Simply Stunning
May 19, 2019
Inspirational Art, Technique tutorials, The Polymer Arts magazine news
Tanya Mayorova
Given the choice, would you create a necklace that was easy and quick to make and was still stunning, or would you explore an unknown technique with an unknown outcome that might take hours or days? For some of you, the answer may be complicated because you like to explore and you don’t even question how long it will take or whether you will be successful because you just want to see what material can do. I get that. That’s pretty much how I approach what I do. Not that I wouldn’t mind some of my explorations being quick and easy and more often successful than not. Being challenged and failing, though, are absolutely necessary parts of creating art but that doesn’t mean that everything we make should be frustrating and difficult.
I think, by default, we all gravitate toward the easy option when given a clear-cut choice. Easy means less frustration, less room for error, and less time involved but it can also be considered a bad choice. And I’m not just talking about the creative process. For instance, you might grab a paper plate instead of one that you have to wash, or you toss your groceries in a plastic bag provided by the store rather than bringing in your own reusable one. Those examples highlight the reason for our environmental issues right now, our desire for ease and convenience being at the root of our environmental tragedies. So, yes, taking the easy route can sometimes have a negative effect that that’s not always true. There is nothing wrong with choosing the easiest route to drive home or having yoga pants and a T-shirt as your default attire when not at work. And some very easy things are actually better. Fruit and a boiled egg for breakfast is a lot easier than making pancakes and bacon and is better for you too. And when creating your polymer components, simple techniques and forms are often not only an efficient way to create and express yourself but they allow you to concentrate on composition, contrast, form, and other design elements rather than getting you wrapped up in technique.
With social media and our online access to so much artwork, I think our minds are saturated with certain ideas about what we should be creating and, because of that, we may have a hard time finding our own voice or we may have an unconscious sense of how pieces should look or be put together rather than finding a look of our own. Or we are romanced by gorgeous, complex pieces so we try to make our work more complex as well without knowing if simple elements may be very thing we need to do or say what we want.
Part of the problem comes from the idea that simple and easy means boring. But it certainly doesn’t have to be. To illustrate this, I’d like to look at beads today. In polymer jewelry, the bead is the most basic element you work with. The idea of a bead encompasses all types of forms though, from the simple round bead to complex sculpted and layered mixed-media elements. But let’s explore the more classic idea of a bead, as a single element that is repeated in some fashion in a piece of adornment and let’s see how you might create easy beads that are anything but basic and boring.
A little note … Some of you long time polymer enthusiasts out there may recognize a few of these pieces as several were widely circulated back when but, even if you’ve seen these before, look at them with new eyes and see if some familiar techniques but unused techniques aren’t worth a revisit now. You’ll approach them differently than you did 5 or 10 years ago, and you never know what serendipitous discovery might be unearthed.
Beads Beyond the Basic
Round beads are, of course, the most common bead form and are a classic that are always great for showing off canes, color, and surface design. Still, round beads can get pretty complicated, one, because it can be difficult to make them perfectly round, and secondly, because to keep them from being boring often leads us to add complexity in the color scheme or how the surface is treated. But what if you took your round bead and just worked on the form? Go ahead … grab some clay, make a rough round bead, and then start messing with the form. Pinch it, press it, pull it, or roll it into a variation on a round bead or cure and carve it.
Genevieve Williamson started out with a round bead to create these side textured chunky disks. Just look at the variation here plus I bet you can think up a few other ways to quickly and easily change them up with different clays, inclusions, or texturing of the sides.
Tube beads can be a tad tricky, primarily when it comes to creating the hole for stringing them. An extruder with a core adapter makes the job much easier but you can also create easy, attractive, and unique tube beads from any surface treated clay sheet simply by wrapping a strip around a tube of your choosing. Here’s a whole selection by Tonya Mayorova who went really wide with her bead openings. As you can see, all kind of surface treatments adapt well to these wide tube beads, from mosaics like you see on the bottom of the stack, to carved, impressed, mokume gane, and seed bead wrapped. The beads here are all similar in width but she uses the same approach with skinnier varieties such as in the necklace that opens this post.
Tanya doesn’t have a tutorial posted for this, but I can help you with that:
- Pick a favorite surface treatment to create a sheet of clay with and then wrap the sheet around anything that can go in the oven. I keep a few pieces of aluminum and copper tubing for just such projects. Make sure the pieces are straight and have unobstructed lengths so beads can slide off after curing.
- Wrap the clay around the tube until the clay sheet overlaps then cut down through the length of the overlapping clay and then remove the excess clay.
- Carefully blend the seam where the ends meet.
- If the clay sheet has a smooth and even surface, you can lay it on the worksurface and, using a tissue blade, let it roll crosswise under the blade ‘s edge to cut each individual bead cut. Then just cure the stack as is.
- Alternately, you can cure just after you blend the seam then cut the beads off it with a craft knife or slide it off the rod and use a jeweler’s saw to cut your beads.
- You can string your tubes on multiple strands of stringing materials such as cording or leather thongs, a selection of various colored embroidery thread, colored Tigers tail, ribbon, etc.
Tanya has even more variations of this idea ready for your perusal on her Flickr photostream here. She also recently agreed to create a feature tutorial for Issue #3 of The Polymer Studio so be sure to subscribe or keep up your subscription to the magazine to get that beautiful project.
The beads below also require just a sheet of treated clay. These are similar to a popular paper bead technique you may have seen as well. They start with a sheet cut into narrow, long triangles that are then rolled up, starting with the wide end so that each overlap leaves part of the surface of the lower layer visible. It works with any sheet of polymer, treated or untreated, textured or not.
