Exercises in Gray
October 11, 2014
Inspirational Art
After all this talk of gray, I thought it was about time to challenge you with some further ideas about color values so you can see for yourself what understanding value can do for your work.
First of all, take any photo of one of your pieces and put it into a photo manipulation software program, changing the color mode to “Grayscale”. You can usually do this with your camera as well by changing the mode to “Black & White” or “B&W” as you take the photo. Then look at what you have. If you were after a lot of contrast in your piece, you should definitely see a range of darks and lights that easily define the forms, lines, textures and color changes you have in the piece. If you were after a quieter contrast, you should see little variation in the darkness or lightness of the grays.
Here is a beautiful mokume gane pendant by Harriet Smith. The original shot on the left is vibrant and bright, but does have a calm feel too it. And you can see just why that is when you turn it gray. Even with the fiery colors and the many overlapping lines, the energy of the pendant is kept in check by the minimal variation in value. Of course, this piece is quite different without it’s brilliant colors, but the exercise shows why the energy is not quite so high.
You can examine any of your pieces in this manner and will likely find yourself surprised quite often at the actual value range your pieces have. Being aware of value will help you make better decisions about your color choices going forward. And if you want to learn more about value with some polymer centric exercises, take a look at this great little article written by Maggie Maggio, co-author of Polymer Clay Color Inspirations, which also has a lot of value-related information and exercises to keep your color knowledge growing.
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.
Outside Inspiration: Values in Silver
October 10, 2014
Inspirational Art
We are really rather lucky to be working in polymer, especially those of us who are so in love with color. There are many other craft mediums that offer primarily monochrome palettes and others have a limited range, especially compared to what we have available. But, this just means that they focus on other elements, which is what this week of gray contemplation is really all about.
In metal work for instance, you have the colors of metal as the main or starting color. Silver work is nothing but grays unless you patina the silver or add other materials to it. So, silversmiths use value, form and texture as the primary methods of expressing their ideas, accenting with other materials when desired.
This composition you see here is actually a set of rings created by an artist that goes by nothing more than Spiralstone. There are minimal layers here, but the form and the texture allow for light to play across the surface and reflect back varying degrees of gray. The colorful cabochon stones look especially brilliant in the landscape of each ring due to the lack of competition with other colors.
I also thought these rings would be great inspiration for polymer rings. The shapes and layering would be a great approach for polymer in grays or in color.
If you like these rings, you should really look at her other work made from 100% recycled metals. Check out the other amazing rings sets and various other jewelry on her Flickr photostream and through the links on her website.
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.
Gray in Six Degrees
October 9, 2014
Inspirational Art
I am traveling today, so I apologize for the brevity here. I was sent this lovely wallpiece by Fran Abrams after she saw what the theme was this week. The piece is called “Six Degrees of Separation”. It’s wall art that is 18″ x 18″ and created using only black clay and white clay mixed in varying proportions.
I simply like that Fran went for a pure study of value here. It created an unusual challenge for the artist and a canvas. The form and contrast are all there working to draw you in. Although it is simple, it keeps drawing the eye back to take one more look or compare a couple more grays between squares. Just imagine being the one creating it. Or maybe, create a study of grays for yourself.
Visit with Fran and her other ‘studies’ on her website.
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.
Graphically Designed
February 18, 2014
Inspirational Art
Talk about color accenting! This bracelet plays with everything else before that cane of purple even begins to register. The wonderful shape of the beads, the contrast in value (which is all black and white are), the visual and tactile texture and the negative space where the beads cut away instead of butting against each other makes for an intriguing and dynamic bracelet.
Of course, this is a Bettina Welker bracelet, so well engineered and designed. Her graphic design background is really showing it’s best side in this lovely piece.
Of course, Bettina is the queen of bracelets. If you haven’t gotten your copy of her lovely book Polymer Clay Bracelets, you really should, even if you don’t make a lot of bracelets. She has some wonderful tips just on working with polymer and on engineering jewelry, not to mention that the layout and photos are gorgeous.
