One Element at a Time
February 3, 2019
Inspirational Art
I don’t know if you have ever considered, or found important, the fact that most polymer art is a collection of elements constructed into a single piece. Yes, I know I am stating the obvious here but consider the fact that most polymer art is put together in such a way as to make the individual elements blend into a cohesiveness whole. Have you ever considered that maybe each element can be its own little piece of art, even if it’s to be a part of something bigger?
If you make the work about each individual elements and not the single composition they are part of, you should be able to give yourself more freedom in the creative process. The idea would be to just focus on the single component in front of you without regard for the other parts it may eventually be joined with. Since you don’t have to consider any other elements you should be able to just let your mind and hands go play. You could, in fact, just create tons of individual pieces and then pull together the ones that you find relate and from that create a finished piece. There would be no pressure to make things work together or fit. Does that sound intriguing?
Elemental Artists
There are a lot of artists that do this almost exclusively. When Debbie Crothers creates, a finished piece is usually the last thing on her mind. She is in love with seeing what the material will do and spends most of her time playing and exploring. Once her stock builds up, or just whenever the bug bites her, then she will create finished pieces of wearable art.
Recently she has also been incorporating her love of found objects as you can see in the image above. This is just a part of a very long necklace of Debbie’s. (The whole of which I’ve not seen her posted anywhere but will be featured in the upcoming Polymer Journeys 2019 book. Look for pre-sale announcements this coming week.) Each individual component definitely stands on its own here since each individual polymer and found object component is framed. But you can also see, if you look at her work on Facebook or on her website, that her pieces are almost always a variety show, one that features the results of her exploration and just having fun with the clay.
Another cool thing about this type of artwork is that the viewer will probably want to look at each and every individual component. Just the variety heightens the interest in these kinds of pieces which means the people viewing it will spend more time looking at it and more time appreciating your work. That can really help in terms of sales too because the more time someone spends looking at a piece the more likely they will be to want to buy it.
I think this kind of intrigue born of variety may be the primary draw when it comes to the jewelry of Olga Ledneva. This piece you see here is a bit more dense and has more potential movement than her newer work but I thought it was also a good example of how all these pieces, together, create a textural canvas since they are all kind of dangling on top of each other, and yet, as cohesive as it feels, you still want to look carefully at each piece in the assembly. Olga’s Facebook page and Flickr photostream are good places to look around for other assembled element ideas.
I know those two ladies make some pretty interesting and complex components but don’t think you have to go to that extent. The individual elements you create in this process can be as simple as punched out squares such as you might see in one of Laurie Mika’s mosaics. I am such a fan of this kind of free-form collage work, one that allows you to simply show off the characteristics you love about working with clay. You can assemble bits of your alcohol ink treated sheets, mokume gane, complex canes, impressed clay components, or hand sculpted forms. A mosaic or even a necklace of just simple shapes can let those treatments and colors shine, each on their own.
Of course, this approach isn’t just for polymer clay. This brilliant green assemblage necklace by an artist known only as Gebrufa is all fabric and fiber, although some components could as easily have been polymer. My guess would be that she gave herself just the restriction of a limited color palette but otherwise made all the individual pieces as whimsy led her. Should you want to know that you can have a cohesive finished piece when you are done freely creating components, this kind of approach would give you a path to that while still creating with relative freedom.
So, have I got you thinking about the individual elements of your pieces in a different way now?
Planning and meticulously designing pieces is essential in many circumstances but letting yourself just explore can also be an important part of your artistic growth as it helps to free up and expand your creativity. Letting yourself just play can be hard to do when you don’t have a lot of time and you want the time you do have to result in finished pieces. Knowing you can focus on making great little individual components which you can later put together into a fabulous necklace or wall piece might just be the thing that gives you the license to let go and doodle away with your clay.
THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO:
- Want to CLAY OUT EAST or CLAY OUT WEST? Registration for both of this multi-instructor, 4 day workshop events are open now. Clay out East is in Atlantic City, New Jersey, June 12-15th and Clay out West will be held Sept 30 – Oct 3 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here is the link for the East event’s registration. I couldn’t scare up a link for the West event registration but you can email them at clayoutwest@aol.com to get the details.
- Did you catch the “Make Your Own Silkscreens” article in the Summer 2018 issue of The Polymer Arts? It was so much fun to make these and right now, the company that made it so fun and easy, EZScreenPrint if having a 15% off sale but it ends today! Go here, and use coupon code JAN15. No minimum purchase required.
- Did you know that Poly Clay Play has a Shopping Discount Club? If you go through a lot of supplies (or just tend to get overly excited around polymer clay and tools and want to buy everything you see) this discount club could help in big ways. PCP is one of my favorite shops, especially for pastes, powders, and alcohol ink. She gets them all! Go here to check out the club deal or just shop around.
Always glad to get your feedback!
Last week we did some history, this week was about how you approach your work. Did you like the subject and did it get you thinking? Or do you thoughts on other things you’d like for me to research and write about? Just let me know. Write me in the comments below this post (click here if you are reading this in an email).
Wrist Scenes
September 15, 2014
Inspirational Art
So here is something new for you my dear readers … a week of posts chosen by a guest artst! A little while back I reached out to a number of artists who regularly send me content ideas and asked if they would like to take over the art choices for a week. The idea was to get some fresh views of polymer art that I might not pick out because, even though I try to pull in all varieties and tastes, I just won’t see things the same as other people and vice versa. I am hoping enjoy this little change up and that we’ll get to periodically have a fun and different week like this. Let me know what you think of having a guest blogger as we go through this week or tell me if you’re interested in helping one week yourself by dropping me a note!
Our first guest blog partner is Ginger Davis Allman, blogger extraordinaire at The Blue Bottle Tree and creator and author of numerous techniques and tutorials. She’s looking at polymer ‘scenes’ this week. She wrote up this first post for us:
Normally known for her whimsical and cartoon-like character sculptures, Doreen Kassel also makes jewelry with the same recognizable fun and engaging style. This cuff bracelet features a sculpted street scene reminiscent of a quaint rural French village. Can you imagine walking down this street, meeting interesting characters along the way as you gather your shopping at the market?
The individual elements of the scene, each sculpted in polymer clay and painted in bright colors, come together to create a cohesive story. Each element is separate, but still connected by its placement, its color, and its style. Much in the way the the real buildings of a French village would be.
Doreen will be teaching how to make cuffs like this at a workshop in Stamford, CT this coming October.
Ginger Davis Allman lives in Springfield, Missouri with her husband Gary, her three kids and her many craft obsessions. Subscribe to her blog and look around her website for her well-researched and in-depth posts and articles on polymer related subjects. Support her great information and research as well as treating yourself by getting yourself a tutorial or two from this talented lady.
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.
Blushing Pastels
July 24, 2013
Inspirational Art
Chalks and pastels have been grabbing the imagination of quite a few polymer clayers in recent years. Their matte, subdued colors can add a subtle texture and softness that isn’t found in other common surface colorants like mica powders and alcohol inks. This can be of particular use to sculptors and those working in translucent clays, since chalk pastels can be easily added for just a blush of color where needed.
The best use of this approach that I know of has to be the way Jodi Creager adds color to the skin tones of the amazing art dolls she creates with her husband Richard Creager. Her most stunning work is probably her realistic dolls with historic or cultural representations of people around the world, but I thought I’d share one of her fantasy dolls where the application of pastels might be more easily imagined not to mention there are a lot of fun details to explore with this elfin character.
You can see her incredibly easy to follow approach to using pastels on her doll sculptures in her sample sculpting video that covers this part of the couple’s doll making process. Even if you don’t do any sculpting, this approach can be used to add a blush of blue or tinge of purple to the edges of a translucent bead or opaque shape. The blush effect can add dimension to an expanse of color that you feel appears too flat, or exaggerate the shadows of a form. It’s an option for subtlety that would be difficult to achieve with most other media.
