Hole-y Design
March 10, 2019
Inspirational Art, Polymer community news, Technique tutorials
Here is a relatively odd question but give me a moment and I will explain… Do you think of a hole as an empty space or an object unto itself? Or do you just find the idea of a hole being a thing of its own strange? I mean, it’s empty space, isn’t it? Well, it is empty space but when it comes to design a hole can be a focal point, added as accents or used to create patterns, so it is a thing of its own – it’s a design element.
I myself love having holes in things. Holes can lighten up the visual as well as the physical weight of a piece. They also leave space for seeing through to what is behind it which can be symbolic or help integrate the piece into its surroundings. This can be especially useful when it comes to jewelry as you can see the skin, hair, or clothing of the wearer through those holes and so the wearer becomes more inclusively part of the design and what the viewer is observing.
Let’s look at some examples of how holes are used as integral parts of design in jewelry.
Hole-y Jewelry
First of all, holes will always be, on some level, a focal point. It will draw our eye almost immediately, both because we note the missing material and also because we have an inclination to peek through wherever a hole has been made. Holes are a narrowed point of empty space and we can’t help but look through to whatever it might be framing.
Here, Eva Haskova uses rolled up strips of clay to create holes that become strong focal points in the pendant and brooch shown at the start of this post. They are balanced by the tall, dimensional elements breaking out of the frame of the background which calls attention to them, and yet the eye continues to go back to the holes, doesn’t it?
Eva seems quite enamored of holes and negative space in her work. Just take a look at her Flickr photostream or her Facebook page to find more examples and inspiration of how she uses holes.
Even though our eyes will tend to focus on holes, they can be balanced out fairly equally. This necklace by Cecilia Button is a great example. She uses a lot of pattern and movement throughout the necklace to create a balance between her various design elements so that the holes don’t overly dominate.
Holes can also be functional while being integral to the design as seen here in Janet Pitcher’s lariat style “Petal Pusher” necklace. This is also an example of how holes can be constructed – by an arrangement of canes slices here – not just punched through the clay. Janet has been making these for years in a myriad of colors and arrangements. You can see more of them on her website and her Facebook page here.
Holes are also excellent for creating texture and pattern. When the holes are many and placed close together they visually mesh as they do in this pendant by Еnkhtsetseg Tserenbadam, who first created the pendant based on instructions in Helen Breil’s book, Shapes: 25 Inspirational Jewellery Designs in Polymer Clay. Her random pattern of holes become a texture surrounding an elongated hole formed by the folded clay. So, it is holes around a hole, making for a particularly open and airy pendant.
Here is an example of using holes for nearly all of the above purposes. One hole is a focal point, another is the functional connection point for the cording while the many others – some complete holes and some not quite all the way through but acting the same visually – are placed over the pendant as accents but ones that create a pattern that adds energy through their rhythmic placement. The accent type holes are also end points for the strong energy of the lines radiating from the center, giving that energy anchor points to contain it. The artist, Sandra Plavšić , also includes layers of color that show themselves in the sides of the holes, taking full advantage of this type of revealing element.
Punching Your Own Holes
Are you feeling the itch to put some of your own holes into clay? It wouldn’t be hard to get started on a little hole-centric project today. You really could just roll out some clay and pull out some round cutters and start playing.
- Just punch holes randomly around a thick sheet of clay – it could be a sheet that you’ve treated with some technique or maybe marbled or otherwise mixed the clay.) Then, using a large cutter as a frame, place the large cutter at different points in your sheet to find a pattern of holes you like, and just punch it out. You can further color or treat it however you like and/or place it on a form to give it dimension. You could also take a cutter that is larger than the other small holes you punched into the sheet and make a large focal point hole in the chosen section.
- If you don’t like the sharp cuts of a cutter, soften them by laying a sheet of plastic wrap across the top of the clay – make sure it is smooth with no wrinkles to start – then punch them out and it will add a bevel to the edges of the holes.
- For a more organic look, hand tool it. Press a ball stylus, knitting needle or other round tipped hand tool straight down into the clay and then move it around in a circular motion until you have created a hole. Do this over and over again, randomly and close together to create a texture, or place them purposefully in a pattern or judiciously as focal points.
- If you prefer a bit of direction as you start your hole-y crusade, here is a fun and easy tutorial that creates a simple but energetic and contemporary looking jewelry piece:
- Or you may want to grab your copy (or buy a copy) of the Polymer Art Projects – Organic book, in which holes play a role in several of the pieces in the book including a similarly styled pendant and brooch by Eva Haskova to what I showed you above but with her lovely take on a brain cane.
