Out of the Fire
November 16, 2018
Inspirational Art
Following this week’s fire theme, we’re sharing this post from the January 2015 Polymer Arts blog archives.
We’re going to head to the orange and yellow side of the warm spectrum today, with a beautiful sculpture by Canadian artist Ellen Jewett. The warmth in this piece feels more like the warmth of sunlight with the white and yellows and coppery oranges. We see that sense of glow here as well, from the gradation of the colors, although most of the color change seems to be between the laid out elements and not in the clay. Mica clays also help to radiate a sense of bright light. This is to show that the visual illusion doesn’t come just from the soft change in color, as in a Skinner blend, but in the way we visualize the play of light. Light changes quality as it hits different surfaces, which, in this case, are the feathers of this dragon-like phoenix. The variety of the surface gives it a liveliness not unlike a dancing fire.
Ellen creates all kinds of very fantastical creatures with very dynamic forms and proportions. I suspect either her educational pursuits in biological anthropology and anthrozoology contribute to these amazing pieces or the same artistic drive to create pushed her to pursue her unusual combination of studies. It is quite worth taking a break to spend some time in her Etsy shop.
Elevating the Squiggle
September 17, 2018
Inspirational Art
I recently realized that I don’t think I’ve ever talked about the lowly squiggle. But who doesn’t like a well-done squiggle? I guess it’s hard to take it seriously with such a silly-sounding name but the sound of the word itself describes it so well.
I myself am very fond of squiggles and apply them throughout my work, primarily as accents, but some people take the squiggle to wonderfully elevated levels as the central theme of their piece.
This pin by Petra Nemravová is an excellent example of the squiggle stealing the show. The organization of these wonderfully unruly squiggles brings a regular rhythm to their organic movement. It reins in the rambling energy that this kind of squiggle contains. The bright array of colors, which could also get out of hand, is held in check by a regular graduation from one color to the next, helping to create an energetic but contained feeling.
Petra is such an advocate of bright colors and cheerful compositions. Enjoy a stroll through her colorful world on her Flickr photostream. She is also the genius mind behind the wonderful selections found in the online polymer shop Nemravka, serving the European polymer and craft communities and beyond.
A Painterly Cane
June 1, 2018
Inspirational Art
Here’s one last example for this week of these incredible illustrative image canes we are seeing these days. This one uses the more familiar and common imagery of flowers which so many cane makers are inspired by. However, the way Jayne Dwyer creates her flower here makes it look like a painting, with color variation and details that are not very common in polymer clay flower canes.
Jayne employees outlining, which we saw at work in Claire’s piece on Monday, but here it is quite a bit more dramatic with its black and white outlines. The soft gradation of color plays a contrast to the hard black-and-white delineation around the flower. It makes it really pop. She also created a painterly background for the flower within the cane itself. The streaks of color are varied but create radiating lines that give an energized, dimensional feel to the petals.
And then she has these spots of color that pop up within those gradations. It’s very detailed and interesting to look at closely and imagine all the decisions she made to come up with this image. I don’t suppose the decisions are much different than one would make when painting, but in polymer, each decision takes some serious confidence and dedication to the image since how it will look is not going to be wholly apparent until after reduction.
Take a close-up look for yourself at the image in this cane or go to a bigger image on Facebook. You can also see more of the work Jayne does on her website.
Moving Organic Forms
May 18, 2018
Inspirational Art
A little business first …
On Sunday, we release the Summer 2018 issue of The Polymer Arts, themed “Everything in Its Place”. You can still subscribe or pre-order the digital edition and get it Sunday morning with everyone else, or subscribe or purchase to get a print edition and we will mail those out when we get our boxes mid-week. Active print subscribers and print pre-orders will get theirs sorted through the post office today and so those should start popping up in mailboxes next week. Mind you, they might need 2-3 weeks to get to you should you live on the US East or South coast or overseas.
