Mixing and Mingling, New Cover, & 33% off Back issues
March 24, 2019
Inspirational Art, Polymer community news, Tips and Tricks
We have a bit of business to do first today but it’s exciting business! I wanted to share with you the next cover of The Polymer Studio, coming late April.
We are thrilled to include projects from Cynthia Tinapple, our featured and interviewed artist for this issue, as well as Christi Friesen, Kathy Koontz, Elena Mori, the Mitchell sisters, Deb Hart, and Wendy Moore. Also, tips, tricks, and other bits of wisdom from Debbie Crothers, Ginger Davis Allman, and little old me. And you won’t want to miss the tour of Christine Dumont’s studio, complete with a conversation about her space and process, which I think you’ll find very intriguing.
All this and more, just a month away! Support our projects, this blog, and the betterment of your own polymer journey, of course, or just because you’d like to look at all the pretty things tucked into those pages, by subscribing to The Polymer Studio here.
(Be sure to scroll down to the last section for the 33% off sale stuff.)
A Fine Mix-up
So, did you get a chance to look through the winning entries for the IPCA awards? Here’s the link again if you didn’t see them. The winning entries are just beautiful and maybe even a bit surprising. If you saw it, did you notice any trends or changes in trends and what was presented? I thought it was interesting that there were a lot of mixed-media pieces where polymer clay might have been the focus, but other materials played large roles in important design aspects and visual impact of the work.
One of the reasons I find this so interesting is that the idea of expanding into other materials seems to be a regular conversation myself and many other people are having. I couldn’t say exactly what that means but I do believe that polymer, with its unparalleled flexibility for combining with other materials, has kind of come of age where our exploration of what it can do is being placed on the back burner in order to focus on artistic expression. I look at these mixed-media pieces in the awards and other pieces I find during my research and general perusing online, and it seems that we are seeing more instances where polymer centric artists decide what they want to make and then determine the best materials for the work rather than push to see if polymer can be used for most, if not all, of the components of a piece. Or perhaps I am just hoping this is the case because I would love to see more folks focused on personal expression will rather than letting our obsessive, but understandable, infatuation with the material determine our creative parameters.
Of course, for most of us who work in polymer now, this colorful, durable, and chameleon material will remain our primary love and, regardless of other options, we will often still try to do as much as we can with polymer, if just to see if we can push it a little bit farther. But, opening oneself up to the possibilities of combining it with other materials in major ways will allow us, and even the viewer, to focus more on the design and expression and less on the material itself, which will let the artist’s expression, vision, creativity, and aesthetic really shine. I find this very exciting!
So, this week, let’s look at some of the mixed-media pieces where other materials play a primary role alongside polymer. This could be very helpful for you if you have felt like you’re in a rut or are too often hitting technical or design walls in your work. Trying out a different material may just be the thing to inject you with new enthusiasm and, possibly, send you down a new path with your artwork.
Mixed Directions
Let’s first look at some of the winners of the IPCA awards and in many ways that other materials have been mixed in.
This first piece is both a mixed-media and a mixed artist piece. Ellen Prophater or worked with Sherry Mozer, a glass artist, led to the use of the black glass piece with its shades of green within reflected in the mokume polymer it sits upon. It is set in a silver bezel and accented with Swarovski crystals. Both the mokume and the glass show off a subtle transparency, drawing the connection between the two along with the green cast colors. It’s a nice reminder that collaboration can also push us in new directions making new discoveries in our work and even ourselves and our friendships.
Donna Greenberg just killed it as the professional mixed-media category. This wall piece is called Wedgewood Wave but the word that keeps coming to mind for me is swoon. Not just because I feel like swooning, it’s just so gorgeous, but that’s also the word that comes to mind from that fabulous flow of energy through those waves, back into the pool of blue. Those waves are paper, but the application of color and shape are similar to the polymer pieces so the different materials feel cohesive. This is definitely one of those cases where another medium was the better choice. Trying to create those waves in polymer would’ve been just silly, even though it could be done. The paper gives a lighter feel to the overall piece as well as a light and easy flow to the visual movement. She also used Ultralight polymer alongside the Arches cold press paper, acrylic gouache paints, watercolor pencils, and Apoxie paste, each material fulfilling its purpose in a way that another material would not have been as successful with.
