Questioning Focus

July 7, 2019

“Fabiclay” brooch by Klio Tsaliki

Are you one of those people who finds an interesting path and goes down its until you find the end or do you like to wander about? I know that’s kind of a vague question, but you could apply it as a metaphor to goals in your life, the path of your career, or the way you create your artwork. I recently read some excerpts by Thomas Edison on the importance of keeping focused. He said, “The one prudence in life is concentration, the one evil is dissipation.” I don’t know if I wholly agree with that or, at least, I think it’s not so readily summed up in one tidy sentence.

I bet you can come up with at least a couple of artists off the top of your head who have come up with a treatment in polymer clay that they create with almost exclusively and have become quite masterful at it. But I think you come up with quite a few artists who consistently try different things, exploring, growing, and changing their style and focus on the artwork. Would you say that the person who focuses is probably doing better work than the person who is constantly exploring?

Perhaps it’s because we are talking about art that I can so readily dismiss Edison’s comment. I have always thought that, for most artists, art is about the exploration. I think if you find one technique and worked very hard to perfect it, you might get overly comfortable because you will more likely succeed with each successive piece as you hone your skill. And yes, I am presenting that as a possible problem. I am a strong believer in the value of messing up and creating pieces that “fail” on some level. It’s those experiences that really teach us and allow us to grow as artists. However, I do think that masterful artists who stick with one approach do, especially in their mind, make a lot of mistakes and have numerous pieces that failed or fell short of the artist’s expectations for every piece of work we would deem a masterpiece.

The bottom line is, I think whatever journey your imagination and curiosity leads you on is the right path to follow with your creative work. Don’t fight it if you like to stick with one technique and refine it over and over or if you get easily bored once you feel you’ve mastered something enough to understand it and want to move on to the next challenge. The journey of our creative process is as individual and unique as our own artwork.

Let’s look at a few examples of people on both sides of this coin – those dedicated to a primary technique and those that constantly change their focus. Then you can decide for yourself if Edison had a point or not.

Single Minded Tangents

There are so many artists that come to mind that focus on a single technique or process and have mastered it to a mind-blowing extent. Elise Winters is one of the first that comes to mind when it comes to technique. This surface treatment was her signature and her legacy and no one, that I’ve seen, has yet matched her skill with it.

 

When it comes to form, I don’t think anyone else in the polymer community has made more of the same form than Ron Lehocky with his hearts. But here’s an example of staying focused on one thing while exploring just about everything else you can. He’s made tens of thousands of hearts and no two are the same. Here are examples of the variations he came up with from a single Skinner blend.

 

One of the most masterful and single-minded people of process would have to be Jon Stuart Anderson with his cane covered animals and functional objects. Although caning is his focus as far as technique, he is constantly exploring pattern and how it affects the form. It’s a subtle exploration but if you look back through his work you’ll see how the application of pattern has changed over the years and how he is constantly exploring new forms to apply them to, working on how the new forms will show off the canes or how the canes will accentuate the forms.

I love this bowl below. It shows more “quiet space” with those swaths of black to red canes, than I think I’ve ever seen in his work before. The relatively unpatterned area so dramatically contrasts the complex canes designs but you can take in the individual cane and pattern placement more readily because the eye has a place to rest, giving you a moment to rest and to process more of what you’re seeing

 

This whole subject matter recalls to me a conversation Rosanna Faillace and I had with Melanie Muir in Rome last year. We were talking about people who stick with one technique and don’t branch out and Melanie, seeming to think it might be a negative thing, said “That’s me. I’m a one trick pony.” But of course, she’s not. She loves her inlaid mokume gane veneers, but she is constantly exploring construction and different forms on which to present these, resulting in pieces like this beautiful bracelet.

Frenetically Fabulous

I myself am of the exploratory variety of artists. I do wish I had a little more focus and could spend more time on any single technique, form, or process, but the thing is, my curiosity about what else I could do is a stronger driving force, so I go with that. There are a LOT of us artistic explorers in polymer art as polymer just cries out to be explored.

