Your Craft Business in the New Year
December 31, 2012
Ponderings
With the New Year now upon us, I thought I’d take a moment to share a blog I’ve found rather enlightening over the last few years.
When one gets serious about art, that business aspect almost always creeps in. To sustain our art (or obsession as it often is), selling our work becomes a necessity. Artists are usually business minded so it is very helpful to have a helping hand in that area.
The Craft Business Biz blog written by Terri Belford covers that one area of arts and crafts that most of us would prefer to think about as little as possible. It can be a bit heavy on the dramatic marketing in the way the blog is set up, but the advice is generally pretty good. For example, his post earlier this month on making your business stand out is just a short list of common sense things you can do to help boost your business. Terri only posts a few times each month so it’s not stuff you’ll be getting hit over the head with. But it is great to get those little reminders to think about improving your business on a regular basis.
The New Year should not be the only time you work on improving what you do, but it is a good place to start.
Outside Influence: Art on Nature
December 30, 2012
Inspirational Art
When I first saw this array, I thought it was polymer and ingenuous work at that. But no … it turns out to be leaves. Beautifully painted details on dead leaves by Elena Nuez of Spain. But its not the painting of each leaf that is so enticing, rather it is the arrangement, the collective impact that gives this image it’s impact.
Even more wonderful is the variety of ways Elena photographs these. On her web post she has several different arrangements and angles from which she photographs them. The photos–the compostition and view–are the art.
In terms of how we can translate this into polymer, there are several things you can take from this. One, the shapes and colors are perfect for polymer and these patterns could be easily reproduced. It also might give you ideas for making a batches of forms and then playing with the arrangement of them until you either find an arrangement you like for a brooch or wall piece or as a collection you can continue to play with for your own enjoyment. Also, consider that the photography of your work can in itself be art with polymer the subject that helps create the images rather than the polymer being the end product alone. Just a lot to ponder. And enjoy.
Crackly Goodness
December 29, 2012
Inspirational Art
I couldn’t let the last days of the year go by without stopping to admire a little crackle. These sumptuous discs here are the work of Barbara Fajardo. She developed a technique that layers alcohol inks to get a multi-dimensional texture with, of course, lots of fine crackle.
In this case, the polymer is a carrier rather than visual element, but even without knowing the particulars of Barbara’s technique, it’s unlikely that there is another material that could be paired with the inks and manipulated so as to develop the light crackling effect. These are some of the most magical aspects of our medium–the plasticity and ability of polymer to take on a wide variety of other mediums.
Even though color is what often draws us to polymer, it’s the physical characteristics of the material that make it so versatile. One of these days I’m going to count how many ways we can use it just for crackling.
In the meantime, we hope Barbara has the opportunity to develop a class for CraftArtEdu on this beautiful technique. She has four other classes available there right now. If you want to see more applications of Barbara’s crackly goodness, take some time to look through her Flickr page.
Color Through the Centuries
December 28, 2012
Polymer issues, Ponderings
Have you ever wondered why certain colors become favorites for a period and then are abandoned almost overnight? The predominance of colors is often a result of social or global circumstances. I found this chart below and the accompanying post highlighting the change in fashionable colors over the decades quite interesting.
I don’t know that anyone can actually guess what colors will come from a change in global or local circumstances, but a historical view could give you a direction if you are looking to change up your line this coming year. Even if not, it is rather fun to see where we have been and where we’ve come to over the years in our society’s color preferences.
Stepping out in Vibrating Color
December 27, 2012
Inspirational Art
I know, I know … many of you are resting up after a long, well-fought holiday season. The rest is certainly deserved. But there is no rest for the wicked. Especially if you or your customers have big New Year’s plans!
I actually look forward to dressing up for New Year’s more than for Christmas gatherings. New Year’s is a time for pizzazz, a time for glamor and glitz (without over doing it of course!) and a time to shine.
