Fall arrives tomorrow … The Polymer Arts that is!
September 6, 2016
Inspirational Art, The Polymer Arts magazine news
Tomorrow, September 7th, the Fall 2016 issue of the The Polymer Arts will be arriving in Email inboxes (check spam folders if owed a digital copy and it doesn’t show up by midday US time) and should start arriving in mail boxes in some West coast US areas as well. It is also the day I get to see it in my anxious little hands! Release day is both exciting and nerve-wracking. I am always so anxious to know if we’ve done well for The Polymer Arts readers. You are more than welcome to let me know what you think if you have the chance–good or bad. I appreciate all comments.
In the meantime, we’ll get started on the Fall issue blog kick off just a day early. This is the week or two we look at work that we couldn’t quite squeeze into the upcoming issue due to how packed the issues get.
This craziness you see here is just one of them and although I not over the moon about this piece, I have to say it was a huge surprise to see it come to life on my own work table. I had sat down to create a polymer mandala as part of our article vetting process–when myself or someone on the team follows a tutorial article’s instructions to see if they make sense–and the article on Mandalas by Anke Humpert was one I was personally anxious to try. In truth, we had collectively worked through a lot of what was going into this as we went gallivanting through France. But what I had not quite realized was how focused it would be on the intuition and meditation aspects of creating these. So in trying not to judge what I might be doing on my mandala, one late night I just went at it for a couple of hours. This is what I found on my work table the next morning.
I wanted to share this because for one, I think making these takes a bit of bravery to do just want comes to mind. So whereas the mandala created in the tutorial is pretty controlled, I just let go and kind of macerated the clay sheet. The thing is, whether you want to do some orderly or want to scratch spontaneously at the clay, a polymer mandala allows you to do whatever you like and allows your personal creativity to just flow through you. Just tell yourself that no one has to see it and create absolutely whatever comes to mind.
I had to say I absolutely loved the process. I got so lost in it and it felt so odd coming out of the session, like the real world was surreal. It did feel like coming out of meditation except I had something exciting to show for it. If you want to try your hand at this, I suggest you open up the article on mandala making in the Fall issue that comes out tomorrow, give it one read through so you understand the basic process–Anke shows you how to lay out a base grid to get you started and then makes suggestions for various ways to approach it. Then get to it and let yourself go.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Create a mandala, of course. If you don’t have the article, just roll a sheet of clay and start ‘doodling’ on it, making whatever tool marks you like, adding cane slices or sculpting pieces to attach. Just let yourself go.
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Simply Curves and a Free month of Christi
September 3, 2016
Inspirational Art
When it comes to simple, I think this necklace is the most breathtaking piece I found this past week, maybe ever. The lines are gentle and subtle, but the way the two elements perfectly curve in on each other like a gentle and caring embrace is just amazing. I don’t even see the unique wire design really, as the slow back and forth winding of the edges are so engrossing. Maybe it’s just me but I find this so masterful, there really isn’t too much else to say but … wow.
This is not polymer, in case you were wondering, but this is the kind of thing polymer could achieve. The piece is bamboo created by Tomomi Matsunaga who was creating jewelry in the 1990s and 2000s in Kyoto, Japan but other than that, I have no information about the artist. This is a bit odd being I can find Tomomi referenced in items on my shelf like Ornament magazine and Lark’s 500 Necklaces. I don’t know what has become of the artist but the work is well appreciated as shown by the many, many Pinterest pins (with links going nowhere unfortunately). To see more, put Tomomi Matsunaga into a Google image search along with ‘bamboo’ or ‘jewelry’ to bring up other simple but intensely graceful pieces, most also created from bamboo.
While you are online looking for more of this masterful work, do take a look at what Christi Friesen is up to. Christi is passionate about art, polymer clay, mixed media, fabulous products, and techniques. She shares her ideas as well as the things she discovers by other artists on her exclusive membership site, “Christi’s Neighborhood” which, for people like you, she is opening up for free for the month of September. You can click here and log in using the following information. It could be the very thing you need to kick off your Fall!
Login: VIP, Password: CLEARLY2016
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: It’s a holiday weekend in the US so the ‘challenge’ is to relax and enjoy friends and family, if you can. Let design ideas marinate while you take in the sunshine and surround yourself with fun and laughter. Then go into the studio next week and see what fresh ideas come out of the time off.