When it comes to an exploratory approach in polymer, Debbie Crothers is the first person who comes to mind. You can see her gorgeous acrylic on polymer beads on the front of the upcoming issue of The Polymer Studio. Her penchant for exploration is why she is writing the “Mix it Up” articles in the magazine. She always has something she’s playing around with and she does love to share. She does occasionally show the results of both her good and not so successful explorations, which I love because it demonstrates her willingness to try, to make mistakes, and to do the work over and over again until she has mastered it. It is highly unlikely that Debbie would have gotten the results she got in these beads below if she didn’t go through a lot of trial and error first. The final results are well worth the exploration!

 

Another person I’ve been following for years is Klio Tsaliki. She’ll try almost anything and, in the process, comes up with some great techniques and approaches. Some attempts come out better than others, but I love that she shares it all, or at least enough for us to see that she is not afraid to try anything that interests her. I find that very inspiring. A couple of years ago she was playing with metallic silkscreen and the possible fabric-like quality of polymer, as you can see in the opening photo of this post. More recently, she’s played with translucent clay and LED lights, as seen below.

Klio’s newest work has been in the up and coming new clay from Fimo, “Leather Effect”. Once cured, this clay is supposed to be very much like leather. You can see here on the Fimo website that it is very pliable and can be cut and even stitched. I don’t know about you, but I have never been so excited about a new line of polymer clay! It’s not available in the US yet, and I don’t know how widely distributed it is in Europe, but there is supposed to be news about that soon and, trust me, when it is available, I’m going to be playing with it quite a bit as leather was one of my first materials I made jewelry from. You can go to Klio’s Flickr photostream to see what she’s been doing with it.

Another name for exploration is pioneering. Pioneers need to explore their subject extensively to find those new and intriguing aspects that lead the rest of us to their fresh finds. In general, you’ll find that most of the folks we identify as polymer pioneers were and are highly exploratory. Just look at what Kathleen Dustin has done throughout her career. From ornate purses to translucent layered brooches to reinterpretations of textile patterns such as with these new brooches below, you never really know what Kathleen will be working on next and yet, all her work is masterfully constructed and impeccably finished. I think her exploration keeps her work fresh for us and, most especially, for her and her passion for her work.

 

Focus on Yourself

So, as you see, there are many approaches to the creative process, all of which have value and result in beautiful, emotive, and inspiring work. So, no, I don’t think focus and concentration on one technique, form, or even material, is necessary but I do think keeping a sharp focus on the overriding creative goal – to make fulfilling artwork, financially supportive artwork, satiating your curiosity, or whatever the important creative motivation is for you – is something to keep a watchful eye on.

Speaking of focus … The construction on my house is in the finishing stages now. That hasn’t helped me with my focus on getting the next issue out, neither has my tendinitis and back issue which was such a huge problem last year. The thing is, in the last year, I have not really had enough time off to completely heal and am having issues again. I’m pretty sure I can get this issue to the printer in time to have it out by the end of the month but I’m probably going to have a heart-to-heart with my doctor on what I really need to do to get this healed and am working out a bit of time off later this month. This is one area where keeping focus would be very helpful!

I will keep you apprised of any shakeups in production if you are a subscriber to The Polymer Studio so just stay tuned here. And next week maybe I can get you pictures of the house for those of you who are curious. Everything’s under plastic wrap right now as they finish plastering and painting. But it’s horribly exciting seeing it come together!

So, I will leave you with these thoughts on focus and exploration. I hope it brings you some interesting insights for your own process and work. Have a fabulous week!

 

Standard in Stripes

March 2, 2017

Julia Peker stripe bracelet earringsSo many artists spend an inordinately large amount of time looking for the next really cool and totally different thing that will get them all kinds of attention and make their work stand out. But here is the thing … nothing is really new anymore. It’s just a variation of something that was done before. Thinking and creating with this in mind can be so freeing. It allows you to just create what you love or what you want to express.