With the issue of the environment heavy in many of our minds, we are seeing a lot of exploration into found or recycled or upcycled items. Sarah Machtey offered up this steam punk pouch necklace with removable magnifying glass for the mixed media category of the awards with a bit of all of that. The front and back of this small pouch is from a soda can turned inside out – you can still see the printing of the soda can on the inside – but she embossed the can with decorative lines and used mica powder infused liquid polymer in the recesses to make them stand out. The band across the top is upcycled copper from a renovation project while the side leaves and earrings are polymer clay. Not sure if the magnifying glass was bought or found but it certainly could have been reused from something else.
The pouch is 7” (18 cm) in height from the top edge to the bottom of the magnifying glass, so it’s no small bit of tin on there. Of course, she could have used polymer to create the metal sections but it would’ve been a bulkier piece. The tin keeps the weight down as well as adding some structural strength that would only have been accomplished with a much thicker wall of polymer.
Keep in mind, when we are talking mixed-media it doesn’t necessarily have to be another art material. For instance, I combined poetry with photos of polymer in a challenge last year that I was posting on my personal Instagram page. Other people mix it up by installing the work in unusual places so that the what is placed on becomes part of the artwork such as fairy doors installed on walls or in tree trunks or tiles installed into a kitchen backsplash. Rachel Gourley takes it just a touch further, installing her little collections so that they recede into the landscape. She scatters her polymer elements out and about in natural settings, looking much like organic growths but unexpected in their color, shape, and placement.
Putting Together Your Own Mixer
This week, I didn’t pull any tutorials for you to try because it would have to be a mad, a long list of other materials to give you any real idea of your options. Instead, I might suggest that you keep your eye open for what other polymer artists are doing with other materials. Perhaps one of the above ideas piqued your interest already. If so, research that other material and find ways to acquire or hone your skill in that medium. Just put “polymer clay and [fill in the blank with the material you’re curious about]” into the search bar on Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr, or Google images and see what pops up. Add the word “tutorial” to see what offerings there are online. I’m sure there will be plenty of inspiration.
You can also grab your Spring 2015 – Diversity issue of The Polymer Arts or the Convergence themed issue from Spring of 2016, both of which have a ton of ideas around using other materials with polymer. You can see the table of contents for all back issues of The Polymer Arts on this page to check out what these issues have to offer. Then, if you don’t have the issues, you can order them on the website.
In fact, let’s have a sale!
Why don’t you grab a few back issues and take a full 33% off 3 or more! Good on digital or print, I’ll keep this up until next Sunday so grab them this week. Use promo code TPA33 at checkout.
And … I’m Off!
I would normally have some community news and deals for you to look into at this point, but I did not get to that. This week has been a struggle. I am being kept busy by a house that has decided to just fall apart all of a sudden. My creative energies have been used up relocating kitchen activities to the garage, the porch, and even my studio because of plumbing issues while getting tons of exercise running large circles around the house because the garage door won’t open, washing my clothes in the bathroom sink because the laundry machine won’t drain, and constantly shuffling ice packs from freezer to fridge because the fridge is on and off and its replacement is weeks away from getting here. All this happening two weeks before we start some (apparently!) much-needed kitchen remodeling. I’m not making this up. But talk about mixing it up!
So, I’m going to get back to my at-home glamping while trying to get the next issue wrapped up for you. But tune in next week for more polymer pretties and inspiration, and, hopefully, less house drama from Sage’s corner! In the meantime, if you work with another medium, please share it below. Or tell us the most unusual medium you’ve combined with polymer! I’d love to get a feel for what you all are working on besides polymer. Leave links to the work as well if available! (If you get this by email, click on the post title to get to the post page and scroll down to comments.) I’m excited to see what you all have to share!
Mosaic Flow
February 24, 2019
Inspirational Art, The Polymer Arts magazine news
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!
Ring Riot
February 17, 2019
Inspirational Art
Have you ever made a polymer ring? It’s not one of the most popular jewelry forms in the medium which seems a little strange because they’re fairly easy to make. Maybe it’s a durability question – will the polymer ring stand up to the knocking and scraping rings have to go through? I’m not sure how they would fare if worn day in and day out but I, myself, have several polymer rings which still look as good today as the day I made them and the unusual and fantastic things you can do with polymer make them a really eye-catching piece of adornment that you’ll get lots of questions about an attention for.
