The Complexity of Time

November 29, 2017

In my search for clock inspiration, I veered a bit off the polymer path, but then again, I kept running into pieces that I thought were polymer but were not. Of course, pieces like this splendid celestial clock by Natalya Polekh could be created in a very similar fashion with polymer. Large textured sheets and fun with alcohol inks and mica powders could produce similarly stunning results so I took a  closer look.

Natalya looks to be a well-known mixed media artist in Eastern Europe and Russia and when I say mixed, I mean all kinds of things. Her primary materials look to be various types of acrylic paint, dimensional and pearling paints, 3D gel, embossing paste, and glass and metal accents of different types. She works in texture, mosaics and layered media that is applied in such a way that knowing the materials is rather superfluous. She creates a beautiful complexity of texture and motif with shine and shimmer applied in abundance but always in a tasteful and often intriguing manner.

She does much more than clocks although she has done quite few of them. Take a look at her shop for more clock and textural ideas as well as very well priced tutorials on how she creates this work.  Her VK.com page has more images.

 

Daily Polymer Arts Blog changes & A Rustic Tutorial

First thank you to every one who switched over to the new email post service a few weeks ago. The old service was scheduled to be taken down this week but things are little behind schedule. We are getting back on track and the switch will be done tomorrow. So, if you didn’t switch over and are reading this in an email post that has a long link on the top, click that link and unsubscribe and go here for the new blog emails or you won’t be receiving email notifications any longer as of Monday.

As of this week, the blog will have a few more changes as well. For one, I won’t be posting on Sundays any more. There is a lot going on over here and I need to get a little more time out of my week to get the books going and keep the magazine at the high quality you expect. We will still have a Saturday post which will encompass news, new products, links to great tutorials and anything else that I can find to give you something to look into over the weekend. We’ll continue with polymer and design posts every day during the week.

As part of the “get Sage more time for new and exciting TPA projects” initiative, I am looking for people to guest post and suggest themes. This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to promote products, books, events and classes on the blog in exchange for helping create great content. If you are interested in learning details about this opportunity, write me at sbray@thepolymerarts.com

In the meantime, if this week’s rustic elegance has piqued your interest, try this neat little, free tutorial by Ginger Davis Allman (who also has a fantastic tutorial using translucent clay in the present Summer issue of The Polymer Arts magazine) to create shimmery rustic leaves in your own choice of elegant palettes. Here are a couple of examples by Ginger.

20131016_4013-600x450

20131009_3870-600x450

Thank you for your support of The Polymer Arts projects!

 

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.

14-P2 CoverFnl-blog   Blog2 -2014-02Feb-5   Basic RGB

Working Well with One Concept

January 2, 2013

As an artist, do you spend your time learning a variety of techniques so you have many options to express yourself, or do you find one approach you like and work with it continuously until you have it done perfectly?

I suspect most polymer artists are drawn to this medium because of the variety of effects and applications possible. But some people can become completely enamored of a single application and I’m rather glad for that on most occasions. Take Cathy Braunlin’s work. She has really gotten covering objects in extruded rope filigree down to, well, an art. Her technique is straight forward–swirls and zig-zags fitted onto the surface of an object, then painted with mica powders usually in a rainbow of colors. The effect is quite dramatic and is the epitome of eye candy.

42A004-Second-(Braunlin)

 

Cathy covers vases, lamps, pens, and other household items as well as using this technique on a variety of jewelry forms, all in this neat but varied texture. Is she a well accomplished polymer artist? It would depend on how you define “accomplished”. It’s also a question of whether labeling one in such a manner is important on any level. I enjoy her work and I bet many of you will also. She has taken this approach and done quite well with it. And all I can say is that I’m glad for it.

 

 

Outside Inspiration: Oxidized Silver Rainbows

November 30, 2012

One of the primary attractions to polymer is the range of beautiful colors available. This gives polymer a huge advantage over many other jewelry mediums, primarily metals. Not that there aren’t ways to add color to metal but it takes some serious skill and time to control it. Elisenda de Haro is one jewelry artist that seems to have color in metal well under her control. She also creates these incredible forms and textures that are almost primal and quite enticing.

If one wanted to replicate this highly textured color, I am thinking you’d search out rough textures like concrete and rock. Then use mica powders or scraped pastels and the judicious touch of a small brush. Colored pencils would also allow you to recreate that rough and random layering of color. Or you could just take away the idea of cutting away at the form to create interesting lines and organic edges. Or you can just admire this … and the rest of her beautiful jewelry on her website here.

Tinting Liquid Polymer Clay

There is more than one way to tint LPC! You can buy it already tinted with Kato Liquid PolyClay or you can make your own. If you make your own, you can use most any dye or paint that is NOT water-based. The most common colorant is oil paint but alcohol inks or mica powders are also used.

I also recommend cosmetic colorants … see the article in the Spring 2012 issue of The Polymer Arts magazine for cosmetic industry options for all kinds of materials. Each tint medium produces different results and requires slightly different approaches to use them successfully.

 

Luckily, our friends over at Craft Test Dummies did a lot of the experimenting for you. These ideas greatly expand your options if you haven’t tried them.

