New book! Polymer Art Projects—Coming October 20th
September 10, 2018
Inspirational Art, Polymer community news, The Polymer Arts magazine news
This week is going to be a series of announcements but I promise, they will all be very exciting, they will all be polymer, and they will all give you something you can look forward to as we move into fall and winter (or spring and summer if you’re down under.)
First up… I can finally announce and show off the cover of the first in an upcoming series of books, Polymer Art Projects. This series arose from your consistent request for more projects and a desire to support and promote our great artists, so, after many conversations, I came up with this cooperative book project. All contributing artists in the book will be part of a promotion and profit sharing team. That means they are highly motivated to provide you with some truly fantastic material on top of looking forward to sharing their love of polymer art.
For less than a couple of dollars each, you get 16 tutorials that will expand your abilities under the guidance of some of the polymer community’s best instructors. The skill level of these tutorials range from the experienced novice to the intermediate artisan, with tips and ideas for polymer crafters of all levels. The tutorials are very detailed, each showing off a variety of techniques, expert construction, and lists of ideas for variation so you can create your own unique pieces from what you learn.
The first in the series, Polymer Art Projects—Organic, includes tutorials by Donna Greenberg, Christi Friesen, Eva Haskova, Anke Humpert, Debbie Crothers, Kim Cavender, Stephanie Kilgast, Chris Kapono, Stacy Louise Smith, Nevenka Sabo, Adriana Allen, Dani Rapinett, Fabiola Ajates, Rebecca Thickbroom, Klavdija Kurent, and little ol’ me. Projects include a variety of jewelry as well as home decor, all inspired by mother nature.
Check out the cover for a sampling of what you can look forward to. The cover price for the print edition of this book will be $23.95 but for the next month, you can preorder for $16.75 – that’s 30% off the cover price. Or maybe you’d like a digital edition which will list for $15.95 – you can preorder the digital edition for just $11.95. These preorder prices are good through October 10th.
Don’t forget the last issue of The Polymer Arts comes out September 22. Preorder this last historic copy on The Polymer Arts website.
Big and Bold Tribal
July 20, 2016
Inspirational Art
Here is the lovely Rebecca Thickbroom showing off her tribal-esque jewelry at the Eurosynergy gala event last week. She was sitting there signing copies of the Polymer Journeys book when I snapped this photo of her and this bold neck piece. Rebecca’s work, although it has a tribal look, is never quite as one would expect that look to be. She is not afraid to go big with her pieces and arranges elements in uncommonly complex compositions for ethnic influenced jewelry. She also uses bright saturated colors alongside muted and natural tones for interesting and eye-catching color contrast. The results are big and bold and quite enticing.
Rebecca was not the only one signing copies of Polymer Journeys last week. A number of attendees went about with their copies collecting signatures from the 25 artists that were at the event that are also in the book. I got two copies signed by all 25 artists which included the likes of Kathleen Dustin, Jeff Dever, Georg Dinkle, Maggie Maggio, Melanie Muir, Christi Friesen and more. One of those copies I donated to be auctioned off online by the IPCA. The auction is not yet up but I will share the link here when it’s announced so if you want to get your copy of this signed edition of Polymer Journeys, stay tuned!
In the meantime, getting a closer look at the variety of color and texture on this piece you see here along with other work by Rebecca on her website here.
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
_________________________________________
Serendipitous Galleries
September 7, 2015
Inspirational Art
I have been asked before why we bother with artist’s galleries in the magazine when the work can usually be found online. Well, the fact is, these days most anything you want to know can be found online, but the value of a particular magazine you subscribe to is not in some specific information you were looking for, but in what you might find along the way as you flip through, read and explore it. Magazine reading is like going to an antique store or thrift shop. Although you might have some of idea of what you hope to find there, you are open to simply finding something that grabs you, and so, because you have no particular expectations, you often find some of the best treasures; ones you often didn’t even know existed.
The galleries in our magazine work this way. You might know the artist, and you might have even seen some of the work posted, but unless you are an avid follower of that artist, you will not have seen the collection in such a light nor usually with the background and insights that the biographies give you. The serendipitous nature of magazines give you an opportunity to see things you may have otherwise passed by while searching for something specific online. And what comes to us online– through Pinterest, Flickr, Facebook, Instagram and search engine results–often has little or no information attached. So, this is why we have the galleries. In hopes you might find something new and wonderful, either in a brand new-to-you artist or in something new that catches your eye on those pages.
