Creating Uncommon Mokume
January 27, 2019 Inspirational Art
Question for you … how much do you know about the origination of mokume gane? I’m guessing you have heard it has something to do with swords but did you know that the original metal technique was a lost art until quite recently? And did you know that what we do with polymer today has virtually nothing in common with the original technique? Mokume’s history and our adaptation of it has quite a few surprises in it, many of which could really open your eyes to its possibilities.
To understand how to create great mokume in polymer, it really does help to know a bit about where it came from, not to mention that its history is a great story of fortune, loss and redemption! Or something akin to that. Here are a few statements about its history. See if you can identify which statements are a true part of its tumultuous history and which are just fantastic claims:
- Mokume was a sword making technique that required folding metal over and over to give the blade’s edge a rippled appearance, like wood grain.
- The technique was developed for purely decorative purposes.
- It was originally used almost exclusively to create samurai swords to be carried around as status symbols.
- The technique became nearly extinct due to samurai swords becoming illegal to carry in Japan in the 19th century.
- The technique was resurrected by a female Japanese metalsmith when she started teaching it in the US in the 1970s.
Ok, so as you might have guessed, all these statements are true! But how does knowing this help? Well, the history may be more about appreciating it’s path to polymer but how it is created in metal can help you understand how our version of it works and what you can do with it.
Here … just take a look at one of the ways it is used in metalsmithing today. You can see in the phases of making a mokume ring, just how a mokume billet (that’s what metalsmith’s call a block of metal) is layered, twisted, pounded and bent into a ring. I never would have guessed that my mokume wedding band was created in this way considering how we approach it with polymer.
Now, what if you did the exact same thing with polymer? You could build a block, cut it, twist it, open it up and form it into a dimensional ring. Or bead. Or flattened donut. Or just a long bar bead, already patterned on all sides. Do you see how knowing the origin and how else it has been used can help you see the possibilities in polymer?
Neither the decorative sword nor the above metalsmithing approach sounds or looks anything like what we do in polymer though, does it? We don’t twist or even fold polymer mokume, it rarely looks like wood grain, and it certainly isn’t going to behave (or be as hard to work with) as steel and yet, we call it mokume. Now, how did that happen?
Like most borrowed techniques, what most of us have come to think of as polymer mokume evolved from an attempt to emulate it so it is not just some kind of translation of the technique. Slicing polymer “billets” (it’s too cool a word not to borrow too!) emulated grinding down the metal edge of a sword to reveal the visual drama of its layers. But because polymer can be manipulated in so many other ways, and because artists are a curious and exploratory lot, the technique, along with the clay, was also manipulated. This happened over and over until we ended up with the many variations we have today and even those often have little in common but the layering and the slicing.
Creating Uncommon Mokume in Your Studio
Has this started to get you thinking a bit differently about mokume? If it hasn’t let me just nudge you a bit more.
Consider this. With polymer, versus metal, we can:
- Work in a vast and myriad array of colors.
- Add translucent layers.
- Include inclusions in those layers.
- Cover the surface of layers with metal leaf, gilder’s paste, image transfers, or paint.
- Cut down through the billet to create lines and shapes.
- Use mica clays to create mica shift, an effect that adds color gradations and dimension around cuts and impressions.
- Create any kind of patterning we like, from loose and organic to very regular and controlled.
How many of these methods have you tried?
Uncommon Mokume Examples
Opening this post is a necklace by Carole Aubourg’s (aka Cacofim’) that can teach us a bit about mixing and matching patterns and letting background and foreground play together. She uses mokume in balance with the other, similarly slice-dependent techniques that appear, putting the focus on the design rather than on any one pattern or technique. Then the slices don’t always cover their beads, letting the background come through. There is a lot going on here but the variety of patterns are all brought together by a cohesive color palette that all parts partake of.
Here are some splendid green and cream dimensional beads by Eugena Topina that speak to how you can control of the slices. The mokume is created with high contrast colors and a prominent pattern that is sliced to a very even depth to keep the pattern whole. She then echos the pattern on the reverse side with carving. (And lucky us … she sells a project tutorial for this necklace here for a mere $13! Go get one if you are at all intrigued.)
I don’t want to discount what metalsmiths are doing with mokume these days either. So, no, this stylized heart pendant is not polymer but don’t you love how fine and close the mokume marks/impressions are? And why not go dense with the patterning? I have not the faintest idea how Juha Koskela created this in silver but if metalsmiths are getting wild with color in metals, I have to at least wonder a little bit if metal techniques, which have long influenced our work, might now be getting inspiration from polymer. I do like that idea, don’t you?
So, here’s another question … are you a mokume making fan and have you pushed what you know about the technique? If you have, why not share? Send links of your work in the comments below (click here if you are reading this in an email) so we can all see your work. I know I’d love to see it!
THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO:
Here are a few bits of general polymer news you might find of interest!
- This Tuesday is the near legendary half off sale at Munro Crafts. Check it out and stock up!
- Maggie Maggio and Lindly Haunani are teaching together for a 6 day spree of creativity and color, July 8th-13th. This is also partly a celebration of their highly influential book, Color Inspirations. If you like color (and who doesn’t?) and you can squeeze this into your schedule and budget, it’s a must.
- Deadline for submitting to the IPCA Awards is in just a few days. Apply here!
Do you have feedback for me?
Tell me what you think of this new format and blog. I wanted to put some more meat into it but you tell me … is it too long or did you enjoy getting lost in the history and ideas? If you liked it, just drop a quick “Works for me!” or “Keep it up” in the comments below (click here if you are reading this in an email then scroll down on the page that pops up.)
If you have ways I could change or otherwise improve the new blog format, just send a short “Shorter!” or “More pics, less text.” or “More instruction than history” or whatever in the comments below (click here if you are reading this in an email). I can’t please everyone but I really want this to be as useful and inspiring as it can be so help me make this what you want and hope for!
– Sage
Reflective Overload
February 21, 2013 Inspirational Art
I wanted to get some sculpture in on the blog this week although what I found myself fascinated by was a bit unexpected. I couldn’t pass up sharing this if for no other reason than to bring something bright and shiny to all you who are getting through some gray wintry weather today.
One does needs to be careful when using a lot of glitz and shimmer but then again, if you are going to use a lot, don’t do it halfway. CityZenKane really does push the glitz on this large wall sculpture. There is no indication of exactly how large this is but looking at videos of other pieces being built, I’m thinking it’s more than a foot long. That’s a lot of reflective surface.
This sculpture is a mixed medium piece using nearly every sparkly, metallic and color saturated material that will reflect light. Besides polymer, the list found on the Flickr post says it includes “dichroic glass, Swarovski crystals, glitter, Metal leaf, holographic glitter. Most sculptures, fluoresce in UV light and glow in the dark. They sparkle in the sun and under a hard light source.”
What do you think? Is it too much? Or do you enjoy the eye candy (emphasis on the candy metaphor)? There certainly is a lot to investigate and I admire the fearlessness of CityZenKane’s going into reflective overload. This artist has quite the imagination. Want to see more? Check out the videos on the YouTube page. It’s pretty interesting and definitely different.
Question for you … how much do you know about the origination of mokume gane? I’m guessing you have heard it has something to do with swords but did you know that the original metal technique was a lost art until quite recently? And did you know that what we do with polymer today has virtually nothing in common with the original technique? Mokume’s history and our adaptation of it has quite a few surprises in it, many of which could really open your eyes to its possibilities.
To understand how to create great mokume in polymer, it really does help to know a bit about where it came from, not to mention that its history is a great story of fortune, loss and redemption! Or something akin to that. Here are a few statements about its history. See if you can identify which statements are a true part of its tumultuous history and which are just fantastic claims:
- Mokume was a sword making technique that required folding metal over and over to give the blade’s edge a rippled appearance, like wood grain.
- The technique was developed for purely decorative purposes.
- It was originally used almost exclusively to create samurai swords to be carried around as status symbols.
- The technique became nearly extinct due to samurai swords becoming illegal to carry in Japan in the 19th century.
- The technique was resurrected by a female Japanese metalsmith when she started teaching it in the US in the 1970s.
Ok, so as you might have guessed, all these statements are true! But how does knowing this help? Well, the history may be more about appreciating it’s path to polymer but how it is created in metal can help you understand how our version of it works and what you can do with it.
Here … just take a look at one of the ways it is used in metalsmithing today. You can see in the phases of making a mokume ring, just how a mokume billet (that’s what metalsmith’s call a block of metal) is layered, twisted, pounded and bent into a ring. I never would have guessed that my mokume wedding band was created in this way considering how we approach it with polymer.
Now, what if you did the exact same thing with polymer? You could build a block, cut it, twist it, open it up and form it into a dimensional ring. Or bead. Or flattened donut. Or just a long bar bead, already patterned on all sides. Do you see how knowing the origin and how else it has been used can help you see the possibilities in polymer?
Neither the decorative sword nor the above metalsmithing approach sounds or looks anything like what we do in polymer though, does it? We don’t twist or even fold polymer mokume, it rarely looks like wood grain, and it certainly isn’t going to behave (or be as hard to work with) as steel and yet, we call it mokume. Now, how did that happen?