The first day of the year is a day of hope and high energy, so why not dress to reflect the sentiment of a new start? It doesn’t have to be all jewels and gold, either. Certain color combinations, not to mention visual textures, can really add energy to an outfit. This piece by Two Good Claymates (Carolyn and Dave Good) has a little bit of all of this. Purple and green, a very energetic color combination, set off with the hypnotic look of Damascus canes and faceted beads. That’s dressing it up.
I haven’t decided what to do for this New Year’s eve, so I need to get myself into the studio and whip up something for myself … for a change. Why not put some time aside in the studio to make yourself something wonderful for the new year?
A Filigree Farewell to Christmas
December 26, 2012
Inspirational Art
Perhaps you are all a bit tired of Christmas, but I only just found this beautiful set late last night and thought one more holiday piece could be shared.
Leah Hagen of LeeLee Beads is a polymer filigree fanatic. She seems to have explored every possible approach for winding thin snakes of clay about a bead. These “Vintage Christmas” beads are a charming example of Leah’s varied filigree approach.
If you have an interest in polymer filigree, embroidery, or lace like applications take a look at Leah’s Flickr page.
All I Wanted for Christmas …
December 25, 2012
Inspirational Art, Ponderings
… I already had.
I am blessed with the most wonderful family anyone could ever wish for. We all actually really get along, respect each other, and encourage each other’s dreams. I also have many amazing, dear, and caring friends, some that I’ve known for ages, some quite new, not to mention the wonderful network of acquaintances and colleagues I can always count on to keep me on track and make me feel useful and needed by coming to me for help, as well.
And on top of all that–already more than any one person could possibly hope for–I have the most supportive, generous, and helpful readers, both here on the blog and at The Polymer Arts magazine. What more could a girl ask for?
I do hope all of you, whether you celebrate Christmas today or not, are surrounded by your dearest ones and are able to take time to truly enjoy and appreciate the season with all it’s many blessings.
Our cute little Christmas tree trio was created by Afsaneh Tajvidi of JooJooLand and was her Christmas blog greeting a couple years back. Thanks to her and all of you who share your gifts with all of us.
Outside Inspiration: Time in the Kitchen (and yes, it is Monday)
December 24, 2012
Inspirational Art
I know I usually do outside inspirations on Fridays, but let’s face it … most of us are probably not in the studio today. Many of us are in the kitchen. So here’s a thought. Where I usually stop to point out how something made in another medium can be translated into polymer, how about we take our skills and creativity we hone in our studios to the kitchen with us?
There are many culinary items that can be made more appealing and get you that desired “wow” factor by applying techniques and design ideas you already employ in polymer. Design elements like color, balance, line, texture, etc are all applicable to food. The area with the widest opportunities are in the sweets. Just look at these adorable cookies. Cut and stacked shapes, small dots and lines of detail … you’ve probably done something very similar with polymer. So you can see how simple it would be to do the same with frosting or fondant? These fun cookies are by Naomi of HelloNaomi.com.au of New Castle, Australia. (Could you even eat these?! They’re so cute!)
Cookies and cakes have an easy and direct translation for polymer art, but don’t hold back when it comes to be creative and colorful in the kitchen. Appetizers can be so much fun, too. For instance, arrange that ubiquitous veggie tray into something more enticing by making a Christmas tree shape out of the broccoli with carrot chips and cherry tomato ‘ornaments’ and sliced sweet pepper ‘garlands’. Wrap that soft cheese block with a peeled celery bow (or real ribbon … I’m sure no one will try to eat it … right?) Or instead of a nut and cheese log, how about a nut and cheese wreath?
I just think we, as creative people, should never limit ourselves by putting all of our creative energy into our primary material. There are all kinds of materials and moments your skills can be applied, where you can be creative and delight the people around you, not to mention the fun you can have yourself. There is no better time (or excuse) to do so than during the holiday season.
Now go ahead, go get crazy creative in the kitchen today!
