The Landscape of Space

November 12, 2013

Landscapes aren’t just about land. Or maybe I should use the term only when talking of land, and should rise to the suggested use of such terms as waterscapes, skyscapes, and moonscapes for other varieties of terrain. But what about vast stretches of scenery for which we don’t have a term? The necklace below is a “scape” of some sort. Maybe a spacescape?

Silvia Ortiz de la Torre always amazes with her ingenious designs and fearless colors. The fitted design of these hanging beads steps just outside of what she commonly does. Silvia is a master of the dramatically sophisticated through highly saturated color and heavy repetition, but here she’s gone a little darker in color and has added all kinds of variation, while still keeping it anchored through the repetition of the mirrored base shapes arranged around that “A”-like center bead.

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There is less of a connection between the pieces here than the dragon-scape you saw yesterday, but they are all still related and make up an appropriate scene with the randomness of points we see in the stars.

Enjoy a bit of time on Silvia’s Flickr photostream or her Etsy site for a nice blast of color this Tuesday.

The Allure of The Landscape

November 11, 2013

This week I wanted to talk about landscapes. Not so much the category of visual art that denotes representation of broad outdoor scenes, but more the use of the landscape orientation–designs that run along the horizontal with individual or separate components that are visually a single, continuous image.

To start the week off (and because I have a very long and hectic day ahead getting the files done for the next issue), I have here an older piece of mine that’s still one of my favorites, using kind of a tile choker design. The wing spread of the dragon-like image and the suggested distant scenery goes all the way around the necklace. I made this back in my more purist polymer days, so everything except the small glass beads is polymer, including the wire-like lines around the faux enamel and a piece of my elabradorite in the center.

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Chokers with tile beads make creating a continuous scene fairly easy, since there isn’t too much in the way of complicated planning to get the pieces to sit properly. I’ve made a lot of these types of necklaces, changing up the size and shapes of the tiles as well as making long enough for a necklace instead of a choker, but I think keeping the basic design simple as I did here made this one of the more successful ones when it comes to the visual “landscape” created.

Alright, back to getting the Winter 2013 issue of The Polymer Arts whipped into printable shape. Enjoy your Monday. And for our USA readers, if you have the chance on this Veteran’s Day, consider giving one or a handful of our service men and women, past and present, a warm hug and thank you for doing what they’ve done for us all. And since I’m not likely to get out of the house with all this work … a warm thank you and e-hug from me to all the service people reading. You are very much appreciated.

Personal Impact and Contrast

November 10, 2013

Instead of a quote this Sunday, I wanted to share a photographer’s artwork. Richard Renaldi works in contrast. A very unexpected and heartwarming kind of contrast. And he aims to make an impact, if not on the state of the world itself, then on the lives of 2 or 3 people at a time, which he then shares with us.

Before I explain further, look at this photo here. What do you see? You are certainly seeing a contrast in age and ethnicity, but in order for contrast to work well, some commonality needs to be present. In a photo of people, our first instinct is to find that commonality in the relationship between people. You would probably start to consider who these people are, how they know each other and what they mean to each other. There is certainly a story here. But it’s not one you’d expect.

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Richard Renaldi‘s photographs are all about our perception of relationships. These two women actually have nothing at all in common. Minutes before this photo was taken they were complete strangers, plucked off the streets to pose as themselves with someone that, up until that moment, meant nothing to them. But by the time the little photo shoot is over, most of Richard’s subjects find they feel connected to that stranger, all because of one moment of allowing them into their personal space and being part of an artistic endeavor.  What goes on is better explained in this short video about Richard’s process, including the words and reactions of some of his subjects.

All art has the capacity to impact another person’s life in some way. Often times a gifted piece of jewelry comes to symbolize the love of another person or the importance of a particular moment. A person who buys your sculpture may do so because of the joyful times it reminds them of, or just because the beauty of it warms them when they look at it. Our art can affect people in a myriad of ways, but it’s not important whether it will or not– it’s simply that it has the potential. That concept is a good thing to keep in mind as you create: value the work you put into your art as much as you hope the person who will end up with it will value it, too. You just never know what it could end up meaningful to someone.

