Crisp and Clean

October 12, 2016

sigaliot-crisp-and-clean-beadSome days you just want simple and bright, something uncomplicated to make you smile. I found this one bead on this foggy Wednesday morning and it gave me an immediate visual pick me up with the beautiful colors and skillfully created and applied canes.

The cane and bead artisan here is Israel’s Sagit Levi. She specializes in bright, clean, well-defined and delightful colors and graphical lines in her beads as well as creating charming illustrative wall art. She also is very attentive to her finishes, completing edges and surfaces so smoothly that her resin and glaze sealants come out flawless, letting those yummy colors shine through.

Need a bit more color pick-me-up yourself? Just jump over to Sagit’s website, Flickr photostream or Etsy site and get yourself an eye full!

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Let color rule your day. Focus on creating a few new color palettes. Start with one color that you really like then stack all kinds of colors next to it and create a new palette that surprises and delights you. If you can’t do that in the studio, you can play with this somewhat new free online color palette finder from Adobe, Color CC,  or try the polymer specific ColorMixr app on your phone.

_________________________________________

Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.

Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog  never knead -july-2015c-125   2Wards Blog Sept 2016

The Great Create Sept 15 blog   businesscard-3.5inx2in-h-front

_________________________________________

Mid Week Underwater Color Burst

May 4, 2016

il_fullxfull.644467359_1c3mHere’s a quick and colorful look at some further fishy polymer today.

This bright pendant is by Estonia’s Katrina of  the shop Filigrina on Etsy. We took a peek at another ocean inspired work of hers last year and although this is the same form of pendant, where the other piece was in a limited palette of blues and white, this has a ton of full strength color to show off all this hand tooled texture.

Katrina uses the same basic techniques employed for what is often called polymer embroidery but this time, there are no flowers, which the application is commonly used to create. Obviously the technique is perfect for undersea scenery as well!

I’m sorry this is so short but I must go catch a plane and leave all my little fishes behind. Enjoy this little mid-week color burst!

 

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Go crazy with color. Use color directly from the packet, choosing the brightest ones you have. Try using more of the colors you tend to steer away from. Create or design a piece with the color itself as inspiration. Let the things and memories that these colors remind you of be the source for imagery, form, texture and lines.

 

_________________________________________

Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:

PCTV March 2016 Blog  Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog  2Wards Blog May 2016

The Great Create Sept 15 blog  never knead -july-2015c-125  

_________________________________________

Fondness for a Place

September 16, 2014

Joan Israel cityscape israelGinger’s pick for today is a bit of lovely wall art by  New York’s Joan Israel.  Like yesterday’s post, this polymer clay landscape scene consists of individual elements that are arranged to tell a story although I think this one is more about the artist than the town.

Although scenes and stories in polymer are most often literal imagery, the dimensionality and playfulness of the material lends itself more readily to symbolism and metaphor rather than realistic illustration. In this piece, the size of the various components relay a hierarchical importance between the images. The river, the sun, and the bird are the largest, most active and contrasting of the elements here. Light, freedom and a gentle meandering from these along with the bright and rich colors gives the viewer a sense that this is a very happy place, one the artist must be very fond of. The position of the menorah top and center helps in identifying the place if you didn’t see the title of the piece to start with. The title is “Israel” by the way, one of Joan’s favorite places, she confesses in her Flicker comments. Her love of the place does shine right through.

Bright colors and stylized imagery is Joan’s trademark from her jewelry to her covered decor to wall pieces like this. For a bright and sunny break in your day, take a look at Joan’s work on her Flickr photostream.

Ginger Davis Allman lives in Springfield, Missouri with her husband Gary, her three kids and her many craft obsessions. Subscribe to her blog and look around her website for her well-researched and in-depth posts and articles on polymer related subjects. Support her great information and research as well as treating yourself by getting yourself a tutorial or two from this talented lady.

 

 

If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.

14-P3 Fall-Play cover Full sm   Blog2 -2014-02Feb-2   3d star ad  Polymania Advert 125  tpa-125x125-blog   Faux-Glass-Banner-1000px-600x476

Bold and Brilliant Floral

June 4, 2013

Working in floral is a license to go all out with color. Springtime flowers are bright, vivid things, competing against all the other bright and vivid colors of the season. You can take a lesson from their boldness: if you are going to get colorful, don’t hold back on just how bold or striking your color combinations are.

This necklace from 2 Good Claymates (Carolyn and Dave Good) has an fairly limited palette, but the saturation and contrast of the color are quite striking, don’t you think?

Jewelry - Floral Collar -

 

This is just one example of being bold without having to overdose the viewer with color. Being bright and bold is not about how many colors you use, but how they work together. Think contrast when you are after brilliant color–the darker blue against the bright of the turquoise and the lighter yellow is where this color combination in this piece gets its punch. If you have accents or backgrounds to go along with your bold components, consider toning down those colors so they don’t compete too much. You can see how that works in this necklace, with the leaves here created in more muted greens. They allow the bright flowers to really pop.

I can’t imagine a piece like this not grabbing some serious attention at the next garden party, even amidst nature’s own work!

