Glowing and Flowing
February 29, 2016
Inspirational Art
I am packing to make the 16+ hour road trip return to Colorado tomorrow, so I’m rushing about and haven’t really come up with a theme for this week, but we’ll muddle through. I’ll start sharing some of the items that didn’t fit into this insanely packed Spring issue by Friday and take that into next week, so you have some exciting stuff to look forward to. We will be getting the Spring issue wrapped up soon with print issues leaving the printer’s in the next couple days and the digital being released this Thursday. (Get your subscription or pre-order in today so you get it with everyone else … www.thepolymerarts.com)
In the meantime, I thought I’d share some metal jewelry as an introduction to the idea of mixing metal and polymer. This issue has a ton of mixed media tutorials and articles, including metal, but this is not polymer nor even metal clay. I thought it might be PMC at first, but I believe this is all classic metal work created by Patti West-Martino of Michigan. I just thought it was a great outside inspiration to share.
I absolutely love labradorite, and the tendril and twists are all too close to the kind of work I’ve done so much of, so it’s no surprise that I was drawn to it. But I can’t imagine that the glow from the stone wouldn’t grab just about anyone, and the singular lines and varied small bits of texture hold you as your eye follows the flow from one interesting point to another.
Patti also works in that Fordite we talked about week before last, as well as plenty of labradorite. If you want to get more ideas for framing some beautifully glowing focal piece, jump over to her Etsy site.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Consider the idea of flow … flowing lines, flowing textures, flowing color, etc. Design, create, or fix up a piece with the idea of flow either in the way the elements feel or in how it is composed, moving the viewer’s eye from one point to the next. Don’t try too hard, just keep it at the center of your thoughts as you intuitively create.
___________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
___________________________________________
Framed Opportunity
December 9, 2014
Inspirational Art
I think we are all rather familiar with the idea of a decorative frame. We’ve seen them on old paintings, antique mirrors and even around windows and doors. Frames can be a work of art unto themselves. So when framing your own work, why not go ahead and consider pushing the decorative aspect just as you might with your bails, clasps, spacer beads or any other element added to your work? Just how far can you take it?
Well, one possible answer as to how far you can take decorative framing can be found in the work of Julie Eakes, who is the featured artist in Maggie Maggio’s “Color Spotlight” section of our winter issue. These highly-detailed and deeply, layered frames may not fit a lot of work since the business of the frames would compete with the image it is surrounding, but in a case like this, it rather matches. Julie is best know for her face cane and pointillism, so the images she frames are the strongest types of images we are drawn to (we gravitate to faces before any other easily, recognized imagery), and her canes are quite complex, so the frames work with these images rather than drown them out.
How far could you take your frames so that they work with what you are framing? Or could fun with complex frames push you to create more complex images? You can read more about why and how Julie creates these canes and frames in the article and read more about her work on her blog.
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.
Bold and Deep (And our 10% off Everything Sale!)
January 30, 2014
Inspirational Art
So yes, we’re having our once a year sale off everything in The Polymer Arts magazine store! See the information at the end of the post here.
But first, let’s talk art …
The type of frames we put photos or artwork in tend to be shallow affairs made to sit out of the way on a shelf or wall. But that tradition shouldn’t determine the depth of frames you make for your adornment, decor, or even wall art for that matter. Your frame can be as deep as makes sense for your piece.
For instance, Tanja of Flickr’s Fantastisch-Plastischcan created a pendant with a deeply concave form to show off layers in a stack of polymer sheets. With this kind of form, leaving it frame-less would have been okay but instead of leaving it there she created a deep silver frame for it. This makes the depression feel more like the a reveal of an underground or celestial space rather than just being a concave form. It also brings in contrast–bright silver against muted greens–and allows her more real estate to expand on the red ball motif.
It seems that all our artists this week, the ones pushing the idea of what a frame might be, are all explorers and experimenters. Tanja has played with a wide variety of forms as well as textures, both visual and tactile. She just seems to be having too much fun to settle down with a particular style or set of techniques. You can see what I’m talking about when you go through her array of work in her Flickr pages.
Show Your Dedication to your Craft–Subscribe, Renew, or buy Single issues and right now … Get 10% Off!