So today, I want to share one more of our gallery artists that you will find in the Fall 2015 issue of The Polymer Arts. This is Rebecca Thickbroom‘s work featured here, and one of her newest pieces not yet found online as far as I can tell. It echos her prior work in form and texture but is so wildly different, primarily due to the bold use of color. This piece did make it into the magazine, but as a close up shot in Ronna Sarvas Weltman’s The Joyous Classroom article. I wanted the chance to present the whole of the necklace’s focal section though. I love the tribal look with the bright colors as well as the wild mixture of elements that creates both texture and a variety that draws you in closer to examine it.
Go to the article in the magazine to see the close-up of this great piece and then the gallery where more of her new work can be found. To see additional work by Rebecca, head on over to her website’s gallery pages.
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
Now for Something Completely Different
May 11, 2015
Inspirational Art
“Something completely different” is the theme this week, or so that’s what I am aiming at. Maybe I look at way too much polymer work on a daily basis, but certain forms and applications are so well used as to be beyond common. I won’t name names, but a rather influential person in our industry turned to me in a recent conversation and said “If I see one more of those domed pendants with the hole cut out, I’m just gonna …” with the unspoken threat left hanging in its possibilities. I kind of like those domed peek-a-boo pendants, but I do have to say they are a form that has been well-represented in the community.
That and a funny conversation online about whether Hollywood can come up with anything original anymore had me thinking about whether our constant and global exposure has somehow diluted originality. We see so much of certain things that we start to automatically create similar items. So, I thought I’d make it a goal this week to find things that just look nothing like anything else I’ve seen in recent years.
This amazing piece is by England’s Rebecca Thickbroom. I’m not sure why pieces like this aren’t making the wide rounds on Pinterest and Facebook. I think it’s quite stunning, and I didn’t find this online, not initially. I actually had the pleasure of seeing this in person last year in Malta where I got to meet Rebecca and take a few of my own photos of it. The insufficient and yellow light of the reception room where I snapped the shot you see on the bottom didn’t do this justice at all, hence the nice photo I acquired from Rebecca’s Facebook page.
The size of the piece is quite bold, but it’s the textures and numerous interesting objects in the piece that grab you. There appears to be some mysterious symbolism in the collection of objects framed here, and, of course, it looks like it could be a museum piece from some long-lost tribal culture. I find it very intriguing, and I can’t say I’ve seen anything like it in recent years besides other pieces from Rebecca’s portfolio. She’s quite original.
Rebecca’s work can be found in greater quantity on her Facebook page, Clectic Designs, where you can find more unusual and curious pieces to tickle your imagination.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.
This week is going to be a series of announcements but I promise, they will all be very exciting, they will all be polymer, and they will all give you something you can look forward to as we move into fall and winter (or spring and summer if you’re down under.)
First up… I can finally announce and show off the cover of the first in an upcoming series of books, Polymer Art Projects. This series arose from your consistent request for more projects and a desire to support and promote our great artists, so, after many conversations, I came up with this cooperative book project. All contributing artists in the book will be part of a promotion and profit sharing team. That means they are highly motivated to provide you with some truly fantastic material on top of looking forward to sharing their love of polymer art.
For less than a couple of dollars each, you get 16 tutorials that will expand your abilities under the guidance of some of the polymer community’s best instructors. The skill level of these tutorials range from the experienced novice to the intermediate artisan, with tips and ideas for polymer crafters of all levels. The tutorials are very detailed, each showing off a variety of techniques, expert construction, and lists of ideas for variation so you can create your own unique pieces from what you learn.
The first in the series, Polymer Art Projects—Organic, includes tutorials by Donna Greenberg, Christi Friesen, Eva Haskova, Anke Humpert, Debbie Crothers, Kim Cavender, Stephanie Kilgast, Chris Kapono, Stacy Louise Smith, Nevenka Sabo, Adriana Allen, Dani Rapinett, Fabiola Ajates, Rebecca Thickbroom, Klavdija Kurent, and little ol’ me. Projects include a variety of jewelry as well as home decor, all inspired by mother nature.
Check out the cover for a sampling of what you can look forward to. The cover price for the print edition of this book will be $23.95 but for the next month, you can preorder for $16.75 – that’s 30% off the cover price. Or maybe you’d like a digital edition which will list for $15.95 – you can preorder the digital edition for just $11.95. These preorder prices are good through October 10th.
Don’t forget the last issue of The Polymer Arts comes out September 22. Preorder this last historic copy on The Polymer Arts website.