**Also note, you may not be able to comment for a couple days. We were spam attacked the last couple days and shut down comments while we wait for the comment sharks to swim elsewhere. But if you want to chime in now, write me by replying to this if you get it in email or write us at connect(‘at sign’)thepolymerarts.com
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Treasured Clay
September 1, 2016
Inspirational Art
We have all had those pieces of our own work, or those of others, where there is this one portion you find yourself completely in love with. Many times it is a texture or part of the treated clay, maybe in the background, sometimes the focal point, and usually surrounded by other components or distracting elements. Doesn’t it seem like a shame that you can’t just point at it and say to the rest of the world, “See how beautiful this is?”
Well, in a way you can and this is another advantage of using simple or subdued designs. You can use simple backgrounds, framing or nothing else but a well-formed shape to present those textures or effects you are in love with, letting them shine on their own, in all their obvious glory.
This is how Jagna Birecka commonly designs her art jewelry, letting the shapes or simple, clean base elements be the platform to showcase her wonderful mokume veneers. This pendant here is a perfect example. The square this little slice of mokume sits on is finished smoothly and cleanly so as to not distract from the mokume pattern. Using purple to create a strong color contrast makes the slice glow and just a little shaping to give the veneer dimension makes it feel more substantial. With this design, we don’t question that the mokume is being presented like a ‘gem’ rather than just some interesting visual texture.
If you have not seen and enjoyed Jagna’s work before, jump over to the gallery pages on her website and note the many other ways she shows off her technique, making the clay shine like the treasured material it is.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Dig out a treasured veneer, cane, or already cured element you have tossed in the “I don’t know what to do with this but it’s too cool to throw away” pile, or create a sheet in your favorite technique then design a simple background or base to show it off on. It can also be adhered to a vase, box, or book cover as a simple focal element. Where or how would your bit of treasured clay really shine?
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I was hoping to find a good example a of cool white but these are not often used or they appear to be merely gray and if you are going to play with grays, richer, deeper grays seem more committed and elegant. The alternative is pastels, which can be warm or cool. Cool green leaning whites, like the palest mint color are delicious but what do they express? Cool blue whites in their palest manifestations can actually look even more brilliantly white and those with a hint of purple definitely head towards looking gray or even silver. But pastels are more definite in their expression having strong associations for us with springtime, delicacy and femininity. However, cool versus warm pastels do have different connotations.
In this piece by Cecilia Button (Mabcrea), you can easily see here how the warm colors come across compared to the cool colors. The warm ones still retain some of the energy associated with their fully saturated hues but it’s very muted while the cool colors, associated primarily with calm and relaxation, still feel that way, maybe even more so with their paleness. Juxtaposing warm and cool colors usually makes for a riotous presentation but being all things graduate to white, there is a cohesive feeling of peace and a surprising sense of simplicity event though there is really nothing simple about this piece. But simple and peaceful are meanings we closely associate with white so it’s dominance here literally colors the whole piece.
If you have not discovered Cecilia’s intense explorations of polymer, you might grab a cup of something and spend some time wandering through her her Flickr pages and her blog site.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Mix some pastels (start with white and add pinches of color, not the other way around, as you usually need a lot of white compared to colors for a pastel) and play with them using some of your favorite forms or techniques. Compare the feeling of the pastel colored pieces to how a more saturated color palette works in that same approach. How does the tint of the color change the mood or message?
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Let’s look at a little more off-white today. In general, off-whites on the warm side tend to look older or antiqued. This would be due to most whites aging warm, not cool. Hence the term ‘yellowing’ for aged white materials, because they take on a yellow cast which is a warm color.
This is something to keep in mind if you choose to create something in a warm off-white. There is a very good chance it will look aged which, if you are going for the look of faux bone, antique ivory or are pulling inspiration from an ancient society, is precisely what you want. This piece here is an example of using that warm off-white to give a piece an ancient look. In the piece seen here, Marina of Clay Carousel looks to be drawing on inspiration from the Mayan culture, with the art work titled “Mayan Princess”. She created a perfectly symmetrical but still energetic necklace with an off white canvas for all her accents and details. The dangles are what really make the design work with their strong directional downward lines and, of course, their actual swaying movement while on the wearer. Choosing the off-white background allows the lines and accents to take center stage as well as automatically giving us the impression of age even when we aren’t aware of what it has been titled.
