Claire’s Accident
November 8, 2014
Inspirational Art
I thought we’d end this week on depth with an in-depth mini-interview conducted by Randee Ketzel. This time she spoke to Claire Wallis who doesn’t work with illusionary depth, but does explore faux and illustrative techniques quite a bit. Here is what Randee sent to share with us:
Claire Wallis is probably best known as the creator of the faux knit tutorial in polymer clay, which she generously shared with the world, but there is so much more to her work. Caner, sculptor, illustrator, Claire is a self-taught artist from the south of England and came to polymer ‘entirely by accident’. She played with it as a child and became re-engaged with it after viewing the works of other artists on the Internet.
An avid fan of Fantasy/Sci-Fi, she has carved her favorite characters on pumpkins, sketched them on chinaware, and sculpted them in polymer. She also illustrates–this elephant cuff is smashing–and clearly has no fear of color, as evidenced by her eye-popping bangles.
The influence of her other artistic explorations like ceramics, acrylics, pastels, printmaking and pyrography is evident in her work, though she says she had very little formal training. She counts that a blessing, as it leaves her free to approach polymer with no preconceptions as to how it ought to be used. As she puts it, “I find ignorance is not only bliss, but genuinely constructive, particularly in a medium as adaptable as polymer clay.”
Her driving force is a keen desire for craftsmanship, every piece should be the best it can be, and she can’t imagine a day without some artistic endeavor to try her hand. Claire recently gave up her job as an assistant manager for St. Barnabas’ charity shop (which helps support their hospice work) to be a full-time mom and is waiting to see where motherhood leads her creative processes.
She describes herself as ‘a bit of a one-trick pony,’ with which I humbly beg to differ, given her obvious mastery of so many media and techniques. She says of herself, “I love to read and learn, and for me nothing beats the sense of achievement you get when you master a new skill.” We will eagerly await the next chapter in her new adventure. In the meantime, you can certainly glean hints from her Flickr photostream and maybe recognize a kindred soul.
Randee Ketzel, a life-long craft artist, previously worked in metals, but is now a polymer enthusiast and co-author of “Polymer Clay Gemstones, the Art of Deception” a different kind of polymer book devoted to faux techniques and the reproduction of historical jewelry. Her book can be found on Amazon while her other tutorials can be found in her Etsy shop.
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.
Variety is the Spice …
July 14, 2014
Inspirational Art
I’ve been seeing a lot of collage and photos of groupings of people’s work. These images are a great idea especially for sales materials and websites–it can show your breadth of work as well as give customers ideas for custom pieces. For us artists, it’s a great way to compare similar pieces side by side and get ideas about how to vary the same forms, techniques, or applications.
These donut focal bead bracelets by Gema Belinchon are a great example of taking a few small changes and recombining them to come up with a wide variety of finished pieces. She had six basic things she’s recombining–color, different canes, two types of leather cord, the number of cords she uses, crystal accents and three types of silver slider beads. I can’t figure out the math, but I know that could be hundreds of combinations.
Can you identify one bracelet as you favorite? Can you say why? Would you make a different combination of elements to create something more to your taste? Why do you think you choose those? Asking these kinds of questions can help you understand your own taste and what kind of look can be derived from a change in combinations.
I like the one with the three crystals, but would prefer it in that wonderful lime green Skinner blend bead next to it, and I’d go for unbraided leather so the cane texture is the only busy texture. The cane would really stand out that way while the rest of the bracelet would appear smooth and subdued, which would add a touch of sophistication versus casual and fun. But, that’s just me. What are your preferences?
Gema goes by Belserart on Flickr where you can find more variations on the same types of pieces. They aren’t all in one image, side by side like this, but they are definitely worth a stroll through them.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
A Delicate Glow
June 3, 2014
Inspirational Art
Even though English Artist Claire Wallis is self taught and is fairly new to polymer, her attention to detail is inspiring and her finishing techniques are immaculate. Take a look at these bracelets pictured here. The designs are fairly simple but strong. Her canes here use an approach that gives the pattern a subtle glow. This kind of technique uses color value and gradation to emulate light in a surface pattern. We actually have an entire article about ways to create the illusion of light in the Summer issue that starts mailing out this coming Friday.