I love how Margit Bohmer keeps the triangles, created from a mokume gane sheet, really narrow so that the beads are nearly as big in diameter as they are wide. There is still plenty of surface showing but they blend into each other because the narrow bead doesn’t angle away as much at the point where they touch. As you likely already know, the longer the bead, the more space you’ll see between the bottom edges of the bead ends. These rolled up beads are also angled on their ends which can make them sit askew but the shallower the angle (like on these narrower beads) the more neatly they line up.
Margit has created the longer beads as well so you can compare them here or just look through her Flickr photostream to see what you like better. And if you want a full polymer tutorial on these types of beads, check out Emma Ralph’s classic tutorial here.
Another, maybe even easier, way to use sheeted clay for beads is to just roll up flat sections of clay without overlapping, in a loose, freeform way. This works really nicely with an organic treatment or texture. Just look at how lovely these wrapped textured beads are. They are simply flat sections of polymer impressed on a handmade texture plate and curled up on an angle.
These are created by Rebekah Payne who generously posted a tutorial here on how to make them.
A similar concept can be employed with snakes of clay. Just roll out or extrude lengths of solid, marbled, mica shift (see this post from earlier this month) or striped polymer and then wrap the strands up on a skewer, long thin knitting needle, or other thin rod and cure. You’ll end up with coiled beads like these created by Emma Todd, below..
You can also roll the beads, after wrapping them up, back and forth under an acrylic block or other small tile to level the strands, creating a smooth bead surface. Don’t use the rod to roll the bead as it will act like a rolling pin on the inside of it and widen the stringing hole. Unless you want that. You can also take them off the rod and gently press their length between thumb and forefinger to compress the coils a bit more and make flat ended cylindrical beads.
The interior of clay beads have a lot of hidden potential too, and they can so easily and quickly be revealed by just cutting them open. Here is my all-time favorite example of creating stunning beads by cutting the form. These fabulous beads are by Desiree McCrorey. Click the image to see her tutorial for this. Be sure to check out the beads she makes from the cut scraps at the end too!
Not only can you create simple yet complex looking beads by cutting stacks, you can use this technique with old canes as well. See Desiree’s tutorial for the same beads using canes here. And look around the site for other great tutorials. These are all older tutorials, but timeless techniques.
Beads Away!
The examples above are all easy to make, don’t take much time, and allow for your own take on composition, contrast, texturing, etc. So, I would like to suggest that you pick a couple you like and see if you can sneak in sometime today or this coming week to try them out to see which, if any, simple but expressive beads suit you.
There are also some publications you might want to check out if you are on a bead making bender or feel you will be after all this.
- My favorite polymer bead book is Carol Blackburn’s Making Polymer Clay Beads. There are beads for all levels of clayers and lots of jumping off points for those who like to explore.
- Although these get a bit more complex, the beads in Grant Diffendaffer’s book, Polymer Clay Beads are just stunning and there are so many tips in this book.
- If you really just want to try some new surface treatments or get other ideas for changing up your own bead ideas, Marie Segal’s, The Polymer Clay Artist’s Guide, is such a thorough exploration of techniques. It’s my go to book for creative brainstorming on polymer treatments.
- Of course, there are tons of ideas in The Polymer Studio and, especially for the more exploratory folks, in the back issues of The Polymer Arts. Grab a few of these in print or digital and let serendipity lead you into new creative territory. By the way, about 65% of The Polymer Arts issues are still available in print but quite a few are about to sell out completely so if you like your material in print, snatch them up while I still have them.
- For further inspiration in the form of eye-candy, pick up your copy of Polymer Journeys 2016 and/or 2019. Both are just brimming with ideas of all kinds. If you need a copy, get them on the website here.
Holes
Our foreman, standing guard at the pit to our main drain line in our front yard … there’s another guy down there!
For those of you mildly entertained by the situation here at Tenth Muse central, all I have to report is, well, holes. I counted 8 points of egress big enough for the entry of adventurous birds or, in 2 cases, an adventurous racoon, thanks to the workers punching through our walls for new plumbing and a new electrical panel. Its kind of unnerving to stand in the middle of one’s house and see so many wide-open entries into the space.
There are also some deep holes! The nearly 3 foot deep hole in the master bath is big enough for a couple suitcases of cash (like I have enough cash even in single dollar bills to fill a couple suitcases, not after all this work!) but the 7 foot deep one in the front yard is ready for hiding bodies. Or maybe just my entire stash of failed art projects. That craziness has us now investigating xeriscaping and ground cover plants because between the trench and the well at the end of it (and all the dug up soil covering the area around it), that grass ain’t coming back. It didn’t grow well there anyways. So now we are plant shopping. I never much liked shopping before (unless if was for art materials!) but, man, am I getting burned out on that particular activity. The shopping part, not the plants. I’ve been enjoying my plants, with all the spring flowers in bloom. The garden has been my escape from all the chaos and noise!
However, in all this, I have managed to clear up the studio table and started working on new stuff! It’s amazing what can happen when you don’t have distracting chores like housecleaning (although I miss having a house to clean!) Keep an eye on my personal Instagram page for new pieces and, hopefully, new poetry to accompany it. Find me @thesagearts
Now off to enjoy a rare cool and rainy Sunday. I hope you have a beautiful Sunday to relax in and a great week ahead!
Man-made Handmade
March 3, 2019
Inspirational Art, Polymer community news, The Polymer Arts magazine news
Have you noticed that most people who work in polymer will cite nature as their primary inspiration? Do you, or would you, too? But isn’t it ironic that, as inspired as we are by nature, we work with a wholly man-made material? I’ve been thinking about this because, as I polished up the Polymer Journeys 2019 book, I was making notes on some of the trends and I noticed that all but three people who cited their inspiration said they were inspired by nature. It got me to thinking about why we aren’t more inspired by the man-made world, as rich and diverse as it is.