And some days you just want to be simple, clean and use some no-fuss forms and applications. Nothing wrong with that. Go for it. You can see how a basic striped composition on a bangle shape and a couple of lentil earrings did for Julia Peker‘s approach. Choosing an array of both visual and tactile textures gives this variation within the limitations of a palette of subdued and tinted cool colors. Nothing crazy or new design wise, but it pulls off a tasteful and understated elegance that most anyone can appreciate.

Julia takes notes from a lot of other polymer artists as can be seen in her work so I suspect she is still working on her voice but I think I see it emerging. Her postings look to be relegated to Instagram for the moment but I would be interested to see how her work develops. We’ll keep an eye out!ow

 

_________________________________________

Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.

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_________________________________________

Scenes in Micro

September 18, 2014

5261884267_b4df99cd32_o

Ginger really wanted to share a micro mosaic piece with you this week and I’ve gone back and forth on options for us. The thing is, micro mosaics in polymer were really established, and I think are still best done, by Cynthia Toops. But I’ll be breaking a rule of mine to not feature an artist that was on the blog within the last 6 months–I like to spread the love around so to speak and Cynthia was featured last month. Well, here’s to breaking rules now and then!

The image of this bracelet is actually from Chuck Domitrovich’s Flickr pages. Chuck, an accomplished metal smith, partnered with Cynthia to create this bracelet some years back. This gorgeous bangle has two scenes actually–one side with an underwater scenario on the right and a land scene on the left. They work together because of the similar color palette and the styling of the imagery. I didn’t think it was too hard to imagine how these were created but the timing issue was not something I would have expected. Here is Cynthia’s process in Chuck’s words:

“Each mosaic is made by rolling tiny Fimo/polymer threads out of each color, and then baking those threads to harden them. Then the threads are cut into small pieces and these are used as the basis for the mosaic, with each tiny cut piece of thread pushed into soft polymer lining the bezel. She only has a limited amount of time to set all the threads before the polymer clay dries out and the threads begin to curl. In some of the larger mosaics she has done, Cynthia has had to rework entire sections that have dried too fast. Each mosaic takes many, many hours, and it is not unusual for her to spend a week of working almost constantly to finish one. Once all the threads are in place the entire piece is baked once again, hardening and setting them.”

There is more detail in this bracelet at the hinges and a closer look really is needed to appreciate all that went into this. You can see great detail shots by clicking the image here or this link and then clicking the right side arrows on Chuck’s Flickr page to see them all.  And you can find more of Cynthia and Chuck’s micro mosaic collaborations in this Flickr photo album.

Our guest blogger partner, Ginger Davis Allman lives in Springfield, Missouri with her husband Gary, her three kids and her many craft obsessions. Subscribe to her blog and look around her website for her well-researched and in-depth posts and articles on polymer related subjects. Support her great information and research as well as treating yourself by purchasing a tutorial or two from this talented lady.

 

 

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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What the Ink Reveals

November 19, 2013

Alcohol inks are a fantastic surface treatment, as their transparency can work with the clay rather than just covering it. Use on darker clays to get deep, rich ink colors, or try it on marbled or otherwise mixed clay colors for more variation in the ink applied. Or simply go white so light reflecting off the clay surface can illuminate the ink.

Veronika Sturdy’s textured bangle shows off that translucent color on white clay effect, really making the blues and greens quite juicy.

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I really like the way the clay is revealed from beneath the ink colors. The white is not only a great base for the ink but revealing it brings in just the right amount of contrast of no color against bright color.

See more of Veronika’s “colorful, quirky and playful full of fun” pieces (her words) on her website or Flickr pages.

Dots on the Wrist

August 22, 2013

Debra DeWolff is all about the dot. Whether it’s in her felted beads or her bead inlaid polymer bangles like you see here, small spots of color or shine dominate her work. This bracelet uses both a congregation of dots in the form of beads to create the color in her flowers as well as having the very enduring polka dot gracing the inside of the bangle to peek out as it moves about the wearer’s wrist.

green-mosaic-bangle

Debra creates a lot of fun and still very polished and cosmopolitan dotted  jewelry.  Take a moment to look through her blog and gallery if you are finding yourself dot inspired this week!