Claire is also a talented illustrator and you can see her graphite drawings and painting as well as her polymer work on her website. You may also want to take a look at more of her work, including some delightful polymer birds, on her Flickr page.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Just Dots
May 14, 2014
Inspirational Art
If you ever did petri dish tests in biology class or left the tomato sauce too many weeks in the fridge, you might recognize the patterning of this next piece for our microscopic week. This is a simple but visually high impact bracelet by Mathilde Colas. It’s not often that we think of mold or mildew as inspiring much beyond disgust but all of nature has a beauty to it. The delicate dots and rich colors against a stark white background make for a calm but dramatic beauty here.
It seems obvious, looking at her body of work, that Mathilde Colas is heavily influenced by nature in all its forms, from the color of spring flowers to the decay of late autumn. Take a look at her work and read up on her thoughts on her blog website.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Texture in Animal Print
April 17, 2014
Inspirational Art
This animal print bracelet made by Slovenian artist Tina Mežek is another good example of what could be fabric inspired polymer clay. The rich, bold, earthtone color choices are typical of animal print fabrics and the textured surface gives this bangle the feel and look of a base covered in a rich woven cloth.
Tina is a designer who loves to work with mixed media, precious metals, wire, and Swarovski crystals, as well as polymer clay. If you would like to see more of her designs, visit her Flickr pages or her Facebook page. And if you would like to learn how to do this type of design, take one of her classes or workshops. She teaches for CraftArtEdu and there is a list of her workshops on her website.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
On the Edge of Fall
March 20, 2014
Inspirational Art
I found this bracelet awhile back but have yet to find the artist who created it. The pin leads to the www.polymerclayfimo.livejournal.com page but after searching posts for far too long, I couldn’t find it. Can our readers help us out?
I know we are so far from Autumn up here in the Northern Hemisphere but our Southern counterparts are entering the season right about now. And who can resist the beauty of rich rusts and glowing earth tones any time of year? I love the way the edges are treated in both layers, one torn and the other scored and worn looking so the feel from imagery to texture has a very soft and natural feel to it.
Ok … so who can get us some answers? We’ll update the post as soon as we find out who created this lovely piece.
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.
Atypical Bracelets
March 19, 2014
Inspirational Art
There is actually a lot of commonality between today’s bracelets and the one’s in yesterday’s post. Like Evgeny, Andrea Zajacová also uses contrast in texture but in a more graphic manner. The concept and approach to design using contrast is similar but with a very different feel. Although obviously handmade and inexact, the bracelet is designed in sections instead of scattering the three-dimensional pieces around the whole of it’s circumference. This gives the bracelet a specific area of focus with that fully tactile texture contrasting the low visual texture of the other areas as well as high contrast in color between the purples and yellows.
Andrea posted variations of this bracelet on this blog post. Great colors palettes. And she has a lot more art to share in her store as well.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Organic Grace
March 18, 2014
Inspirational Art
This combination of organic plant and stone texture comes across as rather luscious and graceful. This creative bracelet by Russian artist, Evgeny Alexandrov, is an ode to the vivacity of natural elements. This bracelet design mirrors the feel of the rocks and the velvety moss that covers them. The succulent looking plants are fashioned with smooth surfaces, while the rock and the moss offer an enticing contrast to the tactile nature of the surfaces.
Evgeny’s work is full of luscious organic forms and the tactile textures. You can admire more of her work in her online shop.
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.
