The Daily Polymer Arts Blog

So, as mentioned in yesterday’s post, I want to introduce you to an enamel artist who did work that could inspire you to try something a little different with your own work.

Marilyn Druin (1941-2001) was an enamel artist of unusual vision, enthusiasm and drive. She constantly pushed her medium, ultimately creating the beautiful but time-consuming and strenuous processes that put her on a level far beyond the majority of her colleagues.  The reason I wanted to share her work is partly to inspire those of you who work with faux enamel to look at possible variations. The other reason is to hopefully inspire you to push your work, challenge yourself and realize the huge rewards that Marilyn’s kind of commitment to her craft can bring you … rewards in finding an unexpected beauty you can truly, uniquely create.

Take a look at these two pins below. Marilyn did a lot more than just pins … cups, necklaces, sculpture … but these have some great, easy to see examples of her unusual enamel texture. I have no idea how she did some of this in enamel but I do have some very exciting ideas about how to do it in polymer.

I see combining textured opaque and layered translucent clays with liquid polymer glazes to get effects like some of these. I have not seen a lot of people do things that looks quite like this in polymer but its seems like a rather obvious direction for faux enamel … layering polymer in shimmering, translucent colors with texture underneath or just aiming to emulate enamel with clay instead of liquid.

I think sometimes our influence from all that we see of other people’s polymer art may actually limit our ability to think beyond what is already being done … perhaps that is the reason for the dominance of faux enamel created in single swathes of colored liquid polymer.

When I first started working with polymer, I didn’t see hardly any work. I was self-taught from sites like Glass Attic and a couple books so my exposure was limited. I did some pretty different things back then and would often be asked at shows where my ideas came from.  ”The ether,” I would say. But now I find my designs are often reflective of the kind of work I’ve been looking at … and I look at a ton these days. I’ve been feeling overly influenced by the immersion necessary to do this blog and the magazine. It can’t be helped. But I do find I am not happy with my designs because of it. So recently, I have been consciously forcing myself to break past or even erase/remove portions of my designs that I know are from other polymer artists’ work. I am much happier with the results when I do so. I find my mind starts wandering back into that ignorant, child-like portion of my imagination that lets me create work that feels much more my own. It can be hard to stay there though.

My point is, it can be so very advantageous to push your work beyond what you see other people doing. Combine techniques and approaches. And look at other forms of art. Because we can’t, usually, directly copy art made from other materials, we have to translate and filter it through ourselves. That should influence your work to go in directions that others aren’t going in and bring out your own voice. And that is a wonderful, beautiful thing.

In the meantime, treat yourself to a few minutes (or more!) looking through Marilyn’s gallery of work. Even if you don’t do faux enamel, her textures and colors are just stunning–they could inspire any kind of artist, dont’ you think?

First,  because people are waiting to hear, we’d like to announce that the winner of the Sample Cosmic Ceramic project is … Karen Donald! Congrats!

Thank you all for chiming in on the faux versus variation question and taking part in the giveaway. I’m going to line up more giveaways so we can do this regularly. Write me with any suggestions for things you’d like me to try to get for these contests. Or if you’re a retailer of any kind and have something you’d like to giveaway from your shop, let me know. Write me directly at sbray@thepolymerarts.com

So … it would be remiss of me this week not to bring up what may be the faux techniques most widely experimented with when it comes to emulating other art forms–enamel. The common approach usually involves liquid polymer and alcohol inks and/or mica powders. The challenge tends to be in creating a base that has borders and/or channels to hold in and control the faux enamel. And there are a lot of different approaches for this.

At the beginning of the month, we visited Eugena’s artwork … she uses wire as her loose borders. It’s a gorgeous effect. It does take precision and patience, well worth the work, but isn’t for everyone. My favorite is the wax impression technique (See the Winter 2011 issue of The Polymer Arts magazine for the tutorial on this) because carving the wax to create the negative design has endless possibilities and there is nothing I’ve found that allows finer detail. But if you want to try something more straight forward, take a look at these “molds” cut into erasers and clay by Madrid’s Fabi.

