Why Size Matters
October 11, 2020 Design lessons, Inspirational Art, Supplies & other fun stuff
What size art do you work in? Have you even ever thought about that? Do you work small, big, or a nice moderate middle size?
I think many of us have a limited size range that we feel comfortable working in and rarely, if ever, venture outside that range. There’s nothing wrong with that but it does beg the question, do you think about what the appropriate size is when you create something?
As you might be guessing, if you’ve been reading my blog or design articles for any length of time, I’m about to point out that making the decision about the size of your work can help to fulfill your intention.
(Do you ever think, “If she says something about intention one more time…!” Well, I do hope it’s not annoying. It’s just that important!)
Size in art simply refers to how big or small something is. It is used in a variety of ways to emphasize, organize, assist in functionality, and symbolize the intention of the artist. A lot of the size choices made have to do with relativity – something can only be called small if something else is big and vice versa.
In design, this is actually a principal known as proportion and scale. Proportion is about the relative size between two or more objects or elements when they are grouped together or juxtaposed. Scale refers to how big or small something is compared to the general understanding of how a thing usually is or should be. For instance, we expect a chair to be sized for human beings to sit in and a teapot big enough to hold several cups of tea. Anything significantly larger or smaller than these expectations would be a change in scale.
Scale represents an interesting concept in that it makes note that we do have expectations about how big or small thing should be. That may sound like we have some kind of undue constraints placed upon those of us who create, but actually, scale gives us an opportunity to step outside those expectations and make a point.
As mentioned above, size can be used emphasize things. Making something bigger than expected usually draws attention, so if you created a beaded necklace with beads as big as golf balls, those are definitely beads that are bigger than normally expected.
The same concept of emphasis works with proportions. Let’s say that you only made one of those beads as big as a golf ball in the previously mentioned beaded necklace and the rest of the beads were of a more reasonable size. In that case, you would be drawing attention to the big bead as a focal point. Size allows you to direct the viewer’s eye and their impression of the work.
It may seem that bigger items will be more impressive or have a bigger impact but, honestly, very small artistic creations can be just as fascinating, sometimes more so due to the skill needed to create beauty in such a small space. I think you can see that in the opening image of this post. Small art requires the viewer to come close to it to really see the details, creating an intimacy between the viewer and the piece.
So, have you ever thought about these considerations for size when creating your work? Don’t worry if you haven’t. It’s not that uncommon for size to be determined in some arbitrary or organic manner. And I’m not saying that doing it that way is wrong, but you could be missing out on an opportunity to better express your intention if size was a conscious decision.
A Sizable Story
When I was a working artist, I often made decisions about size based on what I thought people would want. It wasn’t a particularly conscious choice, more of an aim not to make pieces too big. I was not trying to make statement jewelry, but rather something that could be comfortably worn all day, or so that was my train of thought.
I can’t say what got me to start thinking about size, but at some point, I started to ask myself why I was afraid to go big. So, I started to push myself, making big collar pieces that would sit as high as the jawline and come down to the collarbone. Some were a little crazy, some were so uncomfortable, but I still found so much joy in making all of them.
I found something freeing in pushing myself beyond what I thought my market would like. And, as it turned out, my market liked them big too. I sold every one that I put up for sale. They never came home with me after a show. So, what I discovered was that the sizes I had been working in were completely self-imposed without any supportable basis for my choices other than my own fear of not being able to make a sale.
Once I realized why I had been working in those smaller sizes, I was able to start making decisions based on what the work needed to be instead of what I thought the market might want. For example, if I was going to make an ornate piece with the intention that the wearer feel like a queen, I would probably decide that it should be big and bold, not small and delicate or demurely moderate, to better emphasize the feeling of nobility I wanted it to embody.
What’s Your Size?
So why do you work in the sizes that you do?
Is it purely functionality or rooted in the idea of what people would expect the size to be?
Is it limited by the tools or forms you have on hand, or by the capability of the materials being used?
Do you let the size come about organically or unconsciously or do you make a conscious decision about size based on the impact or response you would like the viewer to have?
I truly don’t believe that there’s really a wrong way to determine the size of your work but, like any design element, you are only truly a master of it if you are aware of its possibilities and make conscious choices.
So maybe this week, think about the size of your artwork in terms of your intention. Look at pieces that you’ve made in the past and ask yourself how the look and message, if there was one, would have changed if the piece had been smaller or larger. And in the next few things that you design, ask yourself what size piece would best serve the artwork before letting your tools or expectations of scale determine it for you.
Goodies are About Gone
If you didn’t see the newsletter yesterday, I shared the stock I have left for a few special items that were first offered to Art Boxer Club Members, but a couple things are sold out or nearly so already. These are limited items that I will periodically offer publicly, without the discounts or freebies club members get, when there is extra stock, so if you can’t join us in the club, keep your eye out for my newsletters and sign up here if you aren’t on that list for my next offering.
Getting first dibs as well as discounts and freebies is one of the advantages of being part of the Art Boxer clubs, along with the weekly mini-magazine pick me up you get in your email. (The Art Boxer Success club that includes coaching is also unavailable at this time as spots are full up but I do have a waiting list going – just write to me if interested.)
