Translucent Clouds
May 29, 2015
Inspirational Art
First of all, I just realized this will be the last post of May. Really? This month is over? Wow … that went quick. Due to all the bedlam here, we’ve been just barely keeping up with the 3 blogs a week, and we have at least another week or so of chaos to get through. So, between that and all the notes from people who are liking the 3 days a week (“We have so much to read every day as it is …”), for now, we are going to keep this pace. Once we have the summer issue wrapped up next week, I’ll put together a survey (and some fun stuff to give away!) and give everyone who wants to offer their opinion, a chance to weigh in on the blog schedule.
In the meantime, my search for recent translucent clay work that uses the clay’s very particular characteristics in a new or surprising way was not as fruitful as I might have hoped. Have we gotten a bit tired of it? There are plenty of people using it to produce a wide variety of faux effects and mixing it with regular clays for better color and luminosity, but purely translucent for the sake of playing with its diaphanous quality seems to be the purview of just a handful of folks. However, in my search I ran across the pieces you see here. The first example I saw was the earrings you see in the upper left. I thought they were polymer, but then I got to the artist’s page and realized it had to be acrylic.
The artist is Jahyun Rita Baek, and this work is not new either, but something created when Rita was in art school in the United Kingdom. The series is called Cloud, which I believe is referring to the concept of light in both the illuminating quality and the perceived weight that are at play here. The work is beautifully simplistic and mesmerizing. Similar approaches with translucent polymer would be just as amazing, don’t you think?
So, this is the bit of inspiration I wanted to share with you today. Simple forms in floating and swirling designs could be created so easily with polymer. About the only thing this would take is knowing how to hold back and working clean–by which I mean clean clay and clean lines. If I could even get into my studio right now, I would go play for an hour just to relieve some stress. But parts of my office are in the way! So back to that.
Jump over to Rita’s website for more of her unusual work, not just in acrylic, but all kinds of materials from plastic to precious. And enjoy a beautiful spring weekend with a bit of creativity mixed in!
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.
Translucence and Texture from Mother Earth
May 27, 2015
Inspirational Art
Shortly after I sent Monday’s blog, I ran into this interesting set of earrings on Pinterest. Yes, we’re talking translucent polymer here, but can you guess what the colorants and inclusions are?
The pieces were made by Dawn Wilson-Enoch who is not a polymer artist but rather is what one might think of as a natural artist. She draws from nature very directly using all kinds of stones, plants, seeds and even earth to create her jewelry or inspire her metal work. These were the only polymer pieces I found of hers, so my guess is she wanted a way to present these fragile and granular elements of the natural world in a way that would show their beauty and natural state, yet allow them to be wearable. And translucent polymer, with its diaphanous nature and low curing temperature compared to other clear material options, was the answer she found.
I was drawn to them by the textures the natural elements create. The rough and sparingly random elements are contrasted wonderfully. The cracked metal leaf is layered much more completely across the hand torn ‘leaves’ of polymer. Dawn says each of these pieces encase “a different desert plant, sand, or metal leaf. When you are still, the contents of the layers are mostly hidden, but when you move the layers dance and swing and reveal their treasures.” I can only imagine how much more intriguing the revelation would be under a bright light like the desert sun.
I was thinking that the inclusions, tearing, and contrasting textures would be great fun to play with further by each of us in our own way with the elements we are most drawn to. What do you think? Is it time to go play with a bit of translucence and texture?
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.
Looking Through to Another Dimension
May 25, 2015
Inspirational Art
We haven’t visited the wonderful world of transluscents in awhile, and I have been curious to see what people have been doing lately. Strangely, there is not a lot of recently posted work. Anyone have anything new they’d like to share? I’ll keep searching, but I’m up for some striking new work to be landing in my mailbox, too. Hint, hint.