There are so many different types of polymer rings you can make. You can wrap clay onto a form such as small glass bottles, sockets (for socket wrenches), and short bits of metal pipe (try pipe connectors.) You can skip the ring construction and just apply polymer to a metal ring blank. They come as bands with open channels that you can put canes and veneers in, or with a blank bezel for cabochons or sculptural elements. You can also simply create a block of clay that you punch a hole into for the finger to go through. Alternately, you can free-form the ring by hand, cure it, and then carve it into the shape and size you need. There are so many ways to make rings!
The one downside about rings, especially if you are selling them, is that you will need different sizes. Making a selection to show the style but then offering custom-made rings is one way around this but the other way is to just make simple rings that you can create a lot of and only in three or four popular sizes. This way you have those smaller inexpensive, impulse buy items to sell at your fair booth or online. And rings are easy items to sell especially at an inexpensive price point. They’re fun little bits of adornment and you don’t even really need them to match your outfits!
But if you want to create and sell one-of-a-kind rings, choose an average ring size and keep the band thickness and style wide enough to either sand down to create a larger size or add a layer of clay to create a smaller size. There are also adjustable ring blanks if you just need a base for attaching your polymer forms and elements onto.
So now that I have you thinking about rings, let’s take a look at some great polymer ring creations to further get your inspiration going.
Let’s start with one of those ring blank ideas. Here Janine Müller shows how creative you can get with a ring bezel. It doesn’t need to be a solid polymer cabochon. It can be layered or carved or hand-tooled or drilled. I’m not sure what her approach is here but the take away here is that you can try your own preferred surface treatments to create a unique ring in a bezel blank.
If you want to try an all polymer ring in a quick and easy but fun form, roll out those clay sheets and try a stacked set like these ingenious mix-and-match rings by Florence Minne-Khou. Clean cuts and a little sanding is about the most difficult aspect of a project like this so there’s hardly any excuse to not try it.
If you like getting sculptural with your work, you can go in a number of directions. Keep it simple but elegant with uncomplicated and cleanly shaped rings. Start by wrapping them around a solid form to start, and then sculpt the clay. These pieces from Angela Garrod are likely created in that fashion.
Or swirl them well into the third dimension with a folded form like this intriguing finger form from Sona Grigoryan.
Or just go completely wild and don’t worry about the functional aspect. Just make something out of this world. Perhaps this rather celestial feeling ring by Donna Greenberg will get you to push the limits of what you can do with a ring form.
If you are primarily a cane clayer, don’t think that rings–even sculptural rings–are not for you. Take note of Jana Roberts Benzon’s creative cane slicing and build up your own gorgeously detailed rings.
Oh, I could keep going with these! Just put “polymer rings” into a search on Pinterest, Instagram, Etsy or Flickr and you’ll see a ton more to get you thinking. But if you want some step by step instructions to help get you started on what could be a really addictive form, try this block cut ring tutorial from Ludmila Bakulina aka Sweety Bijou. This would be good for scraps too!
Okay … going to have to cut and run but I hope I have left you with some exciting possibilities. I’m on the road today but will be back next weekend with more food for thought and pretty things to ponder. Also, don’t forget to pre-order your Polymer Journeys 2019 before the 22nd. Release date is now March 2! Get yours at www.tenthmusearts.com
A Bevy of Bezels
February 10, 2019
Inspirational Art
First, a quick announcement … the new Polymer Journeys 2019 book is now available for pre-orders!
As usual, we offer a HUGE discount for pre-ordering: $7 off the print edition cover price and $4 off the digital edition. So jump to our website to pre-order this great tome of beautiful polymer art with artist’s insights into their work as well as a historical retrospective that we hope will help continue to elevate how people see polymer in the art world and beyond.
Now onto a Bevy of Bezels …
What is your favorite kind of polymer bezel setting? Would you say you even have one? Let’s be honest, when it comes to bezels do most of us really give them a lot of thought? Some people really do but I think for many of us, when we do create one, it is probably not much more than a functional element we need in order to hold and maybe frame a stone or focal element. So, I thought this week we would take a look at what else you could do and where you can take the functional, and often essential, bezel.