Yes, It’s All Worth the Aggravation
December 23, 2012
Ponderings
I have somehow managed to avoid most of the trials and tribulations that are usually a part of the holiday season. Not that there aren’t other non-holiday tribulations putting up hurdles before me but I am very grateful for being an artist and for being able to make, with tons of love and caring, gifts for the people on my list. I am also so grateful for the internet … for letting me shop from home for all those things on my list that just can’t–for some silly reason–be made from polymer clay!
But I do see the hectic lines in the face of my friends and family. I’m sure many of you have or are having those kind of moments. So here is a holiday thought for you. Just remember why you go through all you go through during the holiday season. And who benefits from all you do.
The response to the Stroppel article in our recent Summer 2012 issue and the fan base she and the technique have is bringing more and more variations of it out of the woodwork. (If you are a fan of this technique do check out the Stroppel Cane Flickr group.)
Here Nikolina Otržan of Croatia combines Stroppel canes with a Rex Ray influenced design. Visual texture (remember that discussion in the texture article in the Spring 2012 issue?) contrasted with large smooth spaces make the small area of Stroppel caning really stand out. This approach is not unlike utlizing white space in a painting or drawing (or in the layout of a magazine, actually) to bring the eye into the primary area of focus. The ‘quiet’ spaces recede in importance, playing up the busy spaces.
So if you have a texture, cane or other surface treatment with a lot of color and/or detail, you might consider balancing it out with calm, broad, solid spaces in order to direct the viewer’s eye where you want them to focus.
Thanks to Maja DeLorean for bringing her friend Nikolina’s work to my attention!
Read MoreSince there was so much excitement over the Spring 2012 issue of The Polymer Arts magazine and all the organizational ideas it had, I figured many of you would be interested in this little book or organizational wisdom, Controlling Creative Clutter which is presently on sale for a mere $6.99 for a digital copy!
This book is structured as a workbook primarily text based rather than just being lots of photos. It’ll get you thinking about how and why you have your space organized the way you do and help you work out ideas on how to change it to make it more usable and you more productive.
The author, Diane Dobson-Barton is also the author of Polymer People, a three book series on realistic sculpting in polymer clay. (A must for any polymer figurative sculptor.)
You can check out these wonderful books here as well:
http://artist-how-to.com/front.html
Read MoreLet’s start this week with some thoughts about our back sides. (Ok … where did your mind go?!) The back of our art, especially in jewelry, can be too easily ignored or at least is treated with less consideration and attention to detail than the side we consider the front. But if you think about it, the person who owns that piece sees the back all the time. Wouldn’t you want your customers to be just as pleased or awed by what they see on the back as they are by the side that every one else sees? I think it’s such a missed opportunity to leave the back plain. How fun is it to know that the work of art around your neck or on your wrist is hiding a beautiful surprise on the back side.
This is why I so adore the work of Daniela D’Uva. She lives in Italy and works under the name Alkhymeia. All of her pieces have a carefully considered back side, some so detailed as to be more stunning than the front, making them readily reversible. (click on the photo to see the detail here.)
What do you do with your back sides?
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Today I FINALLY got out to go see the group at our local Mile High Polymer Clay Guild here in the Denver, Colorado area. They were finishing up their annual Spring retreat. I wandered in around noon, into a colorful, chatty room to be warmly greeted by some 30 or so smiling faces. How fantastic it was to meet so many people, whose names I knew as subscribers to the magazine, but hadn’t had a chance to meet in person. I was heartily reminded, as they directed me to various tables to check out the art work being done and as I watched people bounce from table to table to help each other out, just how wonderfully sharing our community is.
I’ve worked in a few other creative communities and I don’t think I’ve known such generosity and eagerness to help and support each other. Our efforts to grow as a community, to get the word out about our fantastic medium, and to help elevate the perception of polymer as a fine art medium is rooted in this essential aspect of how we communicate and interact. It is also a huge reason why The Polymer Arts magazine has done so well, as new as it is. It’s because so many of you write to let me know what you like and even what you think is missing so I can improve the content as well as spreading the word about the magazine through your groups, networks, blogs and websites. How wonderful you’ve all been.
