Monochrome Mokume
November 27, 2014
Inspirational Art
I always hesitate to post pieces with little or no color, as they just don’t get that immediate attention that really colorful work does. But, it would be hard not to talk about monochrome, which is another classic color palette that is ideal for mokume. The advantage of monochrome is it’s striking and often graphical nature. As artists, we are forced to look at value, form, line, etc. instead of leaning on color. Now, I know lots of color is one of the fun advantages to creating mokume, but monochrome is a little bit of a challenge and one that can result in amazing pieces.
This pendant by Rebecca Geoffery is just one such example. The fact that she worked with a very controlled approach to line and value works so well for a piece that can’t lean on the impact of color at all. Sure, this could have been done in a really striking set of colors, but I think it might actually have taken away from the beauty of the lines and the repetition. They take front and center in this simple piece, and I think it’s just about perfect as is.
I can’t sign off today without a virtual hug to all my American friends celebrating Thanksgiving today. This is the day we should be contemplating the truly wonderful and blessed advantages, people and opportunities in our life. I am most thankful to you, my many readers, who allow me to blather on about things I love and am so passionate about. Thank you for allowing me to have this as part of my daily life! A very Happy Thanksgiving and a big hug to all my friends and readers across the globe!
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.
Disconnected Balance
March 5, 2014
Inspirational Art
This stunning necklace, titled “Eleganz”, by Ingrid Ulrich is another example of asymmetry in design. This German artist uses a wire form to create a unique one-of-a-kind wrap necklace that has to balance both visually and physically!
With a limited color palette, Ingrid uses textures and finishes to add depth and volume to the individual elements to form a cohesive whole. She uses a synthetic clay (Künstlerton) and fires it at a constant temperature for 60 minutes to give this necklace its strength and rigidity. She mixes her finishing techniques so that some of the surfaces are polished to a high shine and others are a matte finish.
For a more in-depth look at Ingrid’s work, take a look at her website and her Flickr pages. She is fascinated by polymer clay and says, “It livens up the fantasy and gives therapy to the soul, but it also makes addictive to more and more perfection.”
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.
Graduated Colored Cups
February 23, 2014
Technique tutorials
Here we see another limited palette using gradients of the same color for the theme. Even though flowers lend themselves to this technique, you certainly don’t have to make a hyacinth flower with it. Of course, we can’t think about gradient colors without thinking of Skinner blends. The gradient used here is made by adding varying amounts of white to the base color, but you could also go in the other direction, and add blacks, which would darken the gradient. You could also try analogous blends, using a limited color palette of colors that are near each other on the color wheel.
The artist who made these grape hyacinth pins is Kellie Mowat. She has tutorials that make use of repetition and a limited color palette, as well as tutorials for lots of other mediums. She also has some tutorials posted on YouTube for all of you visual learners out there.
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 always hesitate to post pieces with little or no color, as they just don’t get that immediate attention that really colorful work does. But, it would be hard not to talk about monochrome, which is another classic color palette that is ideal for mokume. The advantage of monochrome is it’s striking and often graphical nature. As artists, we are forced to look at value, form, line, etc. instead of leaning on color. Now, I know lots of color is one of the fun advantages to creating mokume, but monochrome is a little bit of a challenge and one that can result in amazing pieces.
This pendant by Rebecca Geoffery is just one such example. The fact that she worked with a very controlled approach to line and value works so well for a piece that can’t lean on the impact of color at all. Sure, this could have been done in a really striking set of colors, but I think it might actually have taken away from the beauty of the lines and the repetition. They take front and center in this simple piece, and I think it’s just about perfect as is.
I can’t sign off today without a virtual hug to all my American friends celebrating Thanksgiving today. This is the day we should be contemplating the truly wonderful and blessed advantages, people and opportunities in our life. I am most thankful to you, my many readers, who allow me to blather on about things I love and am so passionate about. Thank you for allowing me to have this as part of my daily life! A very Happy Thanksgiving and a big hug to all my friends and readers across the globe!
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.
This stunning necklace, titled “Eleganz”, by Ingrid Ulrich is another example of asymmetry in design. This German artist uses a wire form to create a unique one-of-a-kind wrap necklace that has to balance both visually and physically!
With a limited color palette, Ingrid uses textures and finishes to add depth and volume to the individual elements to form a cohesive whole. She uses a synthetic clay (Künstlerton) and fires it at a constant temperature for 60 minutes to give this necklace its strength and rigidity. She mixes her finishing techniques so that some of the surfaces are polished to a high shine and others are a matte finish.
For a more in-depth look at Ingrid’s work, take a look at her website and her Flickr pages. She is fascinated by polymer clay and says, “It livens up the fantasy and gives therapy to the soul, but it also makes addictive to more and more perfection.”
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.
Here we see another limited palette using gradients of the same color for the theme. Even though flowers lend themselves to this technique, you certainly don’t have to make a hyacinth flower with it. Of course, we can’t think about gradient colors without thinking of Skinner blends. The gradient used here is made by adding varying amounts of white to the base color, but you could also go in the other direction, and add blacks, which would darken the gradient. You could also try analogous blends, using a limited color palette of colors that are near each other on the color wheel.
The artist who made these grape hyacinth pins is Kellie Mowat. She has tutorials that make use of repetition and a limited color palette, as well as tutorials for lots of other mediums. She also has some tutorials posted on YouTube for all of you visual learners out there.
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.
