Categorizing Creativity
July 22, 2012
Ponderings
When people ask me what I do, I say “I create.” There really is no other way to explain succinctly all the things I do and to make someone understand that the things I make are not side projects. I live, breath and dream creativity. Even when I worked a 9-5 job, it was so I could make enough money to buy art supplies. But even my jobs were creative on some level. I have also had to explain that making art from what is considered a craft material does not make what I do a hobby way too many times. Maybe we can get these tags as business cards too. 🙂
Rhythm in Composition
July 21, 2012
Technique tutorials, Tips and Tricks
Rhythm has been on my mind all this quarter. Our next issue of The Polymer Arts is themed “Rhythm and Flow,” so I’ve been searching out additional resources online. Here’s one on video that won’t, obviously, make its way into the print magazine but I thought was too cool to keep to myself.
They use mat board and foam sheets to do this but sheets of polymer clay would be perfect as well. And in smaller sized shapes, you could decorate a vase or even make a pendant while you practice the ideas.
Inspiration in the Bowl
July 20, 2012
Inspirational Art
Okay … you are welcome to tell me if I’m completely nuts but I saw this photo of miso soup and immediately thought of polymer clay.
“Say what?”
Well, the composition of the soup’s ingredients are just beautiful. I can imagine creating canes and transparent layers to build up the depth of texture and then accenting the surface layer with bright spots of green in a playful scatter towards one side. Do you see what I saying?
Inspiration is everywhere! Why not in your food too? Besides the recipe looks absolutely yummy.
I’ll keep you updated on any efforts I have to duplicate this both in the kitchen and the studio!
To Vary One’s Style or Not …
July 19, 2012
Inspirational Art, Ponderings
Bettina Welker has been quite busy of late. This Spring she was featured in The Polymer Arts’ Creative Spaces (Spring 2012) issue with a peak into her studio. You may have seen her very nice Pixelated Retro Blend Cane bracelet on Polymer Clay Daily. She recently completed a tutorial on her intriguing Jellyfish earrings that you can find on CraftArtEdu.com. And recently on Polymer Clay Diaries this beauty was posted.
All of these pieces have very different elements and I would not have guessed they were all Bettina’s. But whereas some artists work in a very narrow and much perfected style, Bettina explores the material, approaching it from a variety of aspects. There’s nothing wrong with that. Some of us get more intrigued with the possibilities than anything else.
And there is nothing wrong with sticking to and constantly evolving a particular style or approach. I do think it is a great idea for every artist to do a little of both. If you spend a lot of time exploring, try taking something you have really been intrigued with and really testing it, improving it and trying a variety of variations. This kind of approach is necessary if you want to get into wholesale or brand yourself as an artist. If you work primarily with one technique or style, try out a few new ideas every month or two. Even if you don’t get into the new work, its amazing how stretching your creative muscles can help you improve and expand the area you prefer.
Sculptural Jewelry
July 18, 2012
Inspirational Art, Ponderings
How do you work with polymer clay? Do you consider yourself primarily a maker of jewelry or do you prefer sculpture? Do you ever combine both. Janet Wilson does just this with her tree pendants.
One of the joys of jewelry art is that someone can wear and show around a little piece of their art collection. It is a piece of art not relegated to viewing by only those who visit the owner’s home or stop in the office it’s placed in. Creating a sculptural vision that can also be worn really takes advantage of this aspect of jewelry. And probably gets the wearer a lot of attention?
Have you ever used sculptural imagery in your work or created a scuplture that can be worn?
Silk Screening Anyone?
July 17, 2012
Technique tutorials, Tips and Tricks
Have you been curious about what it would take to try out silk screening on polymer? I can tell you the whole process is relatively simple. You need a few specialty supplies (but who doesn’t like having to get a few new supplies!) and a little practice. Once you get it down it can be quite addictive.
Here are few pins by Karen Woods with lots of silk screening textures to intrigue you.