 

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Outside Inspiration: Silk and Pearls

May 4, 2013

Going to stop being so serious and just enjoy some beautiful work today.

These bangles are the work of Alyson Goldberg (goes by just Alyson G.) They are hand painted and gathered silks with peridot, garnet, aquamarine and pearls tucked into the folds.

silk3

 

I was going to say its an unexpected combination but then I thought of beaded dresses and such. Maybe we don’t get garnets and peridot on our beaded attire much these days but it’s not unheard of. Pearls on wedding dresses are not at all uncommon. What is unexpected is that it’s beading and fabric as a piece of jewelry. But why not? We add beading to clothing as a means of accenting them and jewelry is worn as a kind of accent on our person. Same idea, right? So why not take those lovely designs off the dress and put them on pieces that can be worn and shown off on more than just one ensemble? Makes so much sense.

Alyson actually works with a lot of chain and beads. These bangles are quite a departure from her other jewelry. But there is nothing wrong with exploring something out of your range. From the press she’s gotten, its pretty obvious that these bracelets are now what she’s known for. Understandably. So, yep, don’t be afraid to step outside your usual line of exploration. You just never know what you might find and where it will take you.

The Secret to ‘Charming’ is Variety

March 27, 2013

I guess I’m on a variety kick this week. The mixture of color in these bangles by Lauren Abrams are particularly attractive but I think it’s the uneven repetition of the elements that gives them true charm.

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Bands of color filled with stripes and crackled metallic are repeated but in uneven, varying widths and not predictably ordered. The pin head beads, although of the same shape and size, vary in color and spacing. The bangle underneath boasts but one accent, which if worn alone might seem a bit unbalanced but if worn together, the variation would feel supported. Actually an arm full of them would be truly charming.

I’m not saying orderliness can’t be charming, but quirkiness, unpredictability, and a disregard for expected order is what we find most delightful in children, pets and ourselves when we let go. But even when letting go, there needs to be some underlying order or consistency to keep things from falling into chaos. In the bangles it is a repetition of color and visual texture as well as repetition of common elements including the consistently used bands. A simple device but highly effective and easy to apply when you want to have a little fun.

 

Mixing with Mokume

January 24, 2013

Today we’re going to sit back and admire a great combination of materials. These bracelets are mokume gane polymer bangle bases with moving add-ons in the form of pmc, sterling silver, brass, and bronze rings that transverse the bangle as the wearer moves.

mokumebracelores

Celie Fago  explains her rather lengthy process on the IPCA Synergy 2 page I found these on: “These bracelets evolve, in fits and starts, over the course of years. They mix many media and processes; they are material collaborations. I work in relays: I make the polymer bracelets, then the embellishments: I put them on the bracelets, take them off, move them from one to another …”

This brings up a couple thoughts. One … no work of art is ever really complete, is it? I think we could tweak and changes pieces forever, always seeing ways to improve or change them. The real talent is knowing when to stop.

The other thing that hit me about what she said was that these are “material collaborations”. We think about people collaborating but yes, why not consider how materials can “help” each other not just how they can fit together? In these bracelets, the variety of metal seems to actually increase the flash and depth of texture in the mokume gane. The metals and polymer are working together in a synergistic manner to make the parts, which seen on their own would not be so very impressive, integral and intriguing points in the whole of the composition.

Speaking of Synergy … if you plan on going to Synergy 3 in March, be sure to come and find The Polymer Arts in the vendors room and join me for my workshops and discussions on writing for the craft arts market, centralizing polymer information, and a interview panel of publishers chatting about what we do and why we do it for you. See you there!