Now to the artwork. I thought that today, we would move away from floral into a different kind of organic beauty. And a different medium. I figured, who doesn’t love a bit of iridescent lampwork?
These pieces were actually created about five years ago but Andriy Mykolenko still creates beautiful, long, twisted beads of glass along with other traditional and not-so-traditional lampwork forms. However, this was easily my favorite set that I could find. The gradation of color, the line of the dots, and the waving forms create so much motion and energy. And he arranged them beautifully for this photo, poised to suggest a strange but fascinating hollow flower or an alien sun.
I’ve had a renewed interest in lampwork beads of late, primarily because I think with the new Sculpey super clear liquid polymer, more exploration of faux lampwork bead forms is about due. As soon as I get this latest issue wrapped up I’m going to set aside some playtime for just that. And if faux lampwork doesn’t entice you, perhaps the shape of these beads will give you some ideas for really energetic new bead forms.
To see more of Andriy’s lampwork forms, check out his Etsy shop.
Alien Texture
March 19, 2018
Inspirational Art
This week I’m going to have us wander off into the weirdly wonderful. The weird part comes from what and where I have been finding these treasures while the wonderful is about the amazing texture on this sculptural pieces.
Maryana Kopylova sculpts the most fantastical alien animals that, unlike how I imagine encounters with real aliens would go, do anything but drive you away. Some have adorable, huge eyes while others are hauntingly beautiful in their unfamiliar forms and appendages. I think we can say that this creature here is both cute and beautiful, sporting an array of alluring tactile textures. The big baby blues don’t hurt either.
Maryana sculpts and then paints her pieces with carefully matched-up colors softly applied in a gradation of natural tones. The highly textured surfaces and variation of color give this creature of her imagination a realistic, natural look. So even though much of the color could have come from the clay, the natural feel would have been very hard to accomplish.
Mariana parades her alien dolls on her Instagram page and on Facebook.
Creative Embroidery
March 9, 2018
Inspirational Art
One primary subject I wanted to hit in the Spring issue was fine detailed work done with little bits of clay. I was so excited to get a closer look at what is often referred to as polymer embroidery. I spent time off and on for a couple of weeks experimenting with the different forms and approaches I saw and soon realized we were not going to be able to do justice to this technique. But I did get in an article showing all the little approaches I discovered and have a gallery full of one such artist that gratefully shared her unusual version of it with us.
But there are so, so many talented artists out there doing this kind of work, and with more than just flowers, which is the most common type of imagery found in this type of art, it seems. One of my favorite pieces I discovered in my research is by Magdalena Pavlovic. Not only is this not particularly floral but it is perfectly patterned in an African-inspired color palette and form. The gradation of color from the top makes it look like flames are creeping in over densely filled-in focal sections. It is smartly laid over filigree in a similar form, giving it such cohesiveness that you really don’t think about the fact that these are two very different materials.
See more of Magdalena’s work, both traditional and unusual, on her Flickr photostream. And if you haven’t purchased your copy of the Spring issue or have an active subscription, you can get it on our website.
Versatile Pins
December 13, 2017
Inspirational Art
If you want to get right to it and make some wonderful all around gifts, it’s hard to go wrong with scarf pins. Or hair pins. Or shawl pins. Which are all really the same thing, aren’t they?
These pins are simply a sturdy base around a circular hole large enough to get a scarf or bundle of hair pressed into so a stick can be inserted behind or through, holding it in place. And for that, all you need is a small stack of clay sheets, and a cutter for the hole to get you started. How you decorate the surface of the clay is then wide open for you. Create a stick to match by wrapping clay around a skewer or a very stiff bit of wire and apply a similar surface treatment.
Cat Szetu just loved making pins like this one here. I say this in the past tense because I have not been able to find recent work of hers online. Perhaps she is really busy making pins. But I do like this example because the surface is decorated in a rather straightforward manner, with slivers of clay cut from a Skinner blended sheet, curling around the surface. That gradation of color and the smooth curving lines create a quiet and calm type of visual movement that, together, keeps the simple layering of clay from feeling stale.