 

When Your Buyers Impact You

November 9, 2013

Adriana Ayala didn’t set out to be a Day of the Dead artist, but buyers liked what she did so much with a requested piece that she found herself making more and more fun and decorative skulls like these below. Great little pieces, aren’t they? The only thing was, Adriana, a resident of California but originally from Venezuela (where there is no Day of the Dead tradition), knew very little about the holiday, where it came from, or even what it meant to its observers.

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This eventually lead her to do a large exploratory piece about the holiday and its origins. Her exploration and the resulting art pieces are the subjects she covers in the article she wrote for our Muse’s Corner personal experience section of The Polymer Arts magazine. Instead of picking and choosing the aspects of the holiday that were most enjoyable, Adriana represents the whole of the tradition, from its dark sacrificial past to the modern day celebrations of life. You can read about her little adventure and see the interesting piece she created when the next issue comes out at the end of this month.

 

Outside Inspiration: Color Contrast

November 8, 2013

Yesterday we talked about the one aspect of color that actually removes the importance of what many consider the defining characteristic of color–hue. So, knowing how important color is to most of us in this community, I thought today we’d treat you to a little color overload.

With color, i’ts not too hard to go overboard and go from harmonious contrast to chaos. The point between those two is a very fine line. So how can you tell if you are heading for the precipice of chaos? Well, for our outside inspiration Friday, let’s examine some extremely colorful glass beads that amble up to that point, but delightfully avoid heading over that cliff.

These juicy beads are the creation of Israel’s Michal Silberberg. She uses almost every color of the rainbow in these, setting up a whole array of contrast between all the various colors. There are quite a few other contrasting elements here as well–round on square forms, thick lines running side-by-side with dotted lines, small and large circles, and statically centered nested circles on top of energetic moving lines. For all that, it doesn’t feel like she’s gone overboard. Do you know why? Hint … it has to do with a lack of contrast.

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The trick to using contrast well is balance. If everything contrasts, there is no order to anchor the viewer. These beads work because of an element with no contrast, a bit of restraint and some adherence to order. Okay … can you identify the element that is not contrasted? It’s a characteristic of color. What’s that? Saturation you say? Well, yes! That’s it.

All these colors are heavily saturated and bright. Even the black is just black and the whites are just white, with no grays. This consistency in saturation makes using every hue in the rainbow workable. There is also some restraint in the use of other elements, like only using circles and squares rather than a myriad of shapes. And then there are the two different types of lines–dots vs. solid lines–which follow the same paths, making them feel related. If she had increased the contrast in either of these areas, she would have tipped over into visual chaos.

Alright, back to working on the final details to get the next issue off. Go enjoy your weekend. Keep an eye out for contrast and note how it works in the the designs you enjoy. Becoming more aware of the elements as you observe them will translate to being more aware and more in control of such things when creating your own work. You can start by checking out more of Michal’s wonderful bead designs in her Etsy shop. A big dose of color on a Friday is always a good thing!

Value in Contrast

November 7, 2013

The lead article in the next issue of The Polymer Arts is about contrast, all types of contrasts. One of the harder to grasp ideas in the realm of contrast is color value. The difficulty comes in identifying differences in value. Value is the variation between light and dark. Generally we can see that yellow and purple are not only opposite colors, but also quite different in value–yellow comes across as light, and purple appears to be dark. But what about green and red? Or chocolate brown and royal blue? Or mustard and periwinkle? Even though the value difference can be hard to decide on, value is still perceived in an overall design. If you’re having trouble, there are a couple tricks to help you figure out how much value contrast you have in a piece.

One, if you are having a hard time identifying colors with value contrast in your piece, then you likely don’t have much value contrast. That may or may not be okay, depending on how you want the piece to come across. If your piece is looking boring or flat, increasing the value contrast would be something to investigate. And if you want to identify the value differences so you can decide what to change, a really easy way to do this is to take a black and white photo of your piece, or change a color photo of it to “grayscale” in your favorite photo editing software.

Value is easy to find in work that is created without color. This lovely necklace by Nathalie of 100% Bijoux is all about value. Without color, the contrast between black, white, and gray is all she has to carry the drama in this piece, and she does that quite well. It’s a great example of how important value can be, and the contrast is easy to see without the distraction of color.

