Why Size Matters
October 11, 2020
Design lessons, Inspirational Art, Supplies & other fun stuff
Fanni Sandor creates exquisitely small and biologically accurate creatures in polymer clay and mixed mediums. Her choice to go small is born of a fascination with minature art and we, likewise, are fascinated by the tiny masterpieces. See more on her Instagram page.
What size art do you work in? Have you even ever thought about that? Do you work small, big, or a nice moderate middle size?
I think many of us have a limited size range that we feel comfortable working in and rarely, if ever, venture outside that range. There’s nothing wrong with that but it does beg the question, do you think about what the appropriate size is when you create something?
As you might be guessing, if you’ve been reading my blog or design articles for any length of time, I’m about to point out that making the decision about the size of your work can help to fulfill your intention.
(Do you ever think, “If she says something about intention one more time…!” Well, I do hope it’s not annoying. It’s just that important!)
Size in art simply refers to how big or small something is. It is used in a variety of ways to emphasize, organize, assist in functionality, and symbolize the intention of the artist. A lot of the size choices made have to do with relativity – something can only be called small if something else is big and vice versa.
In design, this is actually a principal known as proportion and scale. Proportion is about the relative size between two or more objects or elements when they are grouped together or juxtaposed. Scale refers to how big or small something is compared to the general understanding of how a thing usually is or should be. For instance, we expect a chair to be sized for human beings to sit in and a teapot big enough to hold several cups of tea. Anything significantly larger or smaller than these expectations would be a change in scale.
Scale represents an interesting concept in that it makes note that we do have expectations about how big or small thing should be. That may sound like we have some kind of undue constraints placed upon those of us who create, but actually, scale gives us an opportunity to step outside those expectations and make a point.
As mentioned above, size can be used emphasize things. Making something bigger than expected usually draws attention, so if you created a beaded necklace with beads as big as golf balls, those are definitely beads that are bigger than normally expected.
The same concept of emphasis works with proportions. Let’s say that you only made one of those beads as big as a golf ball in the previously mentioned beaded necklace and the rest of the beads were of a more reasonable size. In that case, you would be drawing attention to the big bead as a focal point. Size allows you to direct the viewer’s eye and their impression of the work.
It may seem that bigger items will be more impressive or have a bigger impact but, honestly, very small artistic creations can be just as fascinating, sometimes more so due to the skill needed to create beauty in such a small space. I think you can see that in the opening image of this post. Small art requires the viewer to come close to it to really see the details, creating an intimacy between the viewer and the piece.
So, have you ever thought about these considerations for size when creating your work? Don’t worry if you haven’t. It’s not that uncommon for size to be determined in some arbitrary or organic manner. And I’m not saying that doing it that way is wrong, but you could be missing out on an opportunity to better express your intention if size was a conscious decision.
A Sizable Story
One of my high corset collars with stitched copper and polymer embellishments.
When I was a working artist, I often made decisions about size based on what I thought people would want. It wasn’t a particularly conscious choice, more of an aim not to make pieces too big. I was not trying to make statement jewelry, but rather something that could be comfortably worn all day, or so that was my train of thought.
I can’t say what got me to start thinking about size, but at some point, I started to ask myself why I was afraid to go big. So, I started to push myself, making big collar pieces that would sit as high as the jawline and come down to the collarbone. Some were a little crazy, some were so uncomfortable, but I still found so much joy in making all of them.
I found something freeing in pushing myself beyond what I thought my market would like. And, as it turned out, my market liked them big too. I sold every one that I put up for sale. They never came home with me after a show. So, what I discovered was that the sizes I had been working in were completely self-imposed without any supportable basis for my choices other than my own fear of not being able to make a sale.
Once I realized why I had been working in those smaller sizes, I was able to start making decisions based on what the work needed to be instead of what I thought the market might want. For example, if I was going to make an ornate piece with the intention that the wearer feel like a queen, I would probably decide that it should be big and bold, not small and delicate or demurely moderate, to better emphasize the feeling of nobility I wanted it to embody.
Georg Dinkel works large when he is trying to make a point about our reverence for technology, like with this iPhone docking station titled IReliquary.
What’s Your Size?
So why do you work in the sizes that you do?
Is it purely functionality or rooted in the idea of what people would expect the size to be?
Is it limited by the tools or forms you have on hand, or by the capability of the materials being used?
Do you let the size come about organically or unconsciously or do you make a conscious decision about size based on the impact or response you would like the viewer to have?