My curiosity piqued, I did some research and made more notes to see if, for one, my perception was correct in that polymer artists look to nature more than anything and, secondly, to see what things other than nature inspire people. So, the observations that inspiration from nature is predominant in polymer art was upheld by all I looked through. I also found it interesting that, when it boils down to it, nearly everything in almost all art forms looks to be inspired by nature or by man-made styles and designs that themselves were inspired by nature. To see examples of where nature is inspiration for man-made design, just take a look at styles such as Baroque or Art Deco. Flowers, trees, leaves, vines, butterflies, birds, and a myriad of other natural flora and fauna are evident sources of inspiration in the forms and lines of those styles. We might be inspired by the designs of that age but the inspiration is still rooted in nature.
However, I did my best to find pieces that were inspired by man-made objects, scenes, or styles. Let me tell you, it was not terribly easy but just because it is less often turned to does not mean it doesn’t have wonderful forms, colors, motifs, and textures for all of us. Let’s take a look at some of the work created by polymer artists who are inspired by the man-made.
A Gallery of Man-made Inspiration
One of the first people who came to mind when thinking about man-made inspiration was Cornelia Brockstedt. She has had several series such as “Street Life” and her “City” bangles. She also did a series of what she called “graphical studies” in 2015. So I went to her Flickr photo stream to find something to share with you and it struck me that, even with the graphical tendencies and inspiration taken from city life, there is so much organic that shows up in her work. This tended to be true with a lot of artists. This pendant, one of my favorite pieces of hers, was inspired by sidewalks and the grass that grows up from around it. So it was inspired by man-made walkways but with contrast in the nature that is still sneaking in.
Another artist who came to mind, even before I started my search, was Sona Grigoryan. She did a lovely series of polymer and resin pieces inspired by the Barcelona cathedrals and stained-glass windows she sees where she lives.
And of course, we have to consider the work of the Georg Dinkel who is inspired by architecture and machinery to the extent that even when he decides to create some creatures, they too look mechanical. He is also, apparently, inspired by literature and humor, as this Don Quixote scene he set up with two of his mechanized creatures hints at.
And, when talking mechanical, we certainly can’t ignore the influence of the mechanical from movements like steampunk. From jewelry to sculpture to journals and phone cases, this style is everywhere but it’s hard to say whether polymer found steampunk or steampunk found polymer first. The steampunk monster heart that opened this post is a sculpture by Kimberly Hart who posts under MonsterKookies on Etsy.
Carol Blackburn, whose work is so colorful and graphic, often cites fashion styles and movements as her source of inspiration. I think these fall under her “Missoni” fashion inspired line.
Another artist who seems quite enamored of fabric but also of metal and other man-made textures is Nikolina Otrzan. Mostly, she’s just a texture fiend but you’ll notice that her textures generally have a certain uniformity to them that automatically makes them feel that they would be man-made in origin, whether they were intended to or not. Even her shapes, like these tube pieces, reflect a penchant for uniformity that is beautifully balanced with her choice of rough or edge softening surface treatments.
So has this got you pondering the possibilities of man-made forms and textures as a source of inspiration for you? I know I’ve been looking at the shapes in my house, the walls in the neighborhood, and the forms on the buildings I pass with new eyes.
Going for Man-made
Freebies
If you want to try a few man-made inspired textures or forms, there are quite a few out there although the quick and free were a bit more scarce. Nonetheless, here are a few pages with related free tutorials. You’ll want to pop the last two URLs into Google translate if it doesn’t automatically translate for you:
- Faux ceramics tutorial.
- Faux Peruvian fabric.
- There are actually a lot of steampunk tuts you can find with any search but here is a fun Steampunk Seahorse.
Tutorial Shops
Your best sources of tutorial with man-made inspiration are going to cost a couple of bucks, but are well worth it. Here are some of my favorite shops for this:
- Anything from Nikolina Otrzan‘s shop is just fabulous.
- Angela Barenholtz has beautiful fabric techniques to share.
- If you really just want to get more graphical, you can’t beat tutorials from Bettina Welker.
A Bit o’ News
And now for a few tidbits about things going on in the polymer community you might want to know about:
Vote for the 2018 International Polymer Clay Awards!
The International Polymer Clay Association member voting is now open through March 8. Active members should have received an email with a link for your ballot. If your membership has expired please renew at www.theipca.org before March 8, 2019 so that you may vote for your favorites.
Dan Cormier and Tracy Holmes Online Courses
Dan and Tracy have recently announced the lineup for their 2019 online Master Classes. Check out the present information and sign up for future announcements on their website here.
Polymer Journeys 2019 has been released!
- Our latest publication, the second installment of the Polymer Journeys retrospective series was released this morning in digital format for those who purchased early or otherwise supported the project. (It was noon PST time if you need to search your inbox or your spam folder if not there.)
- Print Pre-orders (ordered prior to Feb 27th) will go into the mail a little later than we had hoped but will be shipped directly from the printer on March 6. Our shipment should be our doorstep March 8, so newer orders will ship out as soon as we have them in our hot little hands. Buy yours here if you haven’t yet. (We’ve already sold half our print run so don’t wait too long!)
- BOGO Half Off! We’ve added special package pricing for the new book … Purchase both the 2016 and 2019 edition of Polymer Journeys with half off the 2016 book, or get both the print and digital edition of the new 2019 book with half off the digital. No promo code needed. Packages available here when you click on the Polymer Journeys book cover here.