Like any other element on your jewelry that can be seen, a bezel is a part of the piece’s design and so their form and finish should be quite consciously decided, which means, with polymer clay there’s a tremendous range of things that can be done with it. Mind you, there is nothing wrong with the bezel been simple and primarily functional, as long as it makes sense for the design.
That said, let’s get to the interesting point … there is so much you can do with bezels and bezel style settings in polymer clay! I could yammer on and on about all the things you can do but I think it’s better to just show you. Make notes and start considering what you do with the clay that holds in the focal pieces on your creations and how you can expand on it.
A World of Bezels
One of my favorite bezel-ers, Chris Kapono, has the most wide-ranging ways to hold down a stone with polymer. Her tile and home decor pieces are also a great examples of how bezels can be used for pieces other than jewelry. She has many more tricks up her sleeve in this regards as seen on her Flickr photostream and in her Etsy shop.
Susan Waddington has always been one of my favorite polymer bezel makers. Her bezels are almost always black but are formed into pretty much anything but a basic square or circle and they are textured and inset with additional embellishments to work with the focal piece. This one may be a decade old but it is still inspiring as is her entire collection shown on her Flickr page. I don’t think she does much polymer any more so you have to scroll down past her paintings although looking through them is no hardship either.
A bezel can also be made from individual bits, all lined up. As seen in this pendant by Elsie Smith. The setting around this bezel continues the radiating lines that those lined up little squares start around the gem.
A bezel does not have to be symmetrical, continuous, sit with the stone or focal point straightforward or even completely surround what it’s holding. These pendants by Switzerland’s Chandani of ChaNoJa Jewerly on Etsy give you a few examples of non-traditional bezel settings with polymer.
And don’t be afraid to consider creating, or having a metalsmith create, metal bezels to put your polymer clay creations into. Making her own custom precious metal bezel settings is standard for Grace Stokes’ beautiful jewelry as seen here.
The How-Tos of Polymer Bezeling
Now, if you’ve not created polymer bezels before, or you would like a refresher or some jump-start, hands-on ideas, there quite a number of tutorials and such that you can reference.
Here’s a super quick way to make a bezel that works especially well for small round stones and crystals.
- Roll up a ball of clay about the width of the stone you want to set
- Press the ball flat but not too thin then press the stone or crystal into it.
- Gently push the sides of the clay in towards the stone so that the clay sits up around its edges and holds it in. At this point it can be further embellished with powders.
- Then just scoop it off your work surface using a blade and place it on your piece, maybe with just a tiny touch of liquid polymer to guarantee its adhesion.
- You can embellish it further here too. Just impress dots or lines into it with a needle tool, being careful not to move the clay away from the stone’s edge and lose its grip on it.
That’s it! It’s a super quick and easy bezel. It can be used on other shapes besides round too. You just have to shape the clay to the same size and shape as the stone before you press it into the clay.
By the way, you can see this quick set bezel and how I often use them in Issue #1 of The Polymer Studio in my tutorial, “Shimmering Scenery Pendants”. That same tutorial also shows you how to make an easy polymer clay frame which can readily be used as a bezel setting in addition to the techniques use for frame setting surface treated polymer sheets. Get your issue or a subscription if you don’t have it already. Single issues are only $7.95 in print, $5.95 digital, and that’s for eight detailed tutorials plus other fantastic articles. Can’t even buy one tutorial for that!
For a polymer bezel similar to traditional metalsmithing bezels, take a look at Tina Holden’s tutorial on her blog here. She shares her basic bezel and then some ways to embellish that are very easy to do but give the bezels a very rich look.
For a dainty frame bezel frame with filigree, there is this classic filigree tutorial here. If you stop after the first rim is placed on and cured, you have a bezel frame for cabochons or cut polymer sheets. But the filigree stuff is fun if you have the patience for it. The text’s English may sound a little wonky because it will be translated but it’s worth trying nonetheless.
If you want, or need, to create bezels quickly, you might want to look into purchasing Cabezel molds from Shades of Clay. These molds allow you to create a frame and a perfectly fitting cabochon for it in seconds. Once you have the basic frame molded you can expand on the setting in the area beyond the bezel frame or embellish the bezel itself so although it’s a mold, it has a lot of room for customization. Shades of Clay is a great resource for all kinds of unique polymer related supplies as well. (Keep in mind, this is a Canadian retailer, so the pricing is in Canadian dollars although Wendy does ship via USPS. To estimate what it will be in US dollars, deduct about 25%.)