So I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your support, enthusiasm, and especially your generous spirits. Thank you in particular to all our readers, especially the ones that write to offer suggestions and keep me on track. Big warms hugs to all the “midwives” at the PCAGOE that helped form the magazine to start with. And today, thank you to the MHPCG for being so gracious and welcoming to a stranger who just wandered into the middle of your event.
We really have an amazing community.
Read MoreYesterday I posted observations about an organically inspired necklace. Beautifully done, it still had room for improvement and I mentioned my thoughts on that. It felt rather odd to do so. Our community doesn’t really spend a lot of time talking about the missed opportunities in our art work. Usually we praise (and usually deservedly so) the work of our fellow artists which certainly helps bolster confidence and enthusiasm in the artist. But how much does it help them improve their work?
A week or so ago I had a great Skype conversation with Christine Dumont of Voila (see the interview/article on Voila in our latest magazine issue). One of the very unique things about her site is that members get constructive feedback on work they submit in their gallery. Much of the Voila concept is built around ways to help polymer artists improve their work, not just receive confirmation that they are going in the right direction. I think this is a concept we all need to embrace further.
The hard part of with working more constructive feedback into our conversations is that most of us have not been through the training and educational experience of art school or other exposure to critical commentary on our heartfelt work. But in an artistic and educational environment, constructive criticism is a major part of the learning process. Not only does it help to hear other people’s opinions and ideas about how to improve what you do, but honing a critical eye through observing the work of others can help you more readily see ways of improving yours.
I would certainly love to see more of this kind of exchange in the community. Do you think you have a thick enough skin to hear people express what might be done to improve your work so you can learn and grow your artistic skills from it? And can you give others helpful and supportive advice on opportunities you find in their work? If so, perhaps try including small suggestions in your conversations about other artists’ work. And try Voila if you haven’t already done so.
Read MoreNature inspires the art of many of us but how often can you say the entire piece reflects the aesthetics of Mother Nature?
This piece by Beatriz Cominatto is striking not only because of its unexpected and yet still elegant choice of forms for a necklace but because there is no true break from organic construction anywhere along the piece. We are looking at vines twisting down to mature open pods presenting their treasures. From the focal forms all the way around the neckband the piece reflects the shapes and organization of nature.
There are, however, minor breaks from authentic organic here–one that really makes the piece and one that is a departure that could be seen as a missed opportunity.
First the interior of the pods and seeds are metallic–this isn’t a natural version of seed pods but it works because it puts emphasis on the ‘treasure’ aspect of the organic forms, mixing our sense of what treasure is with what nature holds as its most precious gifts. This juxtaposition is what takes this form being just a direct translation of seed pods into something with instilled meaning and added beauty.
The other break from nature is in how the vines are twisted. They are very uniform. This is not normal in nature–not unheard of but not as organic as we usually encounter. A slight variation in the plaiting of the vine forms would have added to the organic theme and interest of the piece. I think it can be helpful to stop before completing a piece and ask if it can be pushed just a little and in this case, it probably could have been. The trick is to know when to stop pushing it. And for this piece, its final form is actually a decent stopping point.
What do you think? And how do you feel about a blog post that both praises and presents constructive criticism of a piece like this?
Beatriz Cominatto hails from São Paulo, Brasil. You can find more of her work on her Flickr page and her website.
Read MoreWhen was the last time you heard a really good, inspirational talk? I am a bit of a Neil Gaiman fan so I couldn’t help but listen to this. Now I can’t help but share it: Neil Gaiman’s address to the University of the Arts Class of 2012. http://vimeo.com/42372767
This is about creative work and the challenges of living a creative life–not specifically about polymer or visual arts even, which is great. I think we get so involved (obsessed, perhaps?) in our polymer world that we forget there is inspiration in all kinds of creative corners that can push us in ways we don’t expect. This is not typical subject matter for us but the unexpected and the unusual is needed to keep our minds and ideas about what we do and why we do it fresh and clear.