 

 

Questioning Focus

July 7, 2019
Posted in

“Fabiclay” brooch by Klio Tsaliki

Are you one of those people who finds an interesting path and goes down its until you find the end or do you like to wander about? I know that’s kind of a vague question, but you could apply it as a metaphor to goals in your life, the path of your career, or the way you create your artwork. I recently read some excerpts by Thomas Edison on the importance of keeping focused. He said, “The one prudence in life is concentration, the one evil is dissipation.” I don’t know if I wholly agree with that or, at least, I think it’s not so readily summed up in one tidy sentence.

I bet you can come up with at least a couple of artists off the top of your head who have come up with a treatment in polymer clay that they create with almost exclusively and have become quite masterful at it. But I think you come up with quite a few artists who consistently try different things, exploring, growing, and changing their style and focus on the artwork. Would you say that the person who focuses is probably doing better work than the person who is constantly exploring?

Perhaps it’s because we are talking about art that I can so readily dismiss Edison’s comment. I have always thought that, for most artists, art is about the exploration. I think if you find one technique and worked very hard to perfect it, you might get overly comfortable because you will more likely succeed with each successive piece as you hone your skill. And yes, I am presenting that as a possible problem. I am a strong believer in the value of messing up and creating pieces that “fail” on some level. It’s those experiences that really teach us and allow us to grow as artists. However, I do think that masterful artists who stick with one approach do, especially in their mind, make a lot of mistakes and have numerous pieces that failed or fell short of the artist’s expectations for every piece of work we would deem a masterpiece.

The bottom line is, I think whatever journey your imagination and curiosity leads you on is the right path to follow with your creative work. Don’t fight it if you like to stick with one technique and refine it over and over or if you get easily bored once you feel you’ve mastered something enough to understand it and want to move on to the next challenge. The journey of our creative process is as individual and unique as our own artwork.

Let’s look at a few examples of people on both sides of this coin – those dedicated to a primary technique and those that constantly change their focus. Then you can decide for yourself if Edison had a point or not.

Single Minded Tangents

There are so many artists that come to mind that focus on a single technique or process and have mastered it to a mind-blowing extent. Elise Winters is one of the first that comes to mind when it comes to technique. This surface treatment was her signature and her legacy and no one, that I’ve seen, has yet matched her skill with it.

 

When it comes to form, I don’t think anyone else in the polymer community has made more of the same form than Ron Lehocky with his hearts. But here’s an example of staying focused on one thing while exploring just about everything else you can. He’s made tens of thousands of hearts and no two are the same. Here are examples of the variations he came up with from a single Skinner blend.

 

One of the most masterful and single-minded people of process would have to be Jon Stuart Anderson with his cane covered animals and functional objects. Although caning is his focus as far as technique, he is constantly exploring pattern and how it affects the form. It’s a subtle exploration but if you look back through his work you’ll see how the application of pattern has changed over the years and how he is constantly exploring new forms to apply them to, working on how the new forms will show off the canes or how the canes will accentuate the forms.

I love this bowl below. It shows more “quiet space” with those swaths of black to red canes, than I think I’ve ever seen in his work before. The relatively unpatterned area so dramatically contrasts the complex canes designs but you can take in the individual cane and pattern placement more readily because the eye has a place to rest, giving you a moment to rest and to process more of what you’re seeing

 

This whole subject matter recalls to me a conversation Rosanna Faillace and I had with Melanie Muir in Rome last year. We were talking about people who stick with one technique and don’t branch out and Melanie, seeming to think it might be a negative thing, said “That’s me. I’m a one trick pony.” But of course, she’s not. She loves her inlaid mokume gane veneers, but she is constantly exploring construction and different forms on which to present these, resulting in pieces like this beautiful bracelet.

Frenetically Fabulous

I myself am of the exploratory variety of artists. I do wish I had a little more focus and could spend more time on any single technique, form, or process, but the thing is, my curiosity about what else I could do is a stronger driving force, so I go with that. There are a LOT of us artistic explorers in polymer art as polymer just cries out to be explored.