See more of Judi and Richard’s stunning work on their collaborative website, Creager Studios.
Emotive Expressions
June 13, 2013
Inspirational Art
There is one element particular to sculpture that isn’t directly translatable to other work, unless you are going to add some form of sculpture to your jewelry or decor: the creation of emotion through facial expressions.
With non-representational art (which constitutes the majority of wearable and functional art) we can use colors, forms, patterns, textures, and motifs to help us express emotion, but a viewer’s life experiences and associations will determine if they draw that same emotion from the work. However, joy, pain, confusion, sadness, apathy, and other human reactions can be rendered in sculpture through faces. Human facial expressions are, more or less, universally understood, giving the sculptural artist who recreates the human form or brings to life personified creatures or objects quite the advantage in terms of relaying emotion–which in turn can relay atmosphere or may even help tell an entire story.
Joyce Cloutman has some of the most wonderful expressions on her polymer dolls and figures. Mirth and contentment seem to be dominant on her whimsical people and creatures, consistent with the fun sense of humor she obviously has. I mean, these little guys are call Snail Males. They’re just adorable.
.
If you have never tried sculpting faces, oh what fun awaits you–because of course, you have to try it! I’ve found it’s usually best to just play around and try not to aim for realism when you start out. Exaggerated lips, cheeks, head shape, eyes, and noses can really help you loosen up preconceptions about the shape, size, and orientation of features on a face.
To start your face play, you can work off someone else’s work that is already exaggerated like Joyce’s sculptures (you can see more on her Flickr page). You can also look through some of the many online tutorials, such as this one by Sarajane Helm, or this one on Amanda Day’s doll making site. This kind of play can also hone your skills at sculpting in general as you learn to push and manipulate the clay in ways you might not do when building functional or wearable art. And yes, I will be glad to be the blamable source if you fall in love with sculpting faces.
Thanks to Tommie Montgomery for suggesting we check out Joyce’s fun work today!
I don’t know if you have ever considered, or found important, the fact that most polymer art is a collection of elements constructed into a single piece. Yes, I know I am stating the obvious here but consider the fact that most polymer art is put together in such a way as to make the individual elements blend into a cohesiveness whole. Have you ever considered that maybe each element can be its own little piece of art, even if it’s to be a part of something bigger?
If you make the work about each individual elements and not the single composition they are part of, you should be able to give yourself more freedom in the creative process. The idea would be to just focus on the single component in front of you without regard for the other parts it may eventually be joined with. Since you don’t have to consider any other elements you should be able to just let your mind and hands go play. You could, in fact, just create tons of individual pieces and then pull together the ones that you find relate and from that create a finished piece. There would be no pressure to make things work together or fit. Does that sound intriguing?
Elemental Artists
There are a lot of artists that do this almost exclusively. When Debbie Crothers creates, a finished piece is usually the last thing on her mind. She is in love with seeing what the material will do and spends most of her time playing and exploring. Once her stock builds up, or just whenever the bug bites her, then she will create finished pieces of wearable art.
Recently she has also been incorporating her love of found objects as you can see in the image above. This is just a part of a very long necklace of Debbie’s. (The whole of which I’ve not seen her posted anywhere but will be featured in the upcoming Polymer Journeys 2019 book. Look for pre-sale announcements this coming week.) Each individual component definitely stands on its own here since each individual polymer and found object component is framed. But you can also see, if you look at her work on Facebook or on her website, that her pieces are almost always a variety show, one that features the results of her exploration and just having fun with the clay.
Another cool thing about this type of artwork is that the viewer will probably want to look at each and every individual component. Just the variety heightens the interest in these kinds of pieces which means the people viewing it will spend more time looking at it and more time appreciating your work. That can really help in terms of sales too because the more time someone spends looking at a piece the more likely they will be to want to buy it.
