Seeking Sharon

July 27, 2018

These beautiful, timeless, cab earrings were created by Sharon Solly back around 2008. That was the year she published a tutorial in Polymer Café about her technique using fantasy fiber and liquid polymer clay to create these fabulous-looking cabochons. My background in fiber arts probably has something to do with why I was so enamored of them back then and still am today.

This also speaks to Sharon’s adaptability to various materials. She worked in everything from polymer to glass to metal and would use whatever suited what she was creating. I think this is one of those cases where the material probably inspired the work, which is a valid artistic type of inspiration. I think the materials were the source of her inspiration much of the time, however, she seemed to choose the best material for what she was doing regardless. And I think that’s really the point of why some artists move from polymer to another material or from another material to polymer. There’s something they want to express and certain materials do it better than others.

I don’t know what Sharon is up to now. Her most recent work was primarily in glass, it looks like, but there is nothing I could readily find online since about 2013. Nonetheless, you can see her progress and exploration through her Flickr photostream.

A Collection of Cabs

March 24, 2015

Solly cabsThe classic, shiny, smooth cabochon has been a favorite shape for semi-precious stones for ages. It’s not surprising that with our vast array of techniques and our ability to add liquid polymer and resins, the polymer community has embraced and rather run wildly with many possibilities that recreate these popular focal pieces. I remember that they were the first truly exciting polymer elements I ever made, and I am still madly drawn to them. They are hard to resist.

This collection was created some years ago by Sharon Solly, but still feels fresh and alluring today. According to the description on her Flickr page, these are polymer clay painted with Lumiere paints and mica powders and then sealed with Kato liquid clay. They are reminiscent of dichroic glass, and the veins in them give them a more nature-made look.

Sharon had a lot of fun with cabs back around 2008. If you hit up her Flickr photostream around pages 3 & 4, you’ll see more cab variations like this, as well as caned cabs and those embedded with fantasy fibers and the like. She also is quite the multi-talented craftsperson with glass and bead work to show off as well; many of them are also collections of components that we can admire today.

 

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.

  tpa-blog-125x125-2015 LP-PA-FoilsDf0215   ice cream ad  TPA_McGuire_blog ad;

A Little Faux Lampwork

May 15, 2013

Wow … thank you all for chiming in with your comments and emails on what to do with the rest of the week. It’s really very cool to hear from you all. Perhaps we’ll pose options (and giveaways!) for upcoming weeks on a regular basis. You can tell me what is of the most interest … I get very energized writing because of your feedback rather than the ideas that pop into my head, out of the ether. And who doesn’t like a chance to get free stuff! Sounds like a win-win to me!

So, faux came in heavy right off but a call to see more about variation started coming up from behind as the evening went on. The end result is … we are going to start with faux this week then look at how to work out variations next week.

Since Iris and Hilla brought to our attention another art form emulated in polymer, why don’t we stick with other craft arts that we can create in polymer? Try to keep in mind as we look at these techniques that the objective is not to find other arts to emualte but to see new directions that polymer can be pushed in your studio. For instance, I thought we’d start with an artist who’s faux lampwork has fascinated me since I stumbled on it a few years back. I love experimenting with liquid polymer and I was fascinated by how high Sharon Solly makes her glass like dots and how well controlled they are.

dotted-3

 

Sharon may have an bit of an advantage over the rest of us as she actually does lampwork. I am really curious as to how similar the work is. I know I experimented for a while trying to get the dot not to spread. My solution was to either add just a smidge at a time, hitting it with a heat gun between dabs or preheating the base clay so the dot of liquid polymer would start to solidify immediately. The pre-heat worked well on flat items as I could lay the base clay on a hot plate/mug warmer and work on that but the round beads  … I just couldn’t get the same effect that Sharon is getting. But if you can work on building up liquid polymer like this, you could add a bit of the faux lampwork look to many things you couldn’t add glass to in the first place. There are tremendous possibilities for decorative dotting!

If you are in the least bit interested, do look through Sharon’s Flicker pages. This one image is a bare tip of the iceberg … she has a broad body of work showing her on-going experimentation with this process. Actually, Sharon looks to be a major faux experimentator with a large variety of stones and dichroic-like pieces done in polymer.

So go explore some faux! Tomorrow we’ll announce the winner of the Cosmic Ceramic giveway as well. See you then!

