An Original Image All the Way

September 18, 2015

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

You know what I’d love to see more of in image transfers? Your own 2D imagery displayed and framed in a beautiful polymer setting. How wonderful to see your own doodles, zentangles, photographs, collages, digital art or even just your do-over of some other images. I just love to see people’s individual expression in every aspect of what they create. It really tells you something intimate and revealing about the individual behind the work. Yes, the choice of images bought, borrowed with permission or used under Creative Commons copyright and the like does say something about the artist too, but there is nothing like original imagery. It’s like the difference between reading a typed letter and one that is handwritten. There is simply so much more of that person in what you see before you.

So of all the ways to use image transfer, this approach is by far my favorite. This pendant here by Lauren Abrams uses the image of a painting she herself did. I find it fascinating that she chose this dark and empty chair to use as a focal piece in a pendant that, in contrast, is so celebratory and bright in its choice of colors and form. It actually changes the way you would see the painting, going from lonely and quiet to hopeful or reminiscent of joyful days gone by. And, Lauren really shows us just how much fun and creativity can go into creating the framework for our image transfers. In any case, all the choices made here were made by Lauren and no one else. That makes for a very interesting piece.

Even if you don’t draw or paint, you can add your own imagery. From photographs of people or textures to colored pencil on a simple line drawing to collage work done digitally or by hand and photographed, you have a way to show people what you see through your own eyes. Isn’t that so very cool? So next time you consider doing an image transfer, maybe you can use imagery of your own or alter someone else’s that you have the right to reproduce. We really do want to see what you have to express!

I couldn’t find any recent websites or work for Lauren, but you can visit her Flickr page for a few more pieces like this plus just some wonderfully well finished and whimsical pieces Lauren created a few years back.

 

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

     

   TPA_McGuire_blog ad  Print

Image Transfer as Pure Surface Design

September 16, 2015

il_fullxfull.688326151_dofsHere is another thought about the use of image transfer. Instead of making the image transfer the focal point of a piece, why not integrate it into the design so that it reflects, and is reflected in, the other elements that surround it. Using image transfers with the attitude that it is simply another form of surface design to be cut, formed, or otherwise manipulated may open up a much wider variety of possibilities in the way you might use them.

This whimsically formed bracelet by Connie Castle is such a wonderful example of this. You don’t think about this being an image transfer at first, if at all. The lines in the transfers are mirrored in the lines of the wire work around it, and the curved and free form shapes those lines create extend to the way each panel is shaped. It all works together so well that you could easily just sit back and admire the piece without a thought as to how it was created. Okay, well, many of us would eventually ask ourselves how the images were made, but that question is secondary to simply enjoying the look of it. And don’t you love the interruption of the panel set with that open work focal bead section? It’s like a bridge in a song after several stanzas, giving us a moment to pause as well as being a way to add dramatic contrast in the composition of the piece.

Connie doesn’t stop with simply working to integrate her transfers into her designs, she also enhances the images transfers with paint which is a great way to take paler images or black and white laser prints  and create your own color palette to make them so much more your own thing.

This is one of Connie’s two favorite methods for creating her art jewelry. She also works heavily in calico fabrics, which may give us a good hint as to why she followed this particular approach. You can find her work and more ideas for expanding on the possibilities of image transfers gracing the pages of her Etsy shop.

 

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

     

   TPA_McGuire_blog ad  Print

 

Print on Textured Weave

April 15, 2014

Boldly printed cotton fabrics were rather popular when I was growing up but the patterns were not very exciting. In art school I jumped at the chance to take a silk screen printing class and create my own. It was great fun but a ton of work. So much so that I never made anything with the fabrics I printed. I had a horrible aversion to cutting into the fabric that had taken so long to create! But now I’m trying my hand at creating and transferring patterns to polymer as well as exploring silk screen printing. Making your own screens is still pretty labor intensive but screen printing stencils are now available in various places as are kits and online instruction (just Google it!) so anyone can now explore the process before committing the time and expense to creating original screens.

Both silk screen printing and transfer images are decorative fabric techniques easily adapted for use with polymer. This pendant by Noelia Contreras, along with much of the rest of her work, looks to be highly inspired by fabrics–from graphical image transfer to screen printing to bargello, she explores the wide variety of fabric based inspirations in polymer. In this playful piece she transferred hand drawn designs based on the art of zentangles to create black patterns that are then transferred to white polymer textured with a woven fabric look.

61abc13418fe1c26a90e62a0a5d12ba7

If you are lucky enough to be in Spain or nearby  European countries, look her up to see what classes she has coming up. You can find announcements on her classes as well as more of her artwork on her blog and in her shop as well as her Flickr photostream.