- The Polymer Arts Collection on sale for HALF off! Purchases the whole collection of The Polymer Arts and get HALF off the entire package – all 29 Digital issues or the 23 Print issues we still have available. If you want to collect them, now would be the time!
Until next week, have an inspired and creative Sunday and upcoming week!
Jazzy Inspiration
October 5, 2018
Inspirational Art
There’s nothing like ending the week with a brilliant splash of vibrant color and pattern, don’t you think? Well, that was my thought when I came across these vessels by Carol Blackburn. The color palette and some of the patterning is familiar from other examples of her work as are the contained and immaculately finished surfaces. However, the denser patterns feel new, creating an undeniable, dancing energy. The solid color of the lids creates a kind of anchoring rest area for the eye, sitting very heavily on the top, making the vibrant energy feel held in place and contained.
Although she actually created forms like this a couple of years ago, I think it’s a combination of these forms with this intensely active pattern that made them jump off the page to me. She calls the pattern “Jazzy Missoni”, a reference to the Missoni fashion house and its heavily patterned and colorful knitwear. The patterning is reminiscent of the textiles from that design house but she has taken it another step, echoing even the movement of the lighter knitwear and the layers that are often associated with their designs. I found this to be a wonderful interpretation of what is obviously inspiration from a designer in another material.
Carol has a variety of these patterns and the vessels posted on her Flickr photostream and website. Go ahead and take a stroll through them as way to jumpstart a colorful weekend.
A Fitting Start
January 5, 2017
Inspirational Art
At first I couldn’t figure out what Carol Blackburn had done here and could only stare at this in wonderment. But then, I was looking at the image on my phone as Randee Ketzel had forwarded it to me and I have to immediately check out anything Randee sends my way. On closer examination (and on a full size computer screen), I realized that these are sheets of Skinner blended clay fitted together using interlocking tabs. Carol refers to them as Dodecahedra and mentions in the thread of comments on her Facebook page that she plans to make earrings out of them so I guess they aren’t too big. I sure would love to see them in person. It’s her color combinations that really make these work with all cool or all warm colors on each one, making the variety of color relate.
Carol does like to play with sheets of clay, much like paper and in ways related to paper art but the durability and embedded color add an aspect you just can’t get in paper. You can see what I mean by jumping over to her website. If you are on Facebook, jump over to Carol’s page and check out the comments and conversation.
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Repeating Wave
February 25, 2015
Inspirational Art
Gradient color, as well as repetition, seems to be the theme this week. Carol Blackburn has created lovely examples of both in her interlocked strips designs. You have likely seen at least her earrings in this style which are one dangling bead of these repeated strips wrapping around and overlapping at the ends. She calls them shell earrings. But, they become something different when repeated over and over.
Take that repetition of overlapping strips in the bead element and repeat the bead. Repetition within repetition, aided by gradient color, makes for a wave of movement smoothly running from one end to the other in these pieces. She calls these her Moebius necklaces; no longer a single static object but actually off into the often unfathomable realm of mathematics. The mobius strip (also moebius strip) is said to have one side and one edge, but because it has been twisted in the middle, so that when the ends are attached, what we would have called ‘the back side’ of the strip now meets the front side. Yeah, I know. Its a little mind-boggling even when you see an image of it. How Carol brings all her strips together to wave so smoothly like this is also a mystery. This is what is so wonderful about art. When the ideas behind it start to hurt your brain, you can always just admire the beauty. The beauty here is something we can all understand.
Much more and less mind boggling art by Carol can be found on her website. And, if it isn’t already, be sure that her classic book Making Polymer Clay Beads (printed in several editions including French, German and Italian) is on your book shelf for regular references. The wealth of techniques and ideas is amazing with beads for beginner to advanced. I think it’s one of the best polymer books out there.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
A Point for Hanging
June 19, 2014
Inspirational Art
Our little surprise today is an ingenious method of hanging a pendant that can also be worn as a pin when removed. The device is so simple–a bead is threaded through a hole in the large domed bead, hanging securely against very much like a toggle closure. It is really no surprise that Carol Blackburn would come up with something of this kind. Interesting and inventive closures is one of her signatures as is her creative beads–she did write the book on it. (Do get yourself a copy of Making Polymer Clay Beads if you don’t have one already.)
On top of the book Carol is also an instructor for CraftArtEdu where she even has a class featuring this pin and pendant design. Get the class here to learn how to make this and take a moment to look at what else she has to offer 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.
Blended Ikat
April 16, 2014
Inspirational Art
As we look at polymer clay inspired by fabrics, this necklace by Eva Haskova, from the Czech Republic, looks much like woven ikat cloth. If you are not familiar with ikat, it is a dyeing technique that uses a resist dyeing process to pattern textiles. This style of tie-dye originated in Indonesia, and because of the difficulty involved in weaving ikat, some cultures believe the fabrics contain magical powers. Notice on the pendant how the texture resembles fabric that has been bound by threads during the dyeing process. The clarity of pattern in this piece is reminiscent of weft ikat weavings, giving it a contemporary yet ethnic design motif.
Eva developed her polymer skills with the help of Donna Kato, Carol Blackburn, and Leslie Blackford. She likes to work with natural materials, wire, and ceramic clay, as well as sewing and hand printing textiles. To see more of her work, visit her Flickr site or 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.
Spiraling Color
October 24, 2012
Inspirational Art
Movement in art is often times instilled with the use of lines just as they are in the earrings below by Carol Blackburn. But along with the lines, there is also a feeling of movement due to color changes.
The movement is not just from a cool blue to a warm brown but there is also a sense that time is working its way up the spirals from the tip, much like the browning edges of leaves to the clinging brights of a deep sky that has not given into to the change. It’s an interesting and intriguing color combination that emphasizes the active lines of the spiral polymer strips.