She briefly explains the process on her Flickr page (although I think it was sent through a translator as it has some ‘interesting’ terms.) The advantage of erasers is the crispness of the lines although curves have to be more difficult to cut. I think her “gouging” tools must be engraving tools. You can get an inexpensive set at art and craft stores if you want to get into this. They can be used to easily cut into cured clay for other effects as well.

One of the things I wonder is whether we have really pushed faux enamel enough. I think there are possibilities, especially with the translucent clays, that we haven’t really seen. I’ve been playing with an idea myself but it’s not quite ready for prime time. However, tomorrow I am going to show you an artist that I think will knock your socks off, not just because it’s gorgeous work but because of the possibilities it shows us as polymer artists. She worked in real enamel and metal but the way it’s done, it actually reminds me of polymer and could be done in a way that would really push what we do with faux enamel right now. Intrigued? Well, tune in tomorrow …

Wow … thank you all for chiming in with your comments and emails on what to do with the rest of the week. It’s really very cool to hear from you all. Perhaps we’ll pose options (and giveaways!) for upcoming weeks on a regular basis. You can tell me what is of the most interest … I get very energized writing because of your feedback rather than the ideas that pop into my head, out of the ether. And who doesn’t like a chance to get free stuff! Sounds like a win-win to me!

So, faux came in heavy right off but a call to see more about variation started coming up from behind as the evening went on. The end result is … we are going to start with faux this week then look at how to work out variations next week.

Since Iris and Hilla brought to our attention another art form emulated in polymer, why don’t we stick with other craft arts that we can create in polymer? Try to keep in mind as we look at these techniques that the objective is not to find other arts to emualte but to see new directions that polymer can be pushed in your studio. For instance, I thought we’d start with an artist who’s faux lampwork has fascinated me since I stumbled on it a few years back. I love experimenting with liquid polymer and I was fascinated by how high Sharon Solly makes her glass like dots and how well controlled they are.

Sharon may have an bit of an advantage over the rest of us as she actually does lampwork. I am really curious as to how similar the work is. I know I experimented for a while trying to get the dot not to spread. My solution was to either add just a smidge at a time, hitting it with a heat gun between dabs or preheating the base clay so the dot of liquid polymer would start to solidify immediately. The pre-heat worked well on flat items as I could lay the base clay on a hot plate/mug warmer and work on that but the round beads  … I just couldn’t get the same effect that Sharon is getting. But if you can work on building up liquid polymer like this, you could add a bit of the faux lampwork look to many things you couldn’t add glass to in the first place. There are tremendous possibilities for decorative dotting!

If you are in the least bit interested, do look through Sharon’s Flicker pages. This one image is a bare tip of the iceberg … she has a broad body of work showing her on-going experimentation with this process. Actually, Sharon looks to be a major faux experimentator with a large variety of stones and dichroic-like pieces done in polymer.

So go explore some faux! Tomorrow we’ll announce the winner of the Cosmic Ceramic giveway as well. See you then!

I’m still debating on what direction to go this week. I have been sent some wonderful new art from Iris Mishly based on a new series of faux ceramic tutorials she developed with Hilla Bushari. I’ve been thinking about having a faux themed week but then I was intrigued by the variation in types of pieces Iris and Hilla created with this technique–everything from flower beads to beads that look like tiny houses to tea caddies to incense burners to cuff bracelets and on and on–and I thought maybe we should talk about variation and pushing what you do with a particular technique. I still haven’t decided so … tomorrow’s post will be a surprise but it will be determined by you! (Read on about how you can help me decide and put yourself in the running for a free Sample Project!)

So, let’s check out what Iris has for us. She just put these tutorials up just last week. They do have an amazingly realistic ceramic look. These ladies got so creative with her beads too. Look at this strangely beautiful “Moon beads”, both otherworldly and organic in style.

And if you like making home decor, they’ve created quite a few unique items like these tea caddies–they’re adorable and so much more appealing than stacking those boxes of tea on the counter.

Here is what Iris says about her new tutorials:

“The tutorials are covering 10 different beads designs and 8 final projects, each is examining the different faces of faux ceramic – textures, surface treatments etc. In general, the projects are demonstrating the various ways we came up with to imitate ceramic glazed products; some are dimensional, some flat, some created with chalks, pastels, gilders paste and some with alcohol inks. Each project is accompanied by a separate video and screen shots in a PDF file. The videos are for the ones who want to see the complete process from start to finish, and the pdf is for those in a hurry and want to go briefly over the photos.”