These limited supplies are available on this page if you are still interested.
All Quiet on this Western Front
I have little to report on the home front. I did go in in for a small surgery Thursday only to find out I’m going have to go back in six weeks or so from now to have it completed. Nothing is straightforward and simple this year, is it? So, just trying to make myself take it easy this weekend although I am just a horrible patient in that regard.
Next weekend, assuming nothing else weird happens, my better half and I are going to slip away for the weekend to test the camper van conversion we’ve been slowly working on. I do plan to put something for you together before I go so you should still be able to visit with me next Sunday.
In the meantime, all your hopes and plans, big or small, all go off as intended this week!
The Lure of Creative Spaces
How do you feel in the space in which you create? This has been on my mind quite a bit lately – not just the function of a space but how it feels and even how it represents us. I’ve decided to let that thought guide us into a slightly different type of blog this week.
As you might have read in the previous post or two, there are some changes going on at the homestead here where Tenth Muse Arts is based and we’re about to start tearing out walls and then, of course, rebuilding in that space. So, of course, my husband and I have been asking ourselves, “What do we want in this space?”. Well, we want a lot of things but there is a budget, and it is not particularly large, so we have been talking through what is most important to us. It has turned into a very interesting conversation, one that goes beyond paint colors and cabinet styles.
After addressing the functionality of the space we have to repair and rebuild – because of it doesn’t function nothing else is going to work out well – my husband and I followed the logical path and started talking about color, materials and placement. By the end of the conversation though, we were talking about emotion. It may be because we are both artists that we backed out to ask how we wanted it to feel followed by the details that would make the space fulfill that wish. This is the space we live in (and where I work as well) and we want the home to feel comfortable, like shrugging on a comfortable but well-tailored coat that hangs great and hugs you in all the right places.
With this on our minds, Brett walked into my studio the other day and simply said “This just feels good.” And I knew why he said that. This is what we are after. Not in the style or color scheme but the inviting, comfortable feeling of the space. I have to agree, my work space does feel good but it has not always been so. It’s taken me a long time to realize the importance of creating a space that is as comfortable as my favorite coat, arranging things not just to be functional but to feed my spirit as well.
Up until we moved here a couple of years ago, I had always worked on the business and created my art in a basement or a garage – some kind of windowless, very utilitarian space (the opening photo is a shot of my windowless basement studio in Colorado) – primarily because it was the only unclaimed living space available. Although I would try to decorate, it was never a priority so it mostly didn’t happen. However, those kinds of spaces could be very hard to work in as I usually worked every waking hour there and it would get depressing, not being able to see the outside world. It would make me restless and that wasn’t good for productivity. But what choice did I have?
As it turned out, I have a lot more choices than I allowed myself. My husband made me see that. He is an animation artist and director as well as being the son of antique dealers. Both his vocation and upbringing are in things that consider space, a lot. Telling a story in animation is very dependent on how the characters and the viewer’s eye moves through the space of the frame and antiques are about decorating and so he is always arranging and rearranging the house and coming home with things to bring in more personality.
Watching him made me think about my mostly utilitarian space and how little I did with it. So, with his help, I started bringing in plants to sit in the cold corners and printed fabrics to drape over the bookcases. We even pulled in an old oriental rug to go under my non-polymer desk area. It changed everything. This was when I was working in a garage (so yeah, the plants were fake or under a grow light but then, I had the look of sunlight in the corners!) When I got the wonderful space I now work in, I really took it up a notch and so now, yep, it just feels good!
Many of you are probably in situations where the space you create in may not ideal however, you can still make it your own and you can still make it feel good, inspiring, and a place that makes you happy. What that means is up to you and what is most important. You might want it very organized with matching furniture and color coordinated accents to make you feel good or you might like the freedom to make a mess on your thrift store tables and mismatched storage bins. You might prefer to stick with utilitarian but keep a collection of favorite things on a nearby shelf to inspire you.
The question really is, have you considered what you can do with, or to, your space to make it feel good (or better) to you? Because a comfortable space is far more conducive to being productive and creative than one that is cold, cramped, awkward, or just boring.
To that end, this week, I’d like to peek in on some studios.
The Grand Tour
To start us off I’m going to I pulled this out of an hour-long bonus video I gave to continuing subscribers from The Polymer Arts and adventurous new subscribers to The Polymer Studio magazine late last year. This is a jazzy visual tour of my studio and office space, complete with boppy background music, a peek into the backyard retreat just outside my door, and an introduction to my furry in-house staff.
You’ll see I’ve stuffed a lot into this one room and it’s two walk-in closet areas, but I’ve been sure to include touches of things that make me happy everywhere. From my collection of oddities on the mantle to the jars of random materials on my jewelry cabinet to the display of all my SLR cameras from over the decades, the space is very much me and is a joy to go into every day.
I personally have always been fascinated with the spaces people create in. They feel so personal, like a little window into the mind and soul of that person. So when I first started The Polymer Arts back in 2011, I knew I wanted to do an issue all about the spaces that we work in. I figured it would be of interest to others as well, not just for voyeuristic reasons, but because it could make us feel more connected. And I sure was right! The Spring 2012 – Creative Spaces issue sold out in print quicker than any other and is still one of the most downloaded of our digital back issues.
