Let There Be Fire
January 5, 2015
Inspirational Art
It is cold here in Colorado. I’m having a hard time keeping warm in my basement rooms where I spend so much of my time. So this week, I just want to talk fire. The amazing colors and gradients we can make with polymer makes an illusion of fire and heat fairly easy to create, but there are a number of ways to do this. So while many of us deal with cold and snowy weather, let’s think heat.
Here we have Elsie Smith showing us a bit of fire and shimmer with foil, alcohol ink and liquid clay. The foil and inks are one of my personal favorite go-to combinations because the foil reflects light and makes reds and oranges appear to glow like firelight or burning embers. Elsie’s addition of liquid clay as a sealant works to magnify the effect by bouncing light around beneath its surface. The wave of lines, of course, doesn’t hurt to bring the idea of fire to the forefront. Elsie writes that the top of this is more pink than red, so in person this probably does seem more like a Fiery Sunset, for which it is named, but I’m happy just enjoying the warmth of the colors.
Elsie has many more fiery, graduated and interestingly textured pieces in her more recent work as you can see on her Flickr pages. Be sure to take a look at her curiously painted cabochons with their lava-like texture for more warming inspiration.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Polymer Resistance
October 15, 2014
Inspirational Art
If you’re a fellow art and/or craft junkie who has tried every other medium that has come your way, there’s a very good chance you have worked with resists. They are most commonly found in watercolor and in textile dying, but any art form that includes paints, dyes, stains or any other liquid that might be used to change the color or appearance of a surface, there are almost always resist techniques.
Polymer is no different, although such techniques are a little less common. I have seen stencils, colored pencil and crayons as resists on polymer a number of times, and once, I recall seeing the use of brushed on masking fluid that is commonly used as a resist on watercolors. Rebecca Watkins discovered a slightly newer version of these options–a masking fluid pen. And she does it in layers!
The control the pen affords makes for some beautiful possibilities as you can see here. Instead of just one layer of resist designs as is commonly seen, Rebecca lays down several layers of alcohol ink, changing the resist design in between to create this complex effect. She shares her news beads, where to get yourself one of these pens, and her technique on her blog. How very clever and generous of her!
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.
It is cold here in Colorado. I’m having a hard time keeping warm in my basement rooms where I spend so much of my time. So this week, I just want to talk fire. The amazing colors and gradients we can make with polymer makes an illusion of fire and heat fairly easy to create, but there are a number of ways to do this. So while many of us deal with cold and snowy weather, let’s think heat.
Here we have Elsie Smith showing us a bit of fire and shimmer with foil, alcohol ink and liquid clay. The foil and inks are one of my personal favorite go-to combinations because the foil reflects light and makes reds and oranges appear to glow like firelight or burning embers. Elsie’s addition of liquid clay as a sealant works to magnify the effect by bouncing light around beneath its surface. The wave of lines, of course, doesn’t hurt to bring the idea of fire to the forefront. Elsie writes that the top of this is more pink than red, so in person this probably does seem more like a Fiery Sunset, for which it is named, but I’m happy just enjoying the warmth of the colors.
Elsie has many more fiery, graduated and interestingly textured pieces in her more recent work as you can see on her Flickr pages. Be sure to take a look at her curiously painted cabochons with their lava-like texture for more warming inspiration.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
If you’re a fellow art and/or craft junkie who has tried every other medium that has come your way, there’s a very good chance you have worked with resists. They are most commonly found in watercolor and in textile dying, but any art form that includes paints, dyes, stains or any other liquid that might be used to change the color or appearance of a surface, there are almost always resist techniques.
Polymer is no different, although such techniques are a little less common. I have seen stencils, colored pencil and crayons as resists on polymer a number of times, and once, I recall seeing the use of brushed on masking fluid that is commonly used as a resist on watercolors. Rebecca Watkins discovered a slightly newer version of these options–a masking fluid pen. And she does it in layers!
The control the pen affords makes for some beautiful possibilities as you can see here. Instead of just one layer of resist designs as is commonly seen, Rebecca lays down several layers of alcohol ink, changing the resist design in between to create this complex effect. She shares her news beads, where to get yourself one of these pens, and her technique on her blog. How very clever and generous of her!
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.