I truly don’t believe that there’s really a wrong way to determine the size of your work but, like any design element, you are only truly a master of it if you are aware of its possibilities and make conscious choices.
So maybe this week, think about the size of your artwork in terms of your intention. Look at pieces that you’ve made in the past and ask yourself how the look and message, if there was one, would have changed if the piece had been smaller or larger. And in the next few things that you design, ask yourself what size piece would best serve the artwork before letting your tools or expectations of scale determine it for you.
Goodies are About Gone
Support this blog and your creative endeavors … join the club!
If you didn’t see the newsletter yesterday, I shared the stock I have left for a few special items that were first offered to Art Boxer Club Members, but a couple things are sold out or nearly so already. These are limited items that I will periodically offer publicly, without the discounts or freebies club members get, when there is extra stock, so if you can’t join us in the club, keep your eye out for my newsletters and sign up here if you aren’t on that list for my next offering.
Getting first dibs as well as discounts and freebies is one of the advantages of being part of the Art Boxer clubs, along with the weekly mini-magazine pick me up you get in your email. (The Art Boxer Success club that includes coaching is also unavailable at this time as spots are full up but I do have a waiting list going – just write to me if interested.)
These limited supplies are available on this page if you are still interested.
All Quiet on this Western Front
I have little to report on the home front. I did go in in for a small surgery Thursday only to find out I’m going have to go back in six weeks or so from now to have it completed. Nothing is straightforward and simple this year, is it? So, just trying to make myself take it easy this weekend although I am just a horrible patient in that regard.
Next weekend, assuming nothing else weird happens, my better half and I are going to slip away for the weekend to test the camper van conversion we’ve been slowly working on. I do plan to put something for you together before I go so you should still be able to visit with me next Sunday.
In the meantime, all your hopes and plans, big or small, all go off as intended this week!
The Paper and Polymer Advantage
March 11, 2016
Inspirational Art, The Polymer Arts magazine news
My little contribution to the Spring issue of The Polymer Arts is an article on ways to combine paper with polymer. I did a lot of research to see if there was anything else I could share with readers beyond what I had done in the past with paper casting and collage style techniques and … wow! There are tons of ways paper can be used to kick up your work. It offers ways to make production less expensive and pieces lighter for castings and as cores for large beads, it can add interesting textures both tactile and visual, and, because it can go in the oven at polymer clay curing temperatures, it can be used over, under, inside of, and just about any way you want it with your raw clay and it all can go into the oven together.
My foray into paper and polymer came initially from looking for less expensive and less noxious ways to cast sculpted pieces I had created in polymer and wanted to duplicate. I went on to use the material as a substrate, to make light sculptural and bead cores and to make hollow beads. But the things they are doing with paper in the craft world is amazing, and looks a lot like polymer sometimes. From mokume-like carved stacks of paper to rolled beads to textured, stamped, and molded paper–the work is beautiful and a very direct source of inspiration for polymer artists. If you haven’t seen what I am talking about just google something like “paper jewelry” or “paper craft” on Google, Pinterest, Etsy or Flickr. It’s fascinating.
The other super cool thing about paper craft is that much of it is being made from recycled and upcycled paper sources. I do all my paper casting using junk mail and old newspapers and my collage work is from magazines I would otherwise just throw away. But those are not the only sources of paper we can recycle and combine with polymer pieces. This necklace by Izabela Nowak is a beautiful example of where using a paper source rather than polymer has a distinct advantage.
All those discs are cut from milk and juice cartons. Creating something like that with polymer would be intensely time-consuming and curing extremely thin polymer and keeping it flat takes a few tricks. I am not saying its impossible–I’ve done it myself–but why do that if you can get a similar effect while keeping more trash out of a landfill? And … it’s cheap or free! You gotta love that.
Izabela actually does a ton of work in paper and upcycled materials. She doesn’t often combine her polymer and paper but I find the pieces in which she doe, more interesting than the paper alone. The polymer adds solidity and texture the paper can’t and the paper offers crisp edges and smooth surfaces that are more difficult to do in polymer. So together, they make quite the pair!
Get your copy of the Spring 2016 issue of The Polymer Arts for this and other great article sure to get your creative juice flowing!
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Search for paper craft, paper jewelry, or recycled art and find a piece you are drawn to. Don’t spend a lot of time looking. Then figure out what that one thing is that is really drawing you to that piece. Use that element … whether it’s the way the work was created (rolled, folded, molded), the form of the piece, or even the combination of colors, and use it to design or create your next piece.