Got Bezels?
Do you have any great bezels of your own? Or are you aware of any other great tutorials for polymer bezels? Leave links and comments in the comment section below. If you get the this by email click here to leave a comment. Myself and many a reader here would love to see more.
Organic Projects & 10% off Everything
October 29, 2018
Inspirational Art
So 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!
A Day for Dots
September 3, 2018
Inspirational Art
In the US today, it is Labor Day. It’s a day to recognize and honor our working citizens. And we do… Most people get the day off as a thank you. Unless you work for yourself and your “boss” is a slave driver. I will join in our tradition of barbecues and games later but I’m working hard and wrapping up the fall issue, finally. It looks fantastic and will be a great send off to The Polymer Arts title. The release date has been set for the 22nd! You can preorder on The Polymer Arts website for the single issue.
In the meantime, whether you are in the US and join the holiday or elsewhere working, I thought I’d share a little something to do when you settle down tonight. I’ve seen these pins by syndee holt before but didn’t realize that Polyform had posted a video tutorial for them. What a fantastic and eye-catching texture this technique creates.
As syndee mentions in the video, this type of work is very relaxing and meditative as well as resulting in a beautiful polymer sheet to cut and use as you please. Her method does require the use of the pearling tool produced by Polyform but if you don’t have the pearling tools, use small hole punchers and seed beads. Click the image to go to the video.
So I’m going to leave you in the capable hands of syndee holt while I go get some more work done before I get a chance to play. Also, you can follow syndee’s experiments and ideas on her blog here. Enjoy your Labor Day or I hope you’ve enjoyed your Monday!
Finally Focused: The Fall Cover
August 17, 2018
Inspirational Art
Thank you all for your patience. The fall issue is coming together now and, as you can see, we have a lovely piece, a brooch by Helen Breil, to grace the cover.
The theme for the fall issue is “Center of Attention” which will include all types of focal, emphasis, and center point type conversations. Here are a few the articles you can look forward to seeing next month:
—The Focused Art of Helen Breil
—Six Different Fresh Faux Stone Technique tutorials
—Organic Sautori Necklace tutorial
—Designing Dynamic Focal Points
—Diversifying with Hair Adornments
—Becoming a Niche Artist
—Inspiringly Unexpected with Christi Friesen
—Creating for Yourself with Debbie Crothers
… and much more.
We hope you’re looking forward to this as much as we are! We should have the release date before the end of the month. It’ll be something to look forward to as we head into the fall (for down the southern hemisphere, spring) season!
We are setting up the website for pre-orders as I write this so if you click through to www.thepolymerarts.com and it is not there yet, it should be by Monday. I’ll remind yon on the Monday’s post. Have a wonderful and creative weekend!
Trying on Detail
August 10, 2018
Inspirational Art
So, for those of us who like to keep our two-dimensional approach to polymer on the smaller side, I thought I’d nudge you to try your hand at polymer painting, if you haven’t already done so, and maybe combine it with a bit of polymer embroidery. As you see here, you can use polymer painting as a decorative approach to jewelry or small functional objects as well as for wall art.
To get you jump-started on these ideas, why don’t you jump over to Fiona Abel-Smith’s tutorial where she shows you how to create these little tree paintings that can be used for pendants or brooches. You can also peek in on her website where I encourage you to check out her Pietra dura polymer pieces.
Just click the image here to get to the YouTube video tutorial. Hope this kicks off some creative time for you this weekend!
A Wave and a Tease
June 18, 2018
Inspirational Art
As of Thursday, I will be out of the country, gallivanting about with my family in Europe for a couple of weeks. Per doctor’s orders, I am trying to completely unplug so I will post something for you Wednesday and then, after that, you’ll have the pleasure of hearing from a number of other well-respected and accomplished artists as they share work by some favorite artists of theirs. It should be a nice, refreshing, change of pace for a couple of weeks, for you and I.
While I am gone, my assistant, Sydney, will be will be working away on our upcoming books we officially announced last week. Her first order of business will be working on the invitation list for the 2018 edition of Polymer Journeys, slated to come out in October. Consideration for inclusion in the book is by invitation only and although we have quite the list going already, we want to make sure we don’t miss anybody because you don’t have the right email or we’re simply not aware of what you’re doing. If you think your work should be included, see the details below.