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We discuss many more elements of design that can be contrasted to add interest and drama in the upcoming Winter 2013 article. We’ll be putting the mailing list together early next week for that first batch that mails directly from the printer, so if you haven’t gotten your pre-order in or your subscription yet, it takes just a few clicks to order on our website. If you are a subscriber but are wondering if your subscription is up yet or not, we did send out the notice to all readers whose subscriptions are expired Tuesday morning (it  might be in your spam folder if you’re thinking yours is expired). If it’s not there, you can also check your digital access emails (for digital subscribers), or write my assistant Lisa at connect@thepolymerarts.com and she can look it up for you.

The Impact of the Past on the Present

November 6, 2013

One of the articles I personally looked forward to the most out of the articles in this next issue of The Polymer Arts is on the influence of past cultures on our work. Some of the influence and connections we have are very subtle or so ubiquitous that we don’t recognize their ancient roots, like the use of swirls, hand prints, or even hearts. But then there is the more obvious imagery we connect directly with past civilizations, like runes, hieroglyphs, Celtic knots, and cave paintings. We have a strong connection to these images and symbols, some of us more than others. I thought it’d be great to explore how such influences have appeared in polymer and how they can be used by readers to tell stories and create themes in their work. I was very lucky that Dayle Doroshow was interested in putting this article together. It’s a great piece.

In the past, I have been particularly interested in Luann Udell’s work using prehistoric images and aged textures. I haven’t yet had a theme in which I thought I could share her work with you all, but here we are! It’s not colorful work, but once you spend some time looking at what she does, you’re not likely to forget it.

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Does this piece intrigue you? If so, take a little time to look at the sculptures and mixed media wall hangings that Luann has posted on her website as well. I would have liked to post a wall hanging, but the small image size used in these posts was just not going to do them justice.

 

The Electroformed Form

November 5, 2013

I can’t tell you how excited I am to have an article on electroforming with polymer in the next issue. Electroforming is the process of using electrical current to adhere metal (copper in this case) to designated areas on a form. I have been dying to try this technique for years now, but the expense and seeming complexity has had me delay diving in. However, this article has convinced me that the process doesn’t have to be terribly expensive, and it’s pretty simple, too. What was even more exciting about this article was that it was written by a Russian artist, Elena Aleshina, with next to no English  fluency, and me with no Russian language knowledge at all! It kept hitting me how cool and crazy the world is that I can ‘talk’  with this artist from Russia without help of a third person. We did hire a translator to translate her Russian-written article, but it’s really neat to get emails in Cyrillic. Such pretty script it is. I don’t know, maybe my nerd side is showing too much, but new technology is just so cool sometimes!

I’m saving Elena’s electroforming work for the article, but I also wanted to show you the American artist that first got me fascinated with the prospect some years back, Cassy Muronaka. She actually wrote up a ten part blog on the subject back in early 2011. Here are some of the pieces she posted in the process:

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Now tell me you’re not the least bit interested in knowing how the process works and you would never want to try it. Cassy’s process is slightly different than Elena’s so if you do have a keen interest, I would suggest reading Cassy’s blog posts as well as Elena’s article when the issue comes out later this month. Between the two of them, you just might find the right options to get yourself started on this amazing technique. Then tell me when you’re set up so I can come play too, because chances are you’ll have a set-up ready to go long before I find the spare time to do so.

A Week of Impact

November 4, 2013

We’re polishing up the next issue of The Polymer Arts, so my brain is hyper-focused on impactful art. With the limitations we have in periodicals, I never feel like we get to say everything I would like to get out to you readers, and I certainly don’t get to share all the great art I have seen that fits the theme. So, this week we’ll get in a few of those pieces that might have been great examples if we had the room, time or opportunity to contact the artist in order to include them. Now, let’s talk impact!

Impact in your art is about the degree to which you visually, conceptually or even tactilely affect the viewer or buyer of your piece. I know when I think  of the term, my mind immediately goes to high contrast and graphic work, which can be quite impactful, but that’s not the only way to strongly affect people when they see your work. If you saw Donna Greenberg’s piece on the cover image we sent out Friday, my guess is it turned your head, not because it has a lot of contrast or is graphically strong, but because the piece is so unusual and maybe also because the composition of the cover is a bit different. The impact here is about the unexpected. Impact is really just all about making people notice.

Although as I go on this week, I will feature techniques and artists that will be in the coming issue, today I just want to show you an example of a piece by Anita Lerner that I thought visually defined impact, mostly because it reminds me of a crash event or something similar. But there’s more to it than that.