If you want to look into it further, Polymer Clay Express has both a tutorial posted as well as supplies to get you started.
And our friends over at Polymer Clay Productions have a great video on polymer silk screening with lots of good tips to get you started: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJZ8ec8NAko
Mesmerizing Mokume
July 16, 2012
Inspirational Art, Polymer community news
Is it just me or do these bracelets by Ukrainian polymer artist Iryna Osinchuk-Chajka just hypnotize you? A simple swirl design but a constant change in color and contrast grabs and keeps your attention.
Her explanation of how she works certainly attests to the results. Iryna says “every time I make something I kind of watch a little magical performance”. And then so do we!
You can see more of her mesmerizing work on her website at and in her Etsy shop.
If We Were to be Truthful About Our Business Hours
July 15, 2012
Ponderings
How I would love to be so honest and forthright with my business hours!
Sushi Caning
July 14, 2012
Inspirational Art
I’m posting this for no other reason than I thought all our caners out there (and even those who don’t cane much) would get a kick out of it. Found on Facebook … still looking for a source for it.
Now, don’t feel threatened by the art of sushi. I don’t think they will ever surpass us in our ingenuity and artistic outcomes but … I’m sure they taste tons better.
What will your dinner look like tonight? 🙂
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I don’t recall why I had dropped in on Lyne Ann Schwarzenberg’s website but it’s quite an opening act. This necklace is on the front page. Well it pretty much is the front page, and why not? For a relatively muted palette, it has tremendous impact. The immaculate execution combined with the bold, almost dangerous looking petals are going to grab your attention whether you are into florals or not.
Take some time to peruse her gallery and see her photos from her trip to Israel–a handful of minutes that will be well-spent.
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Today just a simple announcement … finally have the cover for the Fall 2012 issue of The Polymer Arts ready for prime time!
Don’t forget to subscribe, renew or pre-order your copy! http://thepolymerarts.com/Subscribe.html
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Have I ever mentioned that I live with another artist? My friend and very talented 3-D and digital artist Kyle Kelley lives on the upper floor of my house. I live on the bottom floor. And it is a very full house.
Sometimes we (meaning I) decide we should try to reclaim some space in the house and so we try to go through some portion of the many bins and boxes and shelves of art materials (isn’t every thing art material when it comes down to it?) but inevitably we just end up exchanging newly-discovered and all too precious (because we MIGHT use it someday) resources – which lead to spontaneous art projects; which then require additional materials – that we don’t have room for. So we buy yet-another shed, which requires additional materials to build …
Yes, making art is a vicious circle. And no, I don’t really want anyone to help me get out of that either.
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Polymer artists seem to be limitless consumers of texture. Stamps, texture sheets, a multitude of odds and ends, tools of all shapes, sizes and form can be regularly found over flowing bins and drawers and studio tables. So it was with some surprise to see a new term (for me!) … Texture Sticks.
Arlene Harrison, a fellow member of the wonderful Polymer Clay Artist’s Guild of Etsy, has apparently been making these texture sticks for a while and posted about them on her blog back in 2009. A timeless idea to be sure, I have seen other ‘sticks’ but with old metal buttons, bits of jewelry, and hardware on them. However, this is a wonderful and easy to assemble idea for creating easy to use, custom textures tools.
Check out Arlene’s original post here.
And check out yesterday’s post on stamping and using inks on polymer for more ways to play with stamps and texture on your clay!
Read MoreThis week’s alternate source of inspiration comes from the scrapbooking community. We already raid the scrapbooking aisle big time so you may have seen these stamps as well as the many inks and stains available but may not have realized how they are used. In the video on this page, stamping artist Jill Foster demonstrates how to make these gorgeous gift tags using layered stamping with variations on how to apply the inks.
What I thought would be of interest to polymer artists was not the products she uses but the way she uses them. You can’t actually use the heavy water based Distress Inks she demonstrates with to stamp onto polymer although you can certainly use those stamps! The rather painterly application of the ink on the stamps as well as the little touches like removing the ink here and there before stamping are ideas you can take to your studio table.