Sydney will also be orchestrating the continued work on our first Polymer Art Projects tutorial collection – Organics. We’ll share the cover and set you up for pre-sale opportunities soon after I get back in mid-July. But, in the meantime, I’m going to be a terrible person and tease you by sharing a couple of pieces you will be able to make from the upcoming Projects book. Not to get you overly excited too early but I’m excited and dying to share some of this with you.
Here are variations on a pendant necklace that Debbie Crothers will teach you how to make in her tutorial in the book. She shares a number of her lovely surface treatments as well as a creative polymer clasp and other wonderful accents and touches. I asked Debbie to be part of this book because of her colorful, well-designed, but loose-feeling approach to surface design. She shows you how to complete a version of one of these but you’ll be able to easily take from the skills she teaches and create unique pieces of your own.
If you don’t follow Debbie and her blog, you can do so here. She often throws out little freebie tutorials as well as selling her fun and engaging video tutorials on her site here.
Polymer Journeys Invitations: If you were invited to participate in Polymer Journeys last time, you will be in the pool for the initial rounds to choose who gets invitations but please update us with your most recent email if it has changed since then. If you have not been previously invited but would like to be because your work represents some of the best that polymer has to offer and/or are contributing to the polymer community in unique or significantly supportive ways, you can request consideration for an invitation.
To be considered, fill out an invitation request here. Note that making a request does not guarantee an invitation as we are limited to 250 invitations and so we will narrow down the list in the first round before invitations are even sent out. Invitations go out mid-July. Submissions of work completed between 2016 and 2018 will be due in early September. If you have questions while I’m out, you can write Sydney at connect[at]thepolymerarts.com.
So, we start out the month of May with a sneak peek at the cover of the upcoming issue of The Polymer Arts, the Summer 2015 – Connections issue. On the cover, we have a fabulous variation of Izabela Nowak‘s Polymer Origami technique–and yes, she generously shares her polymer origami techniques and tips with us in this issue!
As has been the recent trend, this issue is filled to the brim with new ideas, techniques, lessons and tips along with lots and lots of eye candy by some really huge and inspiring artists. You can look forward to articles such as:
–Create Polymer Origami Beads by Izabela Nowak
–Moving Magnetic Focals by Helen Breil
–Connected Color: Throwing out the Wheel by Tracy Holmes
–Connecting to Inspiration Beyond Polymer by Donna Greenberg
–Visual Unity: Designing the Big Picture
–Polymer Jeweler’s Workbench: Cold Connections
–Rivets: Attachments & Accents for Polymer
–Simple Cold Water Transfers
–Mind Mapping: Creative Visual Brainstorming
–Of Drawing, Doodles & Design: The Role of Sketching
… and much more.
The issue is due out at the end of the month. We don’t have pre-orders for individual issues up just yet, but we’ll let you know when the website is updated for that. You can, however, subscribe to be certain you’ll be getting every great new issue when it comes out. www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscribe.html
As mentioned in the blog post yesterday, we’ll be trimming down the number of posts for the month of May, and I’ll start that by taking tomorrow off from the blog to work on other needed items to get this great issue out ASAP! We will see you here on Monday, though. Have a beautiful weekend!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.
Read More
I figured there were a number of you who might have been intrigued by the containment form of adornment this week but thought it would be too much work to get into it. However, I have found a ‘gateway’ tutorial that might just get you addicted to the idea of making container necklaces. Then, you might find yourself moving onto purses or who know what else. In any case, if you like the form, you really should give it a try.
These matchbox amulets, as Tina Holden calls them, address both the inside and outside of this form. They have a slider similar to inros, but a construction that may be a bit more accessible to the novice box maker. She sells a two-part tutorial on her ArtFire page for those of you who want to jump in with pretty much guaranteed success. If you have already played around or you create container adornments, this could be inspiration for a new form.
You can find the two-part tutorial on this link here, or, if you don’t want to dive in wholly at this point, you can get Part 1 here, and then go for Part 2 later when you see just how addictive it is! She has a lot of other tutorials to offer, so if you aren’t up for boxes right now, still stop by her shop to see if something else piques your interest.