The Art of the Bracelet
March 17, 2014
Inspirational Art
I have avoided doing a week with the theme particular to a type of jewelry but we have a list of really amazing bracelets that I just can’t wait to share with you any longer. The reason I wanted to avoid a single form was because it could end up being a week of pieces that only inspire those that work in that form, but these bracelets I’m bringing you this week have surface treatments and textures that can apply to all kinds of polymer–from other forms of jewelry to decor and even sculpture. Even if you don’t create bracelets, much or not at all, look at what the pieces present in terms of techniques and combinations of characteristics. I think many of you will find exciting inspiration everyday this week.
This first bracelet is actually some of DDee Wilder’s older work but I think her combination of techniques, colors and forms still have lessons for us now. The combination of colors vibrate along with the sliced polymer spots stretching out on the inside of the bracelet emphasizing the spin of the curling, rippling form that makes this such a lively bracelet.
DDee has a whole series of these bracelets you can enjoy on her Flickr pages, but don’t stop there. She has many other lovely forms, textures and palettes to inspire you, no matter what forms you prefer to work in.
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.
Stacking layers of polymer clay can be a new way of looking at this material sculpturally as well as way to combine and reveal color. Spain’s Natalia García de Leániz (known as Tatana on Flickr) makes these chunky polymer beads by stacking the sliced clay and making bold bracelets with these large design elements.
As Nataila says, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” She works with her husband, Daniel Torres, in an “artnership” where they share ideas and yet they work in different, complementary or even opposite styles. Natalia makes all of her work in polymer clay, frequently working with textures and paint effects on clay. There are some tutorials on her website (and of CraftArtEdu) as well as a lot of additional photographs of her work. They plan to be at EuroSynergy in Malta this year, and if you want an excuse to travel to Madrid, Spain, the couple holds workshops in their studio and throughout Europe!
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.
With the 22nd Winter Olympic Games being held in Sochi, Russia right now, it seems like a perfect time turn our focus to art work from the area. Oxana Volkova, a mixed medium artist with a serious love of color living in Moscow. She calls these bracelets Color Splash 2 for what is probably an obvious reason.
The kaleidoscope of colors here works well due to the relative simplicity of the design. I know, it doesn’t appear simple but there are only the elements of texture and color being used and in a limited way. The colors and lines of texture both run across the width of the bracelet but the variation in color and the unevenness of the texture give the surface a bit of tension and energy.
Oxana loves bold, brilliant colors and likes to mix media. She mixes her mediums so expertly, it is sometimes hard to tell where one stops and the other begins. For more color and texture ideas in a variety of mediums, take a look at her Flickr photostream when you have a break today.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
I couldn’t resist a last little guessing game for this week.
When I was looking through my Pinterest boards, I found this set of beautiful, organically inspired bracelets by Armenian artist Sona Grigoryan, but I couldn’t be sure if they were ceramic or polymer. So what do think these are made of?
Sona is an Armenian living in Barcelona and she is in love with polymer clay. I think it is the antiquing color added to these bracelets that give the polymer that almost translucent porcelain look. Most of her work would not make you think of polymer straight away. Her pieces look more like to be made of bone, wood or other natural materials. Take a few minutes or more to look through her fantastical work on her Flickr pages.
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.
Have you been having fun guessing the materials this week and thinking of ways to create these beautiful pieces in polymer? Well, here is a whole array of pieces to take a guess at. We are all on our own here as the Live Journal post doesn’t list what is what or how these pieces were created. This whole post is an interesting collection of inspiration for a polymer contest that revolved around art accessories embellished with the use of texture stamps.
According to the Russian translation describing these pieces, they are made from ceramics, polymer, and/or metals. To read more about the competition and artwork submitted, take a look at the translated website. Enjoy!
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.
We’ve done non-polymer all week so I thought this Friday we’d switch that up with polymer work by an artist that doesn’t always work in polymer and if one didn’t know better, one would think she truly didn’t! Bettina Mertz’s faux polymer stones are amazing. She has a whole series of jewelry designs including bracelets, necklaces, pendants, and earrings using similarly realistic faux stone. This fall set is one of the best designs adding kinetic movement and a randomness that just adds to the organic feel of the piece.
