A Fascinating Process
May 30, 2018
Inspirational Art
I know a lot of you have probably already seen this but it’s too amazing not to comment on. Julie Eakes has been creating her incredible pointillism canes for quite a while, although it has been a couple of years since she created one, but her process and the finished canes never fail to fascinate.
This one, “Soul of the Rose” cane, is the most recent addition to her fabulous cane imagery portfolio. If you go to her Facebook page and go back to April 5 and scroll up to recent posts, you can see her process throughout the weeks that it took her to put this together. She mixed 77 colors for this, extruding each with a square and painstakingly put them together into 56 block canes. The complete cane before reduction was 6.5” x 8” x 2” and weighed 5 pounds. She then reduced it by sections and took a few slices off as she went so she’ll have cane images at different sizes which is what you’re seeing here.
Her cane reduction is probably not quite what you would think either. She uses a few different methods and shares her process of reduction in a video that you can find here. Don’t forget to drop by her Facebook page or Instagram account for the full story of this piece.
Veneers are Tops
April 20, 2018
Inspirational Art
I had not planned on going off on a cane-focused week but here we are with more canes. I couldn’t resist sharing this fabulous tabletop created by the very exploratory Bridget Derc.
Primarily I wanted to share the process photo. Don’t you love peeking in on people’s studio tables? In the Creative Spaces themed Spring 2012 issue, we peeked into a handful of people’s studios. That was the quickest selling issue we’ve ever had which makes me think we need to do some more of that in the future. For now, we’ll peek in on Bridget, who shows us here how she lays out her beautifully constructed canes to cover tabletops. She also tends to the size of the tables as shown in the last photo that I couldn’t resist adding because it’s just such a beautiful pattern and color palette.
She takes process shots of that white table nearly step-by-step, and not having room enough to show that here, I posted this to entice you to jump over to her Flickr photostream where you can see it all. That table and all the process photos are on her second page of Flickr photos. The one you see the process for here is on her first page. But take some time to peruse it all. Not only are her pieces lovingly finished, but you get to see how she puts it all together. Does it give you any ideas?
If you want to peek in on a few other artists, open up your spring 2012 issue of the Polymer Arts and go to the website to download a digital version at www.ThePolymerArts.com It is only available digitally but if you’re curious, go to our website and you can get an immediate download.
Outside Inspiration: Diminutive in Nature
April 5, 2013
Inspirational Art
For many of us, nature is the ultimate inspiration. The forms, textures, and colors we see when outdoors provides endless ideas. But there is more inspiration in nature than meets the eye.
Meet Rob Kesseler. Rob has a serious fascination with nature but he doesn’t stop at just what is before him. He zooms in with his camera and on his computer to find the smallest of elements from which to draw inspiration for his varied art work. Here we have a commonly feared and dreaded inhabitant of the outdoors … pollen. But how gorgeous it is up close and no where near one’s respiratory system.
Rob actually works in a wide range of materials from photography to ceramics and a myriad of things in between. From his website: “… his most recent work reflects current desires to exploit the benefits for collaboration between artists and scientists. Over the past decade he has worked extensively with botanical scientists at Kew exploring the creative potential of microscopic plant material.” Now that’s getting close up and personal! It’s also very intriguing to see how he transforms what he sees into various types of art work. Peruse his site here.
With the changing of the seasons, we have a lot of opportunity to observe some very intricate and beautiful transformations. Head out with a camera fitted with a macro lens or go old-fashioned and just take a strong magnifying glass and a sketch book and spend an afternoon inspiration hunting in the great but tiny side of the outdoors.
Patterning with Mokume
February 20, 2013
Inspirational Art
How about today, while I wind up the release of the latest issue of The Polymer Arts, we turn to the thoughts and detailed process of Carol Simmons as she worked through some experimentation with mokume a couple years ago.
This beautiful metallic mokume is the result of Carol’s experimentation with arranging mokume strips in patterns as well as additional layers built from punched out shapes from the mokume sheet.