If you find the form of these pieces intriguing as well, Carol just released her class on these Shell Earrings on CraftArtEdu.com. Perhaps its time to try arranging your own spiraling colors.
Tanya Mayorova
Given the choice, would you create a necklace that was easy and quick to make and was still stunning, or would you explore an unknown technique with an unknown outcome that might take hours or days? For some of you, the answer may be complicated because you like to explore and you don’t even question how long it will take or whether you will be successful because you just want to see what material can do. I get that. That’s pretty much how I approach what I do. Not that I wouldn’t mind some of my explorations being quick and easy and more often successful than not. Being challenged and failing, though, are absolutely necessary parts of creating art but that doesn’t mean that everything we make should be frustrating and difficult.
I think, by default, we all gravitate toward the easy option when given a clear-cut choice. Easy means less frustration, less room for error, and less time involved but it can also be considered a bad choice. And I’m not just talking about the creative process. For instance, you might grab a paper plate instead of one that you have to wash, or you toss your groceries in a plastic bag provided by the store rather than bringing in your own reusable one. Those examples highlight the reason for our environmental issues right now, our desire for ease and convenience being at the root of our environmental tragedies. So, yes, taking the easy route can sometimes have a negative effect that that’s not always true. There is nothing wrong with choosing the easiest route to drive home or having yoga pants and a T-shirt as your default attire when not at work. And some very easy things are actually better. Fruit and a boiled egg for breakfast is a lot easier than making pancakes and bacon and is better for you too. And when creating your polymer components, simple techniques and forms are often not only an efficient way to create and express yourself but they allow you to concentrate on composition, contrast, form, and other design elements rather than getting you wrapped up in technique.
With social media and our online access to so much artwork, I think our minds are saturated with certain ideas about what we should be creating and, because of that, we may have a hard time finding our own voice or we may have an unconscious sense of how pieces should look or be put together rather than finding a look of our own. Or we are romanced by gorgeous, complex pieces so we try to make our work more complex as well without knowing if simple elements may be very thing we need to do or say what we want.
Part of the problem comes from the idea that simple and easy means boring. But it certainly doesn’t have to be. To illustrate this, I’d like to look at beads today. In polymer jewelry, the bead is the most basic element you work with. The idea of a bead encompasses all types of forms though, from the simple round bead to complex sculpted and layered mixed-media elements. But let’s explore the more classic idea of a bead, as a single element that is repeated in some fashion in a piece of adornment and let’s see how you might create easy beads that are anything but basic and boring.
A little note … Some of you long time polymer enthusiasts out there may recognize a few of these pieces as several were widely circulated back when but, even if you’ve seen these before, look at them with new eyes and see if some familiar techniques but unused techniques aren’t worth a revisit now. You’ll approach them differently than you did 5 or 10 years ago, and you never know what serendipitous discovery might be unearthed.
Beads Beyond the Basic
Round beads are, of course, the most common bead form and are a classic that are always great for showing off canes, color, and surface design. Still, round beads can get pretty complicated, one, because it can be difficult to make them perfectly round, and secondly, because to keep them from being boring often leads us to add complexity in the color scheme or how the surface is treated. But what if you took your round bead and just worked on the form? Go ahead … grab some clay, make a rough round bead, and then start messing with the form. Pinch it, press it, pull it, or roll it into a variation on a round bead or cure and carve it.
Genevieve Williamson started out with a round bead to create these side textured chunky disks. Just look at the variation here plus I bet you can think up a few other ways to quickly and easily change them up with different clays, inclusions, or texturing of the sides.
Tube beads can be a tad tricky, primarily when it comes to creating the hole for stringing them. An extruder with a core adapter makes the job much easier but you can also create easy, attractive, and unique tube beads from any surface treated clay sheet simply by wrapping a strip around a tube of your choosing. Here’s a whole selection by Tonya Mayorova who went really wide with her bead openings. As you can see, all kind of surface treatments adapt well to these wide tube beads, from mosaics like you see on the bottom of the stack, to carved, impressed, mokume gane, and seed bead wrapped. The beads here are all similar in width but she uses the same approach with skinnier varieties such as in the necklace that opens this post.
Tanya doesn’t have a tutorial posted for this, but I can help you with that:
- Pick a favorite surface treatment to create a sheet of clay with and then wrap the sheet around anything that can go in the oven. I keep a few pieces of aluminum and copper tubing for just such projects. Make sure the pieces are straight and have unobstructed lengths so beads can slide off after curing.
- Wrap the clay around the tube until the clay sheet overlaps then cut down through the length of the overlapping clay and then remove the excess clay.
- Carefully blend the seam where the ends meet.
- If the clay sheet has a smooth and even surface, you can lay it on the worksurface and, using a tissue blade, let it roll crosswise under the blade ‘s edge to cut each individual bead cut. Then just cure the stack as is.
- Alternately, you can cure just after you blend the seam then cut the beads off it with a craft knife or slide it off the rod and use a jeweler’s saw to cut your beads.
- You can string your tubes on multiple strands of stringing materials such as cording or leather thongs, a selection of various colored embroidery thread, colored Tigers tail, ribbon, etc.
Tanya has even more variations of this idea ready for your perusal on her Flickr photostream here. She also recently agreed to create a feature tutorial for Issue #3 of The Polymer Studio so be sure to subscribe or keep up your subscription to the magazine to get that beautiful project.
The beads below also require just a sheet of treated clay. These are similar to a popular paper bead technique you may have seen as well. They start with a sheet cut into narrow, long triangles that are then rolled up, starting with the wide end so that each overlap leaves part of the surface of the lower layer visible. It works with any sheet of polymer, treated or untreated, textured or not.