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There is one simple cane focal point and then a splash of aqua across a crackled gold and black background with beads matching the blue and the gold. If you look at the few elements that make up this piece, its not that complex, but it feels like it is. This is primarily due to a variety of contrasting elements that all have commonalities as well. That blue-green is in the slice, the splash, and the beads. The gold is in the slice, the crackling, and the strung beads. The colors are just blues and golds–but those two colors contrast; the smooth gradation of the cane slice contrasts with the heavy texture of the crackle; the evenly placed squares on the border of the cane contrast with the erratic radiating aqua in the splash of color; and the neatness and regularity of the strung beads contrasts with the off-kilter angles and hanging position of the pendant’s square shape. All this contrast make for a very interesting and visually active piece. That’s why it feels so complex.

Our feature article outlines the various types of contrast and how to use added contrast to increase interest and energy in a piece. We’ll hit on that at least once more this week because contrast is so incredibly important to consider in your work–not just highly varied contrast, but the choice to have only a small amount contrast as well. Your choice in contrast will alter the feel, message, or theme of a piece as much as your choice of imagery or form does.

So stay with us this week for more on these exciting subjects. Get your subscription or pre-order of the Winter issue in so you don’t miss out on getting it first. And if you enjoy Anita’s pendant, take a look at more of her work in her Etsy shop and on her website.

 

For Your Wish List

November 30, 2013
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If you’ve ever done any scrapbooking, you may be familiar with the Cricut machine, which cuts out complex shapes loaded into the machine’s little onboard computer. It really saves on the aching hands that comes with trying to make small, intricate cuts in paper. Did you know, though, that you can use it to cut polymer too?  Jenny Barnett Rohrs explored this idea on Craft Test Dummies a couple years ago. I’ve been wanting a machine ever since.

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Although this post  made the rounds back when it was posted, I thought it was worth revisiting. Not only can you cut polymer shapes, you can also cut on a variety of other materials to create templates, stencils, and shapes for impressing in your clay. So if the family is complaining that you’re impossible to shop for because you have everything, maybe you can get this on that list. Unless, of course, you do have everything, including this!

If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription to The Polymer Arts magazine, or buy the latest issue. We also encourage you to support our wonderful advertising partners!

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Outside Inspiration: Glass Reveals

November 29, 2013
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I know very little about making glass beads, so I can’t even begin to guess how Harold Williams Cooney made this amazing piece.

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So … do you cut into glass to get this? Grind it down? Carve it out while hot some how? Yep, I’m clueless on the technique. The only thing I do know is that this kind of thing could be done beautifully with polymer clay by cutting, carving, or grinding. It reminds me somewhat of Jana Roberts Benzon’s lazer cut technique, just with more form and less cut away. Also, consider Vera’s beads from yesterday’s post. If they were covered by a solid sheet of clay and the cuts were farther apart to allow more surface, the cut-out areas would look something like what we see in these glass beads. But it’s definitely something to think about–especially for all you extrusion-mad clayers.

Harold is a particularly prolific artist with a lofty goal. It’s hard to explain his single-source American Trade Bead collection, but basically he is collecting his own work in order to create the largest collection made by a single bead artist. If you’re interested in his concept, you can read more about it on his blog. But if you are more interested in wonderful glass beauties, go look at his Etsy shop. There are more than just this bead to inspire a polymer artist there!

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.

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Snip, Snip

November 28, 2013
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There is more than one way to cut into polymer! Yesterday we looked at cutting in to reveal many layers in extruded beads, but here we have a simple yet brilliant technique that requires cutting in with scissors, but not actually cutting away and removing clay as the other examples this week have shown. Here is the snipping portion of this technique by Kazakhstan’s Budanceva Marina (also known as Aquamalinka).

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And here is an example of one of her finished pieces using the elements it creates. Wonderfully realistic clover flowers, aren’t they?

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Although this technique  is specific to creating these flowers, there is no reason why taking scissors to polymer in this manner must stop here. It’s a great texture that can be added as half dome accents, and if you snipped a little longer across the surface you could have small lengths of clay curling back on itself. I wish I had time to do some exploration and show you some possible ideas, but this week, I leave that to those of you who are inspired by this idea.