Thanks to Lisa Rapp (Our reviewer for the All-in-One CaBezels in our most recent issue of The Polymer Arts magazine) for sending it my way via the PCAGOE forum.
Read MoreCentering or working inside the edge or frame of a piece is a common approach for applying imagery and pattern. This will help to convey a feeling of calm and/or restraint. But what if you want something more dynamic?
Try working on or off the edge. It adds excitement and movement by bringing into question the boundary of the piece. In these lockets by the Philippines’ Jennifer Cruz, the artist situates her antique looking flower canes so they sit just at the edge or break off the surface’s boundaries. It gives you the feeling of something that continues on beyond the confines of the form, that the images you see are only part of a larger picture. This translate into a feeling that there is much more to the piece than what you are seeing. Touching or running off the edge creates tension (the good, exciting kind) and draws you to examine the teetering or incomplete imagery further.
You don’t actually have to stop at the edge though. Playing with the boundary of a form by continuing into the outside space can also make the work more dynamic. This Layered Fragment brooch by Kathleen Dustin is a wonderful example. The internal imagery itself doesn’t run off the edge but the line does as it is visually continued with the use of wire.
How often do you work with or beyond the boundary of your pieces?
Jennifer Cruz was also featured on the lead page of the “Polymer to the Rescue” article in the present Summer 2012 issue of The Polymer Arts magazine. Go here to get your copy: www.thepolymerarts.com/Subscribe.html
Read MoreThis was something I went over and over with myself since the magazine was started. There are a lot of fantastic blogs out there. Do we need one more? The answer for me was, only if it can continue to do what The Polymer Arts magazine is trying to do–increase the polymer artist’s pool of ideas, introduce them to new sources of inspiration and grow their knowledge of artistic concepts that aren’t as commonly discussed or taught in craft periodicals and books. Can this be done in a blog? I think so!
I do want this to be fun and very community focused. We learn so much from each other. We are also very widely spread out so if we can centralize some of the more important and inspiring information and artistic ideas, it would really help the community keep growing. Cynthia Tinnapple’s Polymer Clay Daily is already doing this–posting different styles, approaches and aesthetics from within our community and presenting it in short, intriguing posts that keep our image of what polymer can be from being limited to the most popular and active artistic styles. (www.polymerclaydaily.com)
This blog will also be daily but we will not be covering the same kind of ground as Cynthia. Certainly we will be sharing a lot of art but with an aim to it being a learning opportunity, asking why it works as art and why it is considered accomplished, breaking down the reasons it draws our eye or engages up our imagination.
For example, to the le
ft is a piece by Jasmyne Graybill made in 2001. It’s a pie tin with forms and strips of highly textured polymer made to look like an alien mold. Now, how many of us have looked at mold and thought, I want to emulate that?! We may not, for obvious reasons, be drawn to mold as a thing of beauty but altered to be representative of the organisms without the unpleasant colors (and odors, one would assume!) we can appreciate the texture and pattern that comes organically out of a natural process, even one as instinctively repulsive. The simple blue palette here takes nothing away from the intriguing surface that we feel drawn to examine closer. So, this piece works because it shakes us up our idea of beauty as well as making many of us polymer artists wonder … how did she get that texture!
In addition to educational and inspiring posts on art I also want to be able to get out timely information about new products and changes in the industry/community as well as have discussions related to the in-depth information in The Polymer Arts magazine with occasional news about the magazine and how you can help contribute and support it (which is in turn what will be supporting this endeavor.)
I would love to have comments, ideas and input on what you would like to see in a blog dedicated to educating and helping polymer artists grow their skills, their business and the joy they find in their art. I heartily invite offers for guest posts and information on new art, products, publications, techniques, tips, and news related to our industry. You can always write me at sbray@thepolymerarts.com.
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