You can really see the personality of the artists that participated in that issue. For instance, it was no surprise to see that Christi Friesen’s space was full of knickknacks and collected bits of art and all kinds of books. She is a high energy person and with an insatiable curiosity so it makes sense that she should surround herself with things that she loves and that inspire her. You can see a bit of this in the first page from her section of that issue.
By the way, Christi is actually between studios right now, or you can say the whole world is her studio as she travels all over this year, searching for the answer to how one keeps creating while traveling. You can follow her shenanigans replete with mini classes and demos in her new members only Virtual Creative Experience here.
When the photos from Leanne and Paul Stoddard at Swirly Designs came in for that Spring 2012 issue, I was not surprised to see the orderliness and organization of their studio. The ornaments they create are designed with tremendous care with a focus on whimsy – and so is their space. Their studio looks like something put together for an interior design TV show with its coordinated color scheme complete with matching white furniture and energetic sparks of red tucked in here and there. Oh … and lots of Christmas trees, just everywhere!
Now, when I asked Bettina Welker to share her space, I was not sure what to expect. As it turned out, she was also working in a basement like I was at the time. The importance of functionality is obvious and there is not much room left for decor but she has a great wall of sketches, photos and and design ideas that she keeps up for inspiration. It actually inspired me at the time to create something similar for myself. It makes so much sense!
All these studio peeks are fun stuff, right? The popularity of that issue always stuck with me, so when I was determining the concept of the new magazine, I decided that the spaces that we work in should be a regular feature and that’s how the name, The Polymer Studio, came about. The next issue of The Polymer Studio, coming out in a few weeks, features Christine Dumont’s studio and the interesting journey she took to create the space she now works in. (We’ll be sending in the mailing list for the first round of the new issue to be mailed directly from the printer on Friday, so get your subscription or pre-order your copy now to be one of the first to get it in your hot little hands!)
So, what is your approach to how you set up or decorate your creative work space? Even if you can only snag the end of the dining room table after dinner, that corner should be conducive to productive creativity. Maybe you can keep some of your favorite pieces out where you can see them to be motivated by your successes. If you can, hang pictures or put out objects with colors, textures, and forms that excite you. Make your space as physically comfortable as you can and reconsider the placement of your tools and materials if getting to them is difficult or even just a minor hassle. Doing a little spring cleaning and reorganizing and reevaluating your space might be just the thing to add that extra spark of energy and excitement to your creative time and your work right now.
More Voyeuristic Opportunities
Here’s a few more links to other studio tours for you to peer in on. Even if you studio is just how you want it, peeking in is just fun.
In 2016, Katie Oskin of Kater’s Acres invited people into her studio with a personal tour video, seen below. You’ll notice that she also has a couch in her studio. I know mine feels like such a necessity now. Can you fit one into your space? Or do you have one already? (If you have one, leave a comment! I’d love to see how many of you also thought a cozy sitting (and nap!) space was needed.
Ginger Davis Allman takes you into her studio on this post of hers but it’s focused on her tools and materials more so than the physical space. But doesn’t that tell you a lot about what’s important to Ginger?
And here’s a post full of photos of Debbie Crother’s studio. You’ll read that she’s really big on recycled and environmentally friendly furniture and organizers. She also has a lovely, dedicated display of her work. But what strikes me is that she has sooo much space! Having a builder for a husband sure has it’s benefits!
Okay gang… I have to run off now. I need to finish putting together the next issue of The Polymer Studio (and finish clearing the kitchen for demolition!) If you have not subscribed to the magazine yet and have had any inclination to do so, I would so love for you to join me there. You subscription and book purchases support the creation of this blog and all the artists that we are working to support in turn, plus you get inspiration and tons of eye candy for yourself!
In the meantime, have fun considering what more you could do with your space to encourage your creativity and enjoyment of your time creating. If you’ve posted about your space anywhere we can go check out online, leave it in a comment here. We’d all love to come e-visit!
All It’s Cracked Up To Be
March 17, 2019 Inspirational Art
What is it about weathered and worn surfaces that so many people find attractive these days? Mind you, I am very much one of them. I have a whole line of work called “Beautiful Decay” that explores the beauty I find in the deterioration of durable materials. But the one related effect that seems to be everywhere these days is crackling. Who doesn’t love a good crackle! From shabby chic furniture to crazed ceramics to crackle glass decor, the look of a deteriorating surface seems to have wide-ranging appeal.
Knowing that, it’s not really a surprise that crackle is so popular as a polymer technique. A great many of us are already texture fiends and, if you love texture then you are going to try crackle- so there’s one of the reasons for its popularity in polymer. But we also know that there is a market for work with crackled surfaces since it pops up in so many areas related to decoration and adornment, making it a safe bet if you sell your work.