*Update: If you want to try your hand at another polymer matchbox design, Randee Ketzel sent this link to an older tutorial where it is opened by moving the outside of the box up the cord rather than pulling the inside up. This would not be ideal to hold loose objects (if the outside gets jostled up, items could fall out) but looks to work great as an amulet with hidden items secured inside. It is free so you can give it a try before you buy something more detailed like Tina’s tutorial: http://www.pcpolyzine.com/2000december/matchbook.html Thanks for that Randee!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.
Well, has this week’s cool patterns got you hankering to try a some new dramatic patterns yourself? Here, I found a great online tutorial that uses the drama of graphical black patterns edged by white to pump up the color and pattern of scrap canes. It’s a beautifully simple technique brought to us by Pinklily of France. I decided to show you just the resultant sheets here and hope you’ll go see what can be made from them on her blog post. Because the options are too fun to miss I thought you might just get curious and click through.
The instructions on here are in French and can’t be copied into Google translate, but I think the images are pretty self-explanatory. Although she uses canes for the background, you could really use any kind of pattern from marbling to leftover mokume to Stroppel canes. You could even keep it simple with a solid or Skinner blend background. The general effect will be the same.
Pinklily is pretty generous with her tutorials on her blog, so if you like this, take some time to wander about and see what other fund stuff she might have for you.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.
Nature has such a wide variety of flower forms, and not just the nested petals we are so familiar with such as roses, peonies, daisies and the like. The forms, not to mention the colors of course, are incredible. Search “Unusual Flowers” on Pinterest or Google images and you will see some of the craziest shapes and textures in what are considered flowers. Some are stunning while others are kind of scary, and others still are just plain weird. But see if you find any that get your fingers itching to recreate them in polymer or have you scrambling through your clay to see if you can recreate the color combinations.
In the meantime, how about practicing some unusual flower shapes by creating wisteria flowers? These are a little oddly shaped for flowers, but their purple and pink colors are just so lovely, especially in the way they drip off the trees in delicate falls. Catherine Starkov shares her method for creating a fall of wisteria for a set of earrings in this easy tutorial (click here for the English translation). Have fun with this or whatever you find yourself creating or enjoying this weekend!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.
I have to say up front that I am not a particularly floral kind of girl. I am far more likely to be found in the plumbing department than the gardening department at the local hardware store, but I still have a sincere appreciation for nature’s creative show during this time of year. Those of us in the northern hemisphere who are lucky enough to be in a climate that has benefited from some of the beautiful weather these past couple weeks are seeing the first of the spring flowers covering the hillsides and sprouting up alongside the country lanes. It makes one just ache to jump about and sing a few lines from “The Sound of Music” … doesn’t it? Okay, maybe that’s just me, but truly, the signs of spring are showing, and we can get excited about the prospects of warmer weather and colorful scenery or be bidding the summer’s bounty a fond farewell if we are south of the equator, so it seems about time that we honor nature’s most lovely creations.
If you will be participating in any upcoming spring shows, a good selection of floral motifs would certainly be welcome displays. I’ve picked out a lovely bunch to share this week. This first set is a bow to the rose and to floral abundance. Not only does Vera Veselova have lovely bunches of blossoms here to share with us, she has a tutorial for it as well! Click the image to get to it.
Now, what could you do with these rosy flowers? Well, I was thinking you could envelope the upper or half dome of a lentil shape, run blooms down the outside edge of a rectangular pendant or, for the truly ambitious, ring the center line of a vase or bowl. Abundance is itself a legitimate element of design. The key is to tone down or control the variety of other elements so the viewer is not overwhelmed. I mean go look at a freshly sprung field of wildflowers … we must admit that Mother Nature knows a thing or two about design!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.
;
Tube beads–they are round straight lines. Yeah, I know … sounds a little simplified and obvious but think about it. Round and straight don’t usually go together, but here we are, able to put the two together. My mother says I have never lost my childlike wonder of the world, and I guess she must be right since something as simple as a tube bead can still rather fascinate me.
Not only do tube beads have two seemingly disparate characteristics, they easily embody both the softness of their round aspect and the directionality of their straight lines. They can also be staccato by lining up short versions or hold long notes by being thin and lengthy. They can, like most beads, hold a tremendous amount of detail in a small space, such as the tube beads you see here by Annerose Doerling. The many colors and visual textures are just so yummy.
