A Day for Dots
September 3, 2018
Inspirational Art
In the US today, it is Labor Day. It’s a day to recognize and honor our working citizens. And we do… Most people get the day off as a thank you. Unless you work for yourself and your “boss” is a slave driver. I will join in our tradition of barbecues and games later but I’m working hard and wrapping up the fall issue, finally. It looks fantastic and will be a great send off to The Polymer Arts title. The release date has been set for the 22nd! You can preorder on The Polymer Arts website for the single issue.
In the meantime, whether you are in the US and join the holiday or elsewhere working, I thought I’d share a little something to do when you settle down tonight. I’ve seen these pins by syndee holt before but didn’t realize that Polyform had posted a video tutorial for them. What a fantastic and eye-catching texture this technique creates.
As syndee mentions in the video, this type of work is very relaxing and meditative as well as resulting in a beautiful polymer sheet to cut and use as you please. Her method does require the use of the pearling tool produced by Polyform but if you don’t have the pearling tools, use small hole punchers and seed beads. Click the image to go to the video.
So I’m going to leave you in the capable hands of syndee holt while I go get some more work done before I get a chance to play. Also, you can follow syndee’s experiments and ideas on her blog here. Enjoy your Labor Day or I hope you’ve enjoyed your Monday!
Layers of Interest
November 2, 2015
Inspirational Art
This past week, during my usual hunting excursions for fabulously interesting pieces to bring to you, I noticed I was seeing a lot of beautiful applications created in clean, simple pendant and earring forms, primarily in the area of layering.
This pendant popped up on my Facebook timeline just last night. It’s by Eriko Page who has been toiling away trying to perfect her crackle technique with, what I believe is, Kroma crackle. She mentions Jeanette Kandray’s Kroma Crackle tutorial on the Polyform website in a comment attached to another similar piece on her Facebook page and it does look just like it. I like how she uses the gradient colors and texture as a background for a simple caned tableau for this pendant. There is actually a lot going on that would catch and hold the eye on this simple, organically formed rectangular pendant.
Eriko hails from California and, according to her Facebook page, from Tehachapi of all places. Tehachapi is also home to Christi Friesen and Karen Lewis (Klew). That’s a lot of polymer talent in a town that is all of ten square miles and sits out there on the edge of the vast Mojave desert. What about that breeds such immense talent, I’m starting to wonder?
Well, while I am pondering that mystery, you can search out more of about Eriko and her work scattered throughout the web but most notably on Fire Mountain Gem’s website, Sonoran Beads where you can find her beads for sale and on her Facebook page.
___________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
___________________________________________
New Clays and New Toys
May 1, 2014
Polymer community news
Down in the vendor’s hall here at EuroSynergy, there are artists selling their beautiful work so we are getting the rare chance to see the craftsmanship and beauty of dozens of very skilled artists up close and personal. That in itself is very exciting but there is also the huge variety of new clays and new tools coming out from big manufacturers and small. It’s like Christmas comes early for polymer people!
You may have heard that there are some new clays coming out but did you know that there are new varieties by three big manufacturers? I am lucky enough to have a sneak peek back at the TPA office but to see all of the new products in one room is kind of overwhelming.
Both Polyform and Staedtler have brand new lines of clay as well as tools. Premo Souffle and a batch of truly new products are just streaming out of the creative centers at Polyform. Iris Weiss and Syndee Holt were demonstrating the new tools and sampling the new soft colors of Souffle at their very busy little corner of the room.
Staedtler’s new professional color wheel based system with a thoroughly tested color mixing system along with some really high quality new tools and supplies were drawing people in just as much.
I was personally most thrilled to meet George Desmare and his lovely wife from The Clay and Paint Factory who brought the lines of Cernit to the show. I know they have been working on getting these new lines out to more retailers which I find thrilling. The colors and lines of clay are very obviously different when you just look at the color palettes.
I can’t tell you more now as we are in the process of gathering all the details about the new products for out “Clay Report” that you’ll find in the next issue. So you have your peek here and then be sure you have an up to date subscription so you’ll get the Summer issue of The Polymer Arts due out at the end of the month.
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.