Go explore more of Budanceva’s predominantly floral work on her Livemaster shop page.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my US readers. I personally am very thankful for having such kind and enthusiastic readers who have allowed me to make publishing and polymer a focus in my life. Now, off to enjoy family while trying not to do myself in with too much turkey and pie.

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Cutting In

November 27, 2013
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Cutting and slicing is part of many different polymer techiques, most commonly to reveal the colors and patterns hidden beneath the layers. Germany’s Vera Kleist accomplishes this reveal with her extruded beads, but the cutting in also creates a tactile texture.

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Its amazing what a little slicing can do, don’t you think? Are there pieces you usually leave smooth that might benefit from a little cutting in?

Speaking of cutting … there is cooking to be done for the holiday! If you’ve already done your cooking or have been spared the chore through not being in the US or having someone else to supply your bounty tomorrow, look through Vera’s Etsy shop and Flickr pages for more cutting and textural ideas.

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Carve and Reveal

November 26, 2013
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As I mentioned yesterday, we’ll look at ways to cut and carve polymer both in a raw and cured state this week. Today we’ll actually look at both from a single artist.

Rebecca Geoffery works in metal, enamel, and semi-precious stones as well polymer, usually mixing them. The possibility of  carved polymer has a lot to do with what it will reveal beneath the surface. I thought that was the case with these pendants, until I read that the contrast is not revealed clay but paint. The paint makes it look like the carved portions were just scooped out, but it seems that they were actually solid black clay that was carved to provide a space for the paint.

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But what of cutting away clay to reveal a layer below? Rebecca does this as well. With these pieces, shapes are cut out of raw clay and then laid over another layer so the contrasting color peeks out from beneath it. I love that she adds additional hand-tooled accents in the layer below as well as on the top layer.

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What I think we can really take away from these examples is the variety of shapes the carved and cut clay can take on. The spaces revealed can also be just patterned or can be stylized or graphic or rough. Cutting and carving can help fulfill any mood, message or aesthetic, and adds instant complexity even when it’s not so complex.

Although this kind of work is not a major part of Rebecca’s posted collections, these pieces are making the rounds. Soon after I found and decided to write on these pieces, I found the same two photos in Cynthia Tinapple’s book Polymer Clay Global Perspectives. They are eye-catching. Most of her work is. You can see more of her polymer as well as her other work on her Flickr photostream and on her website.

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Cut and Carved Polymer

November 25, 2013
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Maybe it’s the turkey and ham cutting and carving that will be happening all over the US later this week as we celebrate our Thanksgiving holiday (which seems to be more about eating than anything); but in any case, I thought we’d explore some of the ways polymer is cut and carved this week.

I wanted to start with a page link from Celie Fago, who works with a variety of materials; and even when she works with polymer, she manipulates it in a variety of ways. I don’t think she believes in limitations.

So here is one of her stunning bracelets with carved polymer on the bracelet’s base and on the rings that intermix with metal elements. Lovely texture, don’t you think?

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This work is carved after the polymer is cured which gives the carved marks a crisp, clean edge. Celie generously outlines the process and tools used to achieve similar effects in a very detailed blog post here.

We’ll look at cutting and carving both in raw and cured forms this week, but perhaps this little bit will whet your curiosity. It’s something to ponder while cooking up delicious food for Thursday or traveling to see family this week in the US.

In the meantime, take a look at Celie’s many wonderful creations on her website.

 

 

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DIY Alcohol Ink

November 24, 2013
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So after a week of talking about alcohol inks, have you found yourself diving in and trying a few ideas you saw? And now, are there any alcohol ink colors you wish you had, but haven’t been able to find or don’t want to buy a pack of 3 or 9 just to get them? Do you find them expensive or hard to find? Well, we do have an option–making our own!

The things you need to make your own alcohol inks are a permanent dye color source and rubbing alcohol. There are two primary color sources available to pretty much everyone–home fabric dyes such as Rit, or permanent markers like Sharpies. I haven’t tried either, but I have heard that the ones made with Sharpies are very, well, pungent. That chemical marker smell will fill the air. Not sure that’s a good thing, but if you have  lot of permanent markers you don’t really use, it would be a way to give them a purpose.  However, from the research I’ve done, it seems that the Sharpie colors are more vibrant than those made with the fabric dyes when using them on polymer clay. Which was a little surprising. Not surprising is that the colors are more vibrant on paper than on polymer. But as I haven’t tried it (yet!) myself, I can only offer the online instructions I found that seemed most useful and let you decide.