There is no one right or best way to create a crackled surface in polymer. You may not have realized it, but there are literally dozens of ways to create crackle. It can be created with a crackle paint medium, partially cured layers of polymer (like I show you in my Controlled Crackle technique which you can find in your Fall 2011 edition of The Polymer Arts), dried paint (or glaze or gilders’ paste or floor wax) on raw clay, metal leaf on raw clay, leaching, alcohol treatments, or by creating a faux texture with impressed materials. And I know I am still missing a few in that list!
So, let’s enjoy some crackle work today and wrap up with a few tutorials on different crackle techniques that you can try out.
Let’s Get Cracking
One of my personal favorite “cracklers” is Staci Louise Smith. She uses a number of different techniques to achieve a wide range of cracked texture. In the necklace below, her crackle is not subtle. It is not evenly spread across her beads either but rather, it is rough and tumble and scattered in energetic horizontal lines. Her soft coloring calms the chaos of the crackle which is also balanced out by the many other purposeful accents and lines from the wire.
Staci can also do subtle as evidenced by the opening piece, a Balance Bowl from her tutorial in the Polymer Art Projects – Organic book. (You can get the book on our website if you want to make one of these stunning bowls.)
Check out this blog post where she shares how she makes the necklace here along with sketches and her thoughts on the process.
A subtle crackle can often take a bit more patience but what a lovely effect it can have. It may not even be obvious at first that the beads on this necklace below by Ursa Polak have a crackle surface, but the weathered feel comes across immediately. Take a close look to see all the fine-lined cracks that add to the depth and variation of the surface.
Kroma Crackle is a lovely gel medium that itself dries and cracks without having to stretch the clay and yet remains flexible so that you can manipulate the clay without the cracked material popping off. Once you worked with it for a bit you can control the size of the crackle pretty well. You can add small amounts of acrylic paint or mica powders to give yourself a wide variety of color options. You can also apply paints, inks, dyes and other colorants on it after its dry.
These earrings are by Els van Haasen uses Kroma Crackle on polymer. You can see how regular a crackle you can get with this medium. But it can definitely be quite varied once you come to understand how to use it.
You almost forget that the technique that was most commonly used by the highly esteemed Elise Winters, who we lost just this year, was also a crackle technique. Her work was very controlled, as was crackle but that was probably the most recognizable part about her signature style. I can only imagine the work she put into gaining such control over her crackle, but it just shows what can be done when we invest a bit of patience into our work. (I erroneously put in that this was metal leaf when I first posted but, no, it’s paint, which also takes such skilled control, having to ensure that the paint is evenly applied to get such fine crackle.)
This is actually a piece of mine from some years back. It includes alcohol treated raw clay, controlled cracking of partially cured clay, and metal leaf colored with alcohol ink. The alcohol treatment is a way of drying out the surface of raw clay to get a very fine crazing. It’s a bit of a tricky technique but it sure worked here. That helped create the uneven surface of the partially cured polymer under the metal leaf, giving it a burning ember look.
Let’s Crack You Up
Ready to try some various cracking techniques? Here are a few freebies to get you going:
If you want to try the straightforward Paint Crackle Techniques:
- Grab a craft acrylic (the cheap acrylics work better than artist tube acrylics which tend to stretch rather than crack) or tempera paint and a well-conditioned sheet of polymer rolled on the thickest setting of your pasta machine.
- Brush a moderate (not heavy) layer of the paint onto the polymer. Wait for it to completely dry.
- Then roll it through the pasta machine set at two settings down from the thickness you created the sheet on. You can stop here or, for wider, more varied crackle, turn the sheet 90°, adjust the pasta machine down another one or two settings and run it through again.
- You should have a nice crackle now but if your paint is stretching rather than cracking, rolling another sheet of polymer and lay the crackle sheet on top and then start rolling it through the pasta machine again. Eventually, the paint will crack but sometimes you need a really thick layer of polymer to start in order to stretch it far enough. Tempera paint won’t stretch and cracks very nicely if you have that on hand or fancy a run to your local craft store. You could also get some crackle medium while you’re out and follow the instructions to crackle paint directly on your raw polymer clay.
You can find some examples of the use of different paints on this post by Jan Geisen.
For more tutorials online:
- One of the things I didn’t show you in the samples above was how to use impression material to create a faux crackle effect. I use crumpled aluminum foil for this and then use the antiquing approach of rubbing acrylic paint into the cracks after its cured and wiping it off. But Katie Oskin has an interesting material to share in this online tutorial, as well as showing the effect of painting it before she impresses it.
- In this video tutorial, Sandy Huntress shows you how to crackle very thin sheets of partially cured polymer clay.
- Crackling can be done on round surfaces too! Here’s an online tutorial using metal leaf on bicone beads to create crackle. Keep in mind you could do the same thing by painting the beads and then rolling them around to get it crack.
Do you know of other great crackle tutorials or want to point out another crackling technique I didn’t mention? Drop a comment below (if you’re on this post’s page online) or click on the title of this post to go to the post’s page and share the info with us all. It would be much appreciated!
Bits of News
- The IPCA announced the winners of the IPCA awards on Wednesday. Here is a video presentation of it. Or you can find the list here.
- Registration is now open for Dan Cormier and Tracy Holmes new online course, Matrix Canes.