We also have a beautiful and easy to make boho-esque pendant project, created in the more organic hole making style, in the first issue of The Polymer Studio that the artist, Anna Malnaya calls “Martian Footprints”. So if you have that issue and haven’t tried it, go grab your copy and try that out. If you don’t have a copy, get it on the website – the digital edition is available for immediate download in most countries or order the print edition and we will ship it off to you.
Need Supplies or Inspiration?
Poly Clay Play is having a Spring Fling Sale! Get 10% off your whole cart (some exceptions apply.) Use coupon code Spring Fling, March 9 – 16, 2019. Shipping is closed at the shop that week (hence the sale) but you can take advantage of the discounts now and your goodies will be off to you the following week.
Discount pricing is available now on Christi Friesen’s new Nudge Cards. Get $4 off the set on her website here. No promo code needed!
On our Tenth Muse Arts site, discount packages for books and backorder magazines are available now. Buy One Get One Half off on Print + digital packages of the beautiful new Polymer Journeys 2019 book, or on packages including BOTH editions of Polymer Journeys – 2016 + 2019. There is also a package with all available copies of The Polymer Arts for basically half off the cover. See the website here.
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!
It’s All About the Fall
September 24, 2018
Inspirational Art
Saturday was a bittersweet day as we released the final issue of The Polymer Arts. It is enjoying a wonderful reception as it is packed full of great ideas, beautiful techniques and lots of food for thought to get those creative wheels spinning.
If you are one of our readers expecting a digital edition but haven’t seen it yet, look in your inbox for a midday email Saturday or check spam/junk mail folders if it’s not there. The print editions headed to the post office on Friday so they should start popping up in mailboxes soon. If you are on the east coast of the United States or overseas, allow up to four weeks for it to arrive.
Here is a collage of some of the first pages of articles if you haven’t seen the issue yet. This issue feels a bit like a transition between what The Polymer Arts has been and what the new magazine, The Polymer Studio, will be. There are a lot of tutorials focused on technique, as always, but with a more accessible range for the novice to the intermediate craftsperson. Rather like The Polymer Studio will be.
I also wrote a couple of short pieces in this issue, talking about the role of publications in our creative lives and how these ideas caused me to make the changes we are making with the magazines. You can read about the development of these magazines in the “Editor’s Worktable.” In this issue’s back page “Muse’s Corner” is my personal story about how circumstances and refocusing on self-care precipitated the decisions to close one magazine and start another.
As always though, we have lots for you to ponder and act on regarding things like your creative vision, the use of color, selling your work, expanding your jewelry forms, and working as an artist in the world of polymer. The fascinating interview with Helen Breil is reason enough to get this issue. She is a very unusual woman who really took a different path. I think you’ll find some surprising details in this and many of the other articles in this issue.
So if you haven’t yet, you can get your own copy of this very special last issue of The Polymer Arts by ordering it online here.
While you do that, I am going to go visit family in Colorado and drive through the mountains in all their changing colors but I’ll drop in here Wednesday, as usual, with a peek at a few things that we weren’t able to fit in this issue of The Polymer Arts.
New book! Polymer Art Projects—Coming October 20th
September 10, 2018
Inspirational Art, Polymer community news, The Polymer Arts magazine news
This 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.
A Mosaic Tease
June 20, 2018
Inspirational Art
One more little tease before I go off. This is a brand-new Christi Friesen piece she created just for the new book, Polymer Art Projects—Organics, for which we will have discounted pre-sale opportunities when I get back in a couple of weeks.
Christi has been playing around a lot with mosaics and shares her techniques for creating polymer mosaic pieces and then applying them on variously shaped surfaces. This covered tin box is a textural jungle gym for the fingers. She mixes the busy, hard-edged mosaic pieces with the soft, organic flowing shapes and surface variations. This is all done over a tin box. Her tutorial is wonderfully detailed and allows some room for those people who like to change things up a bit as they go along, making their own unique version. Which, I think, is the end goal of working through tutorials—to learn the skills to make your own unique, self-expressive work. All the tutorials in this book will give you that opportunity if that’s what you want.
I thought it was also apropos to share this particular piece because Christi’s inspiration for this is Gaudi, as in Antoni Gaudí whose work can be found all over Barcelona. And that is exactly where I’m heading to tomorrow! For three days I’m going to take in all the Gaudi and fabulous Spanish food I can manage. So with that, I leave you in the hands of my generous artist friends, starting with Christi guest-blogging on Friday. ¡Hasta luego!
