Dots in a Field of Blue
June 10, 2014
Inspirational Art
So this pendant has been making the rounds on Pinterest lately. The style looks familiar but my attention is so split right now that I can’t think of who it might be and image searches on Google have not brought anything up. Do you know whose work this is?
I just love the combination of a cracked looking surface with the nicely formed and embedded clay dots. The dots give a bit of contrast with the predominant texture as well as adding contrasting color accents. This makes for a sophisticated yet fun little piece.
As of writing this post up, we still haven’t found the artist for yesterday’s beads. If you didn’t see yesterday’s post, maybe you can jump over there and see if you recognize the artist then let us know. We’ll also take more ideas and thoughts on using Pinterest and sharing images.
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.
Mystery Week
June 9, 2014
Inspirational Art
I was going to do a themed week on embedded bits (not the best theme title but that is as far as I got with the idea!). But most of the pieces I wanted to use were unattributed finds on Pinterest. So I thought I’d take a moment to post some thoughts on pinning images with Pinterest as well as getting your help this week with these pieces.
I am actually in Los Angeles–a very sudden, last minute trip due to my father having some health issues. (All is looking very positive here so no real worries; he just needs some help getting into a new routine and keeping an eye on his condition.) On top of getting the latest issue out and things wrapped up for it, I’m a bit frazzled and distracted to say the least. So … would you all like to help me identify some artists and talk about these beautiful pieces this week? I would be so grateful!
This first image is a collection of rock like beads with these meandering textures and embedded bits of shaped clay that remind me somewhat of Amy Eisenfeld Genser‘s paper wall pieces I wrote about in a post last year. There is a sense of serenity and peace in these understated, organic looking beads. I wonder why I’m so drawn to them right now. Hmmm …
So, do you know who created these beads?
Ideas for better Pinning…
When you pin to Pinterest there are a few basic things you will want to pay attention to in order to ensure an artist is properly credited and that you, and any of us that find that pin through you, can find more information about that talented person:
- Put the artist’s name in the caption–it’s not likely to be removed when repinned so at the very least, people will know who created the piece they are admiring.
- Pin from the original blog post or article, not a blog’s or website’s changing home page. If you go to a person’s blog or blog based sites, you are usually on a homepage that will show you all the latest blogs or news but if you pin an image from this homepage, the link associated with that image will be the current home page which will not have that piece on it at a future date. Instead, click on the entry of the blog post or article title so you go to the post’s actual page then pin from there. That way, if someone clicks on the pinned image, it will go to the original post with all the information about the piece and artist as posted by the writer of the post/article.
- Avoid pinning “media-cache-…” images. These can be found when clicking on an image on a site and getting it to open in a browser on it’s own. It may also occur when using sites like Reddit where people are posting without links back to the source. If you have a media-cache image, put as much info in the Pinterest caption as you can from the source you found it at.
Those are my pointers. Do any of you have any further thoughts about how to best use Pinterest and ensure people are getting credit? Please post any information about the mystery artist here or ideas for using Pinterest and similar image networks in the comments at the end of this original post. (If you get this by email, click on the blog’s title and it will take you to the page.)
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The Many Mistakes to Perfection
June 8, 2014
Ponderings
We’ve spent over a week looking at very finely executed and finished work and I thought we ought to stop and remember how those artists got to the point where they could complete work like we’ve seen. Their work wasn’t always perfect. It’s not likely that their work is always perfect now. Getting to that point takes time to be able to do that level of work at all and then we all still have our good days and bad days. Plus there are those wonderful times we try something new. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But we try, and eventually, we get it right. Eventually we get it perfect.
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Colorful, Perfect Summer
June 7, 2014
Uncategorized
This bracelet is by an artist named Diana from Russia, who goes by the handle Dizainersha. She is a bit of a mystery to us in that there are only a few posts on her live journal and Pinterest. She made these immaculate beads with the intention of turning them into a necklace, earrings, and bracelet set. She completed this bracelet, and as you can see, the craftsmanship and attention to detail add to the beauty of this jewelry. Even though she has only been doing polymer a few years, as you can tell from her work, she takes a lot of pride in doing it impeccably.
You can see more of her work on her live journal, called the World of Creativity.
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: Careful Wire
June 6, 2014
Inspirational Art
If you’ve ever worked with wire, you know how easy it is to over bend a piece or put a crick in it. It takes a lot of practice and patience to keep wire work smooth and straight Now imagine weaving entire vessels with it. This is what Marilyn Moore does with impeccable skill.
Although weaving techniques are traditionally created using fibrous materials, wire has had its time in this area but I don’t know that I’ve seen quite the detail and variation you’ll find in Marilyn’s work. Metal weaving lends itself to jewelry, sculpture, and wall pieces as well as decorative arts. The structure and durability give it a great advantage to traditional weaving materials. Although it is difficult to closely duplicate weaving techniques in polymer, our material also offers additional structural qualities along with the ability to take on all types of textures. The woven, linear textures that you see here in Marilyn’s vessels entitled “Torch” would look lovely in polymer as would the fiery colors.