So if you’ve been looking for something new to explore, these look to be all too much fun. And Iris’ tutorials are beautifully created with lots of tips and carefully thought out steps. You can see the full array of possibilities (not that there is a limit to what you can do here!) on the PolyPedia Online website.  Iris and Hilla are also giving away sample beads to the kit purchasers who buy the best set. 

WIN A FREE SAMPLE PROJECT!

Iris and Hilla have been kind enough to offer a free *sample* project from the complete “Cosmic Ceramic” tutorials to one lucky reader commenting on this post. Just tell me whether we should cover faux techniques or the subject of technique variation the rest of this week … or post a comment about whatever this post brings to mind! The winner will be announced in Thursday’s post!

A little bit of business to chat about today but we’ll get back to our standard programming tomorrow.

The Summer issue is at the printers and rolling down the machines as I write this. It’s so exciting … can’t wait to get my copies here! But the first copies get sent out to the readers directly from the printer. I send them the list of readers to mail tomorrow so if you haven’t pre-ordered your copy or need to subscribe or renew your print subscription, today is the day to do so! Just go here to do so: http://www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscribe.html

This issue is packed!! Tons of fun to be had between learning about collaborative art work, being inspired by combining other materials with polymer, ideas for adhering polymer to all kinds of  objects, exploring inclusions, ideas for great photo backgrounds, making wire findings for polymer and so much eye candy and inspiration you can take straight to the studio. Don’t miss it!

Because this issue was so packed, we couldn’t include everything sent to us or that I wanted to show you. Like this garden pendant from Nikolina Otrzan …

Nikolina has such a unique, fun and quirky style. Her pieces just make you smile. She is a featured gallery artist in this upcoming issue and I hope will continue to share with us in the future. She is also a CraftArtEdu instructor with one her coolest techniques–her Colori pieces–up as a tutorial now. Take a look at what she has to offer and keep your eye out as she has more coming soon!

I’m never perfectly satisfied when I send an issue of The Polymer Arts off to be printed. There is always a thing or two (or ten) that I feel could have been done better. I also know that to give into the inclination to make everything perfect would mean never getting it out the door or always be very unhappy. This is true of any artistic work.  So, instead, we need to do our best in a time frame that makes it reasonable for its intended end purpose (to sell, to gift, to wear ourselves) and then let it go out into the worldto be what it will be.

A great sentiment and a colorful image quote to end our colorful week. Thank you to Paula K. Gilbert, my longest standing staffer on the magazine,  for sending me this image and for always being so  encouraging and enthusiastic.

I wanted to take a moment as we wind up this colorful week, to point out a simple fact about color–how you use color is just as important as what colors you choose. I feel this needs to be emphasized because with all the colorful work we’ve been looking at this week you might think you need to get more colorful or bolder. But the use of color is about how it affects the impact of your piece so you can use a lot or just a little  and still have a highly impactful piece.

I think Betsy Baker fully realizes the value of color and balancing it for impact. Here is a series of pendants with barely any color visible, yet the color that is there is very dynamic visually because it is not competing with any other colors and is starkly contrasted against white.

These pendants are both calm but bold at the same time. It’s very powerful, really. So, you see it isn’t about how colorful your piece is but what you are trying to convey and how you can use color to help you make a statement or design a piece to come off just the way you intend.

Today’s outside inspiration is quite different, not just for this blog but as a type of art work. What you see below is bourbon. No, that is not some indecipherable typo … the colors and visual texture is the result of photographing liquor under a microscope. How crazy and cool is that? These images are [...]

My dear and darling friends Tracy Holmes and Dan Cormier are helping out a tired and worn out publisher this week by guest posting for me today. I wanted to write up something about their color projects for our color theme this week but Tracy graciously took the writing upon herself and Dan put together [...]

I have always found that one of the most fascinating and astonishing places to study color and find inspiration for combinations is in natural elements. Not just in the outdoors, mind you, but all things naturally formed. This may not seem like news but have you ever stopped and studied the actual combinations of color [...]