- What are you doing with your tax refund this year? How about getting that NeverKnead machine you’ve been wanting for forever? Get 10% off your new machine now on the website. Use promo code 10PERCENT.
Okay… Off with me. Working on the next issue of The Polymer Studio. Get your subscription or catch up if you didn’t get the first issue by just jumping over to the website now.
Know that your purchases and subscriptions help me pay the bills so I can justify the time I put into sharing all the good stuff on this blog. Help me help you as we collectively feed our addiction to polymer!
Have a wonderful and creative week! –Sage
Fond Goodbyes to Winter
January 7, 2019 Inspirational Art, Polymer community news
I was traveling this past week, otherwise I would have posted earlier about the passing of our iconic Elise Winters. I’m sure you have heard the news through other avenues that her battle with cancer ended on New Year’s day but I wanted to post a farewell here.
Although I did not know her well, we did talk and in our few conversations, I found we had some differing views but the details mattered little as we were on the same team, wanting to promote and raise the view of polymer to the level of a fine art wherever we could. My efforts have been tiny ripples to her tremendous waves, however. Elise is the reason we have polymer art in so many museums and, especially, holding its own at the esteemed Racine Art Museum in Wisconsin where polymer is one of the six categories of craft that the museum has placed its focus on. We have so much to thank her for.
Elise’s work is readily recognizable and has never been well replicated. Her combination of Skinner blends and crazed acrylic stripes were coaxed into some of the most unusual and unexpected shapes and forms. Although her ruffled and pillow forms were some of her most widely known pieces, I have always thought the piece you see here was one of her best. It’s a brooch from 2006 called Skinner Inner Brooch. This has a much more direct and grounded energy than her well-known ruffles and its inner reveal of a bull’s-eye cane gives it another dimension, bringing us to consider what is underneath, beyond the beautiful surface.
Movement and energy of this kind were paramount in her artwork and, as we have seen, also in her passion and drive to make polymer a recognized fine art material. I hope there are enough of us to amass a similarly zealous energy to continue the work for which she paved such an integral path for our craft. Thank you, Elise.
For a look back at this legendary artist, jewelry designer, and polymer art advocate you can visit her website here.
From Winter into Spring …
I would also like to put out a reminder that the first issue of The Polymer Studio is set to go to print at the end of this week. If you would like to get the first print copies straight from the printer, be sure to purchase your subscription or single issue pre-order by this Wednesday, January 9th, to get on the direct mail list we give to the printer. The issue will be released on January 19th in digital.
You can look forward to …
Tutorials
- Kitchen Sink Imprint Mokume by Julie Picarello
- Magical Phoenix Feather by Christi Friesen
- Martian Footprints Necklace by Anna Malnaya
- Swoop Pendant by Beatrice Picq
- More is More Fimo Bracelet by Jeannette Froese LeBlanc
- Mosaic Stained Glass Canes by Linda Leach
- Shimmering Scenery Pendant by Sage Bray
Tips
- Mix a Near and Far Color Palette with Tracy Holmes
- Mix it Up with Embossing Powders with Debbie Crothers
- Creative Studio Organization Ideas by our Staff
Inspiration
- Studio Tour: Small Spaces in Germany with Anke Humpert
- In-Depth Artist Profile: Julie Picarello
- Uncommon Clay Artist Profile: Travis Suda
… and much more!
Get your subscription here at www.ThePolymerStudio.com or www.TenthMuseArts.com.
Today, I am off to enjoy the season with my family. I thought I’d leave you with an ornament of mine from an exchange I did the year I started The Polymer Arts. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the time to join in an exchange like this but I’m hoping this coming year will prove to be more open to studio time for myself. I hope it is the same for you.
Here is to wishing you a wonderful wrap-up to the holiday season. Regardless of whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I do wish you and yours warmth, inspiration, and joy this holiday season!
Read MoreSo it is finally here! The Polymer Art Projects—Organic book ended up being a huge project, wonderfully so, due to all the dedicated and talented contributing artists. Doing them all justice with a beautiful, easy-to-follow layout while getting in all the details they wanted to share was my challenge but with the help of my fabulous and patient team, I have to say I think we have a unique and visually stunning book to share with all of you. All the wonderful art collected in this way was bound to be eye-catching but even the step-by-step photos reveal a surprisingly beautiful look at the bones beneath the work these artists have refined. I absolutely fell in love with the collection and I am hoping you do, too.
The slide pin you see here is one piece from the book that hasn’t made the rounds yet as we promoted this book so I thought I’d let you get a closer look at one more item you could make from these tutorials. It was the very last one to make it to layout because, well, this artist always goes in last … me! I haven’t made a lot this year between all the publications and the injuries and such but I’ve been working on this rippled clay texture for a couple of years now, finding the ruffled wood-like border texture accidentally along the way. So now I am really excited to share these easy-to-accomplish techniques as they have plenty of room in them to play with and perfect to your liking.
So, if you pre-ordered the book, then your copy is either in your inbox (digital editions were released Saturday) or on its way to your mailbox. If you didn’t, you can get a copy now and just for this week get 10% off the book AND shipping. And, heck, take 10% off anything else you throw into the cart including the back issues of Polymer Journeys 2016 (which is already on sale) and back issues of The Polymer Arts.