In the meantime, here is a beautiful piece by Brazil’s Beatriz Cominatto that she created a few years back. It’s not a complex concept, this scale-like layering of cane slices, but it does show off the particular advantage of working with translucents. Instead of considering just the surface of the clay, translucents allow you to focus on the content of the depth of the clay. The layering offers another dimension to the design when translucents are in play, which allows for such criss-cross patterning and other ways to create lines that work in multiple ways.
Beatrice created this in 2012, if the Flickr date is correct. She did a lot of exploring in many different techniques then, so although there is not a lot of translucent, she did some great sushi canes with the translucent clay along with other polymer work. You can explore more of Beatrice’s work on her Flickr page and her website.
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.
Outside Inspiration: Shadows of Enamel
November 7, 2014
Inspirational Art
I don’t know if it’s fair to say that enamel work can give the illusion of depth because usually you are looking into some depth. Enamel work is commonly layered, so you are seeing light reflected back through various colors and treatments applied in the process of laying down and firing powdered glass. But, if the artist works it right, there appears to be a lot more depth than there actually is.
The illusion in enameling can be created with illustrative techniques such as painting (yes, enamel work is often referred to as painting) in deeper colors along the edges of objects and lines. I find Ruth Ball’s work in this approach just mesmerizing. This piece is a small dish all of 10cm wide used for serving spices or condiments. The decorative cloisonne (a type of enameling using thin strips of metal or wire in the design) has many lines and objects to apply a touch of shadow to, making the longer lines seem like deep walls and the reed like dashes appear to float above it all.
I thought this piece would be of interest to those of you who play with translucent clay and alcohol inks. I’m thinking getting painterly with the inks on translucents could result in some very interesting looks, especially if layered. Because layering really thin sheets of translucent clay is not that different than layering enamel, is it? I wish all this blogging didn’t bring up so many amazing ideas. I don’t have time to try all these things, but I hope some of you do!
A break in the day to take time to wander around Ruth’s website would be time well spent. Take a look at her jewelry and see if you aren’t reminded of one of the work of one of our bigger polymer artists. Interesting isn’t it?
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.
Just Beneath the Surface
November 3, 2014
Inspirational Art
The real or illusionary depiction of depth is something that draws the eye. We want to see what is down there, what is in the shadows or just beyond, what we can make out by looking deeper. Depth in polymer can be achieved through a myriad of techniques and approaches.
Let’s start this week of looking at creating a look of depth with this amazing necklace by Victoria James. The depth is subtle, but like shimmering pebbles just under the trickle of a clear creek, you want to reach in and touch the texture here. It is so hard to tell from the photo how this was achieved, but here is what Victoria says:
“These beads were created with the shingle cracked growth ring texture sheet. They are made from polymer clay, alcohol inks and metal leaf. The look of depth is an illusion, they are perfectly smooth.”
So, we are thinking this is a really great buffing job here. If it was flat, I might say resin with that shine and layered translucent appearance. But, I don’t think so. Mica shift may have played a role, but then again, it’s hard to say from here. What we can all say, I believe, is simply … wow. Beautifully done.
More illusion, texture and faux can be found on Victoria’s Flickr page and on her website where you will find her work in basketry, as well as her collection of ‘real’ world texture sheets.
f 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.
Extruded Moonlight
September 11, 2014
Inspirational Art
Claire Fairweather, herself, sent this along when she saw we were doing an extruded themed week. In her words: “‘Extruded Light’ is a candle bowl, approximately 6-inches in diameter. I made it by winding extruded, translucent Premo polymer clay around a spherical glass bowl. It looks great with a color changing LED candle in it, but is difficult to photograph. The white candle light, in this photograph, shows the extruded strings the best.”
I know how you all love translucent clay applications, so it would have been hard not to share this. The idea is pretty simple, but the wrapped strings add a calm horizontal texture. My editorial assistant, Paula Gilbert, is here with me for the opening of The Great Create at which I am doing demos (tonight in Denver!) and teaching a class on Saturday. Paula saw this bowl and said that looks like a glowing moon. And, so it does. I wish I had time to ask Claire how she got the craters in it or if they were incidental. Happy, unintended element if so.