Read MoreHere is the lovely Rebecca Thickbroom showing off her tribal-esque jewelry at the Eurosynergy gala event last week. She was sitting there signing copies of the Polymer Journeys book when I snapped this photo of her and this bold neck piece. Rebecca’s work, although it has a tribal look, is never quite as one would expect that look to be. She is not afraid to go big with her pieces and arranges elements in uncommonly complex compositions for ethnic influenced jewelry. She also uses bright saturated colors alongside muted and natural tones for interesting and eye-catching color contrast. The results are big and bold and quite enticing.
Rebecca was not the only one signing copies of Polymer Journeys last week. A number of attendees went about with their copies collecting signatures from the 25 artists that were at the event that are also in the book. I got two copies signed by all 25 artists which included the likes of Kathleen Dustin, Jeff Dever, Georg Dinkle, Maggie Maggio, Melanie Muir, Christi Friesen and more. One of those copies I donated to be auctioned off online by the IPCA. The auction is not yet up but I will share the link here when it’s announced so if you want to get your copy of this signed edition of Polymer Journeys, stay tuned!
In the meantime, getting a closer look at the variety of color and texture on this piece you see here along with other work by Rebecca on her website here.
_________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
_________________________________________
Read MoreI have been asked before why we bother with artist’s galleries in the magazine when the work can usually be found online. Well, the fact is, these days most anything you want to know can be found online, but the value of a particular magazine you subscribe to is not in some specific information you were looking for, but in what you might find along the way as you flip through, read and explore it. Magazine reading is like going to an antique store or thrift shop. Although you might have some of idea of what you hope to find there, you are open to simply finding something that grabs you, and so, because you have no particular expectations, you often find some of the best treasures; ones you often didn’t even know existed.
The galleries in our magazine work this way. You might know the artist, and you might have even seen some of the work posted, but unless you are an avid follower of that artist, you will not have seen the collection in such a light nor usually with the background and insights that the biographies give you. The serendipitous nature of magazines give you an opportunity to see things you may have otherwise passed by while searching for something specific online. And what comes to us online– through Pinterest, Flickr, Facebook, Instagram and search engine results–often has little or no information attached. So, this is why we have the galleries. In hopes you might find something new and wonderful, either in a brand new-to-you artist or in something new that catches your eye on those pages.
So today, I want to share one more of our gallery artists that you will find in the Fall 2015 issue of The Polymer Arts. This is Rebecca Thickbroom‘s work featured here, and one of her newest pieces not yet found online as far as I can tell. It echos her prior work in form and texture but is so wildly different, primarily due to the bold use of color. This piece did make it into the magazine, but as a close up shot in Ronna Sarvas Weltman’s The Joyous Classroom article. I wanted the chance to present the whole of the necklace’s focal section though. I love the tribal look with the bright colors as well as the wild mixture of elements that creates both texture and a variety that draws you in closer to examine it.
Go to the article in the magazine to see the close-up of this great piece and then the gallery where more of her new work can be found. To see additional work by Rebecca, head on over to her website’s gallery pages.
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
“Something completely different” is the theme this week, or so that’s what I am aiming at. Maybe I look at way too much polymer work on a daily basis, but certain forms and applications are so well used as to be beyond common. I won’t name names, but a rather influential person in our industry turned to me in a recent conversation and said “If I see one more of those domed pendants with the hole cut out, I’m just gonna …” with the unspoken threat left hanging in its possibilities. I kind of like those domed peek-a-boo pendants, but I do have to say they are a form that has been well-represented in the community.
That and a funny conversation online about whether Hollywood can come up with anything original anymore had me thinking about whether our constant and global exposure has somehow diluted originality. We see so much of certain things that we start to automatically create similar items. So, I thought I’d make it a goal this week to find things that just look nothing like anything else I’ve seen in recent years.
This amazing piece is by England’s Rebecca Thickbroom. I’m not sure why pieces like this aren’t making the wide rounds on Pinterest and Facebook. I think it’s quite stunning, and I didn’t find this online, not initially. I actually had the pleasure of seeing this in person last year in Malta where I got to meet Rebecca and take a few of my own photos of it. The insufficient and yellow light of the reception room where I snapped the shot you see on the bottom didn’t do this justice at all, hence the nice photo I acquired from Rebecca’s Facebook page.
The size of the piece is quite bold, but it’s the textures and numerous interesting objects in the piece that grab you. There appears to be some mysterious symbolism in the collection of objects framed here, and, of course, it looks like it could be a museum piece from some long-lost tribal culture. I find it very intriguing, and I can’t say I’ve seen anything like it in recent years besides other pieces from Rebecca’s portfolio. She’s quite original.
Rebecca’s work can be found in greater quantity on her Facebook page, Clectic Designs, where you can find more unusual and curious pieces to tickle your imagination.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.