Use promo code PAP10 to get your 10% discount at this link, good through Sunday November 4th.
No tricks, just treats here!
Read MoreThis week is going to be a series of announcements but I promise, they will all be very exciting, they will all be polymer, and they will all give you something you can look forward to as we move into fall and winter (or spring and summer if you’re down under.)
First up… I can finally announce and show off the cover of the first in an upcoming series of books, Polymer Art Projects. This series arose from your consistent request for more projects and a desire to support and promote our great artists, so, after many conversations, I came up with this cooperative book project. All contributing artists in the book will be part of a promotion and profit sharing team. That means they are highly motivated to provide you with some truly fantastic material on top of looking forward to sharing their love of polymer art.
For less than a couple of dollars each, you get 16 tutorials that will expand your abilities under the guidance of some of the polymer community’s best instructors. The skill level of these tutorials range from the experienced novice to the intermediate artisan, with tips and ideas for polymer crafters of all levels. The tutorials are very detailed, each showing off a variety of techniques, expert construction, and lists of ideas for variation so you can create your own unique pieces from what you learn.
The first in the series, Polymer Art Projects—Organic, includes tutorials by Donna Greenberg, Christi Friesen, Eva Haskova, Anke Humpert, Debbie Crothers, Kim Cavender, Stephanie Kilgast, Chris Kapono, Stacy Louise Smith, Nevenka Sabo, Adriana Allen, Dani Rapinett, Fabiola Ajates, Rebecca Thickbroom, Klavdija Kurent, and little ol’ me. Projects include a variety of jewelry as well as home decor, all inspired by mother nature.
Check out the cover for a sampling of what you can look forward to. The cover price for the print edition of this book will be $23.95 but for the next month, you can preorder for $16.75 – that’s 30% off the cover price. Or maybe you’d like a digital edition which will list for $15.95 – you can preorder the digital edition for just $11.95. These preorder prices are good through October 10th.
Don’t forget the last issue of The Polymer Arts comes out September 22. Preorder this last historic copy on The Polymer Arts website.
Read MoreThis beautiful Monday, I’m sharing with you the latest cover for the upcoming issue of The Polymer Arts, graced by the beautifully balanced jewelry of Dorata Kaszczyszyn.
Summer is soon to be here and the Summer issue – themed “Everything in Its Place” – will be here next month to help you greet the season. You can look forward to such articles as:
- Looking for Balance with Christi Friesen (part of a new regular section by Christi, called “What Are You Looking at?”)
- The Art of Meredith Dittmar
- Remembering Tory Hughes
- Spilling the Beads: a textural tutorial with Nikolina Otrzan
- Tiny Tiles: a variation tutorial with Chris Kapono
- Design Your Own Silkscreens
- Translucent Silkscreen: a tutorial with Sage Bray
- Composing Photos for Every Occasion with syndee holt
- Making the Most of Your Time
- Lessons from Knitting with Ginger Davis Allman
- Colors Spotlight with Lorraine Vogel by Lindly Haunani
Renewal notices went out over the last couple weeks but if you’ve not had the chance to renew your subscription or subscribe, you’ll want to be sure to do so soon so you can be on that initial list to get the first copies fresh from the printer (or for digital readers, fresh from our server). We lock down the mailing lists in the first week of May. The release date for the summer issue is set for May 20th.
If you have questions about your subscription, you’re welcome to write us at connect@thepolymerarts.com or, if you get this by email, just hit reply. Sydney, my fabulous assistant and keeper of subscription lists, will get back to you shortly but be a little patient if it takes a day or so. She’s just getting back from a very exciting weekend … she just got married! Congrats and all the best to Sydney and Ben!
Read MoreTrying something different this year may mean looking outside the polymer realm for new techniques pulled straight from other mediums. Our innovators all did that back when there were no techniques yet and many polymer artists still do. And why not? With the flexibility of polymer, it is not hard to work out a way to recreate effects or adapt other techniques.
Recently, I landed on a page of watercolors with a texture that I hadn’t seen before. With a little exploration, I found a how-to on a plastic wrap texture technique and just had to try it with polymer. The technique, as you can see on this page, is a simple application of crumpled plastic wrap which causes the watercolor pigment to pool where the plastic touches the paper. Although watercolors don’t do so well on polymer, I figured the technique should work with alcohol inks, with some adjustments. So I gave it a try.
The image on the top is from the link I just mentioned, from Dr. Anastasia Halldin’s blog site, HealthyMamaInfo.com. It’s watercolor on paper and is so simple, that almost all the pages I found instructions on were for kids. The one below is my experiment on polymer. It’s a sheet of pearl clay with the right side dusted and burnished with pearl mica powder. I did this because I wondered if I would need to keep the ink from sinking in too quickly and the mica powder and burnishing acts as a mild resist. As it turned out, I didn’t need it to make the ink pool and it came out brighter on the unburnished left side.