See more of Christi’s mosaics on her website and stay tuned here or get our newsletter, which you can sign up for on our website here, to be one of the first to hear when the new books are ready to order.
Variation on Time
December 1, 2017
Inspirational Art
I spent a lot of time looking for differently constructed clocks in polymer and couldn’t find much that really illustrated the point I was hoping to make. What I wanted was to show that a clock does not have to be on a flat surface. It can be made of many parts, attached or not, and fully dimensional. As long as you have something that can house or hide the clock mechanism while holding out the hands, the rest is wide open. You can have the hour markers designated by any form and attach them with sticks or wire or be free floating–whatever suits the piece and your inclination.
These two examples are commercial designs rather than polymer art but I think they give you the basics of this idea of moving beyond the flat clock face. Not only do these kinds of clocks make for really interesting wall pieces, they give you the freedom to use pieces you may already have such as large hollow beads, faux stones, unhung pendants, small figurines, flowers, etc.
As a gift, giving a clock that has separate pieces might be best attached to something that can be hung as one piece, like a backing of Plexiglas or painted plywood. Or include instructions for a template to mark on the wall where each piece goes. There is little to no construction to deal with but you will have to make concessions in the design for how the individual pieces will be hung. Alternately, go for a design where the elements are attached like the flowers you see here.
The sky is the limit with these kinds of designs. For more ideas, try searching “DIY clocks,” which was the keyword set that brought me to these two pieces. I hope these sparks some ideas and I look forward to seeing inventive clock designs this month!
Something’s in the Air
June 27, 2017
Inspirational Art
This week’s theme will start with one of our more notorious creative instigator, Christi Friesen. On my end it started when my better half came back from an orchid show not with any orchids but rather with a 4 foot tall branch covered in air plants and I thought, “That is far too many air plants for that stick. I should save some from their crowded existence and make planters for them! In polymer. Of course.” However, in my world, the time between the germination of an idea and gaining the free time to implement it can be pretty vast. A few days later, I saw this photo pop up on Facebook. Apparently thoughts of air plants are, well, in the air!
Being a simple rolled cone construction with a ton of possibilities for color, texture, and embellishment, these little wall sconces of Christi’s are sure to get creative sparks flying for those of you looking for something new, easy and fun to play around with. There is plenty of room in this kind of project for your style and voice to come through. Work up something of your own like forming bowls, boxes, or tubes instead of cones and design it with your own signature colors and treatments.
Easy and fun are the signature marks of Christi’s classes and books, not to mention her community site, Christi’s Creative Neighborhood where have access to all sorts of tutorials, videos and creative ideas along with a chance to share with other like-minded clayers. Check out Christi’s happenings there, on her website and on her Facebook page.
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Dramatic Blends
June 3, 2017
Inspirational Art
One of my personal favorite articles in the new Summer issue is the “Blended Beauty” article on creating dramatic color and light in canes, written by Meg Newberg. I have been trying to get a really good article for our caning enthusiasts but for some reason, it’s been a struggle getting anything submitted beyond specific cane patterns. Which are cool, yes, but not quite in line with the technique driven and skill building objective of The Polymer Arts.
This article, however, is amazing. Meg gives concise and clear instruction on how to create the type of clay blends that give her canes that beautiful inner glow and dramatic color. But these ingenious Skinner type blends are for more than just caners, as you’ll see when you read it.
Meg’s focus on canes has allowed her deep and intense exploration into what can be done with canes. If you want to work on your caning skills or just want to create more interesting and colorful Skinner blends, read the article but also consider signing up for Meg’s monthly tutorial subscription (the mandala cane you see on the bottom here is this month’s tutorial) or buy one of her tutorials posted in her Etsy shop.
Weekly Inspiration Challenge: Let’s recharge this weekend! Sit back with a favorite beverage and take in your latest copy of The Polymer Arts or another magazine or book and let you mind process the art and ideas you find. Keep a sketchbook nearby to record any “ah-ha!” moments and if you feel charged up when done, go to the studio and have some casual play time, exploring what inspired you.
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Journals: Organic Matter
January 21, 2017
Uncategorized
Journal covers are very much like blank canvases, which means you can do anything you desire on them. Your medium is probably the only thing that will constrict you, but then you aren’t restricted to one medium, are you? Polymer is amazing and will always be my go to material but I wouldn’t ignore other wonderful options, especially since so many other mediums work so well with polymer.