More photos of Marilyn’s work, with many more ideas for luscious texture and color, can be found in her gallery.
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.
Burnished Bowls
June 5, 2014
Inspirational Art
These burnished bowls by Kate Tracton take millefiori caning to a whole new level. Her patterning and mix of colorful canes along with the highly polished finish creates a stunningly attractive surface. With a fine arts degree and a background in printmaking and bead weaving, she is comfortable with fine art details and impeccable craftsmanship.
To see more of Kate’s jewelry and fine art, take a look at her Etsy store, read her blog “Shibori Girl” about stumbling through life one bead at a time, or have a cup of coffee or tea and leisurely browse her stunning website for hours of inspiration.
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.
It’s All in the Details
June 4, 2014
Inspirational Art
Russian artist Natalia Lemeshchenko makes these monochromatic color scheme jewelry sets with intricate patterns that look a lot like hand embroidered fabrics. The details are so exact and executed to perfection; I can only imagine how much time and patience it takes to do this quality of work…not to mention keen eyesight and a very steady hand! If you like embroidery or needlework, or if you have ever wanted to try your hand it at, you might try some polymer designs inspired by these fabric techniques.
To see more of Natalia’s work, check out her gallery pages. There are close-ups of some more embroidery inspired designs, as well as blogs and such.
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.
A Delicate Glow
June 3, 2014
Inspirational Art
Even though English Artist Claire Wallis is self taught and is fairly new to polymer, her attention to detail is inspiring and her finishing techniques are immaculate. Take a look at these bracelets pictured here. The designs are fairly simple but strong. Her canes here use an approach that gives the pattern a subtle glow. This kind of technique uses color value and gradation to emulate light in a surface pattern. We actually have an entire article about ways to create the illusion of light in the Summer issue that starts mailing out this coming Friday.
Claire is also a talented illustrator and you can see her graphite drawings and painting as well as her polymer work on her website. You may also want to take a look at more of her work, including some delightful polymer birds, on her Flickr page.
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.
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.
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As I mentioned briefly last Friday, the name of a piece of art can really add or change the viewer’s perception of the work. It is a peek into the artist’s mind and gives a hint of (or knocks you over the head with) what the artist was aiming to convey. Some titles make obvious sense while others are surprising and make you look more closely at the work in order to try to figure out what the artist was seeing when they named it. This piece here is of the latter types. Desiree McCrorey named this intriguing little piece Diablo’s Cell Phone. Now where did that come from?
I definitely associated this piece with fire and so can see the devil association but I would not have thought cell phone if it weren’t for her naming of it. Now I see it in the elongated form and the ‘antenna’ coming up on the one side. And Diablo now makes me thing of the wire work as horns and the target cane slices down in the fiery lower portion as maybe lost souls in some eternal fire. The name just takes the necklaces from being a great visual piece to having all this depth and possible metaphor. And it’s rather humorous. Who would the devil be calling on his cell phone? His demon minions? I don’t know but it makes me like the piece even more.
If for some reason you aren’t familiar with Desiree’s work and her very generous sharing of techniques and ideas, go on over to her website and take a look around. Besides her wonderful pieces to drool over, there are tons of tutorials, tips and tricks on this website. Desiree’s tutorials and her website were instrumental to me as I advanced in my polymer work back in my early days with this medium. We are very lucky to have someone like her in our community!
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 thank you to every one who switched over to the new email post service a few weeks ago. The old service was scheduled to be taken down this week but things are little behind schedule. We are getting back on track and the switch will be done tomorrow. So, if you didn’t switch over and are reading this in an email post that has a long link on the top, click that link and unsubscribe and go here for the new blog emails or you won’t be receiving email notifications any longer as of Monday.
As of this week, the blog will have a few more changes as well. For one, I won’t be posting on Sundays any more. There is a lot going on over here and I need to get a little more time out of my week to get the books going and keep the magazine at the high quality you expect. We will still have a Saturday post which will encompass news, new products, links to great tutorials and anything else that I can find to give you something to look into over the weekend. We’ll continue with polymer and design posts every day during the week.
As part of the “get Sage more time for new and exciting TPA projects” initiative, I am looking for people to guest post and suggest themes. This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to promote products, books, events and classes on the blog in exchange for helping create great content. If you are interested in learning details about this opportunity, write me at sbray@thepolymerarts.com
In the meantime, if this week’s rustic elegance has piqued your interest, try this neat little, free tutorial by Ginger Davis Allman (who also has a fantastic tutorial using translucent clay in the present Summer issue of The Polymer Arts magazine) to create shimmery rustic leaves in your own choice of elegant palettes. Here are a couple of examples by Ginger.
Thank you for your support of The Polymer Arts projects!
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.
