up to by following her on Instagram or hopping over to her website.
Read MoreHappy Monday to you all. Business first… preorders for the fall issue of The Polymer Arts is available online now. We don’t have a precise publication date but looks like mid-September. I’ll let you know here on the blog, in our newsletter, and on the website when we know. Again, thank you for your patience with me while I work on healing my overworked joints.
Okay, one more piece of wall art, this time by the inventive Angela Barenholtz. I know it seems like we’ve been talking about wall art for a couple weeks but this will probably be the last for a bit. I picked this one for a couple reasons having little to do with wall art.
For one, it’s a really fun piece with its variety in color, visual texture, and even the long shapes that make up this “polymer quilt.” Creating with a large variety of primary elements makes for energy-infused and eye-catching work. But, the trick is that everything still needs to work together and have some kind of relationship. In this case, the relationship is in the consistency of the type of pieces inserted into this quilt—long and evenly cut strips of visual texture arranged in a square composition. With this much consistency, you can go nuts with the variety of color, texture, and pattern.
Each one of these could actually sit on its own—like it could be a pendant or brooch if small enough, or even a pair of earrings. Giving yourself a canvas of a certain size and shape releases you from having to be overly concerned about the bounds of individual elements and construction of the work, particularly if you’re creating jewelry, and you get to play with what you place on that canvas. I imagine a lot of you might find that attractive, being we are so in love with our surface treatments, canes, and textures. How many times have you fallen in love with just the sheet of clay you were working on before it became anything? Creating a simple surface to work with can allow you to present those fantastic results in a fun and easy manner.
Angela is all about surface design and variety. You can see that by looking at her Flickr photostream. She also generously shares her techniques in her published tutorials which you can find on Etsy.
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Guest Blog Post by Teresa Pandora Salgado
Van Gogh admitted to the world, “I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.” Me too, Vincent.
One of the most infuriatingly fabulous things I cannot do is make cane like Jon Stuart Anderson. Jon creates canes in a cunning palette that leans in close and whispers, “Go ahead…take your time…look at me.” And I surely do. And the world does too.
I love the way Jon cruises nimbly past the pedestrian cane crossing. He jaywalks that trodden path without ever touching the ground. Obvious contrast? He doesn’t need it, no matter how much the cane is reduced. Nor does he require new colors. Jon keeps it fresh with precision, composition, and balance. Neat trick.
Jon Anderson is known for his millefiori animals: elephants, turtles, bulls, and birds. You’ll notice the creatures have a flesh and blood sense about them, a beating heart beneath their rich robes. So you look and you look and then, just when you think you know him, Jon takes you to another fork in the road. To the left, skulls, vessels, lights. And to the right, guitars. Ohhh, the guitars.
So, go ahead. Look. Be inspired. Aspire.
See Jon’s work at his website here.
Teresa Pandora Salgado is a polymer clay artist, designer & instructor from Los Angeles, California. She has made 87 YouTube tutorials which have garnered over 2 million hits from viewers in 151 countries. In addition to teaching live workshops on millefiori complex caning across the U.S., Teresa helms the online store, Tiny Pandora Crafting Boutique, which featuresMilll her specialized tools and kits.
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In perusing #the100dayproject on Instagram these past couple weeks, I’ve noticed that veneers are quite the thing to be experimenting with right now. Whether you call polymer sheets you work with surface design, surface treatments, or polymer veneers, it does feel like the clay surface is having a renaissance of exploration.
One of the first of these explorations that I’ve noticed in recent weeks was this piece by Lindly Haunani, which she posted on Facebook. Of course, the queen of color is going to have a showstopper based on her color choices alone, but the subtle texture and the composition of the layout of the veneers, for all the energy of the color and lines, has such a satisfying sense of calm and rightness. There is that obvious sense of intention and deftness of skill that brings refinement to such unquestionably masterful work, even in a piece the artist claims is exploration.
Explore more of Lindly’s work on her website and Facebook page.
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Another great contribution to the Spring issue was in our artists’ gallery. All of our artists are unique in their approach but it is Isabelle, known online as Bellou, whose designs are really standing out.
Isabelle creates bold, contemporary adornments that are polished to a glass-like shine. Her work often has a centered focal point but the balance of the components are set in asymmetric arrangements or are all shaped differently with different treatments. However, in all the disparity there is a common element that brings it together.
This is one of the pieces she sent us that we couldn’t work into the gallery pages. On the one side, there are wide, solid pieces, dense with texture, but on the other side, the space is opened with a series of cut-out shapes that have the same mica shift texture as the other side. The rest of the center piece brings in a grounding energy to the movement of lines and shapes that play across the necklace.
To see more of Bellou’s work, take a look at her shop pages here.
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