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Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
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Repeating Yourself
January 29, 2016
Inspirational Art
It’s been a week of seeing something new in something you already have in front of you, and I have been having a lot of fun with the ideas while readers have been getting quite a kick out of what we’ve been sharing. So, let’s do this one more time, but with a twist. Let’s try out repetition and pattern.
Nature is full of repeated elements all brought together to create beautiful and perfectly formed patterns. If you follow nature’s guidelines, you can take any form or element and make it in the same or graduating sizes and repeat them side-by-side, over-lapping, sitting on top of one another, or all in a row. The formation is not as important to these beautiful patterns as the precision and consistency of form and placement. Apparently, an artichoke suggested the placement of the beautiful pieces that make up this necklace by Eva Ehmeier. Or maybe she created them and it made her think of artichokes. But the natural repetitive element is there, echoing that recognizable natural beauty.
This technique of layered, folded, and repeated elements has been a common approach of Eva’s in years past and she has plenty of examples of it on her Flickr photostream and her website.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Find a natural repeated pattern that intrigues you and try recreating the pattern using a favorite element. Nature has patterns everywhere. You might find yours in your fridge, a garden, on a hiking path, or something you see at the zoo. Recreate the pattern, not what you were inspired by. You don’t need an element that will recreate the look of that turtle shell, just something that can be fitted together in a regular pattern, like the hexagonal sections of the shell do. Or layer your favorite bright blue and purple canes slices in that similar overlay pattern you found in a pine cone you picked up. Try to see only the pattern and bring that into the studio or your sketchbook.
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Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
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Outside Inspiration: Burning Up and Looking Through
January 22, 2016
Inspirational Art
These little unexpected beauties are brought to us by Debbie Crothers who just dropped them onto my Facebook page last week. These were created by Armenian fashion illustrator Edgar Artis who uses common objects and scenes to take some basic fashion concepts beyond the ordinary. The matches dress illustration is so simple, but between the heavily directional lines and the ‘hot’ implication of the material, it is a rather arresting image. The cut-outs, however, are simply a fantastic way to test out color and texture. Edgar was not the first to do this, so to give credit where credit is due, you’d want to also check out Shamekh Bluwi, an architect and fashion illustrator living in Jordan, who shows off the potential for women’s dresses with his very intricate cut-outs.
But besides these just being a fun bit of illustration to admire, I was thinking the cut-out-and-view-through process could be an excellent springboard or tool set to help you work out your own polymer designs. You can take sketches you have (or make copies of them) and cut out the essential mass of the design, then hold it up to various colors and textures. I just got my pack of Tracy Holmes’ Colour Cards today and placing a cut-out over selected solid-colored cards would be so much more telling than just holding them up to a sketch. Don’t you think?
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Trace a favorite form or shape, cut it out so you have a stencil, then take it on a walk with a camera of some kind. Hold it up to various colors, textures, patterns, etc. as you go. Take photos of what you find. Go home and put those photos up on a bigger screen and save or print out the ones you really like. Now … can you create artwork from what you found in that empty space in the stencil?
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Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
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Outside Inspiration: Elemental Variation
January 15, 2016
Inspirational Art
Sometimes the thing that binds a varied set of art or craft work is not visual elements but the concept they encompass.
The spoons here, created by Jacques Vesery, are bound by the fact that they are spoons, naturally, but every detail beyond that makes them look so different, including the fact that it appears each spoon could be made from different materials, or by different artists even. Of course, they are by the same artist and they are all the same material–carved wood.
The binding concept here is nature and its broad elemental categories, but not the traditional Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire. Rather, Jacques combines the idea of nature with a bit of myth. The spoons are titled, from left to right, “Barking at the Moon”, “Fair Tales”, and “Seaspoon”. I like that the sea is red for a change, perhaps to convey the energy of the ocean, with the idea more directly conveyed in the undulating and repeated lines.
His work originally caught my eye because I thought it could be polymer. I think many of you will find his beautiful forms and the delicacy of his carvings quite inspiring. You can find more of his work on his website.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Choose a concept and use it to design and create variation between the elements in a single item or in a series. Sketch or write out your ideas if you do not have time to create.
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Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
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Exploring Ripples
September 23, 2014
Inspirational Art
Although shibori is a fantastic source of inspiration in polymer, adding the liveliness of rippling lines and textures can be achieved in a myriad of ways. Just consider what rippling is and how it works in a design.
Ripples are lines and like any lines, they create movement. However, unlike the forcefulness of straight lines or the gentle leading of curved lines, ripples usually portray a calm but steady energy making them an eye catching element in any design.
