Repeat a Space
March 7, 2015
Inspirational Art, Technique tutorials
I thought I’d look for some tutorials for you to play with this weekend that would accommodate some play with repetition. In that search, I found this simple, but charming, polymer bead spacer tutorial. We really didn’t talk about the repetition of strung beads, but I figured that would be a pretty obvious use of repetition. However, there are many ways to add variation to a string of beads. Different colors, sizes, shapes and textures is one way. Adding interesting spacers is another fantastic way.
Now, here is where I could use some help. I can find this tutorial on many a Pinterest board and numerous sites that gather tutorials, but I cannot pinpoint the author. And yes, there’s text on there but it does not seem to the English alphabet, so I’m at a loss. And with this tutorial so widely spread on English and non-English sites alike, it seems this person should get a little more obvious credit. So, if anyone has a clue, I’d love to hear from you. You can comment or reply to your email version of the blog post, and I’ll get it.
Here is where I originally found this tutorial if anyone wants to try to sleuth it out: http://claybooks.diary.ru/p172024294.htm?oam
In the meantime, how about making creative spacers this weekend? That could be a particularly fun, little project, especially for you snow bound folks!
Update: Thanks to Anna Anpilogova, we have our mystery solved.
The tutorial is by a Russian clayer Anna Mashkova. “Here is the link to original post in her blog … http://alica19.livejournal.com/17265.html” Thank you to both Annas!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
;
Steady Focus
March 5, 2015
Inspirational Art
Here’s another thought on that whole adding variation to repetition thing. Just as repetition doesn’t have to mean consistent and dull, variation doesn’t have to mean anything chaotic or crazy. The idea of variation is to give us something more to look at, to mix it up a little, to put enough interesting differences into a piece to either make a big initial impact, keep us looking at it, or to evoke a complexity of an emotion. Or, really, just because we find beauty in variation.
But varied can also be part of a series of consistently repeated elements. Center-focused compositions are often considered basic and boring. I probably rallied against that idea in art school more than anything else. What was this aversion to center-focus or balance? Nature is based heavily on this concept, and some of our most beautiful inspirations come from that kind of thing.
These pieces by Ivy Niles are an excellent example of variation in repetition using a centered composition. She uses more than one cane to give the eye a variety of visual textures plus those moderately used crystals to add a sparkle to the brilliant blues. I think we are averaging about five canes per piece plus accents, which could look quite busy, but the centric and regular repetition reins it all in. Just beautiful.
Ivy is a master cane maker with some of the most beautiful and intricate designs. She sells her canes on Etsy and shows off more of her goodies on her website as well.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
The Ups and Downs of Repetition
March 4, 2015
Inspirational Art
Let’s talk about that perilous pitfall with repetition–when it’s just boring. Why does repetition work sometimes but not other times? Sometimes it can simply be the impact of highly unusual elements (I have the perfect example for Friday … you can look forward to that!), but more commonly, it’s because of variation combined with consistency. And then you say … “What is that supposed to mean?”, right? Well, it’s something you probably already are instinctively aware of but let’s break it down.
Lynda Braunstein-Gilcher‘s necklace you see here is a beautiful example of variation with consistent elements that are cohesive and regular enough to produce a grounding for the variety in the design. I bet you can see it easily, especially when it’s pointed out. Obviously the repetition is in the inverted drop forms, but these forms were created in different sizes with several different canes in a variety of color and line widths. Additionally, some of these lines are gradients and some are solids. That’s a fair amount of variation, but it isn’t chaotic because there is a grounding consistency–they are all the same form, they all dangle off a short bit of cord and, most of all, they all echo the vertical theme. Well, kind of radiating verticals, if you can accept that term. The fact that everything moves in the same direction, from the cords to the lines in the canes to the inverted teardrops that act like arrows makes for strong, repeated lines that all move downward in this piece. So we have variation and consistency in a design of regular repetition and yet a lot of energy thanks to the variation and strong lines. That is not boring. At all.
So, if you like using repetition, consider how you can vary it to add energy or interest to the collective elements. Just keep something consistent to keep it grounded. Unless you are after a feeling of chaos. Then just have at it!
Lynda runs a stained glass and polymer supply store called Lynda’s Artistic Haven in Loveland, Ohio, so if you’re in the area, stop by! You can see more of what she is up to on her Facebook page as well.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
A Little Dance
March 3, 2015
Inspirational Art
So, yes, more about repetition but in slightly less obvious or more varied manners will be in store for you the rest of the week. Hopefully, you aren’t bored with the subject. The ways you can apply it are limitless really.
For instance, take this fun, contemporary piece titled “Little Cities Necklace” by Ann Dillon. There is plenty of repetition in the shape of the beads, the colors and order of the layers and the general placement of the thick cane cuts. But, the canes are laid out in a varied manner and are all different canes. This wonderfully illustrates the interconnection between repetition and rhythm. Repetition doesn’t mean regular, measured, evenly applied elements. It means something is used over and over, but how those elements are applied create rhythm that can be steady and strong or varied and even chaotic.
An underlying regular rhythm, like the bead bases here, provide grounding for the less predictable rhythm of the canes that kind of dance about in close but buoyant manner. The fact that they are applied across the horizontal center of each bead gives them that floating feel, so it’s definitely more of a dance or flight. If they were in the same formation but at the bottom, they could look heavy, as if they were spilled–nothing wrong with that, but definitely a different feel to the rhythm because they will look grounded.