Through February 3rd …. get 10% off your renewal, a new subscription or back issues purchases.
Use Discount code: TPA114 in your shopping cart.
Get your Subscriptions here– http://www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscription_ordering.html
If you need to Renew, go here– http://thepolymerarts.com/Subscription_ordering.html#renewals (And yes, we’ll get you caught up with the Winter issue if your subscription lapsed.
Single issues can be purchased here– http://www.thepolymerarts.com/Single_issues.html
Thank you for supporting The Polymer Arts projects! Your purchases support the magazine, this blog and our upcoming “Best of” and “Workshop” books. To get even more out of our projects, subscribe, get our newsletter (see form on the left side of our home page), and follow us on Facebook.
Polymer Framed
January 27, 2014
Inspirational Art
The presentation of a bead or surface treatment is often accompanied by framing or creating some kind of window that puts focus on the focal point. This week I wanted to look at a few more unusual options for “framing” to give you some ideas on how to integrate the frame as part of the design rather than creating it as a more functional aspect used to simply finish of the edges.
First of all, framing doesn’t have to stay on the outside. Bringing the framing into the center and letting it cross the treated surface, is a way to break up the surface design as well as integrate the frame directly into design of the piece. Here Sue Corrie uses the branches and trunk of a tree to create a number of windows for the polymer beneath. The result is the frame becomes foreground for the abstracted scene in the polymer. The treatment of the polymer can be kept minimal here because the bronze frame adds line, contrast in color and depth to this brooch.
Sue is one of our more exploratory polymer artists working in quite a few different styles and approaches, making even other people’s techniques her own by pushing the process and trying new things with them. Take a look through her Flickr pages and her website for more inspiring pieces.
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.
Framing Possibilities
September 26, 2012
Technique tutorials, Tips and Tricks
I was intrigued by this simple tutorial on make polymer frames for jewelry. This example is pretty straight-forward but what I find interesting are the possibilities if you expand upon the basic concept.
For instance, a frame doesn’t have to be a circle. If you have graduated cutters of any shape, you can cut a frame, a smaller frame for the ‘molding’ around the focal space and then punch the focal space in squares, triangles, marquises, stars, fish, flowers … anything you have graduated cutters for. Another possibility is making a good moderately-thick large base shape then adding very thin ‘moulding’ in not just one layer but several using different size cutters.
I am packing to make the 16+ hour road trip return to Colorado tomorrow, so I’m rushing about and haven’t really come up with a theme for this week, but we’ll muddle through. I’ll start sharing some of the items that didn’t fit into this insanely packed Spring issue by Friday and take that into next week, so you have some exciting stuff to look forward to. We will be getting the Spring issue wrapped up soon with print issues leaving the printer’s in the next couple days and the digital being released this Thursday. (Get your subscription or pre-order in today so you get it with everyone else … www.thepolymerarts.com)
In the meantime, I thought I’d share some metal jewelry as an introduction to the idea of mixing metal and polymer. This issue has a ton of mixed media tutorials and articles, including metal, but this is not polymer nor even metal clay. I thought it might be PMC at first, but I believe this is all classic metal work created by Patti West-Martino of Michigan. I just thought it was a great outside inspiration to share.
I absolutely love labradorite, and the tendril and twists are all too close to the kind of work I’ve done so much of, so it’s no surprise that I was drawn to it. But I can’t imagine that the glow from the stone wouldn’t grab just about anyone, and the singular lines and varied small bits of texture hold you as your eye follows the flow from one interesting point to another.
Patti also works in that Fordite we talked about week before last, as well as plenty of labradorite. If you want to get more ideas for framing some beautifully glowing focal piece, jump over to her Etsy site.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Consider the idea of flow … flowing lines, flowing textures, flowing color, etc. Design, create, or fix up a piece with the idea of flow either in the way the elements feel or in how it is composed, moving the viewer’s eye from one point to the next. Don’t try too hard, just keep it at the center of your thoughts as you intuitively create.
___________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
___________________________________________
Read MoreI think we are all rather familiar with the idea of a decorative frame. We’ve seen them on old paintings, antique mirrors and even around windows and doors. Frames can be a work of art unto themselves. So when framing your own work, why not go ahead and consider pushing the decorative aspect just as you might with your bails, clasps, spacer beads or any other element added to your work? Just how far can you take it?