Here are multiple examples of this all in one necklace as created by Vickie Sixsmith. We can see the energy in the rippled edges of clay discs, not unlike those on Kim’s bracelet we talked about yesterday, along with the subtle movement in the snakes of wound clay as well as in the soft visual sway of the feather canes covering the focal and side beads. The energy is slightly different in each approach, showing the varying levels of energy and d movement that can be achieved with rippling lines.
Besides explorations in ripples, Vickie and her mother Jean Twigg, who together are Fusion Jewellery Designs, explore a variety of form and texture but movement and energy is a primary focus. You can see more of their collective work on their Facebook page and Vickie’s postings on her Flickr photostream.
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.
Choosing Polymer
September 25, 2013
Inspirational Art
David Vanover is not a polymer artist. He is a jewelry artist. Sometimes he uses polymer. Sometimes he does not. The thing is, when he uses polymer, he uses it well and when it is needed. Although he has worked in more complex pieces in years past, I find his more recent and simpler pieces use a well-balanced restraint that is really to be admired. Pieces like this brooch, with just enough complexity in the polymer inlay to keep your attention yet an open silver shine to pull you out without distracting you from the focus, would be hard to improve upon.
I bring David into the theme this week because bringing up his work gives me a chance to touch on the role of our medium in what we do. Many of us are so enamored with the medium of polymer that we have no desire to work with anything else. Still others find themselves in a purist mindset, where branching out and using other mediums makes us feel like we’re cheating on our first love. For many others, we have limitations in our lives that make polymer the only reasonable choice. All of these reasons are restrictions though and some are not necessary. I only want to put out there that if you feel your vision could be better expressed with the aid of, or wholly through, another medium, you should allow yourself to explore those options–when real world restrictions won’t stop you, of course.
The bottom line is, we make art. What we make it from is not important except when it comes to the material being able to support our ability to express ourselves. After four decades of exploring a myriad of ways and materials through which to express myself, the only thing I have found that is constantly true is that it is the ability to create that matters most at the end of the day, not the material and sometimes not even what was made.
So, does David Vanover belong in a week dedicated to men working in polymer? I think so. He does certainly belong in a week about men who create art and appreciate this one particular medium that has grabbed and held the imagination of so very many of us.
David’s art jewelry can be admired on his Flickr page and in his Etsy shop.
Do it Well
September 15, 2013
Ponderings
A quote from Buddha to start a very particular thought I want to express:
Quite regularly I have people write and ask if I will post something for them on the blog. I am always happy to do so if it fits the criteria for what we do here, and that it is as least as useful to the readers as it might be to the person or group that would like me to get the word out or promote something. That means it has to be relevant to the polymer community, and I need something visual to post. The visual part, oddly enough, ends up being the hurdle.
It’s not that people don’t send imagery or art work, it’s the quality of what is sent. With dozens or even hundreds of emails flowing through any one individual’s inbox and as many or more posts lining up in an RSS feed or on Facebook, the images in these dispatches need to be eye-catching and clear. If they are not, they will be passed over for those that are.
The reason I bring this up is because I see far too much beautiful work that is presented poorly online. I can’t tell you how many pieces I have passed on blogging about because you just couldn’t see it well in the photos–too dark, blurry, or overexposed, with flat lighting, distracting backgrounds, or overly yellow light will diminish or even ruin the impression of your work. So I just wanted to take this opportunity to say this: If you are going to post photos of your work in any public forum, be it Flickr, Facebook, Pinterest, your blog or website, and especially places you hope to sell like Etsy or Artfire, post well-photographed work. Even if you don’t find yourself so serious about what you do now, if you have any aspiration to become a professional artist or craftsperson and sell or show your work, the impression you give now can stick with the viewing public for quite a while. Images posted on the internet live on the internet for years. What you do today may come up in someone’s search 5 years from now. You may not be doing your best work yet; but at least, when your older work is still popping up in years to come, the photos will show it well. And if you have an aspirations to someday be featured in any one of the wonderful blogs or periodicals that feature craft artists, you have a better chance if you have good photos of your work posted.
The thing is, this is your art; this is part of who you are, who you have been, and who you will be. If you put yourself, your heart, and your soul into your work, take it that step further and show it well also.
You can get tips on creating better photographs from the many articles in The Polymer Arts magazine or you can take a class locally or get a book like Steve Meltzer’s Photographing Arts, Crafts & Collectibles.