The link on the image here goes to her second version of this necklace since the first, not surprisingly sold already in her LiveMaster shop but take a look at how she changed up the design. I think the way an artist alters a design can be so interesting and so telling of what they were after.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: If you don’t still have that cool and warm white clay from the last post’s challenge, create a couple more balls, one warm off-white and one cool. Then create the exact same design, one with the warm clay and one with the cool clay. Can you see how the color temperature changes the look of the piece? Cool whites look cleaner and brighter. Where would you want to use a cool off-white?
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If you’ve had a chance to read through your latest Fall issue of The Polymer Arts, you may have enjoyed the Color Spotlight article on Sonya Girodon whose work also graces the cover. In the article, our writer, Lindly Haunani, brought up an interesting point about working with white. She noted that Sonya’s work is rarely pure white but is rather just a touch off from white, being mildly cool or warm in color. To illustrate this, she included an image created with pastels over a variety of lightly colored washed paper, showing how pastel colors shift depending on what off-white paper they are placed on. It brings home the idea that moving beyond pure white can add richness and change the look or mood of the colors around it and the work itself simply by choosing to go a little cool or a little warm with the white.
Here is an example of going warm. Warm means the color exists on or leans into the warm color side of the spectrum. Warm colors include red, orange and yellow (think of the colors of fire and the sun) which in an off-white include things like ecru, beige, pale pink and other whites heading towards browns. This is the palette that Australia’s Kelly Chapman chose for this particular tasseled pendant of hers. The near whites give way to a couple of variations of beige in the polymer and eventually a series of browns in the tassels. The warm whites all blend together to give the pendant a rich but serene cohesiveness.
Kelly tends to work in quieter palettes although the occasional brilliant lime green or cobalt blue shows itself but never in a loud way. I can almost imagine that she starts with the idea of white and lets the colors grow from that. I think you’ll see what I mean if you spend some time with her work in her Etsy shop.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Start with two small balls of pure white and add just a small amount of a warm color to one and a cool color (blue, green, violet, etc) to the other. Now sheet or roll snakes from each and make them the background or frame for a finished cabochon, cane, or other element you have on hand. Can you see how the slight variation changes the way the colored element works? Now try using an off-white next time you want white in a piece to see how it supports or enriches your design.
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Read MoreHere is another artist that is pushing the boundaries of his usual forms. Not that Jon Stuart Anderson has ever keep strictly within a certain form although he is widely known for his intricately patterned animals. He has also put his cane work to guitars, shoes, vessels and sculptures but all have had some reflection of his flowing forms and repeated patterns.
These box lamps seems like a huge departure for Jon but one that definitely suits his love of pattern. They are copper boxes just shy of 7″ (18cm) square, with translucent patterned ‘lenses’ as he call them. One would assume the lenses are canes but I suspect there is a bit more going on. It’s just really hard to tell. Maybe a layering of canes or something related to some transferring techniques he had been working on. Not that it matters too much. They are just lovely.
But back to the main point … they are some rather simplified patterns for Jon–a matter of relativity being that they aren’t simple in and of themselves. The difference is that these forms have no lines of repeated canes working their way expertly around the form to create another pattern from their arrangement. Instead, one beautifully patterned convex circle shows off Jon’s sense of balance in both symmetry and color. Some have different patterns on the lenses of a box while other’s are the same on every side. You can sense the exploration as you examine one box after the other. See what I mean by looking through his first images of this series on his July 8th postings on Facebook.
Jon has never stopped exploring and pushing what he does, making exploration the one strong thread of consistency in his work. If you enjoy his creative meanderings, the best place to keep up with his adventures is on his Facebook page although his website is always worth a visit. He also has a great little video of his cane making which is pretty entrancing.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Break out of your usual form. But instead of just trying a form you don’t usually work with, try to expand on forms you already work with. So if you create primarily flat jewelry elements, go more dimensional with half lentil forms or free form the shapes in waves. If you create round beads much of the time, try squares or twisted oblong shapes. If you like making round bowls, what about boat shapes or cones? Where can you push your forms?