Seeking Sharon

July 27, 2018
Posted in

These beautiful, timeless, cab earrings were created by Sharon Solly back around 2008. That was the year she published a tutorial in Polymer Café about her technique using fantasy fiber and liquid polymer clay to create these fabulous-looking cabochons. My background in fiber arts probably has something to do with why I was so enamored of them back then and still am today.

This also speaks to Sharon’s adaptability to various materials. She worked in everything from polymer to glass to metal and would use whatever suited what she was creating. I think this is one of those cases where the material probably inspired the work, which is a valid artistic type of inspiration. I think the materials were the source of her inspiration much of the time, however, she seemed to choose the best material for what she was doing regardless. And I think that’s really the point of why some artists move from polymer to another material or from another material to polymer. There’s something they want to express and certain materials do it better than others.

I don’t know what Sharon is up to now. Her most recent work was primarily in glass, it looks like, but there is nothing I could readily find online since about 2013. Nonetheless, you can see her progress and exploration through her Flickr photostream.

Read More

A Collection of Cabs

March 24, 2015
Posted in

Solly cabsThe classic, shiny, smooth cabochon has been a favorite shape for semi-precious stones for ages. It’s not surprising that with our vast array of techniques and our ability to add liquid polymer and resins, the polymer community has embraced and rather run wildly with many possibilities that recreate these popular focal pieces. I remember that they were the first truly exciting polymer elements I ever made, and I am still madly drawn to them. They are hard to resist.

This collection was created some years ago by Sharon Solly, but still feels fresh and alluring today. According to the description on her Flickr page, these are polymer clay painted with Lumiere paints and mica powders and then sealed with Kato liquid clay. They are reminiscent of dichroic glass, and the veins in them give them a more nature-made look.

Sharon had a lot of fun with cabs back around 2008. If you hit up her Flickr photostream around pages 3 & 4, you’ll see more cab variations like this, as well as caned cabs and those embedded with fantasy fibers and the like. She also is quite the multi-talented craftsperson with glass and bead work to show off as well; many of them are also collections of components that we can admire today.

 

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.

  tpa-blog-125x125-2015 LP-PA-FoilsDf0215   ice cream ad  TPA_McGuire_blog ad;

Read More

A Little Faux Lampwork

May 15, 2013
Posted in

Wow … thank you all for chiming in with your comments and emails on what to do with the rest of the week. It’s really very cool to hear from you all. Perhaps we’ll pose options (and giveaways!) for upcoming weeks on a regular basis. You can tell me what is of the most interest … I get very energized writing because of your feedback rather than the ideas that pop into my head, out of the ether. And who doesn’t like a chance to get free stuff! Sounds like a win-win to me!

So, faux came in heavy right off but a call to see more about variation started coming up from behind as the evening went on. The end result is … we are going to start with faux this week then look at how to work out variations next week.

Since Iris and Hilla brought to our attention another art form emulated in polymer, why don’t we stick with other craft arts that we can create in polymer? Try to keep in mind as we look at these techniques that the objective is not to find other arts to emualte but to see new directions that polymer can be pushed in your studio. For instance, I thought we’d start with an artist who’s faux lampwork has fascinated me since I stumbled on it a few years back. I love experimenting with liquid polymer and I was fascinated by how high Sharon Solly makes her glass like dots and how well controlled they are.

dotted-3

 

Sharon may have an bit of an advantage over the rest of us as she actually does lampwork. I am really curious as to how similar the work is. I know I experimented for a while trying to get the dot not to spread. My solution was to either add just a smidge at a time, hitting it with a heat gun between dabs or preheating the base clay so the dot of liquid polymer would start to solidify immediately. The pre-heat worked well on flat items as I could lay the base clay on a hot plate/mug warmer and work on that but the round beads  … I just couldn’t get the same effect that Sharon is getting. But if you can work on building up liquid polymer like this, you could add a bit of the faux lampwork look to many things you couldn’t add glass to in the first place. There are tremendous possibilities for decorative dotting!

If you are in the least bit interested, do look through Sharon’s Flicker pages. This one image is a bare tip of the iceberg … she has a broad body of work showing her on-going experimentation with this process. Actually, Sharon looks to be a major faux experimentator with a large variety of stones and dichroic-like pieces done in polymer.

So go explore some faux! Tomorrow we’ll announce the winner of the Cosmic Ceramic giveway as well. See you then!

Read More
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