Another word for elegance would be grace. We see that in this ceramic vessel by Vanessa Quintana. The way the clay is shaped suggests change and movement, the edges of the pale clay dancing over the rough brown like wind blown fabric. The grace of this dance comes from the wildly undulating lines and yet it still has a sense of reservedness with it’s limited and subdued colors and minimal surface decoration.
This piece is aptly named “Molt” which usually refers to living creatures rather than plants. The name itself changes how I look at this piece which initially reminded me of trees shedding bark but now I am thinking more insects or reptiles. The name itself enlivens the piece unexpectedly. That is something to ponder … maybe next week we’ll look at pieces with really great names that help inform the work.
In the meantime, there is not a lot of information on Vanessa out on the internet. She has an Etsy store which is empty at the moment but a Facebook page with plenty of photos if you want to look further into her work.
Tomorrow we have an announcement to make about changes coming to the blog in July. They aren’t too major but you might want to be sure to give it a read so you are “in the know”.
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.
More than just jewelry can be created with an elegant and rough or rustic look. This book, created by Samantha Braud, has a gorgeous faux antiqued surface filled with texture and imagery. The elegance comes from a sense of age and the neutral palette as well as finely applied forms. I find the juxtaposition of the ocean images and the handwriting rather curious–just makes me want to open it up and see what secrets or stories are hidden inside.
We featured Samantha’s art several months ago on an Outside Inspiration post for her metal work. Her metal and wire work is just as intricate and fantastical as her polymer pieces. Check out more of her art and her fantastical style on her website and blog.
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.
One of the common hallmarks of elegant art is understated design choices. In the case of this necklace by Elizabeth Kosterich we have a single predominant and austere blue color as well as simple long rectangular shapes accented by nothing more than a stop bead on the end and the shine of polished silver. It’s such a simple composition but the symmetry and simplicity contrast against the organic texture of the polymer creating all the interest it needs to draw the eye and dress up the wearer.
Elizabeth creates art jewelry in polymer clay, sterling silver, and other mediums as well. Her work is sometimes simple, sometimes visually complex but always contemporary and understated in some aspect. You can take a look at more of her approach on her website.
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.
Read More
Kathryn Doll gives her art jewelry a feel of age and austerity with layered visual texture and classic forms. She uses liquid polymer clay with paint, metal leaf, and glitter to achieve the depth you see here. That slight shimmer and the cool brilliance of the stones brings a quiet elegance to the pendant’s antique look.
Kathryn’s work has shown up on actors in a number of shows as well as being gifted to numerous celebrities. See who wears her work as well as seeing what else she creates on her website and on her blog.
Read MoreWhen you think of elegance, you probably think of clean lines, understated brilliance and a certain level of delicacy. But elegance can manifest in a number of ways. It can be found in any number of graceful and dignified elements and compositions even those whose other elements are on the rough side. I’ve found this to be true in a number of pieces I’ve seen in the past few weeks. So let’s look at that this week and ask, how can elegance be juxtaposed with a rough, rustic, or less refined approach?
Here is a piece I think embodies that idea wonderfully. There is certainly a lot of the less refined here in the texture of the cracked foil and rough edges. But the centered swirl and skillful application of the overlapping layers along with the limited navy palette gives it a calm and dignified air. This could easily be worn with an evening gown or a dressy business suit or be used to add a touch of elegance to a more casual outfit. That versatility is part of the advantage for a piece that works with two seemingly disparate concepts.
Belarus’ Evgeniya Andreeva is the creator of this lovely necklace. Most of her work tends towards the rough and rustic in a tasteful and well-considered way. Look through her LiveJournal entries and Facebook page for more pretties of hers.
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.
Here is a short and sweet list for great creativity. This is from the book Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. It’s a rather unexpected list–who thought kindness was necessary for creativity? Well, if you aren’t kind to yourself when things don’t work, it would be hard to keep working at it. And stamina, because you’ll need to keep trying until you get it right. The last one on this list is my favorite though. Not only does it mean you will be taking chances and will likely discover something new and unexpected but there’s those laugh out loud funny moments when you’re just playing and letting go. And laughing at oneself is so cathartic.
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.
I have seen fantasy snails and, of course, fantastic fairies in polymer but I think this is the first fantasy snail fairy I’ve seen. It’s make you stop and ponder the idea. The logical side of my brain says that’s just silly–poor fairy would be just dragging that shell around behind her all the time–but then you look at that sweet little face and decide it doesn’t matter.
This little sculpture is by Celia Harris. It’s an example of how the element of surprise can take a nice piece to an even more interesting level. In this case, it is combining things you don’t usually think of together. This can be tricky–the two elements do have to have some kind of connection. In this case, these are nature’s creatures, part of one that exists, part of one that may or may not exist–who’s to say for certain! I like to think anything is possible.
Enjoy a fantastical stroll through Celia’s galleries on her website today and maybe start thinking of your own wonderful surprising combinations.
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.