I love how Margit Bohmer keeps the triangles, created from a mokume gane sheet, really narrow so that the beads are nearly as big in diameter as they are wide. There is still plenty of surface showing but they blend into each other because the narrow bead doesn’t angle away as much at the point where they touch. As you likely already know, the longer the bead, the more space you’ll see between the bottom edges of the bead ends. These rolled up beads are also angled on their ends which can make them sit askew but the shallower the angle (like on these narrower beads) the more neatly they line up.
Margit has created the longer beads as well so you can compare them here or just look through her Flickr photostream to see what you like better. And if you want a full polymer tutorial on these types of beads, check out Emma Ralph’s classic tutorial here.
Another, maybe even easier, way to use sheeted clay for beads is to just roll up flat sections of clay without overlapping, in a loose, freeform way. This works really nicely with an organic treatment or texture. Just look at how lovely these wrapped textured beads are. They are simply flat sections of polymer impressed on a handmade texture plate and curled up on an angle.
These are created by Rebekah Payne who generously posted a tutorial here on how to make them.
A similar concept can be employed with snakes of clay. Just roll out or extrude lengths of solid, marbled, mica shift (see this post from earlier this month) or striped polymer and then wrap the strands up on a skewer, long thin knitting needle, or other thin rod and cure. You’ll end up with coiled beads like these created by Emma Todd, below..
You can also roll the beads, after wrapping them up, back and forth under an acrylic block or other small tile to level the strands, creating a smooth bead surface. Don’t use the rod to roll the bead as it will act like a rolling pin on the inside of it and widen the stringing hole. Unless you want that. You can also take them off the rod and gently press their length between thumb and forefinger to compress the coils a bit more and make flat ended cylindrical beads.
The interior of clay beads have a lot of hidden potential too, and they can so easily and quickly be revealed by just cutting them open. Here is my all-time favorite example of creating stunning beads by cutting the form. These fabulous beads are by Desiree McCrorey. Click the image to see her tutorial for this. Be sure to check out the beads she makes from the cut scraps at the end too!
Not only can you create simple yet complex looking beads by cutting stacks, you can use this technique with old canes as well. See Desiree’s tutorial for the same beads using canes here. And look around the site for other great tutorials. These are all older tutorials, but timeless techniques.
Beads Away!
The examples above are all easy to make, don’t take much time, and allow for your own take on composition, contrast, texturing, etc. So, I would like to suggest that you pick a couple you like and see if you can sneak in sometime today or this coming week to try them out to see which, if any, simple but expressive beads suit you.
There are also some publications you might want to check out if you are on a bead making bender or feel you will be after all this.
- My favorite polymer bead book is Carol Blackburn’s Making Polymer Clay Beads. There are beads for all levels of clayers and lots of jumping off points for those who like to explore.
- Although these get a bit more complex, the beads in Grant Diffendaffer’s book, Polymer Clay Beads are just stunning and there are so many tips in this book.
- If you really just want to try some new surface treatments or get other ideas for changing up your own bead ideas, Marie Segal’s, The Polymer Clay Artist’s Guide, is such a thorough exploration of techniques. It’s my go to book for creative brainstorming on polymer treatments.
- Of course, there are tons of ideas in The Polymer Studio and, especially for the more exploratory folks, in the back issues of The Polymer Arts. Grab a few of these in print or digital and let serendipity lead you into new creative territory. By the way, about 65% of The Polymer Arts issues are still available in print but quite a few are about to sell out completely so if you like your material in print, snatch them up while I still have them.
- For further inspiration in the form of eye-candy, pick up your copy of Polymer Journeys 2016 and/or 2019. Both are just brimming with ideas of all kinds. If you need a copy, get them on the website here.
Holes
Our foreman, standing guard at the pit to our main drain line in our front yard … there’s another guy down there!
For those of you mildly entertained by the situation here at Tenth Muse central, all I have to report is, well, holes. I counted 8 points of egress big enough for the entry of adventurous birds or, in 2 cases, an adventurous racoon, thanks to the workers punching through our walls for new plumbing and a new electrical panel. Its kind of unnerving to stand in the middle of one’s house and see so many wide-open entries into the space.
There are also some deep holes! The nearly 3 foot deep hole in the master bath is big enough for a couple suitcases of cash (like I have enough cash even in single dollar bills to fill a couple suitcases, not after all this work!) but the 7 foot deep one in the front yard is ready for hiding bodies. Or maybe just my entire stash of failed art projects. That craziness has us now investigating xeriscaping and ground cover plants because between the trench and the well at the end of it (and all the dug up soil covering the area around it), that grass ain’t coming back. It didn’t grow well there anyways. So now we are plant shopping. I never much liked shopping before (unless if was for art materials!) but, man, am I getting burned out on that particular activity. The shopping part, not the plants. I’ve been enjoying my plants, with all the spring flowers in bloom. The garden has been my escape from all the chaos and noise!
However, in all this, I have managed to clear up the studio table and started working on new stuff! It’s amazing what can happen when you don’t have distracting chores like housecleaning (although I miss having a house to clean!) Keep an eye on my personal Instagram page for new pieces and, hopefully, new poetry to accompany it. Find me @thesagearts
Now off to enjoy a rare cool and rainy Sunday. I hope you have a beautiful Sunday to relax in and a great week ahead!