When it comes to an exploratory approach in polymer, Debbie Crothers is the first person who comes to mind. You can see her gorgeous acrylic on polymer beads on the front of the upcoming issue of The Polymer Studio. Her penchant for exploration is why she is writing the “Mix it Up” articles in the magazine. She always has something she’s playing around with and she does love to share. She does occasionally show the results of both her good and not so successful explorations, which I love because it demonstrates her willingness to try, to make mistakes, and to do the work over and over again until she has mastered it. It is highly unlikely that Debbie would have gotten the results she got in these beads below if she didn’t go through a lot of trial and error first. The final results are well worth the exploration!

 

Another person I’ve been following for years is Klio Tsaliki. She’ll try almost anything and, in the process, comes up with some great techniques and approaches. Some attempts come out better than others, but I love that she shares it all, or at least enough for us to see that she is not afraid to try anything that interests her. I find that very inspiring. A couple of years ago she was playing with metallic silkscreen and the possible fabric-like quality of polymer, as you can see in the opening photo of this post. More recently, she’s played with translucent clay and LED lights, as seen below.

Klio’s newest work has been in the up and coming new clay from Fimo, “Leather Effect”. Once cured, this clay is supposed to be very much like leather. You can see here on the Fimo website that it is very pliable and can be cut and even stitched. I don’t know about you, but I have never been so excited about a new line of polymer clay! It’s not available in the US yet, and I don’t know how widely distributed it is in Europe, but there is supposed to be news about that soon and, trust me, when it is available, I’m going to be playing with it quite a bit as leather was one of my first materials I made jewelry from. You can go to Klio’s Flickr photostream to see what she’s been doing with it.

Another name for exploration is pioneering. Pioneers need to explore their subject extensively to find those new and intriguing aspects that lead the rest of us to their fresh finds. In general, you’ll find that most of the folks we identify as polymer pioneers were and are highly exploratory. Just look at what Kathleen Dustin has done throughout her career. From ornate purses to translucent layered brooches to reinterpretations of textile patterns such as with these new brooches below, you never really know what Kathleen will be working on next and yet, all her work is masterfully constructed and impeccably finished. I think her exploration keeps her work fresh for us and, most especially, for her and her passion for her work.

 

Focus on Yourself

So, as you see, there are many approaches to the creative process, all of which have value and result in beautiful, emotive, and inspiring work. So, no, I don’t think focus and concentration on one technique, form, or even material, is necessary but I do think keeping a sharp focus on the overriding creative goal – to make fulfilling artwork, financially supportive artwork, satiating your curiosity, or whatever the important creative motivation is for you – is something to keep a watchful eye on.

Speaking of focus … The construction on my house is in the finishing stages now. That hasn’t helped me with my focus on getting the next issue out, neither has my tendinitis and back issue which was such a huge problem last year. The thing is, in the last year, I have not really had enough time off to completely heal and am having issues again. I’m pretty sure I can get this issue to the printer in time to have it out by the end of the month but I’m probably going to have a heart-to-heart with my doctor on what I really need to do to get this healed and am working out a bit of time off later this month. This is one area where keeping focus would be very helpful!

I will keep you apprised of any shakeups in production if you are a subscriber to The Polymer Studio so just stay tuned here. And next week maybe I can get you pictures of the house for those of you who are curious. Everything’s under plastic wrap right now as they finish plastering and painting. But it’s horribly exciting seeing it come together!

So, I will leave you with these thoughts on focus and exploration. I hope it brings you some interesting insights for your own process and work. Have a fabulous week!

 

Read More

Standard in Stripes

March 2, 2017
Posted in

Julia Peker stripe bracelet earringsSo many artists spend an inordinately large amount of time looking for the next really cool and totally different thing that will get them all kinds of attention and make their work stand out. But here is the thing … nothing is really new anymore. It’s just a variation of something that was done before. Thinking and creating with this in mind can be so freeing. It allows you to just create what you love or what you want to express.