Set-Up Day at Synergy
March 14, 2013
Polymer community news
Being the first day, it was primarily dedicated to getting set up (and getting tons of hugs, and meeting people I e-know but haven’t yet meet in person.) It was a wonderful, crazy, whirlwind of a day. I didn’t get shots of eye candy yet– that will be done over the next few days for sure–but to give you a taste of who is here and what is going on, here are a few shots of the vendors and guests.
LeAnn Armstrong, creator of the Simple Slicer (which we reviewed last issue) was the first person to ‘hug attack’ me. She’s a little thing with a HUGE personality and a big heart. What a great person to greet me those first few minutes after I arrived!
Barbara McGuire, my hotel roommate and my saving grace (she came to my airport hotel to pick up me and my 100+ pounds of magazines and ‘stuff’ to got me to the conference!) is standing next to her very unique table of mixed media items that attendees were oh-ing & ah-ing over!
Iris Weiss of Polyform (Premo, Sculpey, etc.) teased us with new, not-yet-available products that will be rolling out next month. She was teasing, but I did get promised that we’ll get the new items to review. Yay!
Okay … more tomorrow but I’m going after the pretty pieces being worn and shown today.
Joseph Barbaccia created his “foXstitch” piece as a proof of concept, which, if you’re not familiar with the term, means that he’s experimenting and there is no particular expectation of a completed piece. Now, who would think his process a waste of time, even though it’ may not become a finished piece? He says he’s not happy with the execution, but that just means that he can see ways to improve it. And he could only see that through what he learned in this process. And, yes, all those “stitches” are bits of polymer clay.
Do you know who said this:
“It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”
Well, first of all, a lot of creative people! But specifically, this is a line in the book Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson was particularly good at appreciating the little things, especially the value of our true and unique experiences.
If you spend all day in the studio and don’t complete a single decent piece, or a successful part of a piece, do you feel like you wasted the day? I think we can all be disappointed when we don’t accomplish as much as we hoped to, but it’s never wasted time.
Every minute you spend at your studio table, no matter how long you’ve been working with the material, is a valuable experience, right? We are learning something new all the time, even if we don’t see it. We are honing our skills, solidifying our understanding, trying out new ideas, and finding out what doesn’t work, which can be more important than finding out what does work.
But the most valuable thing, I think, is the fact that we are sitting down for some quality time with ourselves and our thoughts, taking up the enormous challenge to make something from nothing, and forging ahead on a creative journey that will teach us things and give us memories that no one else and nothing else can provide. How common can such an experience be? Not that common, truly. We are some lucky ducks to have the creative time that we do.
Sure, having a successfully finished piece is such a high, but what comes after that? The journey’s over. Okay, that’s not quite true. The process of creating any piece is a short trip on a much bigger journey. But what is more valuable—the finished piece or the skills and knowledge acquired that will allow you to make that again, and probably even better?
Now, where is all this philosophical nattering coming from?
Well, this week, I had lots of starts and stops with my time at the polymer table and with my writing. Not only am I trying to get taxes done—that can really kill one’s creative vigor—but I’m on a new nutritional regimen which is making me a little foggy in the head. So, I’ve been a little frustrated. However, I realized that every night I go to bed, I think about what I did do that day, and, honestly, it’s just all too exciting to know there’s newly created bits on the studio table and new pages in my writing project. All in all, if I got to create something, it was a really good day.
So, if you can go to sleep at night with a little more knowledge and a bit more experience than you had when you woke up, that’s been a successful day. I know we can be anxious to finish things or can be disappointed by how little we produce, but unless our efforts need to put food on the table, let’s see if we can’t step back and not just appreciate but really learn to value our creative time for simply being our own precious, unique experience.
I mean, really, would you trade that time for anything?
Yay Giveaways!
So, I’m keeping this short since I’ve had a bit of a rough week but, as promised, I’m going to do some giveaways!
I have enough goodies here to give something away every weekend this month, so here’s what we’ll do this week:
Giveaway:
- Polyform’s Sculpey III clays in 7 new 2oz glitter colors, an 8oz Opal block, and a pack of their new jewelry templates.
- Or if outside the US, I have a $25 Tenth Muse certificate, not wanting to chance shipping clay outside the US.
How to Win:
- Put a comment in the blog comments* (below), telling us all what you appreciate most about your creative time. It can be one word or a story. I am just supercurious to hear what you love most about your studio table time. *It can take some time for the comment to appear since, due to annoying spamming, I have to approve it if you’ve not commented before.