You are the only You
August 4, 2013
Ponderings
I must admit that I’m a little overworked and brain-dead today (as I am around this time every three months, when the next issue is almost done), so I’ve no particular thoughts on today’s quote other than, yes, be yourself, don’t copy, and strive to be exactly who you are and need to be in your life and in your art.
And I thought the way this was put was pretty funny! Funny because it’s so true, of course.
Fanni Sandor creates exquisitely small and biologically accurate creatures in polymer clay and mixed mediums. Her choice to go small is born of a fascination with minature art and we, likewise, are fascinated by the tiny masterpieces. See more on her Instagram page.
What size art do you work in? Have you even ever thought about that? Do you work small, big, or a nice moderate middle size?
I think many of us have a limited size range that we feel comfortable working in and rarely, if ever, venture outside that range. There’s nothing wrong with that but it does beg the question, do you think about what the appropriate size is when you create something?
As you might be guessing, if you’ve been reading my blog or design articles for any length of time, I’m about to point out that making the decision about the size of your work can help to fulfill your intention.
(Do you ever think, “If she says something about intention one more time…!” Well, I do hope it’s not annoying. It’s just that important!)
Size in art simply refers to how big or small something is. It is used in a variety of ways to emphasize, organize, assist in functionality, and symbolize the intention of the artist. A lot of the size choices made have to do with relativity – something can only be called small if something else is big and vice versa.
In design, this is actually a principal known as proportion and scale. Proportion is about the relative size between two or more objects or elements when they are grouped together or juxtaposed. Scale refers to how big or small something is compared to the general understanding of how a thing usually is or should be. For instance, we expect a chair to be sized for human beings to sit in and a teapot big enough to hold several cups of tea. Anything significantly larger or smaller than these expectations would be a change in scale.
Scale represents an interesting concept in that it makes note that we do have expectations about how big or small thing should be. That may sound like we have some kind of undue constraints placed upon those of us who create, but actually, scale gives us an opportunity to step outside those expectations and make a point.
As mentioned above, size can be used emphasize things. Making something bigger than expected usually draws attention, so if you created a beaded necklace with beads as big as golf balls, those are definitely beads that are bigger than normally expected.
The same concept of emphasis works with proportions. Let’s say that you only made one of those beads as big as a golf ball in the previously mentioned beaded necklace and the rest of the beads were of a more reasonable size. In that case, you would be drawing attention to the big bead as a focal point. Size allows you to direct the viewer’s eye and their impression of the work.
It may seem that bigger items will be more impressive or have a bigger impact but, honestly, very small artistic creations can be just as fascinating, sometimes more so due to the skill needed to create beauty in such a small space. I think you can see that in the opening image of this post. Small art requires the viewer to come close to it to really see the details, creating an intimacy between the viewer and the piece.
So, have you ever thought about these considerations for size when creating your work? Don’t worry if you haven’t. It’s not that uncommon for size to be determined in some arbitrary or organic manner. And I’m not saying that doing it that way is wrong, but you could be missing out on an opportunity to better express your intention if size was a conscious decision.
A Sizable Story
One of my high corset collars with stitched copper and polymer embellishments.
When I was a working artist, I often made decisions about size based on what I thought people would want. It wasn’t a particularly conscious choice, more of an aim not to make pieces too big. I was not trying to make statement jewelry, but rather something that could be comfortably worn all day, or so that was my train of thought.
I can’t say what got me to start thinking about size, but at some point, I started to ask myself why I was afraid to go big. So, I started to push myself, making big collar pieces that would sit as high as the jawline and come down to the collarbone. Some were a little crazy, some were so uncomfortable, but I still found so much joy in making all of them.
I found something freeing in pushing myself beyond what I thought my market would like. And, as it turned out, my market liked them big too. I sold every one that I put up for sale. They never came home with me after a show. So, what I discovered was that the sizes I had been working in were completely self-imposed without any supportable basis for my choices other than my own fear of not being able to make a sale.
Once I realized why I had been working in those smaller sizes, I was able to start making decisions based on what the work needed to be instead of what I thought the market might want. For example, if I was going to make an ornate piece with the intention that the wearer feel like a queen, I would probably decide that it should be big and bold, not small and delicate or demurely moderate, to better emphasize the feeling of nobility I wanted it to embody.
Georg Dinkel works large when he is trying to make a point about our reverence for technology, like with this iPhone docking station titled IReliquary.
What’s Your Size?
So why do you work in the sizes that you do?
Is it purely functionality or rooted in the idea of what people would expect the size to be?