Now, here is the cool part. Annerose’s tube beads have been blogged about before, and it was revealed back then (some seven or so years ago) that she was working with a technique created by Dominique Franceschi that she found on another blog a couple years before that. The wonder of the Internet has preserved the links and the corresponding posts, so … tada … you can go back in time and see how old, very dry and crumbly clay can be turned into such gorgeous elements as these beads here. You can go to the Parole de Pate post here to see the super easy technique, but then you might want to bounce on over to Annerose’s Flickr pages to see how she perfected the technique and the finish for them. I’m sorry to say I couldn’t find any recent work by either the creator of the technique or her apt pupil, but I hope they are both out there still creating with childlike wonder and abandon.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.
;
Concave, convex, flat, nested, or peek-a-boo … domed disks hold numerous possibilities for polymer designs. Like this necklace of flat disks plus a focal concave disk accent on each that have been created by Polymeramoi who actually started this because of a momentary obsession with blended ikat patterns. The concept of disks show off the patterned polymer, and the solid, concave disks create a simple focal point that echos the flat disks in shape but with more volume.
If you want some ideas for playing with disks this weekend, there are numerous tutorials to check out online for free. Here are just a few I found fascinating. This first one is actually done with ceramic clay but lay down a little liquid polymer between the halves and it could be done with polymer.
Have a happy weekend claying, relaxing or otherwise enjoying the first day of Spring!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.
;
The big, information laden and in depth technique tutorial in the spring issue is on polymer quilling. Quilling with paper has gotten quite popular and has gone beyond the realm of basic decoration into some truly museum-quality wall pieces. The art intrigued Beth Petricoin, and she wrote me last year to query about whether our readers would like to see this done in polymer. She had started working on the technique in the summer of 2013 and was needing that push to perfect it. So, with an enthusiastic “Yes!” from me, she worked on it until she streamlined the process and had developed several different approaches in order to provide a great variety of possibilities. The article in the spring 2015 issue includes these with everything from choices of substrate or none at all, closed and open quill work methods, and plenty of tips and tricks to get our readers started on this fun and beautiful technique.
In this article, we were able to show both simple and very complex pieces using this technique. What we didn’t have room for was the piece that rather started this whole journey for Beth. But, you see it here now. I believe this was her first full-scale attempt with this technique back in 2013, and it’s really quite well done. I love how the sky versus the ocean, both in shades of blue, are delineated by types of forms—round and rolling, accented with bubbles in the ocean while the sky is simple waves and white clouds. Zoom in on the turtle as well to see the whorls in the shell. There’s a lot of detail in this.
You can read about this first piece along with the Native American Indian story that inspired it on Beth’s blog. Take a look through some of her other entries and catch the broad range of her work with a little perusal around her Etsy store.
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.
;
One of the key aspects of the spring issue was in introducing readers to materials that currently are not commonly combined with polymer. In our “Color Diversity” section, we were lucky enough to get primers on using two other art materials that artists Margit Bohmer and Penni Jo Couch have been playing with—that being pastels and colored pencils, respectively. They both had so much information to share that we didn’t have room for a gallery of other examples by other artists. We do encourage all our readers who find themselves intrigued by the colors and possibilities of these mediums to investigate them further. I know we did, and there is some beautiful work being done with both materials.
What is even less common than each of these materials being used with polymer is using the two additional colorants together to punch up the color and texture of a polymer piece. In fact, I only found one such piece by an artist local to me, Maria Clark of Sweet Willow Designs in Lakewood, Colorado. This leaf was crafted in polymer and wire, and then colored with pan pastels (see the article for more on this artist-quality type of pastel.) Then it was cured and further enhanced with Prismacolor colored pencils. The colors are so juicy and intense; the subtle changes in texture just add to this richness. This is not a look or gradation in color you could get with colored clay alone.
Maria explains her process briefly in a post on her blog. She has other work to show on her Flickr pages and tutorials on her YouTube channel. Although, there does not seem to be any colored pencil or pastel work there … yet. But, if you want even more ideas about the broad possibilities of both colored pencil on polymer and/or pastel on polymer, I first highly suggest you read the very informative articles with technique steps that Margit and Penni generously wrote for us in the Spring 2015 issue of The Polymer Arts, and then hit up Pinterest, Flickr and Google for additional work using polymer + pastels +/or colored pencil for keywords. Then, be ready to get lost in the images you’ll find.
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.
;