Cat has plenty more pieces to jumpstart your own ideas. Just go to her Flickr photostream and scroll around.
Following this week’s fire theme, we’re sharing this post from the January 2015 Polymer Arts blog archives.
We’re going to head to the orange and yellow side of the warm spectrum today, with a beautiful sculpture by Canadian artist Ellen Jewett. The warmth in this piece feels more like the warmth of sunlight with the white and yellows and coppery oranges. We see that sense of glow here as well, from the gradation of the colors, although most of the color change seems to be between the laid out elements and not in the clay. Mica clays also help to radiate a sense of bright light. This is to show that the visual illusion doesn’t come just from the soft change in color, as in a Skinner blend, but in the way we visualize the play of light. Light changes quality as it hits different surfaces, which, in this case, are the feathers of this dragon-like phoenix. The variety of the surface gives it a liveliness not unlike a dancing fire.
Ellen creates all kinds of very fantastical creatures with very dynamic forms and proportions. I suspect either her educational pursuits in biological anthropology and anthrozoology contribute to these amazing pieces or the same artistic drive to create pushed her to pursue her unusual combination of studies. It is quite worth taking a break to spend some time in her Etsy shop.
Read More
I recently realized that I don’t think I’ve ever talked about the lowly squiggle. But who doesn’t like a well-done squiggle? I guess it’s hard to take it seriously with such a silly-sounding name but the sound of the word itself describes it so well.
I myself am very fond of squiggles and apply them throughout my work, primarily as accents, but some people take the squiggle to wonderfully elevated levels as the central theme of their piece.
This pin by Petra Nemravová is an excellent example of the squiggle stealing the show. The organization of these wonderfully unruly squiggles brings a regular rhythm to their organic movement. It reins in the rambling energy that this kind of squiggle contains. The bright array of colors, which could also get out of hand, is held in check by a regular graduation from one color to the next, helping to create an energetic but contained feeling.
Petra is such an advocate of bright colors and cheerful compositions. Enjoy a stroll through her colorful world on her Flickr photostream. She is also the genius mind behind the wonderful selections found in the online polymer shop Nemravka, serving the European polymer and craft communities and beyond.
Read MoreHere’s one last example for this week of these incredible illustrative image canes we are seeing these days. This one uses the more familiar and common imagery of flowers which so many cane makers are inspired by. However, the way Jayne Dwyer creates her flower here makes it look like a painting, with color variation and details that are not very common in polymer clay flower canes.
Jayne employees outlining, which we saw at work in Claire’s piece on Monday, but here it is quite a bit more dramatic with its black and white outlines. The soft gradation of color plays a contrast to the hard black-and-white delineation around the flower. It makes it really pop. She also created a painterly background for the flower within the cane itself. The streaks of color are varied but create radiating lines that give an energized, dimensional feel to the petals.
And then she has these spots of color that pop up within those gradations. It’s very detailed and interesting to look at closely and imagine all the decisions she made to come up with this image. I don’t suppose the decisions are much different than one would make when painting, but in polymer, each decision takes some serious confidence and dedication to the image since how it will look is not going to be wholly apparent until after reduction.
Take a close-up look for yourself at the image in this cane or go to a bigger image on Facebook. You can also see more of the work Jayne does on her website.
Read More
A little business first …
On Sunday, we release the Summer 2018 issue of The Polymer Arts, themed “Everything in Its Place”. You can still subscribe or pre-order the digital edition and get it Sunday morning with everyone else, or subscribe or purchase to get a print edition and we will mail those out when we get our boxes mid-week. Active print subscribers and print pre-orders will get theirs sorted through the post office today and so those should start popping up in mailboxes next week. Mind you, they might need 2-3 weeks to get to you should you live on the US East or South coast or overseas.
Now to the artwork. I thought that today, we would move away from floral into a different kind of organic beauty. And a different medium. I figured, who doesn’t love a bit of iridescent lampwork?
