A Choir of Angels

June 22, 2017

Exploring technique and design doesn’t ever end, or at least I don’t think it should. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been working with a material, there is always more to learn. Barbara McGuire is a true and long standing polymer pioneer who may often return to signature techniques but she keeps expanding on what she has done, sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes in big leaps.

This collection of beads is one of her subtler explorations. Barbara has been making face canes for ages but she keeps changing up what she does with them. The angelic looking collection here gets its ethereal feel from the use of translucent wings and background cane slices. Past variations were commonly surrounded by opaque slices and balanced or radial backgrounds. The more freeform application here adds to the otherworldly feel of these little angels.

Barbara posts most of her recent work on her Facebook page while her products and news can usually be found on her website.

 

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

        The Great Create Sept 15 blog

businesscard-3.5inx2in-h-front   Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog

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The Serendipity of Kathleen’s Inspiration

January 5, 2013

Do you ever wonder what the first efforts of some of our polymer greats looked like? If you ever make it to Buford, GA, you can get a look at some of the earlier work in our community. It will make you feel better to see that Barbara McGuire’s first face canes look like, well, someone’s first efforts at making face canes. Unfortunately, looking at some of Kathleen Dustin’s firsts is not quite as affirming. I think she was born an artistic master.

These beads are her first experiments in layering translucent with her now well-recognized style, experiments that led her career off in another direction and into the realm of mastery we know and admire her for. She confesses that she was just about ready to abandon polymer and return to ceramics until circumstances got her to into the exploration of this technique. (Can you imagine a world without those purses of hers!)

dustin95-first-translucant-beads

We can’t all be Kathleen. We will make some horrible pieces before we make our master pieces. Just keep that in mind as you work. Your art will evolve and improve. Just don’t give up on it.

You can read more about Kathleen’s journey with layered translucents on the Polymer Art Archive post here.

 

 

A Choir of Angels

June 22, 2017
Posted in

Exploring technique and design doesn’t ever end, or at least I don’t think it should. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been working with a material, there is always more to learn. Barbara McGuire is a true and long standing polymer pioneer who may often return to signature techniques but she keeps expanding on what she has done, sometimes in subtle ways, sometimes in big leaps.

This collection of beads is one of her subtler explorations. Barbara has been making face canes for ages but she keeps changing up what she does with them. The angelic looking collection here gets its ethereal feel from the use of translucent wings and background cane slices. Past variations were commonly surrounded by opaque slices and balanced or radial backgrounds. The more freeform application here adds to the otherworldly feel of these little angels.

Barbara posts most of her recent work on her Facebook page while her products and news can usually be found on her website.

 

_________________________________________

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

        The Great Create Sept 15 blog

businesscard-3.5inx2in-h-front   Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog

_________________________________________

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The Serendipity of Kathleen’s Inspiration

January 5, 2013
Posted in

Do you ever wonder what the first efforts of some of our polymer greats looked like? If you ever make it to Buford, GA, you can get a look at some of the earlier work in our community. It will make you feel better to see that Barbara McGuire’s first face canes look like, well, someone’s first efforts at making face canes. Unfortunately, looking at some of Kathleen Dustin’s firsts is not quite as affirming. I think she was born an artistic master.

These beads are her first experiments in layering translucent with her now well-recognized style, experiments that led her career off in another direction and into the realm of mastery we know and admire her for. She confesses that she was just about ready to abandon polymer and return to ceramics until circumstances got her to into the exploration of this technique. (Can you imagine a world without those purses of hers!)

dustin95-first-translucant-beads

We can’t all be Kathleen. We will make some horrible pieces before we make our master pieces. Just keep that in mind as you work. Your art will evolve and improve. Just don’t give up on it.

You can read more about Kathleen’s journey with layered translucents on the Polymer Art Archive post here.

 

 

Read More
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