Read More Have you noticed that most people who work in polymer will cite nature as their primary inspiration? Do you, or would you, too? But isn’t it ironic that, as inspired as we are by nature, we work with a wholly man-made material? I’ve been thinking about this because, as I polished up the Polymer Journeys 2019 book, I was making notes on some of the trends and I noticed that all but three people who cited their inspiration said they were inspired by nature. It got me to thinking about why we aren’t more inspired by the man-made world, as rich and diverse as it is.
My curiosity piqued, I did some research and made more notes to see if, for one, my perception was correct in that polymer artists look to nature more than anything and, secondly, to see what things other than nature inspire people. So, the observations that inspiration from nature is predominant in polymer art was upheld by all I looked through. I also found it interesting that, when it boils down to it, nearly everything in almost all art forms looks to be inspired by nature or by man-made styles and designs that themselves were inspired by nature. To see examples of where nature is inspiration for man-made design, just take a look at styles such as Baroque or Art Deco. Flowers, trees, leaves, vines, butterflies, birds, and a myriad of other natural flora and fauna are evident sources of inspiration in the forms and lines of those styles. We might be inspired by the designs of that age but the inspiration is still rooted in nature.
However, I did my best to find pieces that were inspired by man-made objects, scenes, or styles. Let me tell you, it was not terribly easy but just because it is less often turned to does not mean it doesn’t have wonderful forms, colors, motifs, and textures for all of us. Let’s take a look at some of the work created by polymer artists who are inspired by the man-made.
A Gallery of Man-made Inspiration
One of the first people who came to mind when thinking about man-made inspiration was Cornelia Brockstedt. She has had several series such as “Street Life” and her “City” bangles. She also did a series of what she called “graphical studies” in 2015. So I went to her Flickr photo stream to find something to share with you and it struck me that, even with the graphical tendencies and inspiration taken from city life, there is so much organic that shows up in her work. This tended to be true with a lot of artists. This pendant, one of my favorite pieces of hers, was inspired by sidewalks and the grass that grows up from around it. So it was inspired by man-made walkways but with contrast in the nature that is still sneaking in.
Another artist who came to mind, even before I started my search, was Sona Grigoryan. She did a lovely series of polymer and resin pieces inspired by the Barcelona cathedrals and stained-glass windows she sees where she lives.
And of course, we have to consider the work of the Georg Dinkel who is inspired by architecture and machinery to the extent that even when he decides to create some creatures, they too look mechanical. He is also, apparently, inspired by literature and humor, as this Don Quixote scene he set up with two of his mechanized creatures hints at.
And, when talking mechanical, we certainly can’t ignore the influence of the mechanical from movements like steampunk. From jewelry to sculpture to journals and phone cases, this style is everywhere but it’s hard to say whether polymer found steampunk or steampunk found polymer first. The steampunk monster heart that opened this post is a sculpture by Kimberly Hart who posts under MonsterKookies on Etsy.
Carol Blackburn, whose work is so colorful and graphic, often cites fashion styles and movements as her source of inspiration. I think these fall under her “Missoni” fashion inspired line.
Another artist who seems quite enamored of fabric but also of metal and other man-made textures is Nikolina Otrzan. Mostly, she’s just a texture fiend but you’ll notice that her textures generally have a certain uniformity to them that automatically makes them feel that they would be man-made in origin, whether they were intended to or not. Even her shapes, like these tube pieces, reflect a penchant for uniformity that is beautifully balanced with her choice of rough or edge softening surface treatments.
So has this got you pondering the possibilities of man-made forms and textures as a source of inspiration for you? I know I’ve been looking at the shapes in my house, the walls in the neighborhood, and the forms on the buildings I pass with new eyes.
Going for Man-made
Freebies
If you want to try a few man-made inspired textures or forms, there are quite a few out there although the quick and free were a bit more scarce. Nonetheless, here are a few pages with related free tutorials. You’ll want to pop the last two URLs into Google translate if it doesn’t automatically translate for you:
- Faux ceramics tutorial.
- Faux Peruvian fabric.
- There are actually a lot of steampunk tuts you can find with any search but here is a fun Steampunk Seahorse.
Tutorial Shops
Your best sources of tutorial with man-made inspiration are going to cost a couple of bucks, but are well worth it. Here are some of my favorite shops for this:
- Anything from Nikolina Otrzan‘s shop is just fabulous.
- Angela Barenholtz has beautiful fabric techniques to share.
- If you really just want to get more graphical, you can’t beat tutorials from Bettina Welker.
A Bit o’ News
And now for a few tidbits about things going on in the polymer community you might want to know about:
Vote for the 2018 International Polymer Clay Awards!
The International Polymer Clay Association member voting is now open through March 8. Active members should have received an email with a link for your ballot. If your membership has expired please renew at www.theipca.org before March 8, 2019 so that you may vote for your favorites.
Dan Cormier and Tracy Holmes Online Courses
Dan and Tracy have recently announced the lineup for their 2019 online Master Classes. Check out the present information and sign up for future announcements on their website here.
Polymer Journeys 2019 has been released!
- Our latest publication, the second installment of the Polymer Journeys retrospective series was released this morning in digital format for those who purchased early or otherwise supported the project. (It was noon PST time if you need to search your inbox or your spam folder if not there.)
- Print Pre-orders (ordered prior to Feb 27th) will go into the mail a little later than we had hoped but will be shipped directly from the printer on March 6. Our shipment should be our doorstep March 8, so newer orders will ship out as soon as we have them in our hot little hands. Buy yours here if you haven’t yet. (We’ve already sold half our print run so don’t wait too long!)
- BOGO Half Off! We’ve added special package pricing for the new book … Purchase both the 2016 and 2019 edition of Polymer Journeys with half off the 2016 book, or get both the print and digital edition of the new 2019 book with half off the digital. No promo code needed. Packages available here when you click on the Polymer Journeys book cover here.