Claire creates award-winning polymer work and writes her blog from New Zealand.
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.
First of all, I just realized this will be the last post of May. Really? This month is over? Wow … that went quick. Due to all the bedlam here, we’ve been just barely keeping up with the 3 blogs a week, and we have at least another week or so of chaos to get through. So, between that and all the notes from people who are liking the 3 days a week (“We have so much to read every day as it is …”), for now, we are going to keep this pace. Once we have the summer issue wrapped up next week, I’ll put together a survey (and some fun stuff to give away!) and give everyone who wants to offer their opinion, a chance to weigh in on the blog schedule.
In the meantime, my search for recent translucent clay work that uses the clay’s very particular characteristics in a new or surprising way was not as fruitful as I might have hoped. Have we gotten a bit tired of it? There are plenty of people using it to produce a wide variety of faux effects and mixing it with regular clays for better color and luminosity, but purely translucent for the sake of playing with its diaphanous quality seems to be the purview of just a handful of folks. However, in my search I ran across the pieces you see here. The first example I saw was the earrings you see in the upper left. I thought they were polymer, but then I got to the artist’s page and realized it had to be acrylic.
The artist is Jahyun Rita Baek, and this work is not new either, but something created when Rita was in art school in the United Kingdom. The series is called Cloud, which I believe is referring to the concept of light in both the illuminating quality and the perceived weight that are at play here. The work is beautifully simplistic and mesmerizing. Similar approaches with translucent polymer would be just as amazing, don’t you think?
So, this is the bit of inspiration I wanted to share with you today. Simple forms in floating and swirling designs could be created so easily with polymer. About the only thing this would take is knowing how to hold back and working clean–by which I mean clean clay and clean lines. If I could even get into my studio right now, I would go play for an hour just to relieve some stress. But parts of my office are in the way! So back to that.
Jump over to Rita’s website for more of her unusual work, not just in acrylic, but all kinds of materials from plastic to precious. And enjoy a beautiful spring weekend with a bit of creativity mixed in!
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.
Shortly after I sent Monday’s blog, I ran into this interesting set of earrings on Pinterest. Yes, we’re talking translucent polymer here, but can you guess what the colorants and inclusions are?
The pieces were made by Dawn Wilson-Enoch who is not a polymer artist but rather is what one might think of as a natural artist. She draws from nature very directly using all kinds of stones, plants, seeds and even earth to create her jewelry or inspire her metal work. These were the only polymer pieces I found of hers, so my guess is she wanted a way to present these fragile and granular elements of the natural world in a way that would show their beauty and natural state, yet allow them to be wearable. And translucent polymer, with its diaphanous nature and low curing temperature compared to other clear material options, was the answer she found.
I was drawn to them by the textures the natural elements create. The rough and sparingly random elements are contrasted wonderfully. The cracked metal leaf is layered much more completely across the hand torn ‘leaves’ of polymer. Dawn says each of these pieces encase “a different desert plant, sand, or metal leaf. When you are still, the contents of the layers are mostly hidden, but when you move the layers dance and swing and reveal their treasures.” I can only imagine how much more intriguing the revelation would be under a bright light like the desert sun.
I was thinking that the inclusions, tearing, and contrasting textures would be great fun to play with further by each of us in our own way with the elements we are most drawn to. What do you think? Is it time to go play with a bit of translucence and texture?
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.
We haven’t visited the wonderful world of transluscents in awhile, and I have been curious to see what people have been doing lately. Strangely, there is not a lot of recently posted work. Anyone have anything new they’d like to share? I’ll keep searching, but I’m up for some striking new work to be landing in my mailbox, too. Hint, hint.
