Fine Lines
June 2, 2014
Inspirational Art
Sorry about the problems and delays last week. We are back on track and we’re going to continue looking at various pieces where the craftsmanship really makes the difference.
In this shawl pin by Ukraine’s Asya Kuzahmetova, the lines are perfectly applied and the neatness and finely crafted details make for a simple but lovely piece. She has a whole series of these pins on her Live Journal page and they all are similarly well finished. Some are even monochromatic which makes the details stand out even more.
See more of Asya’s work on her Flickr page and her online shop as well.
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.
Density Vase
May 24, 2014
Inspirational Art
Intricacy in construction can be achieved in a variety of ways. The simple repetition of a single type of element can create rich texture but like everything we talked about this week, takes a bit of patience. Ukraine artist, Iryna Osinchuk-Chajka, created this intriguing vase in this manner, applying small petal shapes over and over, for rows and rows, to complete the design. This piece is part of her home decor line. She take vases, office organizers, soda cans, and any other shape that interests her and then applies these repeated shapes to the surface, to create the enticing texture.
When you look at Iryna’s Flickr Photostream, her Etsy shop, and her live journal, you can see how much she is influenced by nature, particularly florals. Have you ever tried one of these layering techniques in your work? It is time consuming, but the results can be well worth the effort.
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.
Outside Inspiration: Pysanky – Ukrainian Egg Dyeing
August 2, 2013
Inspirational Art
There was a novel I read not long ago where a character described the process of drawing on eggs with wax and then dying them. I had this pretty cool image in my mind of what they might look like; but it wasn’t until today, when putting in the keywords “Eastern European art” into Google’s image search, that I actually got to see what these are – and just how far off my imagination had been!
The eggs below are labeled as “Pysanky: Ukrainian Easter Eggs” on a photo-gallery website called www.thingography.com. If you go to the Pysanky gallery on this site, you can see just how intricate this egg dyeing gets. The level of detail on these is quite mind-blowing; everything is created with wax and dye.
For those of you looking for inspiration for canes, I think you will find that perusing these eggs on the previously mentioned page or putting Pysanky into a Google images search or on Pinterest will bring you quite the bonanza of color and pattern ideas. There is also a Flickr group that posts more than just eggs. What a wonderful art form!
(There is no attribution for the artist or artists and an image search revealed no further information. If anyone happens to know a more specific way to credit the artist or artists, do let me know!)
Sculptural Jewelry from Ukraine
July 31, 2013
Inspirational Art
Our Eastern European artist today is Olga Zhukova from Bila Tserkva, Ukraine. Like her neighbor from Russia we saw yesterday, Olga does a lot of sculptural floral work in polymer; but if you look over her body of work, you realize that she enjoys playing with all kinds of polymer recreations, as long as there are vibrant colors to show off.
I would not say that this bracelet below is representative of the majority of her work, but it is representative of the breadth of sculptural techniques and realistic recreations she is capable of. And maybe I just really like the idea of the frog being the focal point of the bracelet. I can certainly see this being the center of conversation wherever the wearer goes with it. How often do you see a complete, rather realistic sculptural scene on someone’s wrist?
See the wide variety of Olga’s work in her shop, on her blog and on her Flickr photostream. Olga creates in cold porcelain as well as polymer–especially with her sculpted flowers–so keep in mind that not everything you see is made out of polymer clay. Nonetheless, all her work is beautiful and inspiring.
(To translate pages you find in the links this week, copy the web address for the page and paste into the translation box at http://translate.google.com/ or use Google Chrome as your web browser as it automatically offers to translate pages for you into your native language. Go here for more information on this cool toolbar.)
Sorry about the problems and delays last week. We are back on track and we’re going to continue looking at various pieces where the craftsmanship really makes the difference.
In this shawl pin by Ukraine’s Asya Kuzahmetova, the lines are perfectly applied and the neatness and finely crafted details make for a simple but lovely piece. She has a whole series of these pins on her Live Journal page and they all are similarly well finished. Some are even monochromatic which makes the details stand out even more.
See more of Asya’s work on her Flickr page and her online shop as well.
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.
Intricacy in construction can be achieved in a variety of ways. The simple repetition of a single type of element can create rich texture but like everything we talked about this week, takes a bit of patience. Ukraine artist, Iryna Osinchuk-Chajka, created this intriguing vase in this manner, applying small petal shapes over and over, for rows and rows, to complete the design. This piece is part of her home decor line. She take vases, office organizers, soda cans, and any other shape that interests her and then applies these repeated shapes to the surface, to create the enticing texture.
When you look at Iryna’s Flickr Photostream, her Etsy shop, and her live journal, you can see how much she is influenced by nature, particularly florals. Have you ever tried one of these layering techniques in your work? It is time consuming, but the results can be well worth the effort.
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.
There was a novel I read not long ago where a character described the process of drawing on eggs with wax and then dying them. I had this pretty cool image in my mind of what they might look like; but it wasn’t until today, when putting in the keywords “Eastern European art” into Google’s image search, that I actually got to see what these are – and just how far off my imagination had been!
The eggs below are labeled as “Pysanky: Ukrainian Easter Eggs” on a photo-gallery website called www.thingography.com. If you go to the Pysanky gallery on this site, you can see just how intricate this egg dyeing gets. The level of detail on these is quite mind-blowing; everything is created with wax and dye.
For those of you looking for inspiration for canes, I think you will find that perusing these eggs on the previously mentioned page or putting Pysanky into a Google images search or on Pinterest will bring you quite the bonanza of color and pattern ideas. There is also a Flickr group that posts more than just eggs. What a wonderful art form!
(There is no attribution for the artist or artists and an image search revealed no further information. If anyone happens to know a more specific way to credit the artist or artists, do let me know!)
Our Eastern European artist today is Olga Zhukova from Bila Tserkva, Ukraine. Like her neighbor from Russia we saw yesterday, Olga does a lot of sculptural floral work in polymer; but if you look over her body of work, you realize that she enjoys playing with all kinds of polymer recreations, as long as there are vibrant colors to show off.
I would not say that this bracelet below is representative of the majority of her work, but it is representative of the breadth of sculptural techniques and realistic recreations she is capable of. And maybe I just really like the idea of the frog being the focal point of the bracelet. I can certainly see this being the center of conversation wherever the wearer goes with it. How often do you see a complete, rather realistic sculptural scene on someone’s wrist?
See the wide variety of Olga’s work in her shop, on her blog and on her Flickr photostream. Olga creates in cold porcelain as well as polymer–especially with her sculpted flowers–so keep in mind that not everything you see is made out of polymer clay. Nonetheless, all her work is beautiful and inspiring.
(To translate pages you find in the links this week, copy the web address for the page and paste into the translation box at http://translate.google.com/ or use Google Chrome as your web browser as it automatically offers to translate pages for you into your native language. Go here for more information on this cool toolbar.)