This video uses the permanent marker method:

7468612_f520Here is a page on creating alcohol inks with markers if you aren’t into watching videos.

As for alcohol inks with fabric dyes, here is the best of them that I found. It’s a short video by Cindy Lietz of Polymer Clay Tutor, so it’s definitely geared towards polymer clay use.

You may also find some instruction about making alcohol ink with food coloring or Kool-aid, but keep in mind that the color needs to adhere to polymer. Most food dyes  cling to proteins but will not stain–certainly not in any permanent fashion–synthetic materials like plastics. So you need permanent dyes that will become permanent on synthetics and non-porous surfaces.

So as far as I know, permanent markers and fabric dyes are your best bet for easy to find alcohol colorants. And they’re cheap. That is always a plus!

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Coloring Translucent Clay

November 23, 2013
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Getting back to using alcohol ink as a colorant, the primary use for many polymer clayers, I thought we ought to touch on the proper way to color not just liquid polymer but translucent clay.

To get to the heart of the matter, the main thing you want to remember when using alcohol ink to mix into liquid or solid polymer is to let the alcohol evaporate before mixing it in. That’s the only real rule. Drop a bit of LPC on a ceramic tile, drip a bit of alcohol ink in your chosen color into the LPC, and then leave it be for at least 10 minutes. I’ll usually let it set a bit longer to be sure there’s nothing but the dye left before I start mixing. You do the same with solid polymer. Just drip and drop, wait and mix.

Ginger Davis Allman put together a great in-depth post on mixing the ink into translucent clay earlier this year, including tips, tricks, judging color, and cautions. If the primary goal is to create great, truly translucent colored clay so you can make pieces like this necklace of Ginger’s, then you really should read the post.

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Hope you’ve found this week’s ideas about what you can do with your alcohol inks inspiring, and I hope you get some time in to play with your new ideas this weekend!

 

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Outside Inspiration: Alcohol Ink Paintings

November 22, 2013
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This is a crazy concept, I know, but have you every thought of using alcohol inks to paint imagery with? Historically, ink has had two primary uses: the production of written or printed communications and, yes, imagery in the form of drawings or paintings. In polymer, we primarily use it as a colorant; but alcohol inks, even though they are dyes (you can even make your own with rubbing alcohol and fabric dye), can be used in ways similar to watercolors. So why not paint with them?

Let me back up a bit and mention the difference between alcohol inks and watercolors. Watercolors are pigment that is suspended in water in order to apply it to a porous surface, most commonly paper. Alcohol inks were developed to work on non-porous surfaces, so although they can be and often are applied to paper, they cannot be manipulated on paper the way watercolors are. The alcohol ink will stain the paper immediately so the pick-up, washes, and translucent layering of color that is common in watercolor won’t work well or at all with alcohol inks on paper. In order to have a full array of possible applications and techniques, alcohol ink painting takes a sealed surface such a gloss paper, melamine,  clay board, ceramic, glass, metal, or  … polymer clay.

There is a whole community of alcohol ink painters out there doing gorgeous work. Some of it is realistic imagery, but I find the abstract or impressionistic paintings the most interesting as well as the most likely to inspire work on polymer clay. Trying to choose a piece to share with you today was difficult. So I’m going to share a few and then your assignment is to go look at more!

This piece is by Wendy Videlock, who sells DVDs on alcohol ink painting techniques.

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And here is one by self-described dreamscape artist June Rollins, who also has a book out on the subject of alcohol ink painting.

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Can you imagine doing this kind of thing on polymer? Sure! Why not? Raw or cured, it’s a perfect substrate for the ink; and with clay, you have options for manipulating the clay surface before or after applying the ink, giving you many more possibilities than working with the less malleable surfaces mentioned above. Does this have you thinking?

If you want to research alcohol ink painting more, I would first suggest going to Google images and typing in “alcohol ink painting” to get a better idea of just what can be done with the ink as far as painting. Then you might hop over to  Monica Moody’s very helpful and rather humorous posts on the subject including posts on materials you might want to gather if you plan on a thorough investigation. I did, and now I have a little shopping to do!

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