These pieces were actually created about five years ago but Andriy Mykolenko still creates beautiful, long, twisted beads of glass along with other traditional and not-so-traditional lampwork forms. However, this was easily my favorite set that I could find. The gradation of color, the line of the dots, and the waving forms create so much motion and energy. And he arranged them beautifully for this photo, poised to suggest a strange but fascinating hollow flower or an alien sun.
I’ve had a renewed interest in lampwork beads of late, primarily because I think with the new Sculpey super clear liquid polymer, more exploration of faux lampwork bead forms is about due. As soon as I get this latest issue wrapped up I’m going to set aside some playtime for just that. And if faux lampwork doesn’t entice you, perhaps the shape of these beads will give you some ideas for really energetic new bead forms.
To see more of Andriy’s lampwork forms, check out his Etsy shop.
Read More
This week I’m going to have us wander off into the weirdly wonderful. The weird part comes from what and where I have been finding these treasures while the wonderful is about the amazing texture on this sculptural pieces.
Maryana Kopylova sculpts the most fantastical alien animals that, unlike how I imagine encounters with real aliens would go, do anything but drive you away. Some have adorable, huge eyes while others are hauntingly beautiful in their unfamiliar forms and appendages. I think we can say that this creature here is both cute and beautiful, sporting an array of alluring tactile textures. The big baby blues don’t hurt either.
Maryana sculpts and then paints her pieces with carefully matched-up colors softly applied in a gradation of natural tones. The highly textured surfaces and variation of color give this creature of her imagination a realistic, natural look. So even though much of the color could have come from the clay, the natural feel would have been very hard to accomplish.
Mariana parades her alien dolls on her Instagram page and on Facebook.
Read More
One primary subject I wanted to hit in the Spring issue was fine detailed work done with little bits of clay. I was so excited to get a closer look at what is often referred to as polymer embroidery. I spent time off and on for a couple of weeks experimenting with the different forms and approaches I saw and soon realized we were not going to be able to do justice to this technique. But I did get in an article showing all the little approaches I discovered and have a gallery full of one such artist that gratefully shared her unusual version of it with us.
But there are so, so many talented artists out there doing this kind of work, and with more than just flowers, which is the most common type of imagery found in this type of art, it seems. One of my favorite pieces I discovered in my research is by Magdalena Pavlovic. Not only is this not particularly floral but it is perfectly patterned in an African-inspired color palette and form. The gradation of color from the top makes it look like flames are creeping in over densely filled-in focal sections. It is smartly laid over filigree in a similar form, giving it such cohesiveness that you really don’t think about the fact that these are two very different materials.
See more of Magdalena’s work, both traditional and unusual, on her Flickr photostream. And if you haven’t purchased your copy of the Spring issue or have an active subscription, you can get it on our website.
If you want to get right to it and make some wonderful all around gifts, it’s hard to go wrong with scarf pins. Or hair pins. Or shawl pins. Which are all really the same thing, aren’t they?
These pins are simply a sturdy base around a circular hole large enough to get a scarf or bundle of hair pressed into so a stick can be inserted behind or through, holding it in place. And for that, all you need is a small stack of clay sheets, and a cutter for the hole to get you started. How you decorate the surface of the clay is then wide open for you. Create a stick to match by wrapping clay around a skewer or a very stiff bit of wire and apply a similar surface treatment.
Cat Szetu just loved making pins like this one here. I say this in the past tense because I have not been able to find recent work of hers online. Perhaps she is really busy making pins. But I do like this example because the surface is decorated in a rather straightforward manner, with slivers of clay cut from a Skinner blended sheet, curling around the surface. That gradation of color and the smooth curving lines create a quiet and calm type of visual movement that, together, keeps the simple layering of clay from feeling stale.
Cat has plenty more pieces to jumpstart your own ideas. Just go to her Flickr photostream and scroll around.
Read More