- The Polymer Arts Collection on sale for HALF off! Purchases the whole collection of The Polymer Arts and get HALF off the entire package – all 29 Digital issues or the 23 Print issues we still have available. If you want to collect them, now would be the time!
Until next week, have an inspired and creative Sunday and upcoming week!
Read MoreThere’s nothing like ending the week with a brilliant splash of vibrant color and pattern, don’t you think? Well, that was my thought when I came across these vessels by Carol Blackburn. The color palette and some of the patterning is familiar from other examples of her work as are the contained and immaculately finished surfaces. However, the denser patterns feel new, creating an undeniable, dancing energy. The solid color of the lids creates a kind of anchoring rest area for the eye, sitting very heavily on the top, making the vibrant energy feel held in place and contained.
Although she actually created forms like this a couple of years ago, I think it’s a combination of these forms with this intensely active pattern that made them jump off the page to me. She calls the pattern “Jazzy Missoni”, a reference to the Missoni fashion house and its heavily patterned and colorful knitwear. The patterning is reminiscent of the textiles from that design house but she has taken it another step, echoing even the movement of the lighter knitwear and the layers that are often associated with their designs. I found this to be a wonderful interpretation of what is obviously inspiration from a designer in another material.
Carol has a variety of these patterns and the vessels posted on her Flickr photostream and website. Go ahead and take a stroll through them as way to jumpstart a colorful weekend.
Read MoreAt first I couldn’t figure out what Carol Blackburn had done here and could only stare at this in wonderment. But then, I was looking at the image on my phone as Randee Ketzel had forwarded it to me and I have to immediately check out anything Randee sends my way. On closer examination (and on a full size computer screen), I realized that these are sheets of Skinner blended clay fitted together using interlocking tabs. Carol refers to them as Dodecahedra and mentions in the thread of comments on her Facebook page that she plans to make earrings out of them so I guess they aren’t too big. I sure would love to see them in person. It’s her color combinations that really make these work with all cool or all warm colors on each one, making the variety of color relate.
Carol does like to play with sheets of clay, much like paper and in ways related to paper art but the durability and embedded color add an aspect you just can’t get in paper. You can see what I mean by jumping over to her website. If you are on Facebook, jump over to Carol’s page and check out the comments and conversation.
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Read MoreGradient color, as well as repetition, seems to be the theme this week. Carol Blackburn has created lovely examples of both in her interlocked strips designs. You have likely seen at least her earrings in this style which are one dangling bead of these repeated strips wrapping around and overlapping at the ends. She calls them shell earrings. But, they become something different when repeated over and over.
Take that repetition of overlapping strips in the bead element and repeat the bead. Repetition within repetition, aided by gradient color, makes for a wave of movement smoothly running from one end to the other in these pieces. She calls these her Moebius necklaces; no longer a single static object but actually off into the often unfathomable realm of mathematics. The mobius strip (also moebius strip) is said to have one side and one edge, but because it has been twisted in the middle, so that when the ends are attached, what we would have called ‘the back side’ of the strip now meets the front side. Yeah, I know. Its a little mind-boggling even when you see an image of it. How Carol brings all her strips together to wave so smoothly like this is also a mystery. This is what is so wonderful about art. When the ideas behind it start to hurt your brain, you can always just admire the beauty. The beauty here is something we can all understand.
Much more and less mind boggling art by Carol can be found on her website. And, if it isn’t already, be sure that her classic book Making Polymer Clay Beads (printed in several editions including French, German and Italian) is on your book shelf for regular references. The wealth of techniques and ideas is amazing with beads for beginner to advanced. I think it’s one of the best polymer books out there.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
Our little surprise today is an ingenious method of hanging a pendant that can also be worn as a pin when removed. The device is so simple–a bead is threaded through a hole in the large domed bead, hanging securely against very much like a toggle closure. It is really no surprise that Carol Blackburn would come up with something of this kind. Interesting and inventive closures is one of her signatures as is her creative beads–she did write the book on it. (Do get yourself a copy of Making Polymer Clay Beads if you don’t have one already.)
On top of the book Carol is also an instructor for CraftArtEdu where she even has a class featuring this pin and pendant design. Get the class here to learn how to make this and take a moment to look at what else she has to offer 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.
As we look at polymer clay inspired by fabrics, this necklace by Eva Haskova, from the Czech Republic, looks much like woven ikat cloth. If you are not familiar with ikat, it is a dyeing technique that uses a resist dyeing process to pattern textiles. This style of tie-dye originated in Indonesia, and because of the difficulty involved in weaving ikat, some cultures believe the fabrics contain magical powers. Notice on the pendant how the texture resembles fabric that has been bound by threads during the dyeing process. The clarity of pattern in this piece is reminiscent of weft ikat weavings, giving it a contemporary yet ethnic design motif.
Eva developed her polymer skills with the help of Donna Kato, Carol Blackburn, and Leslie Blackford. She likes to work with natural materials, wire, and ceramic clay, as well as sewing and hand printing textiles. To see more of her work, visit her Flickr site or 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.
Movement in art is often times instilled with the use of lines just as they are in the earrings below by Carol Blackburn. But along with the lines, there is also a feeling of movement due to color changes.
The movement is not just from a cool blue to a warm brown but there is also a sense that time is working its way up the spirals from the tip, much like the browning edges of leaves to the clinging brights of a deep sky that has not given into to the change. It’s an interesting and intriguing color combination that emphasizes the active lines of the spiral polymer strips.
If you find the form of these pieces intriguing as well, Carol just released her class on these Shell Earrings on CraftArtEdu.com. Perhaps its time to try arranging your own spiraling colors.
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