Is it limited by the tools or forms you have on hand, or by the capability of the materials being used?
Do you let the size come about organically or unconsciously or do you make a conscious decision about size based on the impact or response you would like the viewer to have?
I truly don’t believe that there’s really a wrong way to determine the size of your work but, like any design element, you are only truly a master of it if you are aware of its possibilities and make conscious choices.
So maybe this week, think about the size of your artwork in terms of your intention. Look at pieces that you’ve made in the past and ask yourself how the look and message, if there was one, would have changed if the piece had been smaller or larger. And in the next few things that you design, ask yourself what size piece would best serve the artwork before letting your tools or expectations of scale determine it for you.
Goodies are About Gone
Support this blog and your creative endeavors … join the club!
If you didn’t see the newsletter yesterday, I shared the stock I have left for a few special items that were first offered to Art Boxer Club Members, but a couple things are sold out or nearly so already. These are limited items that I will periodically offer publicly, without the discounts or freebies club members get, when there is extra stock, so if you can’t join us in the club, keep your eye out for my newsletters and sign up here if you aren’t on that list for my next offering.
Getting first dibs as well as discounts and freebies is one of the advantages of being part of the Art Boxer clubs, along with the weekly mini-magazine pick me up you get in your email. (The Art Boxer Success club that includes coaching is also unavailable at this time as spots are full up but I do have a waiting list going – just write to me if interested.)
These limited supplies are available on this page if you are still interested.
All Quiet on this Western Front
I have little to report on the home front. I did go in in for a small surgery Thursday only to find out I’m going have to go back in six weeks or so from now to have it completed. Nothing is straightforward and simple this year, is it? So, just trying to make myself take it easy this weekend although I am just a horrible patient in that regard.
Next weekend, assuming nothing else weird happens, my better half and I are going to slip away for the weekend to test the camper van conversion we’ve been slowly working on. I do plan to put something for you together before I go so you should still be able to visit with me next Sunday.
In the meantime, all your hopes and plans, big or small, all go off as intended this week!
Read MoreMy little contribution to the Spring issue of The Polymer Arts is an article on ways to combine paper with polymer. I did a lot of research to see if there was anything else I could share with readers beyond what I had done in the past with paper casting and collage style techniques and … wow! There are tons of ways paper can be used to kick up your work. It offers ways to make production less expensive and pieces lighter for castings and as cores for large beads, it can add interesting textures both tactile and visual, and, because it can go in the oven at polymer clay curing temperatures, it can be used over, under, inside of, and just about any way you want it with your raw clay and it all can go into the oven together.
My foray into paper and polymer came initially from looking for less expensive and less noxious ways to cast sculpted pieces I had created in polymer and wanted to duplicate. I went on to use the material as a substrate, to make light sculptural and bead cores and to make hollow beads. But the things they are doing with paper in the craft world is amazing, and looks a lot like polymer sometimes. From mokume-like carved stacks of paper to rolled beads to textured, stamped, and molded paper–the work is beautiful and a very direct source of inspiration for polymer artists. If you haven’t seen what I am talking about just google something like “paper jewelry” or “paper craft” on Google, Pinterest, Etsy or Flickr. It’s fascinating.
The other super cool thing about paper craft is that much of it is being made from recycled and upcycled paper sources. I do all my paper casting using junk mail and old newspapers and my collage work is from magazines I would otherwise just throw away. But those are not the only sources of paper we can recycle and combine with polymer pieces. This necklace by Izabela Nowak is a beautiful example of where using a paper source rather than polymer has a distinct advantage.
All those discs are cut from milk and juice cartons. Creating something like that with polymer would be intensely time-consuming and curing extremely thin polymer and keeping it flat takes a few tricks. I am not saying its impossible–I’ve done it myself–but why do that if you can get a similar effect while keeping more trash out of a landfill? And … it’s cheap or free! You gotta love that.
Izabela actually does a ton of work in paper and upcycled materials. She doesn’t often combine her polymer and paper but I find the pieces in which she doe, more interesting than the paper alone. The polymer adds solidity and texture the paper can’t and the paper offers crisp edges and smooth surfaces that are more difficult to do in polymer. So together, they make quite the pair!
Get your copy of the Spring 2016 issue of The Polymer Arts for this and other great article sure to get your creative juice flowing!
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Search for paper craft, paper jewelry, or recycled art and find a piece you are drawn to. Don’t spend a lot of time looking. Then figure out what that one thing is that is really drawing you to that piece. Use that element … whether it’s the way the work was created (rolled, folded, molded), the form of the piece, or even the combination of colors, and use it to design or create your next piece.