Betinna is also intrigued by intricate bead embroidery. If she can’t find a particular bead that she wants, she makes it out of polymer clay, using this stone and other faux techniques. You can see more of her polymer and bead work on her blogspot, Mertz Bettina Schmuck Design and her Flickr pages.
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.
Carina of Austria designed these colorful beaded necklaces and bracelets made from polymer clay. Although produced lat year, they range this year’s Spring Pantone palette. The latest Pantone palatte and these pieces give a modern twist to the classic spring palette by pairing soft pastels with more saturated colors to create a colorful contrast. These pieces bring to mind a mixture of blooming wild flowers with colors that refresh and defy conventional ideas of Spring.
For artist inspiration, take a look at some of the polymer clay images on Carina’s Flickr pages. Try some of these less conventional springtime colors in your own work. Have fun!
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.
Polymer artist, Kim Otterbein, sees jewelry design as a meaningful way to express herself creatively. Her bracelets pictured here appear to be influenced by the tribal bangles made from bamboo and carved wood found in Africa and other Asian countries.
The warmth of the faux wood and the juxtaposition of the metal bands and charms add interest as well as a fun, kinetic element to the bracelets. In addition, words and prayers are written on many of her pieces in the hope of making the wearer feel a sense of peace, protection, and healing.
If you would like to see more of Kim’s work and step-by-step instructions, take a look at her website and check out her book, “Polymer Clay 101,” written in partnership with Angela Mabray. It comes with a high quality DVD to provide visual instructions.
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.
In our recent perusal of items that people are posting, commenting and otherwise bandying about online, we’ve noticed there is quite a bit of tribal influenced designs and color palettes. So this week, we thought we’d look at tribal tendencies and see how our fellow clayers are using this type source for inspiration in their work.
Liz Hall has previously put out a lot of work reminiscent of the American Southwest. (She’s from Maryland and lives in Virginia so I’m not sure how that happened.) I never really thought about it, but the southwest imagery and patterns are not so different from what we generally think of as tribal. Ancient art, whether from Africa, Australia, Europe or the Americas, tends towards natural and raw edged work, heavy with patterning in motifs particular to their area and culture. So it would not be difficult to move from the Southwestern aesthetic which draws from the Native American Indian culture to colors and patterns closer to an African influence as Liz has done here in these bangles.
These bangles are one of the final entries for the polymer clay category of the Niche awards. You can see the other entries on the Niche website. Take a look at more of Liz’s work on her own website and Etsy store.
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.
So today let’s talk bracelets. Bracelets have a consideration that necklaces and earrings do not in that they will regularly be knocked and rubbed against a wide variety of objects so they need to be durable and their surfaces need to be able to take some wear. That is probably why the three primary constructions used in polymer bracelets are a string of beads, the bangle and the cuff–good standards and well suited for showing off bead work and surface designs as well as being strong. But what other approaches can we take?
The more exciting construction designs I’ve seen combine common approaches. Below we have a modified cuff made of two halves that could be called beads since they are strung together with a band of elastic through their center. (There is a tutorial on how to make these in the July 2010 issue of Art Jewelry magazine and on AJM’s website.) So it’s a combination of cuff and bead really.
You may have recognized these bracelets as the work of Helen Breil, an amazing artist with an intensely creative yet practical approach to jewelry art. She is the author of one of the most unique how-to books for polymer, Shapes. Her sophisticated bracelets popped directly to mind when I started thinking about what we have to consider when constructing bracelets.
Bettina Welker was the other that came to mind. I introduced you to one of her more ingenious bracelet constructions in February. Bettina has quite a number of interesting and problem solving ways to build, hinge and close a bracelet in her book Polymer Clay Bracelets. If you have an interest in pushing beyond the usual with bracelets, you’ll really want to get your hands on this book.
By the way, both Helen and Bettina’s books were reviewed in our Spring issue of The Polymer Arts magazine with sample pages and titillating previews of some of the ideas inside. Get your copy at www.thepolymerarts.com.
Read More
- « Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next »