It’s a nice reminder that even something as intricate as mokume can be pushed just a little farther for new and interesting effects. Read about her process on Carol’s blog here.
I know a lot of you have probably already seen this but it’s too amazing not to comment on. Julie Eakes has been creating her incredible pointillism canes for quite a while, although it has been a couple of years since she created one, but her process and the finished canes never fail to fascinate.
This one, “Soul of the Rose” cane, is the most recent addition to her fabulous cane imagery portfolio. If you go to her Facebook page and go back to April 5 and scroll up to recent posts, you can see her process throughout the weeks that it took her to put this together. She mixed 77 colors for this, extruding each with a square and painstakingly put them together into 56 block canes. The complete cane before reduction was 6.5” x 8” x 2” and weighed 5 pounds. She then reduced it by sections and took a few slices off as she went so she’ll have cane images at different sizes which is what you’re seeing here.
Her cane reduction is probably not quite what you would think either. She uses a few different methods and shares her process of reduction in a video that you can find here. Don’t forget to drop by her Facebook page or Instagram account for the full story of this piece.
Read MoreI had not planned on going off on a cane-focused week but here we are with more canes. I couldn’t resist sharing this fabulous tabletop created by the very exploratory Bridget Derc.
Primarily I wanted to share the process photo. Don’t you love peeking in on people’s studio tables? In the Creative Spaces themed Spring 2012 issue, we peeked into a handful of people’s studios. That was the quickest selling issue we’ve ever had which makes me think we need to do some more of that in the future. For now, we’ll peek in on Bridget, who shows us here how she lays out her beautifully constructed canes to cover tabletops. She also tends to the size of the tables as shown in the last photo that I couldn’t resist adding because it’s just such a beautiful pattern and color palette.
She takes process shots of that white table nearly step-by-step, and not having room enough to show that here, I posted this to entice you to jump over to her Flickr photostream where you can see it all. That table and all the process photos are on her second page of Flickr photos. The one you see the process for here is on her first page. But take some time to peruse it all. Not only are her pieces lovingly finished, but you get to see how she puts it all together. Does it give you any ideas?
If you want to peek in on a few other artists, open up your spring 2012 issue of the Polymer Arts and go to the website to download a digital version at www.ThePolymerArts.com It is only available digitally but if you’re curious, go to our website and you can get an immediate download.
Read MoreFor many of us, nature is the ultimate inspiration. The forms, textures, and colors we see when outdoors provides endless ideas. But there is more inspiration in nature than meets the eye.
Meet Rob Kesseler. Rob has a serious fascination with nature but he doesn’t stop at just what is before him. He zooms in with his camera and on his computer to find the smallest of elements from which to draw inspiration for his varied art work. Here we have a commonly feared and dreaded inhabitant of the outdoors … pollen. But how gorgeous it is up close and no where near one’s respiratory system.
Rob actually works in a wide range of materials from photography to ceramics and a myriad of things in between. From his website: “… his most recent work reflects current desires to exploit the benefits for collaboration between artists and scientists. Over the past decade he has worked extensively with botanical scientists at Kew exploring the creative potential of microscopic plant material.” Now that’s getting close up and personal! It’s also very intriguing to see how he transforms what he sees into various types of art work. Peruse his site here.
With the changing of the seasons, we have a lot of opportunity to observe some very intricate and beautiful transformations. Head out with a camera fitted with a macro lens or go old-fashioned and just take a strong magnifying glass and a sketch book and spend an afternoon inspiration hunting in the great but tiny side of the outdoors.
Read MoreHow about today, while I wind up the release of the latest issue of The Polymer Arts, we turn to the thoughts and detailed process of Carol Simmons as she worked through some experimentation with mokume a couple years ago.
This beautiful metallic mokume is the result of Carol’s experimentation with arranging mokume strips in patterns as well as additional layers built from punched out shapes from the mokume sheet.
It’s a nice reminder that even something as intricate as mokume can be pushed just a little farther for new and interesting effects. Read about her process on Carol’s blog here.
Read More