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Read MoreIt’s been a week of seeing something new in something you already have in front of you, and I have been having a lot of fun with the ideas while readers have been getting quite a kick out of what we’ve been sharing. So, let’s do this one more time, but with a twist. Let’s try out repetition and pattern.
Nature is full of repeated elements all brought together to create beautiful and perfectly formed patterns. If you follow nature’s guidelines, you can take any form or element and make it in the same or graduating sizes and repeat them side-by-side, over-lapping, sitting on top of one another, or all in a row. The formation is not as important to these beautiful patterns as the precision and consistency of form and placement. Apparently, an artichoke suggested the placement of the beautiful pieces that make up this necklace by Eva Ehmeier. Or maybe she created them and it made her think of artichokes. But the natural repetitive element is there, echoing that recognizable natural beauty.
This technique of layered, folded, and repeated elements has been a common approach of Eva’s in years past and she has plenty of examples of it on her Flickr photostream and her website.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Find a natural repeated pattern that intrigues you and try recreating the pattern using a favorite element. Nature has patterns everywhere. You might find yours in your fridge, a garden, on a hiking path, or something you see at the zoo. Recreate the pattern, not what you were inspired by. You don’t need an element that will recreate the look of that turtle shell, just something that can be fitted together in a regular pattern, like the hexagonal sections of the shell do. Or layer your favorite bright blue and purple canes slices in that similar overlay pattern you found in a pine cone you picked up. Try to see only the pattern and bring that into the studio or your sketchbook.
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Read MoreThese little unexpected beauties are brought to us by Debbie Crothers who just dropped them onto my Facebook page last week. These were created by Armenian fashion illustrator Edgar Artis who uses common objects and scenes to take some basic fashion concepts beyond the ordinary. The matches dress illustration is so simple, but between the heavily directional lines and the ‘hot’ implication of the material, it is a rather arresting image. The cut-outs, however, are simply a fantastic way to test out color and texture. Edgar was not the first to do this, so to give credit where credit is due, you’d want to also check out Shamekh Bluwi, an architect and fashion illustrator living in Jordan, who shows off the potential for women’s dresses with his very intricate cut-outs.
But besides these just being a fun bit of illustration to admire, I was thinking the cut-out-and-view-through process could be an excellent springboard or tool set to help you work out your own polymer designs. You can take sketches you have (or make copies of them) and cut out the essential mass of the design, then hold it up to various colors and textures. I just got my pack of Tracy Holmes’ Colour Cards today and placing a cut-out over selected solid-colored cards would be so much more telling than just holding them up to a sketch. Don’t you think?
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Trace a favorite form or shape, cut it out so you have a stencil, then take it on a walk with a camera of some kind. Hold it up to various colors, textures, patterns, etc. as you go. Take photos of what you find. Go home and put those photos up on a bigger screen and save or print out the ones you really like. Now … can you create artwork from what you found in that empty space in the stencil?
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Read MoreSometimes the thing that binds a varied set of art or craft work is not visual elements but the concept they encompass.
The spoons here, created by Jacques Vesery, are bound by the fact that they are spoons, naturally, but every detail beyond that makes them look so different, including the fact that it appears each spoon could be made from different materials, or by different artists even. Of course, they are by the same artist and they are all the same material–carved wood.
The binding concept here is nature and its broad elemental categories, but not the traditional Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire. Rather, Jacques combines the idea of nature with a bit of myth. The spoons are titled, from left to right, “Barking at the Moon”, “Fair Tales”, and “Seaspoon”. I like that the sea is red for a change, perhaps to convey the energy of the ocean, with the idea more directly conveyed in the undulating and repeated lines.
His work originally caught my eye because I thought it could be polymer. I think many of you will find his beautiful forms and the delicacy of his carvings quite inspiring. You can find more of his work on his website.
Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Choose a concept and use it to design and create variation between the elements in a single item or in a series. Sketch or write out your ideas if you do not have time to create.
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Although shibori is a fantastic source of inspiration in polymer, adding the liveliness of rippling lines and textures can be achieved in a myriad of ways. Just consider what rippling is and how it works in a design.
Ripples are lines and like any lines, they create movement. However, unlike the forcefulness of straight lines or the gentle leading of curved lines, ripples usually portray a calm but steady energy making them an eye catching element in any design.