Here is a journal cover that has no polymer on it but most of the materials used are quite familiar to polymer clayers and could be combined with it to create looks inspired by this texture rich cover. Gabrielle Pollacco uses an insanely wide array of paints, inks, powders, sprays, stencils, stamps and a few other things to create this cover. Sometimes, too many materials is like too many ingredients in a recipe … going overboard can really muck things up. But Gabrielle brings it all together here by limiting her palette and sticking with a weathered look as her thematic motif.
She seriously looks like she is having way too much fun in this video tutorial that she recorded of her full process for creating this cover. I now have a new list of products to find and try so if you watch this, you have been warned that it may result in a bit of frenetic online shopping! Also … the music she uses may get stuck in your head and have you bopping about the rest of the day. It’s not a bad thing. Just wanted to give you a head’s up so you are ready to defend yourself with the mute button if bopping is not appropriate at the time.
Weekly Inspiration Challenge: Create a journal cover for your goals and plans book. Try some new materials to really make it interesting. If you’ve not covered a journal or sketchbook before and find covering a pristine new book on your first try to be a bit too much pressure, create on a separate sheet of clay that can be glued to the journal later or, if you like it as is, can be a bit of inspiration to frame. A sheet of raw clay, cured between two tiles to keep it perfectly flat can be a great ‘canvas’ to work on.
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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.
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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.
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I thought I’d look for some tutorials for you to play with this weekend that would accommodate some play with repetition. In that search, I found this simple, but charming, polymer bead spacer tutorial. We really didn’t talk about the repetition of strung beads, but I figured that would be a pretty obvious use of repetition. However, there are many ways to add variation to a string of beads. Different colors, sizes, shapes and textures is one way. Adding interesting spacers is another fantastic way.
Now, here is where I could use some help. I can find this tutorial on many a Pinterest board and numerous sites that gather tutorials, but I cannot pinpoint the author. And yes, there’s text on there but it does not seem to the English alphabet, so I’m at a loss. And with this tutorial so widely spread on English and non-English sites alike, it seems this person should get a little more obvious credit. So, if anyone has a clue, I’d love to hear from you. You can comment or reply to your email version of the blog post, and I’ll get it.
Here is where I originally found this tutorial if anyone wants to try to sleuth it out: http://claybooks.diary.ru/p172024294.htm?oam
In the meantime, how about making creative spacers this weekend? That could be a particularly fun, little project, especially for you snow bound folks!
Update: Thanks to Anna Anpilogova, we have our mystery solved.
The tutorial is by a Russian clayer Anna Mashkova. “Here is the link to original post in her blog … http://alica19.livejournal.com/17265.html” Thank you to both Annas!
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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Well, the Spring 2015 issue of The Polymer Arts is getting whipped into shape, and we can now finally show you the cover. It’s a bit different, being that we have three instead of our usual one artist on it. But the theme is “Diversity”, so it just seemed appropriate to have a diverse cover!
All three of these amazing artists, Wendy Wallin Malinow, Lisa Pavelka and Celie Fago, kindly gave us detailed insight into how they came to work in mixed media, the role that polymer plays in their art and their own tips and tricks as well as a handful of quick tutorials to get you going in combining these artists’ favorite “other” medium.
This issue also has a multi-artist article on alternate ways of coloring polymer, a crazy-fun “string impression” experiment (you’ll have to read the article to understand what that all means!), ways to diversify your polymer income, ideas for changing up your process to bring about breakthroughs in your design and business, plus inspiration from other mediums including in-depth info on using resin and Kroma crackle and a technique tutorial on translating paper quilling into a polymer art.
There will be, of course, tons of other goodies, eye candy and ideas inside. Keep your eyes peeled for the issue due out end of February. If you need to renew or subscribe for either digital copies or print, you can do so at www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscribe.html.
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The one article in the Winter 2014 issue of The Polymer Arts that seemed to greatly affect both the readers and the participants in the creation of its writing was the piece by Anke Humpert, “1,700 Pieces of Jewellery“. If you haven’t read it, you really need to. Anke developed a game based on limitation and a challenging process rather than a single challenge concept, and she invited several dozen artists to participate in her first run of it. That alone is a reason to read this; perhaps, in order to get ideas about developing more in-depth challenges for yourself or for your guild.
The thing that struck me, and I’ve had numerous comments back from readers on this and it obviously struck the artists that participated, was the step that required the participants to re-do the piece they made for the challenge. Yes … after the participating artists completed their piece, Anke asked that each of them make their piece again with changes and adjustments that came about from an evaluation of the initial piece. There was something about being given that bit of instruction, or, as I’ve been thinking of it, permission to start over and try again, that was a key illuminating moment for most of the artists. I know for myself, I plan on doing that exact thing when I get into the studio here shortly, maybe even making the same piece 3 or 4 times to see what I come up with. Many of us make just one piece, and then after that attempt move on, especially when it doesn’t work; when really, we could learn so much from trying to create a better version; to evaluate our work with a purpose; to see if we can create the improvements considered in that critique.