I think this kind of intrigue born of variety may be the primary draw when it comes to the jewelry of Olga Ledneva. This piece you see here is a bit more dense and has more potential movement than her newer work but I thought it was also a good example of how all these pieces, together, create a textural canvas since they are all kind of dangling on top of each other, and yet, as cohesive as it feels, you still want to look carefully at each piece in the assembly. Olga’s Facebook page and Flickr photostream are good places to look around for other assembled element ideas.
I know those two ladies make some pretty interesting and complex components but don’t think you have to go to that extent. The individual elements you create in this process can be as simple as punched out squares such as you might see in one of Laurie Mika’s mosaics. I am such a fan of this kind of free-form collage work, one that allows you to simply show off the characteristics you love about working with clay. You can assemble bits of your alcohol ink treated sheets, mokume gane, complex canes, impressed clay components, or hand sculpted forms. A mosaic or even a necklace of just simple shapes can let those treatments and colors shine, each on their own.
Of course, this approach isn’t just for polymer clay. This brilliant green assemblage necklace by an artist known only as Gebrufa is all fabric and fiber, although some components could as easily have been polymer. My guess would be that she gave herself just the restriction of a limited color palette but otherwise made all the individual pieces as whimsy led her. Should you want to know that you can have a cohesive finished piece when you are done freely creating components, this kind of approach would give you a path to that while still creating with relative freedom.
So, have I got you thinking about the individual elements of your pieces in a different way now?
Planning and meticulously designing pieces is essential in many circumstances but letting yourself just explore can also be an important part of your artistic growth as it helps to free up and expand your creativity. Letting yourself just play can be hard to do when you don’t have a lot of time and you want the time you do have to result in finished pieces. Knowing you can focus on making great little individual components which you can later put together into a fabulous necklace or wall piece might just be the thing that gives you the license to let go and doodle away with your clay.
THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO:
- Want to CLAY OUT EAST or CLAY OUT WEST? Registration for both of this multi-instructor, 4 day workshop events are open now. Clay out East is in Atlantic City, New Jersey, June 12-15th and Clay out West will be held Sept 30 – Oct 3 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here is the link for the East event’s registration. I couldn’t scare up a link for the West event registration but you can email them at clayoutwest@aol.com to get the details.
- Did you catch the “Make Your Own Silkscreens” article in the Summer 2018 issue of The Polymer Arts? It was so much fun to make these and right now, the company that made it so fun and easy, EZScreenPrint if having a 15% off sale but it ends today! Go here, and use coupon code JAN15. No minimum purchase required.
- Did you know that Poly Clay Play has a Shopping Discount Club? If you go through a lot of supplies (or just tend to get overly excited around polymer clay and tools and want to buy everything you see) this discount club could help in big ways. PCP is one of my favorite shops, especially for pastes, powders, and alcohol ink. She gets them all! Go here to check out the club deal or just shop around.
Always glad to get your feedback!
Last week we did some history, this week was about how you approach your work. Did you like the subject and did it get you thinking? Or do you thoughts on other things you’d like for me to research and write about? Just let me know. Write me in the comments below this post (click here if you are reading this in an email).
Read More
So here is something new for you my dear readers … a week of posts chosen by a guest artst! A little while back I reached out to a number of artists who regularly send me content ideas and asked if they would like to take over the art choices for a week. The idea was to get some fresh views of polymer art that I might not pick out because, even though I try to pull in all varieties and tastes, I just won’t see things the same as other people and vice versa. I am hoping enjoy this little change up and that we’ll get to periodically have a fun and different week like this. Let me know what you think of having a guest blogger as we go through this week or tell me if you’re interested in helping one week yourself by dropping me a note!