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.
After all this talk of gray, I thought it was about time to challenge you with some further ideas about color values so you can see for yourself what understanding value can do for your work.
First of all, take any photo of one of your pieces and put it into a photo manipulation software program, changing the color mode to “Grayscale”. You can usually do this with your camera as well by changing the mode to “Black & White” or “B&W” as you take the photo. Then look at what you have. If you were after a lot of contrast in your piece, you should definitely see a range of darks and lights that easily define the forms, lines, textures and color changes you have in the piece. If you were after a quieter contrast, you should see little variation in the darkness or lightness of the grays.
Here is a beautiful mokume gane pendant by Harriet Smith. The original shot on the left is vibrant and bright, but does have a calm feel too it. And you can see just why that is when you turn it gray. Even with the fiery colors and the many overlapping lines, the energy of the pendant is kept in check by the minimal variation in value. Of course, this piece is quite different without it’s brilliant colors, but the exercise shows why the energy is not quite so high.
You can examine any of your pieces in this manner and will likely find yourself surprised quite often at the actual value range your pieces have. Being aware of value will help you make better decisions about your color choices going forward. And if you want to learn more about value with some polymer centric exercises, take a look at this great little article written by Maggie Maggio, co-author of Polymer Clay Color Inspirations, which also has a lot of value-related information and exercises to keep your color knowledge growing.
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.
We are really rather lucky to be working in polymer, especially those of us who are so in love with color. There are many other craft mediums that offer primarily monochrome palettes and others have a limited range, especially compared to what we have available. But, this just means that they focus on other elements, which is what this week of gray contemplation is really all about.
In metal work for instance, you have the colors of metal as the main or starting color. Silver work is nothing but grays unless you patina the silver or add other materials to it. So, silversmiths use value, form and texture as the primary methods of expressing their ideas, accenting with other materials when desired.
This composition you see here is actually a set of rings created by an artist that goes by nothing more than Spiralstone. There are minimal layers here, but the form and the texture allow for light to play across the surface and reflect back varying degrees of gray. The colorful cabochon stones look especially brilliant in the landscape of each ring due to the lack of competition with other colors.
I also thought these rings would be great inspiration for polymer rings. The shapes and layering would be a great approach for polymer in grays or in color.
If you like these rings, you should really look at her other work made from 100% recycled metals. Check out the other amazing rings sets and various other jewelry on her Flickr photostream and through the links on her website.
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.
I am traveling today, so I apologize for the brevity here. I was sent this lovely wallpiece by Fran Abrams after she saw what the theme was this week. The piece is called “Six Degrees of Separation”. It’s wall art that is 18″ x 18″ and created using only black clay and white clay mixed in varying proportions.
I simply like that Fran went for a pure study of value here. It created an unusual challenge for the artist and a canvas. The form and contrast are all there working to draw you in. Although it is simple, it keeps drawing the eye back to take one more look or compare a couple more grays between squares. Just imagine being the one creating it. Or maybe, create a study of grays for yourself.
Visit with Fran and her other ‘studies’ on her website.
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.
Talk about color accenting! This bracelet plays with everything else before that cane of purple even begins to register. The wonderful shape of the beads, the contrast in value (which is all black and white are), the visual and tactile texture and the negative space where the beads cut away instead of butting against each other makes for an intriguing and dynamic bracelet.
Of course, this is a Bettina Welker bracelet, so well engineered and designed. Her graphic design background is really showing it’s best side in this lovely piece.
Of course, Bettina is the queen of bracelets. If you haven’t gotten your copy of her lovely book Polymer Clay Bracelets, you really should, even if you don’t make a lot of bracelets. She has some wonderful tips just on working with polymer and on engineering jewelry, not to mention that the layout and photos are gorgeous.
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.