- Giveaway winners will be chosen by random—it will not be based on your answers. And let’s say you can only win once this month so we can spread the love around.
- Get your comments posted by Wednesday March 10th at midnight Pacific time to get in for the raffle.
- I’ll announce the winner here on the blog next weekend!
Then … next weekend, I’ll put together another pack of goodies to giveaway so keep an eye on these posts!
You can support this blog by buying yourself a little something at Tenth Muse Arts or, if you like…
Read More
In the US today, it is Labor Day. It’s a day to recognize and honor our working citizens. And we do… Most people get the day off as a thank you. Unless you work for yourself and your “boss” is a slave driver. I will join in our tradition of barbecues and games later but I’m working hard and wrapping up the fall issue, finally. It looks fantastic and will be a great send off to The Polymer Arts title. The release date has been set for the 22nd! You can preorder on The Polymer Arts website for the single issue.
In the meantime, whether you are in the US and join the holiday or elsewhere working, I thought I’d share a little something to do when you settle down tonight. I’ve seen these pins by syndee holt before but didn’t realize that Polyform had posted a video tutorial for them. What a fantastic and eye-catching texture this technique creates.
As syndee mentions in the video, this type of work is very relaxing and meditative as well as resulting in a beautiful polymer sheet to cut and use as you please. Her method does require the use of the pearling tool produced by Polyform but if you don’t have the pearling tools, use small hole punchers and seed beads. Click the image to go to the video.
So I’m going to leave you in the capable hands of syndee holt while I go get some more work done before I get a chance to play. Also, you can follow syndee’s experiments and ideas on her blog here. Enjoy your Labor Day or I hope you’ve enjoyed your Monday!
Read More
This past week, during my usual hunting excursions for fabulously interesting pieces to bring to you, I noticed I was seeing a lot of beautiful applications created in clean, simple pendant and earring forms, primarily in the area of layering.
This pendant popped up on my Facebook timeline just last night. It’s by Eriko Page who has been toiling away trying to perfect her crackle technique with, what I believe is, Kroma crackle. She mentions Jeanette Kandray’s Kroma Crackle tutorial on the Polyform website in a comment attached to another similar piece on her Facebook page and it does look just like it. I like how she uses the gradient colors and texture as a background for a simple caned tableau for this pendant. There is actually a lot going on that would catch and hold the eye on this simple, organically formed rectangular pendant.
Eriko hails from California and, according to her Facebook page, from Tehachapi of all places. Tehachapi is also home to Christi Friesen and Karen Lewis (Klew). That’s a lot of polymer talent in a town that is all of ten square miles and sits out there on the edge of the vast Mojave desert. What about that breeds such immense talent, I’m starting to wonder?
Well, while I am pondering that mystery, you can search out more of about Eriko and her work scattered throughout the web but most notably on Fire Mountain Gem’s website, Sonoran Beads where you can find her beads for sale and on her Facebook page.
___________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
___________________________________________
Down in the vendor’s hall here at EuroSynergy, there are artists selling their beautiful work so we are getting the rare chance to see the craftsmanship and beauty of dozens of very skilled artists up close and personal. That in itself is very exciting but there is also the huge variety of new clays and new tools coming out from big manufacturers and small. It’s like Christmas comes early for polymer people!
You may have heard that there are some new clays coming out but did you know that there are new varieties by three big manufacturers? I am lucky enough to have a sneak peek back at the TPA office but to see all of the new products in one room is kind of overwhelming.
Both Polyform and Staedtler have brand new lines of clay as well as tools. Premo Souffle and a batch of truly new products are just streaming out of the creative centers at Polyform. Iris Weiss and Syndee Holt were demonstrating the new tools and sampling the new soft colors of Souffle at their very busy little corner of the room.
Staedtler’s new professional color wheel based system with a thoroughly tested color mixing system along with some really high quality new tools and supplies were drawing people in just as much.
I was personally most thrilled to meet George Desmare and his lovely wife from The Clay and Paint Factory who brought the lines of Cernit to the show. I know they have been working on getting these new lines out to more retailers which I find thrilling. The colors and lines of clay are very obviously different when you just look at the color palettes.