Like most borrowed techniques, what most of us have come to think of as polymer mokume evolved from an attempt to emulate it so it is not just some kind of translation of the technique. Slicing polymer “billets” (it’s too cool a word not to borrow too!) emulated grinding down the metal edge of a sword to reveal the visual drama of its layers. But because polymer can be manipulated in so many other ways, and because artists are a curious and exploratory lot, the technique, along with the clay, was also manipulated. This happened over and over until we ended up with the many variations we have today and even those often have little in common but the layering and the slicing.
Creating Uncommon Mokume in Your Studio
Has this started to get you thinking a bit differently about mokume? If it hasn’t let me just nudge you a bit more.
Consider this. With polymer, versus metal, we can:
- Work in a vast and myriad array of colors.
- Add translucent layers.
- Include inclusions in those layers.
- Cover the surface of layers with metal leaf, gilder’s paste, image transfers, or paint.
- Cut down through the billet to create lines and shapes.
- Use mica clays to create mica shift, an effect that adds color gradations and dimension around cuts and impressions.
- Create any kind of patterning we like, from loose and organic to very regular and controlled.
How many of these methods have you tried?
Uncommon Mokume Examples
Opening this post is a necklace by Carole Aubourg’s (aka Cacofim’) that can teach us a bit about mixing and matching patterns and letting background and foreground play together. She uses mokume in balance with the other, similarly slice-dependent techniques that appear, putting the focus on the design rather than on any one pattern or technique. Then the slices don’t always cover their beads, letting the background come through. There is a lot going on here but the variety of patterns are all brought together by a cohesive color palette that all parts partake of.
Here are some splendid green and cream dimensional beads by Eugena Topina that speak to how you can control of the slices. The mokume is created with high contrast colors and a prominent pattern that is sliced to a very even depth to keep the pattern whole. She then echos the pattern on the reverse side with carving. (And lucky us … she sells a project tutorial for this necklace here for a mere $13! Go get one if you are at all intrigued.)
I don’t want to discount what metalsmiths are doing with mokume these days either. So, no, this stylized heart pendant is not polymer but don’t you love how fine and close the mokume marks/impressions are? And why not go dense with the patterning? I have not the faintest idea how Juha Koskela created this in silver but if metalsmiths are getting wild with color in metals, I have to at least wonder a little bit if metal techniques, which have long influenced our work, might now be getting inspiration from polymer. I do like that idea, don’t you?
So, here’s another question … are you a mokume making fan and have you pushed what you know about the technique? If you have, why not share? Send links of your work in the comments below (click here if you are reading this in an email) so we can all see your work. I know I’d love to see it!
THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO:
Here are a few bits of general polymer news you might find of interest!
- This Tuesday is the near legendary half off sale at Munro Crafts. Check it out and stock up!
- Maggie Maggio and Lindly Haunani are teaching together for a 6 day spree of creativity and color, July 8th-13th. This is also partly a celebration of their highly influential book, Color Inspirations. If you like color (and who doesn’t?) and you can squeeze this into your schedule and budget, it’s a must.
- Deadline for submitting to the IPCA Awards is in just a few days. Apply here!
Do you have feedback for me?
Tell me what you think of this new format and blog. I wanted to put some more meat into it but you tell me … is it too long or did you enjoy getting lost in the history and ideas? If you liked it, just drop a quick “Works for me!” or “Keep it up” in the comments below (click here if you are reading this in an email then scroll down on the page that pops up.)
If you have ways I could change or otherwise improve the new blog format, just send a short “Shorter!” or “More pics, less text.” or “More instruction than history” or whatever in the comments below (click here if you are reading this in an email). I can’t please everyone but I really want this to be as useful and inspiring as it can be so help me make this what you want and hope for!
– Sage
Read MoreI wanted to get some sculpture in on the blog this week although what I found myself fascinated by was a bit unexpected. I couldn’t pass up sharing this if for no other reason than to bring something bright and shiny to all you who are getting through some gray wintry weather today.
One does needs to be careful when using a lot of glitz and shimmer but then again, if you are going to use a lot, don’t do it halfway. CityZenKane really does push the glitz on this large wall sculpture. There is no indication of exactly how large this is but looking at videos of other pieces being built, I’m thinking it’s more than a foot long. That’s a lot of reflective surface.
This sculpture is a mixed medium piece using nearly every sparkly, metallic and color saturated material that will reflect light. Besides polymer, the list found on the Flickr post says it includes “dichroic glass, Swarovski crystals, glitter, Metal leaf, holographic glitter. Most sculptures, fluoresce in UV light and glow in the dark. They sparkle in the sun and under a hard light source.”
What do you think? Is it too much? Or do you enjoy the eye candy (emphasis on the candy metaphor)? There certainly is a lot to investigate and I admire the fearlessness of CityZenKane’s going into reflective overload. This artist has quite the imagination. Want to see more? Check out the videos on the YouTube page. It’s pretty interesting and definitely different.
Read MoreClick a tag …
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