If you want to closely emulate this look by layering stamps on your clay, you will need to buy solvent inks such as StazOn or Ranger’s Archival Inks. These can be used on raw or baked clay but should be heat set after stamping regardless. You will want to let each stamping dry thoroughly before stamping over them. On baked clay, take a heat gun to the stamping after the ink dries to heat set it so the solvent in the following layer won’t smear it. This isn’t as big an issue on raw clay since it kind of sinks in but still, stamp carefully.
And have fun!
Read MoreEvery week in the blog, I try to include something that represents the sculptural side of polymer. As mentioned last week in the post on combining jewelry and sculpture, the two approaches aren’t exclusive. Jewelry can be sculptural, sculpture can be jewelry and, in addition, they can both be miniatures, another aspect of polymer art that can get buried among the abundance of polymer jewelry art.
Miniature art itself is an amazingly creative and sometimes tricky art form. Polymer, of course, is an obvious choice for this kind of art due to its broad imitative nature and is widely used in all kinds of miniature applications. Amanda (who, like Cher, sticks to just one name on all her sites) from here in Colorado, created these miniature sculptures of books based on actual books that belonged to her mother. They have been sculpted on a very small scale and turned into jewelry. The care and detail taken in their creation keep the sculptures from being cutesy and they seem to command a bit of the same reverence we tend to hold for old, collectible books. Tiny treasures and every bit a work of art.
Read MoreDid you ever think brains could be so lovely?
Yes, I said brains.
This brain cane just goes to prove that anything with the right coloring and application can be beautiful.
Dája Dagmar Andělová from the Czech Republic works some rather straight forward but beautiful magic with just a little folding of a few sheets of clay.
Interested in trying your hand at some brain work? You can see her tutorial here.
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Stamps and texture plates and things that impress … we all have a collection of such things to texturize our clay. But how often do we stop and do the most natural thing in art, the thing that we all did as children and still do while sitting in a boring meeting or droning phone call–draw?!
The drawings in these simple earrings byCristina from Umbria, Italy may take you back to your younger years when drawing simple shapes and lines was amazing and enthralling. It still can be.
Drawing in polymer takes nothing more than a hard tipped drawing implement. I would guess pins are used here. Cristina then uses acrylic paint to fill in and contrast the lines. It give it a wonderful antiqued look.
You can also draw on clay with a ball stylus or knitting needles using a variety of sizes to add some change and interest in the resulting lines. Or you can use my favorite and a not so obvious, yet should be obvious tool … a pencil! I like using colored pencils, the soft leaded Prismacolors in particular, because they color behind. Pencils also give you a wide variety of line as you can sharpen them to a fine point or rub the tip down to a wide dull point on scrap paper or sand paper.
Have fun tapping your inner doodler!
Read MoreWe have an abundance of faux effects in polymer. Many aim to duplicate what we see in nature. Which is great. We can then easily and inexpensively create fantastic forms that would be hard to acquire from nature. But I am of the mindset that if we have a medium that can be anything we can imagine, why not imagine things that do not exist and create those? I love stones and have worked toward developing techniques that emulate the real thing just so I can go and push the texture and colors that nature has. (See the Elabradorite technique in the Winter 2011 issue of The Polymer Arts magazine)
Kristine Taylor has been doing just that. As she told Jewelry Making Daily in an interview last year, “Polymer clay is a wonderful medium for mimicking other materials like stones, but I like to use polymer clay to create stones that nature does not produce.” She uses a simple marbling technique combined with mica powders and acrylic paint to create focal and accent beads that come out looking like some rare semi-precious stone.
If you often create faux stone, metal, wood, bone, etc., why not try to push it a bit next time? How about purple turquoise, pearl green bone or jewel tone wood grain? We do work with a medium that can do just about anything, so it would only be natural to take natural inspiration and create something completely new.
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