Our first guest blog partner is Ginger Davis Allman, blogger extraordinaire at The Blue Bottle Tree and creator and author of numerous techniques and tutorials. She’s looking at polymer ‘scenes’ this week. She wrote up this first post for us:
Normally known for her whimsical and cartoon-like character sculptures, Doreen Kassel also makes jewelry with the same recognizable fun and engaging style. This cuff bracelet features a sculpted street scene reminiscent of a quaint rural French village. Can you imagine walking down this street, meeting interesting characters along the way as you gather your shopping at the market?
The individual elements of the scene, each sculpted in polymer clay and painted in bright colors, come together to create a cohesive story. Each element is separate, but still connected by its placement, its color, and its style. Much in the way the the real buildings of a French village would be.
Doreen will be teaching how to make cuffs like this at a workshop in Stamford, CT this coming October.
Ginger Davis Allman lives in Springfield, Missouri with her husband Gary, her three kids and her many craft obsessions. Subscribe to her blog and look around her website for her well-researched and in-depth posts and articles on polymer related subjects. Support her great information and research as well as treating yourself by getting yourself a tutorial or two from this talented lady.
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.
Chalks and pastels have been grabbing the imagination of quite a few polymer clayers in recent years. Their matte, subdued colors can add a subtle texture and softness that isn’t found in other common surface colorants like mica powders and alcohol inks. This can be of particular use to sculptors and those working in translucent clays, since chalk pastels can be easily added for just a blush of color where needed.
The best use of this approach that I know of has to be the way Jodi Creager adds color to the skin tones of the amazing art dolls she creates with her husband Richard Creager. Her most stunning work is probably her realistic dolls with historic or cultural representations of people around the world, but I thought I’d share one of her fantasy dolls where the application of pastels might be more easily imagined not to mention there are a lot of fun details to explore with this elfin character.
You can see her incredibly easy to follow approach to using pastels on her doll sculptures in her sample sculpting video that covers this part of the couple’s doll making process. Even if you don’t do any sculpting, this approach can be used to add a blush of blue or tinge of purple to the edges of a translucent bead or opaque shape. The blush effect can add dimension to an expanse of color that you feel appears too flat, or exaggerate the shadows of a form. It’s an option for subtlety that would be difficult to achieve with most other media.
See more of Judi and Richard’s stunning work on their collaborative website, Creager Studios.
Read MoreThere is one element particular to sculpture that isn’t directly translatable to other work, unless you are going to add some form of sculpture to your jewelry or decor: the creation of emotion through facial expressions.
With non-representational art (which constitutes the majority of wearable and functional art) we can use colors, forms, patterns, textures, and motifs to help us express emotion, but a viewer’s life experiences and associations will determine if they draw that same emotion from the work. However, joy, pain, confusion, sadness, apathy, and other human reactions can be rendered in sculpture through faces. Human facial expressions are, more or less, universally understood, giving the sculptural artist who recreates the human form or brings to life personified creatures or objects quite the advantage in terms of relaying emotion–which in turn can relay atmosphere or may even help tell an entire story.
Joyce Cloutman has some of the most wonderful expressions on her polymer dolls and figures. Mirth and contentment seem to be dominant on her whimsical people and creatures, consistent with the fun sense of humor she obviously has. I mean, these little guys are call Snail Males. They’re just adorable.
.
If you have never tried sculpting faces, oh what fun awaits you–because of course, you have to try it! I’ve found it’s usually best to just play around and try not to aim for realism when you start out. Exaggerated lips, cheeks, head shape, eyes, and noses can really help you loosen up preconceptions about the shape, size, and orientation of features on a face.
To start your face play, you can work off someone else’s work that is already exaggerated like Joyce’s sculptures (you can see more on her Flickr page). You can also look through some of the many online tutorials, such as this one by Sarajane Helm, or this one on Amanda Day’s doll making site. This kind of play can also hone your skills at sculpting in general as you learn to push and manipulate the clay in ways you might not do when building functional or wearable art. And yes, I will be glad to be the blamable source if you fall in love with sculpting faces.
Thanks to Tommie Montgomery for suggesting we check out Joyce’s fun work today!
Read More