The Complexity of Time

November 29, 2017
Posted in

In my search for clock inspiration, I veered a bit off the polymer path, but then again, I kept running into pieces that I thought were polymer but were not. Of course, pieces like this splendid celestial clock by Natalya Polekh could be created in a very similar fashion with polymer. Large textured sheets and fun with alcohol inks and mica powders could produce similarly stunning results so I took a  closer look.

Natalya looks to be a well-known mixed media artist in Eastern Europe and Russia and when I say mixed, I mean all kinds of things. Her primary materials look to be various types of acrylic paint, dimensional and pearling paints, 3D gel, embossing paste, and glass and metal accents of different types. She works in texture, mosaics and layered media that is applied in such a way that knowing the materials is rather superfluous. She creates a beautiful complexity of texture and motif with shine and shimmer applied in abundance but always in a tasteful and often intriguing manner.

She does much more than clocks although she has done quite few of them. Take a look at her shop for more clock and textural ideas as well as very well priced tutorials on how she creates this work.  Her VK.com page has more images.

 

Read More

Daily Polymer Arts Blog changes & A Rustic Tutorial

June 29, 2014
Posted in , ,

First thank you to every one who switched over to the new email post service a few weeks ago. The old service was scheduled to be taken down this week but things are little behind schedule. We are getting back on track and the switch will be done tomorrow. So, if you didn’t switch over and are reading this in an email post that has a long link on the top, click that link and unsubscribe and go here for the new blog emails or you won’t be receiving email notifications any longer as of Monday.

As of this week, the blog will have a few more changes as well. For one, I won’t be posting on Sundays any more. There is a lot going on over here and I need to get a little more time out of my week to get the books going and keep the magazine at the high quality you expect. We will still have a Saturday post which will encompass news, new products, links to great tutorials and anything else that I can find to give you something to look into over the weekend. We’ll continue with polymer and design posts every day during the week.

As part of the “get Sage more time for new and exciting TPA projects” initiative, I am looking for people to guest post and suggest themes. This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to promote products, books, events and classes on the blog in exchange for helping create great content. If you are interested in learning details about this opportunity, write me at sbray@thepolymerarts.com

In the meantime, if this week’s rustic elegance has piqued your interest, try this neat little, free tutorial by Ginger Davis Allman (who also has a fantastic tutorial using translucent clay in the present Summer issue of The Polymer Arts magazine) to create shimmery rustic leaves in your own choice of elegant palettes. Here are a couple of examples by Ginger.

20131016_4013-600x450

20131009_3870-600x450

Thank you for your support of The Polymer Arts projects!

 

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.

14-P2 CoverFnl-blog   Blog2 -2014-02Feb-5   Basic RGB

Read More

Working Well with One Concept

January 2, 2013
Posted in

As an artist, do you spend your time learning a variety of techniques so you have many options to express yourself, or do you find one approach you like and work with it continuously until you have it done perfectly?

I suspect most polymer artists are drawn to this medium because of the variety of effects and applications possible. But some people can become completely enamored of a single application and I’m rather glad for that on most occasions. Take Cathy Braunlin’s work. She has really gotten covering objects in extruded rope filigree down to, well, an art. Her technique is straight forward–swirls and zig-zags fitted onto the surface of an object, then painted with mica powders usually in a rainbow of colors. The effect is quite dramatic and is the epitome of eye candy.

42A004-Second-(Braunlin)

 

Cathy covers vases, lamps, pens, and other household items as well as using this technique on a variety of jewelry forms, all in this neat but varied texture. Is she a well accomplished polymer artist? It would depend on how you define “accomplished”. It’s also a question of whether labeling one in such a manner is important on any level. I enjoy her work and I bet many of you will also. She has taken this approach and done quite well with it. And all I can say is that I’m glad for it.

 

 

Read More

Outside Inspiration: Oxidized Silver Rainbows

November 30, 2012
Posted in

One of the primary attractions to polymer is the range of beautiful colors available. This gives polymer a huge advantage over many other jewelry mediums, primarily metals. Not that there aren’t ways to add color to metal but it takes some serious skill and time to control it. Elisenda de Haro is one jewelry artist that seems to have color in metal well under her control. She also creates these incredible forms and textures that are almost primal and quite enticing.

If one wanted to replicate this highly textured color, I am thinking you’d search out rough textures like concrete and rock. Then use mica powders or scraped pastels and the judicious touch of a small brush. Colored pencils would also allow you to recreate that rough and random layering of color. Or you could just take away the idea of cutting away at the form to create interesting lines and organic edges. Or you can just admire this … and the rest of her beautiful jewelry on her website here.

Read More

Tinting Liquid Polymer Clay

July 3, 2012
Posted in ,

There is more than one way to tint LPC! You can buy it already tinted with Kato Liquid PolyClay or you can make your own. If you make your own, you can use most any dye or paint that is NOT water-based. The most common colorant is oil paint but alcohol inks or mica powders are also used.

I also recommend cosmetic colorants … see the article in the Spring 2012 issue of The Polymer Arts magazine for cosmetic industry options for all kinds of materials. Each tint medium produces different results and requires slightly different approaches to use them successfully.

 

Luckily, our friends over at Craft Test Dummies did a lot of the experimenting for you. These ideas greatly expand your options if you haven’t tried them.

Read More
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