I can’t tell you more now as we are in the process of gathering all the details about the new products for out “Clay Report” that you’ll find in the next issue. So you have your peek here and then be sure you have an up to date subscription so you’ll get the Summer issue of The Polymer Arts due out at the end of the month.
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.
Being the first day, it was primarily dedicated to getting set up (and getting tons of hugs, and meeting people I e-know but haven’t yet meet in person.) It was a wonderful, crazy, whirlwind of a day. I didn’t get shots of eye candy yet– that will be done over the next few days for sure–but to give you a taste of who is here and what is going on, here are a few shots of the vendors and guests.
LeAnn Armstrong, creator of the Simple Slicer (which we reviewed last issue) was the first person to ‘hug attack’ me. She’s a little thing with a HUGE personality and a big heart. What a great person to greet me those first few minutes after I arrived!
Barbara McGuire, my hotel roommate and my saving grace (she came to my airport hotel to pick up me and my 100+ pounds of magazines and ‘stuff’ to got me to the conference!) is standing next to her very unique table of mixed media items that attendees were oh-ing & ah-ing over!
Iris Weiss of Polyform (Premo, Sculpey, etc.) teased us with new, not-yet-available products that will be rolling out next month. She was teasing, but I did get promised that we’ll get the new items to review. Yay!
Okay … more tomorrow but I’m going after the pretty pieces being worn and shown today.
Read More
Focus on the Journey (And March Giveaways!)
Joseph Barbaccia created his “foXstitch” piece as a proof of concept, which, if you’re not familiar with the term, means that he’s experimenting and there is no particular expectation of a completed piece. Now, who would think his process a waste of time, even though it’ may not become a finished piece? He says he’s not happy with the execution, but that just means that he can see ways to improve it. And he could only see that through what he learned in this process. And, yes, all those “stitches” are bits of polymer clay.
Do you know who said this:
“It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”
Well, first of all, a lot of creative people! But specifically, this is a line in the book Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson was particularly good at appreciating the little things, especially the value of our true and unique experiences.
If you spend all day in the studio and don’t complete a single decent piece, or a successful part of a piece, do you feel like you wasted the day? I think we can all be disappointed when we don’t accomplish as much as we hoped to, but it’s never wasted time.
Every minute you spend at your studio table, no matter how long you’ve been working with the material, is a valuable experience, right? We are learning something new all the time, even if we don’t see it. We are honing our skills, solidifying our understanding, trying out new ideas, and finding out what doesn’t work, which can be more important than finding out what does work.
But the most valuable thing, I think, is the fact that we are sitting down for some quality time with ourselves and our thoughts, taking up the enormous challenge to make something from nothing, and forging ahead on a creative journey that will teach us things and give us memories that no one else and nothing else can provide. How common can such an experience be? Not that common, truly. We are some lucky ducks to have the creative time that we do.
Sure, having a successfully finished piece is such a high, but what comes after that? The journey’s over. Okay, that’s not quite true. The process of creating any piece is a short trip on a much bigger journey. But what is more valuable—the finished piece or the skills and knowledge acquired that will allow you to make that again, and probably even better?
Now, where is all this philosophical nattering coming from?
Well, this week, I had lots of starts and stops with my time at the polymer table and with my writing. Not only am I trying to get taxes done—that can really kill one’s creative vigor—but I’m on a new nutritional regimen which is making me a little foggy in the head. So, I’ve been a little frustrated. However, I realized that every night I go to bed, I think about what I did do that day, and, honestly, it’s just all too exciting to know there’s newly created bits on the studio table and new pages in my writing project. All in all, if I got to create something, it was a really good day.
So, if you can go to sleep at night with a little more knowledge and a bit more experience than you had when you woke up, that’s been a successful day. I know we can be anxious to finish things or can be disappointed by how little we produce, but unless our efforts need to put food on the table, let’s see if we can’t step back and not just appreciate but really learn to value our creative time for simply being our own precious, unique experience.
I mean, really, would you trade that time for anything?
Yay Giveaways!
So, I’m keeping this short since I’ve had a bit of a rough week but, as promised, I’m going to do some giveaways!
I have enough goodies here to give something away every weekend this month, so here’s what we’ll do this week:
Giveaway:
How to Win:
Then … next weekend, I’ll put together another pack of goodies to giveaway so keep an eye on these posts!
You can support this blog by buying yourself a little something at Tenth Muse Arts or, if you like…