And some days you just want to be simple, clean and use some no-fuss forms and applications. Nothing wrong with that. Go for it. You can see how a basic striped composition on a bangle shape and a couple of lentil earrings did for Julia Peker‘s approach. Choosing an array of both visual and tactile textures gives this variation within the limitations of a palette of subdued and tinted cool colors. Nothing crazy or new design wise, but it pulls off a tasteful and understated elegance that most anyone can appreciate.

Julia takes notes from a lot of other polymer artists as can be seen in her work so I suspect she is still working on her voice but I think I see it emerging. Her postings look to be relegated to Instagram for the moment but I would be interested to see how her work develops. We’ll keep an eye out!ow

 

_________________________________________

Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners.

businesscard-3.5inx2in-h-front   never knead -july-2015c-125    The Great Create Sept 15 blog   Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog

_________________________________________

Read More

Scenes in Micro

September 18, 2014
Posted in

5261884267_b4df99cd32_o

Ginger really wanted to share a micro mosaic piece with you this week and I’ve gone back and forth on options for us. The thing is, micro mosaics in polymer were really established, and I think are still best done, by Cynthia Toops. But I’ll be breaking a rule of mine to not feature an artist that was on the blog within the last 6 months–I like to spread the love around so to speak and Cynthia was featured last month. Well, here’s to breaking rules now and then!

The image of this bracelet is actually from Chuck Domitrovich’s Flickr pages. Chuck, an accomplished metal smith, partnered with Cynthia to create this bracelet some years back. This gorgeous bangle has two scenes actually–one side with an underwater scenario on the right and a land scene on the left. They work together because of the similar color palette and the styling of the imagery. I didn’t think it was too hard to imagine how these were created but the timing issue was not something I would have expected. Here is Cynthia’s process in Chuck’s words:

“Each mosaic is made by rolling tiny Fimo/polymer threads out of each color, and then baking those threads to harden them. Then the threads are cut into small pieces and these are used as the basis for the mosaic, with each tiny cut piece of thread pushed into soft polymer lining the bezel. She only has a limited amount of time to set all the threads before the polymer clay dries out and the threads begin to curl. In some of the larger mosaics she has done, Cynthia has had to rework entire sections that have dried too fast. Each mosaic takes many, many hours, and it is not unusual for her to spend a week of working almost constantly to finish one. Once all the threads are in place the entire piece is baked once again, hardening and setting them.”

There is more detail in this bracelet at the hinges and a closer look really is needed to appreciate all that went into this. You can see great detail shots by clicking the image here or this link and then clicking the right side arrows on Chuck’s Flickr page to see them all.  And you can find more of Cynthia and Chuck’s micro mosaic collaborations in this Flickr photo album.

Our guest blogger partner, Ginger Davis Allman lives in Springfield, Missouri with her husband Gary, her three kids and her many craft obsessions. Subscribe to her blog and look around her website for her well-researched and in-depth posts and articles on polymer related subjects. Support her great information and research as well as treating yourself by purchasing a tutorial or two from this talented lady.

 

 

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.

14-P3 Fall-Play cover Full sm   Blog2 -2014-02Feb-2   3d star ad  Polymania Advert 125  tpa-125x125-blog   Faux-Glass-Banner-1000px-600x476

 

Read More

What the Ink Reveals

November 19, 2013
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Alcohol inks are a fantastic surface treatment, as their transparency can work with the clay rather than just covering it. Use on darker clays to get deep, rich ink colors, or try it on marbled or otherwise mixed clay colors for more variation in the ink applied. Or simply go white so light reflecting off the clay surface can illuminate the ink.

Veronika Sturdy’s textured bangle shows off that translucent color on white clay effect, really making the blues and greens quite juicy.

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I really like the way the clay is revealed from beneath the ink colors. The white is not only a great base for the ink but revealing it brings in just the right amount of contrast of no color against bright color.

See more of Veronika’s “colorful, quirky and playful full of fun” pieces (her words) on her website or Flickr pages.