 

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.

Blog2 -2014-02Feb-5   Millefiori eggs   14P1 cover Fnl

 

Outside Inspiration: Sketching on the Inside

March 21, 2014

Here is something to consider doing with a bracelet–draw on it! And not just on the outside.

I know we so love our polymer because of the colors and textures but a subtle surface can also lend itself well to sketching or image transfers. This is not actually a bracelet but it could be.  This straight sided bowl is by ceramicist Helen Beard but when I first saw this, I thought it would have made such a great bracelet. Some of my favorite pieces–in polymer and other mediums–are those with details hidden on the inside or backsides.  There is also something particularly intriguing about a piece that tells a story.

7

According to Helen’s website, “she likes to tell a story, creating whimsical scenes that capture the insignificant yet precious moments that make up our daily lives.”  Wouldn’t it be neat to have such simple stories on one’s arm as well?

Take a look at the other precious scenes Helen illustrates on her wheel thrown porcelain pots, cups, bowls and other pottery 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.

14P1 cover Fnl   PCW blue string art cane   Blog2 -2014-02Feb-2

Keepsake Imagery

July 6, 2013

Since image transfer can be used with any kind of imagery, why not use it to memorialize important people, moments, places, and photos that are near and dear to you or your customers?

I just love what Cynthia Tinnapple did with transfers on some of her husband’s turned bowls a few years back. The image transfers were applied to polymer sunk into a channel around the bowl, and all the images were of the women in her family. I believe she quickly and simply turned a beautiful bowl into a priceless heirloom. How many people display their family photos in anything much more than picture frames?

vase_prefinish3

 

This same approach can be use to add photos to anything you can adhere polymer clay to (which is just about anything). If you want ideas for objects you can start adorning with favorite family photos, take a look at the “Covered Objects” article in the present Summer 2013 issue of The Polymer Arts. Also check out the article on collaboration to read more about how Cynthia and her husband combine their crafts.

Also. be sure you have an up to date subscription, because the Fall issue that will be out next month is packed with tons of great stuff, including a review and peek into Cynthia’s new book Polymer Clay Global Concepts, due out July 30th. (But you can pre-order on Amazon if you just can’t wait to see the review. We wouldn’t blame you!)

 

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An Original Image All the Way

September 18, 2015
Posted in

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

You know what I’d love to see more of in image transfers? Your own 2D imagery displayed and framed in a beautiful polymer setting. How wonderful to see your own doodles, zentangles, photographs, collages, digital art or even just your do-over of some other images. I just love to see people’s individual expression in every aspect of what they create. It really tells you something intimate and revealing about the individual behind the work. Yes, the choice of images bought, borrowed with permission or used under Creative Commons copyright and the like does say something about the artist too, but there is nothing like original imagery. It’s like the difference between reading a typed letter and one that is handwritten. There is simply so much more of that person in what you see before you.

So of all the ways to use image transfer, this approach is by far my favorite. This pendant here by Lauren Abrams uses the image of a painting she herself did. I find it fascinating that she chose this dark and empty chair to use as a focal piece in a pendant that, in contrast, is so celebratory and bright in its choice of colors and form. It actually changes the way you would see the painting, going from lonely and quiet to hopeful or reminiscent of joyful days gone by. And, Lauren really shows us just how much fun and creativity can go into creating the framework for our image transfers. In any case, all the choices made here were made by Lauren and no one else. That makes for a very interesting piece.

Even if you don’t draw or paint, you can add your own imagery. From photographs of people or textures to colored pencil on a simple line drawing to collage work done digitally or by hand and photographed, you have a way to show people what you see through your own eyes. Isn’t that so very cool? So next time you consider doing an image transfer, maybe you can use imagery of your own or alter someone else’s that you have the right to reproduce. We really do want to see what you have to express!

I couldn’t find any recent websites or work for Lauren, but you can visit her Flickr page for a few more pieces like this plus just some wonderfully well finished and whimsical pieces Lauren created a few years back.

 

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

     

   TPA_McGuire_blog ad  Print

Read More

Image Transfer as Pure Surface Design

September 16, 2015
Posted in

il_fullxfull.688326151_dofsHere is another thought about the use of image transfer. Instead of making the image transfer the focal point of a piece, why not integrate it into the design so that it reflects, and is reflected in, the other elements that surround it. Using image transfers with the attitude that it is simply another form of surface design to be cut, formed, or otherwise manipulated may open up a much wider variety of possibilities in the way you might use them.

