Daily Polymer Arts Blog changes & A Rustic Tutorial
June 29, 2014 Inspirational Art, Polymer community news, The Polymer Arts magazine news
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.
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.
Working Well with One Concept
January 2, 2013 Inspirational Art
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.
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.
Tinting Liquid Polymer Clay
July 3, 2012 Supplies & other fun stuff, Tips and Tricks
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.
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.
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.
Read MoreAs 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.
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
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