Ann works in polymer and also a lot in seedbeads–talk about repetition and rhythm! That kind of bead work is all about that. Take a look at her website and practice identifying and feeling the rhythm of the pieces. It’s rather fun to think of work in that way.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
I thought I’d look for some tutorials for you to play with this weekend that would accommodate some play with repetition. In that search, I found this simple, but charming, polymer bead spacer tutorial. We really didn’t talk about the repetition of strung beads, but I figured that would be a pretty obvious use of repetition. However, there are many ways to add variation to a string of beads. Different colors, sizes, shapes and textures is one way. Adding interesting spacers is another fantastic way.
Now, here is where I could use some help. I can find this tutorial on many a Pinterest board and numerous sites that gather tutorials, but I cannot pinpoint the author. And yes, there’s text on there but it does not seem to the English alphabet, so I’m at a loss. And with this tutorial so widely spread on English and non-English sites alike, it seems this person should get a little more obvious credit. So, if anyone has a clue, I’d love to hear from you. You can comment or reply to your email version of the blog post, and I’ll get it.
Here is where I originally found this tutorial if anyone wants to try to sleuth it out: http://claybooks.diary.ru/p172024294.htm?oam
In the meantime, how about making creative spacers this weekend? That could be a particularly fun, little project, especially for you snow bound folks!
Update: Thanks to Anna Anpilogova, we have our mystery solved.
The tutorial is by a Russian clayer Anna Mashkova. “Here is the link to original post in her blog … http://alica19.livejournal.com/17265.html” Thank you to both Annas!
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
;
Here’s another thought on that whole adding variation to repetition thing. Just as repetition doesn’t have to mean consistent and dull, variation doesn’t have to mean anything chaotic or crazy. The idea of variation is to give us something more to look at, to mix it up a little, to put enough interesting differences into a piece to either make a big initial impact, keep us looking at it, or to evoke a complexity of an emotion. Or, really, just because we find beauty in variation.
But varied can also be part of a series of consistently repeated elements. Center-focused compositions are often considered basic and boring. I probably rallied against that idea in art school more than anything else. What was this aversion to center-focus or balance? Nature is based heavily on this concept, and some of our most beautiful inspirations come from that kind of thing.
These pieces by Ivy Niles are an excellent example of variation in repetition using a centered composition. She uses more than one cane to give the eye a variety of visual textures plus those moderately used crystals to add a sparkle to the brilliant blues. I think we are averaging about five canes per piece plus accents, which could look quite busy, but the centric and regular repetition reins it all in. Just beautiful.
Ivy is a master cane maker with some of the most beautiful and intricate designs. She sells her canes on Etsy and shows off more of her goodies on her website as well.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Let’s talk about that perilous pitfall with repetition–when it’s just boring. Why does repetition work sometimes but not other times? Sometimes it can simply be the impact of highly unusual elements (I have the perfect example for Friday … you can look forward to that!), but more commonly, it’s because of variation combined with consistency. And then you say … “What is that supposed to mean?”, right? Well, it’s something you probably already are instinctively aware of but let’s break it down.
Lynda Braunstein-Gilcher‘s necklace you see here is a beautiful example of variation with consistent elements that are cohesive and regular enough to produce a grounding for the variety in the design. I bet you can see it easily, especially when it’s pointed out. Obviously the repetition is in the inverted drop forms, but these forms were created in different sizes with several different canes in a variety of color and line widths. Additionally, some of these lines are gradients and some are solids. That’s a fair amount of variation, but it isn’t chaotic because there is a grounding consistency–they are all the same form, they all dangle off a short bit of cord and, most of all, they all echo the vertical theme. Well, kind of radiating verticals, if you can accept that term. The fact that everything moves in the same direction, from the cords to the lines in the canes to the inverted teardrops that act like arrows makes for strong, repeated lines that all move downward in this piece. So we have variation and consistency in a design of regular repetition and yet a lot of energy thanks to the variation and strong lines. That is not boring. At all.
So, if you like using repetition, consider how you can vary it to add energy or interest to the collective elements. Just keep something consistent to keep it grounded. Unless you are after a feeling of chaos. Then just have at it!
Lynda runs a stained glass and polymer supply store called Lynda’s Artistic Haven in Loveland, Ohio, so if you’re in the area, stop by! You can see more of what she is up to on her Facebook page as well.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
So, yes, more about repetition but in slightly less obvious or more varied manners will be in store for you the rest of the week. Hopefully, you aren’t bored with the subject. The ways you can apply it are limitless really.
For instance, take this fun, contemporary piece titled “Little Cities Necklace” by Ann Dillon. There is plenty of repetition in the shape of the beads, the colors and order of the layers and the general placement of the thick cane cuts. But, the canes are laid out in a varied manner and are all different canes. This wonderfully illustrates the interconnection between repetition and rhythm. Repetition doesn’t mean regular, measured, evenly applied elements. It means something is used over and over, but how those elements are applied create rhythm that can be steady and strong or varied and even chaotic.
An underlying regular rhythm, like the bead bases here, provide grounding for the less predictable rhythm of the canes that kind of dance about in close but buoyant manner. The fact that they are applied across the horizontal center of each bead gives them that floating feel, so it’s definitely more of a dance or flight. If they were in the same formation but at the bottom, they could look heavy, as if they were spilled–nothing wrong with that, but definitely a different feel to the rhythm because they will look grounded.
Ann works in polymer and also a lot in seedbeads–talk about repetition and rhythm! That kind of bead work is all about that. Take a look at her website and practice identifying and feeling the rhythm of the pieces. It’s rather fun to think of work in that way.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