I did spray the whole polymer sheet with a good amount of alcohol before dropping the ink on it so there would be plenty of liquid to pool, then quickly but loosely laid down the plastic. It all pooled quite nicely. It took three hours to dry enough to remove the plastic so the technique takes some patience. I’ll play with texturing and stretching the sheet to see how that affects it. And maybe next time, I’ll texture the clay first to see what that does to the pattern. I might try watered-down acrylics, too, to see how that works and what can be done with it.
So, you see how just playing with the basic idea taken from watercolor can lead to all kinds of wonderful ideas? It’s also a lot of fun. So go out and research a little and then play a lot with the ideas you find out there from all corners of the art world!
Read MoreWe set aside our usual art discussions today to announce the first big book project for TPA and the associated book publishing arm, Tenth Muse Publications–Polymer Journeys 2016 is just about ready for you! The release is set for April 14th.
This retrospective and peek-behind-the-scenes book is in its last phase of preparation for printing! Now that we have a publication date, we are offering you very anxious and enthusiastic folks a steep discount and a bonus to thank you for your patience and to give you the opportunity to get your copy straight off the press and into the mail!
We have an exclusive pre-sale price for just this one week. If you purchase the book on our website by March 30th, you get 30% off the cover price of $22.95! That’s all of $15.95 plus shipping.
It is also available in a digital format, which will be $12.95, but this week you can reserve your copy for just $9.95.
But wait … there’s more! (I’ve always wanted to say that!) I also worked out a way to reward our most enthusiastic supporters … be one of the first 250 people to pre-order a print copy and get a companion digital copy for FREE! Just put both a print and digital copy into your cart, then use this code to discount the digital copy: 1st250. (You’ll know others beat you to it if you get a note saying the discount is no longer valid.)
Want more info on what this book is? Go to the website here. In the meantime, enjoy the gorgeous cover art by Kathleen Dustin (top) and Jon Stuart Anderson (bottom).
We’ll be here if you have any questions for us. Otherwise, have a beautiful Spring and Easter weekend!
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Read MoreMy little contribution to the Spring issue of The Polymer Arts is an article on ways to combine paper with polymer. I did a lot of research to see if there was anything else I could share with readers beyond what I had done in the past with paper casting and collage style techniques and … wow! There are tons of ways paper can be used to kick up your work. It offers ways to make production less expensive and pieces lighter for castings and as cores for large beads, it can add interesting textures both tactile and visual, and, because it can go in the oven at polymer clay curing temperatures, it can be used over, under, inside of, and just about any way you want it with your raw clay and it all can go into the oven together.
My foray into paper and polymer came initially from looking for less expensive and less noxious ways to cast sculpted pieces I had created in polymer and wanted to duplicate. I went on to use the material as a substrate, to make light sculptural and bead cores and to make hollow beads. But the things they are doing with paper in the craft world is amazing, and looks a lot like polymer sometimes. From mokume-like carved stacks of paper to rolled beads to textured, stamped, and molded paper–the work is beautiful and a very direct source of inspiration for polymer artists. If you haven’t seen what I am talking about just google something like “paper jewelry” or “paper craft” on Google, Pinterest, Etsy or Flickr. It’s fascinating.
The other super cool thing about paper craft is that much of it is being made from recycled and upcycled paper sources. I do all my paper casting using junk mail and old newspapers and my collage work is from magazines I would otherwise just throw away. But those are not the only sources of paper we can recycle and combine with polymer pieces. This necklace by Izabela Nowak is a beautiful example of where using a paper source rather than polymer has a distinct advantage.
All those discs are cut from milk and juice cartons. Creating something like that with polymer would be intensely time-consuming and curing extremely thin polymer and keeping it flat takes a few tricks. I am not saying its impossible–I’ve done it myself–but why do that if you can get a similar effect while keeping more trash out of a landfill? And … it’s cheap or free! You gotta love that.
Izabela actually does a ton of work in paper and upcycled materials. She doesn’t often combine her polymer and paper but I find the pieces in which she doe, more interesting than the paper alone. The polymer adds solidity and texture the paper can’t and the paper offers crisp edges and smooth surfaces that are more difficult to do in polymer. So together, they make quite the pair!
Get your copy of the Spring 2016 issue of The Polymer Arts for this and other great article sure to get your creative juice flowing!
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Search for paper craft, paper jewelry, or recycled art and find a piece you are drawn to. Don’t spend a lot of time looking. Then figure out what that one thing is that is really drawing you to that piece. Use that element … whether it’s the way the work was created (rolled, folded, molded), the form of the piece, or even the combination of colors, and use it to design or create your next piece.
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Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
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Read MoreThis last story was actually requested. By several readers. Why this handful of people knew there was this story to be told, I’m not sure. It is a lot like yesterday’s story, but with some significant differences, as well as a different kind of significance here. I think you’ll know what I’m getting at when you read it
The artwork here is not a piece by either in the story, but it’s something I’ve had saved for a while. Its not even polymer. But, really, it could be, and someone really needs to try this! It’s a glass mosaic created on a rock.
That is what artist Liz Tonkin does… she builds mosaics on rocks. Isn’t is gorgeous? Take a look at her Facebook page to find the most eye candy of this sort. Okay, enjoy that while reading the last of our ‘lovely’ stories this week.