Well, one possible answer as to how far you can take decorative framing can be found in the work of Julie Eakes, who is the featured artist in Maggie Maggio’s “Color Spotlight” section of our winter issue. These highly-detailed and deeply, layered frames may not fit a lot of work since the business of the frames would compete with the image it is surrounding, but in a case like this, it rather matches. Julie is best know for her face cane and pointillism, so the images she frames are the strongest types of images we are drawn to (we gravitate to faces before any other easily, recognized imagery), and her canes are quite complex, so the frames work with these images rather than drown them out.
How far could you take your frames so that they work with what you are framing? Or could fun with complex frames push you to create more complex images? You can read more about why and how Julie creates these canes and frames in the article and read more about her work on her blog.
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 yes, we’re having our once a year sale off everything in The Polymer Arts magazine store! See the information at the end of the post here.
But first, let’s talk art …
The type of frames we put photos or artwork in tend to be shallow affairs made to sit out of the way on a shelf or wall. But that tradition shouldn’t determine the depth of frames you make for your adornment, decor, or even wall art for that matter. Your frame can be as deep as makes sense for your piece.
For instance, Tanja of Flickr’s Fantastisch-Plastischcan created a pendant with a deeply concave form to show off layers in a stack of polymer sheets. With this kind of form, leaving it frame-less would have been okay but instead of leaving it there she created a deep silver frame for it. This makes the depression feel more like the a reveal of an underground or celestial space rather than just being a concave form. It also brings in contrast–bright silver against muted greens–and allows her more real estate to expand on the red ball motif.
It seems that all our artists this week, the ones pushing the idea of what a frame might be, are all explorers and experimenters. Tanja has played with a wide variety of forms as well as textures, both visual and tactile. She just seems to be having too much fun to settle down with a particular style or set of techniques. You can see what I’m talking about when you go through her array of work in her Flickr pages.
Show Your Dedication to your Craft–Subscribe, Renew, or buy Single issues and right now … Get 10% Off!
Through February 3rd …. get 10% off your renewal, a new subscription or back issues purchases.
Use Discount code: TPA114 in your shopping cart.
Get your Subscriptions here– http://www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscription_ordering.html
If you need to Renew, go here– http://thepolymerarts.com/Subscription_ordering.html#renewals (And yes, we’ll get you caught up with the Winter issue if your subscription lapsed.
Single issues can be purchased here– http://www.thepolymerarts.com/Single_issues.html
Thank you for supporting The Polymer Arts projects! Your purchases support the magazine, this blog and our upcoming “Best of” and “Workshop” books. To get even more out of our projects, subscribe, get our newsletter (see form on the left side of our home page), and follow us on Facebook.
The presentation of a bead or surface treatment is often accompanied by framing or creating some kind of window that puts focus on the focal point. This week I wanted to look at a few more unusual options for “framing” to give you some ideas on how to integrate the frame as part of the design rather than creating it as a more functional aspect used to simply finish of the edges.
First of all, framing doesn’t have to stay on the outside. Bringing the framing into the center and letting it cross the treated surface, is a way to break up the surface design as well as integrate the frame directly into design of the piece. Here Sue Corrie uses the branches and trunk of a tree to create a number of windows for the polymer beneath. The result is the frame becomes foreground for the abstracted scene in the polymer. The treatment of the polymer can be kept minimal here because the bronze frame adds line, contrast in color and depth to this brooch.
Sue is one of our more exploratory polymer artists working in quite a few different styles and approaches, making even other people’s techniques her own by pushing the process and trying new things with them. Take a look through her Flickr pages and her website for more inspiring pieces.
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 was intrigued by this simple tutorial on make polymer frames for jewelry. This example is pretty straight-forward but what I find interesting are the possibilities if you expand upon the basic concept.
For instance, a frame doesn’t have to be a circle. If you have graduated cutters of any shape, you can cut a frame, a smaller frame for the ‘molding’ around the focal space and then punch the focal space in squares, triangles, marquises, stars, fish, flowers … anything you have graduated cutters for. Another possibility is making a good moderately-thick large base shape then adding very thin ‘moulding’ in not just one layer but several using different size cutters.
Read More