The image here is Sonya Girodon’s two pieces and her evaluation notes. There are more comparisons, notes and comments in the article that will get you thinking. Would you be up for challenging yourself to re-do a piece in this fashion as well?
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Before we just run away on the subject of creative framing, let’s take a quick look at some of the other items that are getting so much attention in the present issue of The Polymer Arts. The article on silk screening is just amazingly in-depth, and yet, makes it all seems so easy. Tonja Lederman took the reins on this one when I sent out a request for this kind of article earlier in the year, and boy, did she deliver. Not only do you get all the basics, she also gives out a ton of great tips, options for paint (many of which you probably never would have thought of) and resources for all the materials you’d need.
The reason I wanted to see a silk screen article was because it seemed like a lot of people I have talked to and that have written me had no idea where to start in order to try this technique. I figured if we could create an article that can get just about anyone started on it, we’d see a lot more wonderful work using this technique. I was originally inspired by one of the magazine’s very first gallery artists, Els Van Haasen, a Dutch polymer artist. I just thought the light touch of silk screen added a beautiful, delicate visual texture to her carefully finished pieces. This pendant has that same quality from the seaweed silk screen plus a glow from the blended clay colors. The open edge and domed shape gives the simple composition a kind of full and broad feel.
I know there are of polymer purists who might feel a cane or Sutton slice should have been used instead of paint, but it would have been a very different effect. The silk screen adds that visual texture and touch of complexity without disturbing the treatment of the clay. There really would be no other way to do this.
Els’ style and light touch with this technique can be seen on her Flickr photostream where there are many more examples of silk screen accented pieces along with a lot of textural and form exploration to glean inspiration from.
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My aim today was to bring up something to encourage you to create a simple piece; to make something with a minimum of detail, but that still has eye-catching impact. There are a lot of options. You could look at anything we posted this week, and after finding the element that most intrigues you, create something of your own. You could also look through the links for the artists featured and find other pieces that speak to you.
If you like the idea of attempting a simple piece, but would like some direction, there are many tutorials out there that could get you on your way. I found this one by Gretchen Amberg on the Sculpey website. Simple graduated color and bead size brings enough variation to carry the simple composition. A careful finish would be key to making an elegant piece. This tutorial uses Sculpey’s new hollow bead tray, but you could use light bulbs and various cutter sizes to accomplish the size difference and still retain the volume of the bead forms.
In any case, I hope this week’s theme has inspired you to try your hand at simplicity, even if it doesn’t seem to be your style. There are great lessons to be learned by reducing a design to very simple elements.
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On Polyform’s website, there are numerous free lessons. If you have admired Melanie Muir’s clean mokume technique, you can get the basics and create your own from this great little tutorial on Polyform’s website. It’s nice to see the tutorial emphasize the importance of color contrast–light and dark, but there is also bright and dull, warm and cool and picking from opposite ends of the color spectrum. All of these will give your color palette some level of drama. However, there is nothing at all wrong with choosing analogous colors, colors with similar saturation or value or anything else. It will create a different feel, and the less contrast, the less visual pop and drama you will see. But, we’re not always after that, are we?
So, why not choose a color palette that fits your mood, an outfit or reminds you of a great time or place and try Melanie’s approach? There are some great little tips in this lesson, which makes it worth at least a quick read for anyone into polymer surface treatments. And the resulting sheets or pendants could really get you ahead on creating for your gift giving list!
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Another classic color palette that works really well with mokume is the limited color palette. Limiting the colors to just two or three (and keeping them either analogous or give one a real contrast from the rest) will force you to work with value (how light or dark a color is) and composition. Too much color can be distracting in your composition and overpower your other other design elements.
In this extruded polymer mokume, Jan Montarsi uses a pink and peach color with white. There is very little contrast in the couple of colors. The colors are analogous, and the most value contrast is with the white, which is not a color at all. This minimal color set forces Jan to work with other elements like the intriguing layering and shapes within his pendant here.
The extruded mokume technique offers a lot of opportunity for the exploratory clayer. If you haven’t worked with it, it’s great fun, it can use up scrap clay if you like and creates a more definite and more controllable pattern. For a tutorial on the extruded mokume method, take a look at Kristie Foss’ nice tutorial here. And for more great mokume and beautiful finishes, have fun roaming Jan’s Flickr pages.
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