Crisp and Clean

October 12, 2016
Posted in

sigaliot-crisp-and-clean-beadSome days you just want simple and bright, something uncomplicated to make you smile. I found this one bead on this foggy Wednesday morning and it gave me an immediate visual pick me up with the beautiful colors and skillfully created and applied canes.

The cane and bead artisan here is Israel’s Sagit Levi. She specializes in bright, clean, well-defined and delightful colors and graphical lines in her beads as well as creating charming illustrative wall art. She also is very attentive to her finishes, completing edges and surfaces so smoothly that her resin and glaze sealants come out flawless, letting those yummy colors shine through.

Need a bit more color pick-me-up yourself? Just jump over to Sagit’s website, Flickr photostream or Etsy site and get yourself an eye full!

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Let color rule your day. Focus on creating a few new color palettes. Start with one color that you really like then stack all kinds of colors next to it and create a new palette that surprises and delights you. If you can’t do that in the studio, you can play with this somewhat new free online color palette finder from Adobe, Color CC,  or try the polymer specific ColorMixr app on your phone.

_________________________________________

Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.

Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog  never knead -july-2015c-125   2Wards Blog Sept 2016

The Great Create Sept 15 blog   businesscard-3.5inx2in-h-front

_________________________________________

Read More

Mid Week Underwater Color Burst

May 4, 2016
Posted in

il_fullxfull.644467359_1c3mHere’s a quick and colorful look at some further fishy polymer today.

This bright pendant is by Estonia’s Katrina of  the shop Filigrina on Etsy. We took a peek at another ocean inspired work of hers last year and although this is the same form of pendant, where the other piece was in a limited palette of blues and white, this has a ton of full strength color to show off all this hand tooled texture.

Katrina uses the same basic techniques employed for what is often called polymer embroidery but this time, there are no flowers, which the application is commonly used to create. Obviously the technique is perfect for undersea scenery as well!

I’m sorry this is so short but I must go catch a plane and leave all my little fishes behind. Enjoy this little mid-week color burst!

 

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Go crazy with color. Use color directly from the packet, choosing the brightest ones you have. Try using more of the colors you tend to steer away from. Create or design a piece with the color itself as inspiration. Let the things and memories that these colors remind you of be the source for imagery, form, texture and lines.

 

_________________________________________

Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:

PCTV March 2016 Blog  Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog  2Wards Blog May 2016

The Great Create Sept 15 blog  never knead -july-2015c-125  

_________________________________________

Read More

Fondness for a Place

September 16, 2014
Posted in

Joan Israel cityscape israelGinger’s pick for today is a bit of lovely wall art by  New York’s Joan Israel.  Like yesterday’s post, this polymer clay landscape scene consists of individual elements that are arranged to tell a story although I think this one is more about the artist than the town.

Although scenes and stories in polymer are most often literal imagery, the dimensionality and playfulness of the material lends itself more readily to symbolism and metaphor rather than realistic illustration. In this piece, the size of the various components relay a hierarchical importance between the images. The river, the sun, and the bird are the largest, most active and contrasting of the elements here. Light, freedom and a gentle meandering from these along with the bright and rich colors gives the viewer a sense that this is a very happy place, one the artist must be very fond of. The position of the menorah top and center helps in identifying the place if you didn’t see the title of the piece to start with. The title is “Israel” by the way, one of Joan’s favorite places, she confesses in her Flicker comments. Her love of the place does shine right through.

Bright colors and stylized imagery is Joan’s trademark from her jewelry to her covered decor to wall pieces like this. For a bright and sunny break in your day, take a look at Joan’s work on her Flickr photostream.

Ginger Davis Allman lives in Springfield, Missouri with her husband Gary, her three kids and her many craft obsessions. Subscribe to her blog and look around her website for her well-researched and in-depth posts and articles on polymer related subjects. Support her great information and research as well as treating yourself by getting yourself a tutorial or two from this talented lady.

 

 

If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.

14-P3 Fall-Play cover Full sm   Blog2 -2014-02Feb-2   3d star ad  Polymania Advert 125  tpa-125x125-blog   Faux-Glass-Banner-1000px-600x476

Read More

Bold and Brilliant Floral

June 4, 2013
Posted in

Working in floral is a license to go all out with color. Springtime flowers are bright, vivid things, competing against all the other bright and vivid colors of the season. You can take a lesson from their boldness: if you are going to get colorful, don’t hold back on just how bold or striking your color combinations are.

This necklace from 2 Good Claymates (Carolyn and Dave Good) has an fairly limited palette, but the saturation and contrast of the color are quite striking, don’t you think?

Jewelry - Floral Collar -

 

This is just one example of being bold without having to overdose the viewer with color. Being bright and bold is not about how many colors you use, but how they work together. Think contrast when you are after brilliant color–the darker blue against the bright of the turquoise and the lighter yellow is where this color combination in this piece gets its punch. If you have accents or backgrounds to go along with your bold components, consider toning down those colors so they don’t compete too much. You can see how that works in this necklace, with the leaves here created in more muted greens. They allow the bright flowers to really pop.

I can’t imagine a piece like this not grabbing some serious attention at the next garden party, even amidst nature’s own work!

Read More
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