Parallel Lives
Once upon a time, in a Los Angeles high school drama class, a charming boy with an amazingly cute smile sat down next to a very shy, self-conscious girl (who had unintentionally ended up in the class) and asked her to do a scene with him. She didn’t know why this guy, who every girl in class seemed to have a crush on, would ask her, but she said yes, so he suggested they get together that weekend and go over scenes.
That was the first of many weekends and many hours spent together. She was his first girlfriend and his first kiss. He was the first guy she actually fell in love with. Being young and uncertain though, they didn’t really know what they wanted and a rift developed. But, it wasn’t long before they worked out how to just be friends and would spent long hours at dingy coffee shops, comparing personal philosophies and talking about their art and writing. It was always so easy to just be themselves with each other.
They stayed irregular friends for nearly a decade, unintentionally following each other around, but rarely seeing each other. They went to the same community college, then the same four year college. Then he went on to a prestigious animation program north of L.A., and she moved to New Mexico. A a couple years later, they both ended up in San Francisco at the same time and returned to L.A. for a while when both were between jobs.
During that time, the girl turned to poetry, and he to painting, both looking at what filled their souls but not their pockets. Christmas day of 1993, they spent the afternoon with her family and still talked like they always did. But, it would be the last time they would talk for 20 years.
Soon after the year the girl met another guy, got married and moved to Colorado. The boy got serious about his career and soon met a woman through work and eventually got married. Neither marriage was good but, they were both the type of people who don’t give up easily, and they stayed for far too long in relationships that crushed their spirits. She had stopped writing her poetry, and he did little more than work.
After her inevitable divorce and several years of near solitude, she tried to find something meaningful with someone else, but there would always be angry words, or they would want her to give up her art or her writing that she kept trying to resurrect. So, the girl gave up on love and sunk herself into her work.
She would think back, however, and remember those few people in her past with whom she could always be herself, those bright lights on the horizon of her past, and started looking for them. Some she found, but not the boy from drama class who she wanted to see again more than anyone. She knew he’d become successful in animation as his name would roll by on the TV screen sometimes when her roommate watched cartoons, but she had no way to reach him.
Then one particularly trying day, when she looked back at the mess of a life she’d had, she thought of that boy again and decided she would search for him one more time. Suddenly, there he was, his still very cute smile staring out at her from a new blog of his. She wrote him and hoped he’d just say hi back. A few hours later he did. But he didn’t just say hi.
They talked every day from then on, in the same way they did 20 years before. A couple months later, the girl’s father became ill, and she drove out from Colorado to Los Angeles to help. The two old friends managed to meet up and then went out for a dinner that they lingered over until the place closed. It was then that the girl realized she was still in love with that boy, and, as it turned out, the boy had the very same realization about her. The girl, however, had been resigned to being alone the rest of her life, but the boy, he jumped off the deep end and just told her how he felt. She made him wait 6 weeks before she could finally say, “Yes, I feel the same. Now what?”
That all started just over a year ago. Somehow, even living a thousand miles apart and being about the two busiest people anyone could imagine, they make it work. They talk every day, try to see each other every month and are slowly breaking down all the cynicism built by the many years in between. Their lives still parallel each other, too; both working jobs that combine art and writing. Their big deadlines even land on the same weeks. They live in a similar rhythm, but, more often than not, many miles apart.
And yes, they sometimes wonder what would have happened if they had realized when they were young just how rare and precious it is to have someone you can be yourself with and who loves you just as you are. But, that boy and girl who met in a high school drama class are not the same boy and girl who met again last year. Maybe the years in between were not always happy ones, but it allowed them to become the kind of people who can appreciate and love each other the way two people really should.
The girl’s name is Sage. The boy’s name is Brett. We will spend this Valentine’s day a thousand miles apart, but still, we believe we are the two luckiest people in the whole darn universe.
Happy Valentine’s day to everyone out there. Cherish and appreciate the love in your life in all the forms and from all the souls that give it to you.
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Read MoreDon’t you love embers? Those lively, sparking, crawling fires inside a burning log that move in a seemingly choreographed dance? They are mesmerizing and calming and one of the neatest things about sitting in front of a fire and relaxing. I have tried emulating them in polymer. You can even see one of my modest attempts in an article on faux organics in the Fall 2013 issue of The Polymer Arts. But this particular photo of a copper inlaid bracelet created by Adriana Allen really seems to capture the light and liveliness of them.
It doesn’t seem that Adriana intended to create an ember-like appearance with the rubbed-in foil, but it sure gives one an idea about how to go about creating something like this. The way the copper is more rubbed off in the more open indentations and denser in the thinner lines does emulate that variation in the ember of a burning coal. It is lovely, as is the blue clay contrasting the orange of the copper.
Adriana creates beautiful cuff bracelets with a lot of texture, leaning heavily on faux antiquing and patina to get her signature look. Take a look through her Etsy shop for more beauties and ideas, while I go give my lively 8 month old German Shepard some much needed attention. Her name, by the way, is Ember.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
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