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Read MoreThere seems to be an explosion of innovation in polymer design as of late. Maybe as a whole we fell into a rut of creating within a fairly small circle of ideas but it seems that more and more, clayers are pushing the ideas or just going off into their own little worlds which creates some very unique design.
Melanie Muir sent me images of a new series she’s recently been working on and I have to say, it would never have occurred to me that Melanie might go in a home decor direction, not one with such a graphic look to it but it really does work well. After admiring her beautiful organic shapes and mokume patterns for so long it’s quite a shift to see the same type of mokume squared off like this but the contrast between the organic patterning and the very precise placement of squared off color makes for some lovely vessels.
I had the hardest time deciding which of the new vessels’ images to share here as she has them in different colors and mokume pattern sets as well as a series she calls ‘Coastline’ where the mokume is not framed at all but rather is blended into the background over the joint of two wide bands of color. Go see for yourself on her Facebook page here for the whole recent collection, debuting this week at the London Design Fair which starts tomorrow.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Do you work primarily in one style such as organic, graphic, tribal, floral, or something else? Take what you usually lean towards and contrast it with a style completely opposite from it. The key to contrast is making the contrast relate on some level. Melanie made her graphic versus organic relate in terms of color. You can also make the two relate through elements that have the same type of pattern, shape, size, lines or that create similar texture.
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When putting together the Simplicity article, we contemplated showing a few non-polymer pieces because there are just so many beautiful designs in other materials that could be inspirational to polymer artists but alas, there was only so much room and much to discuss.
Alice Ballard was a top pick on my list for this because her work shows simplicity that somehow doesn’t appear simple. These ceramic leaves and pod are not super minimalistic but the white center piece is definitely about the essence of the form and image. The colored leaves feel like they are the color and impression of the center piece, taken out and set aside, as if saying the form is first and the color is secondary. It’s the pod set in the middle that brings both a focus to the trio and a bit of mystery. Why is it there? This is not a common arrangement, not in nature, but it does feel natural. For all that this is minimal in form and color, there is a lot to explore.
I find the last statement to be true of the best of simplified design and Alice’s work in particular. Grab a cup of something comforting and take some time out for a visual stroll through her beautiful gallery of work on her website.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Create in white alone. Focus on the essence of some object or image that catches your eye and think about the form before creating it. What can you remove aside from color and still make it recognizable? After you decide that, what else can you do without? Ask this until you have in your mind that essential form of it. Then create that in clay.
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I have been absolutely in love with Genevieve Williamson’s work since I first discovered it some 6 years back. It is so personal, the artist’s hand so apparent, and the design so expert. Perhaps it is more a connection that I have to these muted colors, the scratches and the imperfectly cut shapes, but the work has a high sense of emotion and vulnerability. So when Wendy Moore (of the Samunnat Nepal women’s project) sent me a link to this heartbreaking and inspiring post Genevieve wrote earlier in the year, I knew I had to reach out.
Genevieve graciously agreed to share her story and her work in more detail in the Fall issue’s Muse’s Corner section of The Polymer Arts magazine. Muse’s Corner is the section on the last content page of the magazine where we have a personal story illustrating how art and life intersect. I won’t spoil it if you haven’t read it yet but like many of the contributors that write for that section, personal challenges spill out into expressions in clay with beautiful results both in terms of the pieces and the therapeutic and cathartic process these brave people find in the creative experience.
This necklace here is a variation on the line of jewelry shown and discussed in the article. This “Longest Year” line came out of Genevieve’s first year of struggling with an autoimmune disease. As she says in her blog, this work has “come to fruition not in spite of but because of my autoimmune disease diagnosis.” Although the struggle is not apparent here, the beauty of the masterfully simple design is and it just sings with intention and a gracious presentation of the artist’s hand. Like a lot of her recent work, it is also reversible for those times when just the black and white is all one wants or needs for adornment.
The simplicity of design and beauty of intention is apparent in all Genevieve’s work as you can see on her website or in her Etsy shop as well as in the latest issue of The Polymer Arts magazine.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Make a simple piece that is all about you. Use the suggestions made on Monday’s challenge to make very intentional decisions, weighing every tiny choice, but instead of focusing on the design, focus on the expression. Choose colors, shapes and textures that are simple but at their essence represent you or a personal story of yours. Be careful not to judge what you do, just be sure every choice is true to who you are or what the story is about.