This whimsically formed bracelet by Connie Castle is such a wonderful example of this. You don’t think about this being an image transfer at first, if at all. The lines in the transfers are mirrored in the lines of the wire work around it, and the curved and free form shapes those lines create extend to the way each panel is shaped. It all works together so well that you could easily just sit back and admire the piece without a thought as to how it was created. Okay, well, many of us would eventually ask ourselves how the images were made, but that question is secondary to simply enjoying the look of it. And don’t you love the interruption of the panel set with that open work focal bead section? It’s like a bridge in a song after several stanzas, giving us a moment to pause as well as being a way to add dramatic contrast in the composition of the piece.

Connie doesn’t stop with simply working to integrate her transfers into her designs, she also enhances the images transfers with paint which is a great way to take paler images or black and white laser prints  and create your own color palette to make them so much more your own thing.

This is one of Connie’s two favorite methods for creating her art jewelry. She also works heavily in calico fabrics, which may give us a good hint as to why she followed this particular approach. You can find her work and more ideas for expanding on the possibilities of image transfers gracing the pages of her Etsy shop.

 

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

     

   TPA_McGuire_blog ad  Print

 

Read More

Print on Textured Weave

April 15, 2014
Posted in

Boldly printed cotton fabrics were rather popular when I was growing up but the patterns were not very exciting. In art school I jumped at the chance to take a silk screen printing class and create my own. It was great fun but a ton of work. So much so that I never made anything with the fabrics I printed. I had a horrible aversion to cutting into the fabric that had taken so long to create! But now I’m trying my hand at creating and transferring patterns to polymer as well as exploring silk screen printing. Making your own screens is still pretty labor intensive but screen printing stencils are now available in various places as are kits and online instruction (just Google it!) so anyone can now explore the process before committing the time and expense to creating original screens.

Both silk screen printing and transfer images are decorative fabric techniques easily adapted for use with polymer. This pendant by Noelia Contreras, along with much of the rest of her work, looks to be highly inspired by fabrics–from graphical image transfer to screen printing to bargello, she explores the wide variety of fabric based inspirations in polymer. In this playful piece she transferred hand drawn designs based on the art of zentangles to create black patterns that are then transferred to white polymer textured with a woven fabric look.

61abc13418fe1c26a90e62a0a5d12ba7

If you are lucky enough to be in Spain or nearby  European countries, look her up to see what classes she has coming up. You can find announcements on her classes as well as more of her artwork on her blog and in her shop as well as her Flickr photostream.

 

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.

Blog2 -2014-02Feb-5   Millefiori eggs   14P1 cover Fnl

 

Read More

Outside Inspiration: Sketching on the Inside

March 21, 2014
Posted in

Here is something to consider doing with a bracelet–draw on it! And not just on the outside.

I know we so love our polymer because of the colors and textures but a subtle surface can also lend itself well to sketching or image transfers. This is not actually a bracelet but it could be.  This straight sided bowl is by ceramicist Helen Beard but when I first saw this, I thought it would have made such a great bracelet. Some of my favorite pieces–in polymer and other mediums–are those with details hidden on the inside or backsides.  There is also something particularly intriguing about a piece that tells a story.

7

According to Helen’s website, “she likes to tell a story, creating whimsical scenes that capture the insignificant yet precious moments that make up our daily lives.”  Wouldn’t it be neat to have such simple stories on one’s arm as well?

Take a look at the other precious scenes Helen illustrates on her wheel thrown porcelain pots, cups, bowls and other pottery 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.

14P1 cover Fnl   PCW blue string art cane   Blog2 -2014-02Feb-2

Read More

Keepsake Imagery

July 6, 2013
Posted in

Since image transfer can be used with any kind of imagery, why not use it to memorialize important people, moments, places, and photos that are near and dear to you or your customers?

I just love what Cynthia Tinnapple did with transfers on some of her husband’s turned bowls a few years back. The image transfers were applied to polymer sunk into a channel around the bowl, and all the images were of the women in her family. I believe she quickly and simply turned a beautiful bowl into a priceless heirloom. How many people display their family photos in anything much more than picture frames?

vase_prefinish3

 

This same approach can be use to add photos to anything you can adhere polymer clay to (which is just about anything). If you want ideas for objects you can start adorning with favorite family photos, take a look at the “Covered Objects” article in the present Summer 2013 issue of The Polymer Arts. Also check out the article on collaboration to read more about how Cynthia and her husband combine their crafts.

Also. be sure you have an up to date subscription, because the Fall issue that will be out next month is packed with tons of great stuff, including a review and peek into Cynthia’s new book Polymer Clay Global Concepts, due out July 30th. (But you can pre-order on Amazon if you just can’t wait to see the review. We wouldn’t blame you!)

 

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