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Dots on the Wrist

August 22, 2013
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Debra DeWolff is all about the dot. Whether it’s in her felted beads or her bead inlaid polymer bangles like you see here, small spots of color or shine dominate her work. This bracelet uses both a congregation of dots in the form of beads to create the color in her flowers as well as having the very enduring polka dot gracing the inside of the bangle to peek out as it moves about the wearer’s wrist.

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Debra creates a lot of fun and still very polished and cosmopolitan dotted  jewelry.  Take a moment to look through her blog and gallery if you are finding yourself dot inspired this week!

 

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Outside Inspiration: Silk and Pearls

May 4, 2013
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Going to stop being so serious and just enjoy some beautiful work today.

These bangles are the work of Alyson Goldberg (goes by just Alyson G.) They are hand painted and gathered silks with peridot, garnet, aquamarine and pearls tucked into the folds.

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I was going to say its an unexpected combination but then I thought of beaded dresses and such. Maybe we don’t get garnets and peridot on our beaded attire much these days but it’s not unheard of. Pearls on wedding dresses are not at all uncommon. What is unexpected is that it’s beading and fabric as a piece of jewelry. But why not? We add beading to clothing as a means of accenting them and jewelry is worn as a kind of accent on our person. Same idea, right? So why not take those lovely designs off the dress and put them on pieces that can be worn and shown off on more than just one ensemble? Makes so much sense.

Alyson actually works with a lot of chain and beads. These bangles are quite a departure from her other jewelry. But there is nothing wrong with exploring something out of your range. From the press she’s gotten, its pretty obvious that these bracelets are now what she’s known for. Understandably. So, yep, don’t be afraid to step outside your usual line of exploration. You just never know what you might find and where it will take you.

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The Secret to ‘Charming’ is Variety

March 27, 2013
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I guess I’m on a variety kick this week. The mixture of color in these bangles by Lauren Abrams are particularly attractive but I think it’s the uneven repetition of the elements that gives them true charm.

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Bands of color filled with stripes and crackled metallic are repeated but in uneven, varying widths and not predictably ordered. The pin head beads, although of the same shape and size, vary in color and spacing. The bangle underneath boasts but one accent, which if worn alone might seem a bit unbalanced but if worn together, the variation would feel supported. Actually an arm full of them would be truly charming.

I’m not saying orderliness can’t be charming, but quirkiness, unpredictability, and a disregard for expected order is what we find most delightful in children, pets and ourselves when we let go. But even when letting go, there needs to be some underlying order or consistency to keep things from falling into chaos. In the bangles it is a repetition of color and visual texture as well as repetition of common elements including the consistently used bands. A simple device but highly effective and easy to apply when you want to have a little fun.

 

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Mixing with Mokume

January 24, 2013
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Today we’re going to sit back and admire a great combination of materials. These bracelets are mokume gane polymer bangle bases with moving add-ons in the form of pmc, sterling silver, brass, and bronze rings that transverse the bangle as the wearer moves.

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Celie Fago  explains her rather lengthy process on the IPCA Synergy 2 page I found these on: “These bracelets evolve, in fits and starts, over the course of years. They mix many media and processes; they are material collaborations. I work in relays: I make the polymer bracelets, then the embellishments: I put them on the bracelets, take them off, move them from one to another …”

This brings up a couple thoughts. One … no work of art is ever really complete, is it? I think we could tweak and changes pieces forever, always seeing ways to improve or change them. The real talent is knowing when to stop.

The other thing that hit me about what she said was that these are “material collaborations”. We think about people collaborating but yes, why not consider how materials can “help” each other not just how they can fit together? In these bracelets, the variety of metal seems to actually increase the flash and depth of texture in the mokume gane. The metals and polymer are working together in a synergistic manner to make the parts, which seen on their own would not be so very impressive, integral and intriguing points in the whole of the composition.

Speaking of Synergy … if you plan on going to Synergy 3 in March, be sure to come and find The Polymer Arts in the vendors room and join me for my workshops and discussions on writing for the craft arts market, centralizing polymer information, and a interview panel of publishers chatting about what we do and why we do it for you. See you there!

 

 

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