In the meantime, here is a beautiful piece by Brazil’s Beatriz Cominatto that she created a few years back. It’s not a complex concept, this scale-like layering of cane slices, but it does show off the particular advantage of working with translucents. Instead of considering just the surface of the clay, translucents allow you to focus on the content of the depth of the clay. The layering offers another dimension to the design when translucents are in play, which allows for such criss-cross patterning and other ways to create lines that work in multiple ways.
Beatrice created this in 2012, if the Flickr date is correct. She did a lot of exploring in many different techniques then, so although there is not a lot of translucent, she did some great sushi canes with the translucent clay along with other polymer work. You can explore more of Beatrice’s work on her Flickr page and her website.
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.
I don’t know if it’s fair to say that enamel work can give the illusion of depth because usually you are looking into some depth. Enamel work is commonly layered, so you are seeing light reflected back through various colors and treatments applied in the process of laying down and firing powdered glass. But, if the artist works it right, there appears to be a lot more depth than there actually is.
The illusion in enameling can be created with illustrative techniques such as painting (yes, enamel work is often referred to as painting) in deeper colors along the edges of objects and lines. I find Ruth Ball’s work in this approach just mesmerizing. This piece is a small dish all of 10cm wide used for serving spices or condiments. The decorative cloisonne (a type of enameling using thin strips of metal or wire in the design) has many lines and objects to apply a touch of shadow to, making the longer lines seem like deep walls and the reed like dashes appear to float above it all.
I thought this piece would be of interest to those of you who play with translucent clay and alcohol inks. I’m thinking getting painterly with the inks on translucents could result in some very interesting looks, especially if layered. Because layering really thin sheets of translucent clay is not that different than layering enamel, is it? I wish all this blogging didn’t bring up so many amazing ideas. I don’t have time to try all these things, but I hope some of you do!
A break in the day to take time to wander around Ruth’s website would be time well spent. Take a look at her jewelry and see if you aren’t reminded of one of the work of one of our bigger polymer artists. Interesting isn’t it?
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.
The real or illusionary depiction of depth is something that draws the eye. We want to see what is down there, what is in the shadows or just beyond, what we can make out by looking deeper. Depth in polymer can be achieved through a myriad of techniques and approaches.
Let’s start this week of looking at creating a look of depth with this amazing necklace by Victoria James. The depth is subtle, but like shimmering pebbles just under the trickle of a clear creek, you want to reach in and touch the texture here. It is so hard to tell from the photo how this was achieved, but here is what Victoria says:
“These beads were created with the shingle cracked growth ring texture sheet. They are made from polymer clay, alcohol inks and metal leaf. The look of depth is an illusion, they are perfectly smooth.”
So, we are thinking this is a really great buffing job here. If it was flat, I might say resin with that shine and layered translucent appearance. But, I don’t think so. Mica shift may have played a role, but then again, it’s hard to say from here. What we can all say, I believe, is simply … wow. Beautifully done.
More illusion, texture and faux can be found on Victoria’s Flickr page and on her website where you will find her work in basketry, as well as her collection of ‘real’ world texture sheets.
f 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.
Read More
Claire Fairweather, herself, sent this along when she saw we were doing an extruded themed week. In her words: “‘Extruded Light’ is a candle bowl, approximately 6-inches in diameter. I made it by winding extruded, translucent Premo polymer clay around a spherical glass bowl. It looks great with a color changing LED candle in it, but is difficult to photograph. The white candle light, in this photograph, shows the extruded strings the best.”
I know how you all love translucent clay applications, so it would have been hard not to share this. The idea is pretty simple, but the wrapped strings add a calm horizontal texture. My editorial assistant, Paula Gilbert, is here with me for the opening of The Great Create at which I am doing demos (tonight in Denver!) and teaching a class on Saturday. Paula saw this bowl and said that looks like a glowing moon. And, so it does. I wish I had time to ask Claire how she got the craters in it or if they were incidental. Happy, unintended element if so.
Claire creates award-winning polymer work and writes her blog from New Zealand.
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.