Here are multiple examples of this all in one necklace as created by Vickie Sixsmith. We can see the energy in the rippled edges of clay discs, not unlike those on Kim’s bracelet we talked about yesterday, along with the subtle movement in the snakes of wound clay as well as in the soft visual sway of the feather canes covering the focal and side beads. The energy is slightly different in each approach, showing the varying levels of energy and d movement that can be achieved with rippling lines.
Besides explorations in ripples, Vickie and her mother Jean Twigg, who together are Fusion Jewellery Designs, explore a variety of form and texture but movement and energy is a primary focus. You can see more of their collective work on their Facebook page and Vickie’s postings on her Flickr photostream.
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David Vanover is not a polymer artist. He is a jewelry artist. Sometimes he uses polymer. Sometimes he does not. The thing is, when he uses polymer, he uses it well and when it is needed. Although he has worked in more complex pieces in years past, I find his more recent and simpler pieces use a well-balanced restraint that is really to be admired. Pieces like this brooch, with just enough complexity in the polymer inlay to keep your attention yet an open silver shine to pull you out without distracting you from the focus, would be hard to improve upon.
I bring David into the theme this week because bringing up his work gives me a chance to touch on the role of our medium in what we do. Many of us are so enamored with the medium of polymer that we have no desire to work with anything else. Still others find themselves in a purist mindset, where branching out and using other mediums makes us feel like we’re cheating on our first love. For many others, we have limitations in our lives that make polymer the only reasonable choice. All of these reasons are restrictions though and some are not necessary. I only want to put out there that if you feel your vision could be better expressed with the aid of, or wholly through, another medium, you should allow yourself to explore those options–when real world restrictions won’t stop you, of course.
The bottom line is, we make art. What we make it from is not important except when it comes to the material being able to support our ability to express ourselves. After four decades of exploring a myriad of ways and materials through which to express myself, the only thing I have found that is constantly true is that it is the ability to create that matters most at the end of the day, not the material and sometimes not even what was made.
So, does David Vanover belong in a week dedicated to men working in polymer? I think so. He does certainly belong in a week about men who create art and appreciate this one particular medium that has grabbed and held the imagination of so very many of us.
David’s art jewelry can be admired on his Flickr page and in his Etsy shop.
A quote from Buddha to start a very particular thought I want to express:
Quite regularly I have people write and ask if I will post something for them on the blog. I am always happy to do so if it fits the criteria for what we do here, and that it is as least as useful to the readers as it might be to the person or group that would like me to get the word out or promote something. That means it has to be relevant to the polymer community, and I need something visual to post. The visual part, oddly enough, ends up being the hurdle.
It’s not that people don’t send imagery or art work, it’s the quality of what is sent. With dozens or even hundreds of emails flowing through any one individual’s inbox and as many or more posts lining up in an RSS feed or on Facebook, the images in these dispatches need to be eye-catching and clear. If they are not, they will be passed over for those that are.
The reason I bring this up is because I see far too much beautiful work that is presented poorly online. I can’t tell you how many pieces I have passed on blogging about because you just couldn’t see it well in the photos–too dark, blurry, or overexposed, with flat lighting, distracting backgrounds, or overly yellow light will diminish or even ruin the impression of your work. So I just wanted to take this opportunity to say this: If you are going to post photos of your work in any public forum, be it Flickr, Facebook, Pinterest, your blog or website, and especially places you hope to sell like Etsy or Artfire, post well-photographed work. Even if you don’t find yourself so serious about what you do now, if you have any aspiration to become a professional artist or craftsperson and sell or show your work, the impression you give now can stick with the viewing public for quite a while. Images posted on the internet live on the internet for years. What you do today may come up in someone’s search 5 years from now. You may not be doing your best work yet; but at least, when your older work is still popping up in years to come, the photos will show it well. And if you have an aspirations to someday be featured in any one of the wonderful blogs or periodicals that feature craft artists, you have a better chance if you have good photos of your work posted.
The thing is, this is your art; this is part of who you are, who you have been, and who you will be. If you put yourself, your heart, and your soul into your work, take it that step further and show it well also.
You can get tips on creating better photographs from the many articles in The Polymer Arts magazine or you can take a class locally or get a book like Steve Meltzer’s Photographing Arts, Crafts & Collectibles.
I must admit that I’m a little overworked and brain-dead today (as I am around this time every three months, when the next issue is almost done), so I’ve no particular thoughts on today’s quote other than, yes, be yourself, don’t copy, and strive to be exactly who you are and need to be in your life and in your art.
And I thought the way this was put was pretty funny! Funny because it’s so true, of course.
