Way Beyond Translucent Canes
October 7, 2016
Inspirational Art
It’s been a while since I shared something you could actually sit in the studio and try so although this isn’t exactly within the theme of the week, it’s related enough and could be a really cool and fun thing to try this weekend if you are looking for something new and have a bit of translucent clay on hand.
They are related to translucent canes because they are translucent and the technique came from pushing caning. As the artist Agnes Dettai says on the Flickr post for this technique, “I have to thank Christine Dumont again; the idea for these came from the work on reinventing caning that we did for the course ‘Becoming a better artist.'”
It’s great to see how pushing yourself in a completely different direction, way beyond what you think something is or should be, can result in something so radically different. The shells are little gems all by themselves but there is much more than can be done with this. She uses Play-Doh to create a temporary base to wrap the translucent clay around but as she notes, the clay leaves a bit of stain from the color of the Play-Doh. Although this may not have been intended initially, it gives a lovely, vibrant and still very translucent color to the polymer. A great incidental discovery within a successful exploration.
You can see what else Agnes does with her playdoh hollows and what exploration she has done with this idea on her Flickr photostream and can find detailed notes on the technique on this blog post of hers. Get the complete steps for these shells by clicking the photo to get to the Flickr photo they are on and then go the next image left for the finishing steps.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Try out Agnes’ technique with translucent clay or just try using water-soluble clay (Play-Doh) as a form for hollow or open forms. Where can you take this idea?
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
Arrangements in Layers
July 15, 2014
Inspirational Art
Another collection of work for your consideration of examples in variety are these brooches by Betsy Baker. She takes similarly treated sheets with variations in color and texture, cuts them in an assortment of shapes and layers them to create compositions with different effects and impact.
You could do the same thing with some standard pieces you have been making. Vary the form, imagery, combinations and composition to see what you can come up with. Betsy actually does this quite a bit and shares her results in collages and close-ups on her Stonehouse Studio Flickr pages.
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.
Exposure: Deep Underneath
June 27, 2013
Inspirational Art
So why is it that we are fascinated by things revealed, seeing things we know or suspect were once hidden?
This nearly universal allure has to do with discovery. Like digging up a buried treasure, seeing a colorful new bird in the backyard or pulling out old photos from a box you found in the attic, discovering things we didn’t know existed gives us a thrill and feeds our inherent curiosity about what we don’t know or see.
When working in polymer, the excitement of finding something that was hidden is commonly the experience of the artist and not usually the viewer of the art. But I think the viewer will often unconsciously register that special quality, that extra depth the material had to have in order for the artist to come up with such intriguing designs or imagery.
That is why it may not matter at all if the design presented actually comes from revealing the depths of the material or not. Having the sense that something may once have been buried should still give us that little thrill, even if it wasn’t. I’m pretty sure Cate van Alphen embedded the colorful swirls that show in the concave spaces on the surface of this pendant; but it might appear at first glance (or to someone unfamiliar with the material) that carving out the indentations revealed the swirls within the lentil bead.
So, even when you aren’t creating visual texture or imagery by slicing across or into your polymer, you can make a piece appear to have an exposed interior which can flip that switch in a potential buyer, intriguing them with the thought that you revealed the secret core of the clay, the hidden treasure and things otherwise unseen.
It’s been a while since I shared something you could actually sit in the studio and try so although this isn’t exactly within the theme of the week, it’s related enough and could be a really cool and fun thing to try this weekend if you are looking for something new and have a bit of translucent clay on hand.
They are related to translucent canes because they are translucent and the technique came from pushing caning. As the artist Agnes Dettai says on the Flickr post for this technique, “I have to thank Christine Dumont again; the idea for these came from the work on reinventing caning that we did for the course ‘Becoming a better artist.'”
It’s great to see how pushing yourself in a completely different direction, way beyond what you think something is or should be, can result in something so radically different. The shells are little gems all by themselves but there is much more than can be done with this. She uses Play-Doh to create a temporary base to wrap the translucent clay around but as she notes, the clay leaves a bit of stain from the color of the Play-Doh. Although this may not have been intended initially, it gives a lovely, vibrant and still very translucent color to the polymer. A great incidental discovery within a successful exploration.
You can see what else Agnes does with her playdoh hollows and what exploration she has done with this idea on her Flickr photostream and can find detailed notes on the technique on this blog post of hers. Get the complete steps for these shells by clicking the photo to get to the Flickr photo they are on and then go the next image left for the finishing steps.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Try out Agnes’ technique with translucent clay or just try using water-soluble clay (Play-Doh) as a form for hollow or open forms. Where can you take this idea?
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.
_________________________________________
Read MoreAnother collection of work for your consideration of examples in variety are these brooches by Betsy Baker. She takes similarly treated sheets with variations in color and texture, cuts them in an assortment of shapes and layers them to create compositions with different effects and impact.
You could do the same thing with some standard pieces you have been making. Vary the form, imagery, combinations and composition to see what you can come up with. Betsy actually does this quite a bit and shares her results in collages and close-ups on her Stonehouse Studio Flickr pages.
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.
So why is it that we are fascinated by things revealed, seeing things we know or suspect were once hidden?
This nearly universal allure has to do with discovery. Like digging up a buried treasure, seeing a colorful new bird in the backyard or pulling out old photos from a box you found in the attic, discovering things we didn’t know existed gives us a thrill and feeds our inherent curiosity about what we don’t know or see.
When working in polymer, the excitement of finding something that was hidden is commonly the experience of the artist and not usually the viewer of the art. But I think the viewer will often unconsciously register that special quality, that extra depth the material had to have in order for the artist to come up with such intriguing designs or imagery.
That is why it may not matter at all if the design presented actually comes from revealing the depths of the material or not. Having the sense that something may once have been buried should still give us that little thrill, even if it wasn’t. I’m pretty sure Cate van Alphen embedded the colorful swirls that show in the concave spaces on the surface of this pendant; but it might appear at first glance (or to someone unfamiliar with the material) that carving out the indentations revealed the swirls within the lentil bead.
So, even when you aren’t creating visual texture or imagery by slicing across or into your polymer, you can make a piece appear to have an exposed interior which can flip that switch in a potential buyer, intriguing them with the thought that you revealed the secret core of the clay, the hidden treasure and things otherwise unseen.