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Read MoreThe key article in the new issue of The Polymer Arts is probably the one on Simplicity in Design. As mentioned in it, simplicity is a very difficult concept to master for a variety of reasons. For one, people underestimate just how much goes into creating really good, simple design. It takes a lot of thought and intention as well as skill because with simple designs, every single decision and mark made is so obvious and visible. There is nothing to hide, distract, or camouflage the elements and condition of the work, especially in the most simplified designs.
Rachel Wightman’s work is a great example of this. When you first look at her jewelry you might think, anyone can do that. Her work is not even perfectly finished. But what you sense, if not readily realize, is that her choices are all very intentional. Colors don’t match in any standard sense but they do work together. Her spheres, tubes, and drop shapes are just slightly off but not sloppy. The surfaces are free of fingerprints but they have a nice matte finish and are strung on a perfect center or a well placed high point. The consistency in surface and stringing as well as consistent imperfections shows her intention. Her odd but interesting choice of color and balance makes it apparent that there is thought behind her choices. And as I am always saying, intentional and well-informed design choices will make a great piece, no matter the approach.
You would have seen Rachel’s work in the article but unfortunately, she doesn’t keep high-resolution images of her work. This is not a criticism since her focus in on wholesale and online retail sales so that kind of thing is not necessary for her business. But it is something to keep in mind. If you hope or foresee any reason your work might end up in print, keep high resolution files of your work, preferably the original images straight from the camera. You can simply keep them in the same folder as your adjusted and re-sized images by creating another folder marked ‘Originals’ and then you will have them to offer should any magazine or book editor come querying.
If you enjoy Rachel’s simplicity, take a look at her other simple but well supported choices on her website or in her Etsy shop.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Make the absolute simplest shapes with great intention for a piece of jewelry, sculpture or to attach to home decor. Think through and carefully determine shapes, colors, sizes, finished texture (keep it simple too … matte, shiny, or lightly and consistently textured) and arrangement, asking with every small decision if that choice is consistent with your other choices or supports your overall intention.
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So, business first … the Fall issue of The Polymer Arts came out yesterday, September 7th, and already there is all kinds of cheering online about it and many, many comments in my inbox, all overwhelmingly positive so far. I’m so glad people are already enjoying it so much–I absolutely loved putting this one together as the idea of simplicity in design is something I have always been fascinated with and serenity is something I am always hoping for more of! And I know I am not alone on either point.
If you ordered a print copy or subscription before the 6th, your issue is on the way. We’ll be shipping again over the weekend too. If you were due a digital copy but did not see it in your inbox, check your spam/junk mail folder, and if it’s not there, write us at connect ( at ) thepolymerarts.com. If you are wondering about the status of your subscription, you can go to our brand spanking new Subscriber’s Account page logging in with your email (if you paid with PayPal, it may be the email PayPal has on record) and your password or use the ‘Forgot password’ link to set one up. On this new service, you can check the status of your subscription, change your address, see your order history and get links to your digital issues for subscription purchases from this year on. Pretty neat stuff.
Now onto this great piece you see here. It is one more example of an atypical but wholly legitimate mandala based creation. The basic concept behind mandalas may be symmetry but what you end up with doesn’t have to be symmetrical or with obvious radiating lines or sections. The point of creating a mandala is to let go so if the process leads you to something different from what you or someone else might think of as a mandala, so be it. It’s much more about the process than the outcome. But what an outcome it can be!
This piece, Orbits, was created by Susan Crocenzi and is primarily tempered glass with a polymer clay tile centered on it and bits and bobs and images scattered here and there. I just love the colors and the playfulness in this combination of elements. For those of you with a penchant for mixing mediums, this will give you a good idea of just how far you can go with other materials, alone or combined with polymer, when creating mandalas or just any intuitive craft work.
Susan has more mandala like pieces and more polymer heavy work to be found on her colorful website.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Let another medium inspire your polymer. Whether you plan on doing a mandala or simply want to play, pull out some other mediums or found objects and put them on the work space with your polymer. You don’t have to use them if it doesn’t feel right but just contemplating the idea may move your clay play into areas you didn’t expect.
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