Shimmering in the Darkness

August 31, 2018

Sometimes it doesn’t take a lot to express emotion, energy, and atmosphere in such a way as to elicit a response. This necklace was just such a piece for me. It grabbed me as it came across my screen while I was rapidly scrolling through Pinterest and I slammed on the virtual brakes.

It may not speak to you quite so insistently but, then, I do have a penchant for things that are torn and worn down because of the sense of story I see behind them. It’s a twinge of curiosity, the same kind you would have if you saw an old torn dress – you would wonder what happened to it and the person that wore it. You just know there’s a story behind the state it is in. Story is fascinating and important to me, so visual echoes of a story will jump out to me. I imagine it does for this artist as well.

The artist here is Allison L Norfleet Bruenger, a metal jewelry artist who works in very organic shapes and applications. Much of her work is far more involved than this piece, with added color and layers but this necklace, with its dramatic torn edges and missing spaces, doesn’t need a lot of embellishment. It comes across as the remnant of some once functional object now elevated to a focused beauty. The sparkling teardrop, roughly wrapped with copper wire at its point relays a desperate but subtle insistence to raise what it is attached to up from a wrecked piece of metal to something precious in the eye of the viewer. And it does do that for me, and apparently many other people since it was shared around Pinterest quite a bit.

If this kind of work speaks to you, then you may want to take a moment to wander through Allison’s website here or follow her on Instagram.

Marriage of Materials

July 30, 2018

I’m still kind of on the theme of looking back this week. How many of you remember Susan Lomuto’s Daily Art Muse blog? What a fantastic blog that was.  Susan included craft work of all kinds but spent a large number posts on polymer clay. She truly appreciated the medium and pulled from all corners of the globe for polymer inspiration.

This piece here is from a Daily Art Muse post from June 2009 about the work of Sarah Obrecht. Sarah used polymer for the color in her sculptural work. There is a delicacy to Sarah’s weathered copper sculptures and somehow the polymer adds substance even though it’s a softer, more malleable material. But visually it has more weight and the color pops out from within these metal forms. It’s a lovely combination of the materials used in a sculptural format.

I don’t know what has happened to Sarah as I have been unable to find recent work or a website for her but rereading the blog post and seeing other examples of her work is absolutely worthwhile. You can do so here.

 

Micro Mishap

February 2, 2018

I still need to try my hand at something in PMC besides a basic bezel but it’s the unpredictability that makes me hesitate. However, with mishaps like this bit that happened to Patrik, maybe I really can just embrace it.

Patrik notes here that in the firing, not all the parts sintered properly–sintering being when the metal gets hot enough to bond but not liquefy, resulting in a partial but still strong fusing of metal parts. In precious metal clays, those parts are all the little particles suspended in the binder that allows the metal to be worked like clay. So here, not all the material fused as expected, leaving the copper with an uneven but interesting texture.

In precious metal clays, like polymer, an insufficient cure will result in less strength but it looks like all the pieces that didn’t sinter were on the surface and aren’t involved in holding the shape and structure. Which does point out that although some accidents may look cool, the item still needs to be durable and perform as intended. But if your pendant comes out warped or the clay surface gets nicked, stop and consider if the powers that be are trying to tell you to try something new.

Patrik is a designer, artist and teacher specializing in precious metal clay jewelry. You can find more of his work including some enticing tutorial videos on his website.

A Favorite Blue

July 23, 2017

So there is this article going around about the world’s favorite color. It’s a blue-green and although it is pretty, I am less than minutely moved by this seemingly momentous discovery. First of all, the result came from a poll, not some scientific study (although I was glad to read that some non-profit or government organization had not wasted oodles of funds to figure this out) and it was done by a paper company doing this as a promotion.

What I did find interesting was that it was being shared by so many. Why? It seems like the only color that matters to any of us is the one we like … in the moment. So it thought I’d do a small poll of my own and see what colors were are presently popular online. Culling several of my regular sources, I found that the most often pulled color was the same color that had previously been determined to be the most popular color in the world by a variety of past studies. Blue.

Using more of a category than a particular color like this one being talked about this month, prior studies aimed to find the favorite color from the standard six the classic color wheel is split on. A lot of people like blue. I am not, actually, one of them. I don’t dislike it, I just don’t usually gravitate to it. But this week, I will share some blue pieces that a lot of people, including myself, seem to gravitate to and, strangely, the most stand-out pieces turned out to be earrings.

This pair is an organic stunner by  Sona Grigoryan. Copper has been upstaged by a more steady version of a patina blue. Simple but curious with the copper peeking through and the two earrings unmatched but easily connected because of the dominant color and the similar shapes in that center of carved out space.

Although Sona focuses on form more than colors, her pops of dramatic color are used to great effect. Take a look at her recent work on her Flickr photostream to see what I mean.

_________________________________________

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

    The Great Create Sept 15 blog   businesscard-3.5inx2in-h-front   Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog

_________________________________________

Boldly Big and Metal Bright

April 27, 2017

S Parenkova sheildsI have another bit of design contemplation for you today, this time in terms of color and finish.

This necklace, created by Svetlana Parenkova, as you can see by the watermark, has a lot of attractive details, things that on their own might draw the eye. The metallic shimmer of the shield like disks are a primary draw–human beings do like their sparkle and shine. The texture aids the shine by causing more varied reflection with dark contrast in the shadows of the texture. The blue and orange (copper in this case) is a classic color combination that has been enjoyed through the ages. The graduated size of the disks are also a classic necklace composition.

So with all these classic and long used elements, what makes this necklace stand out? Or perhaps you don’t think it stands out that much. If so, why not?

For my two cents, I think the bold size and clean finish certainly helps to carry it but perhaps it comes down to the centered notch in the sides of what would have been a background disk if it was not cut like two emerging fans.  This cut-away creates a space for the pieces to nudge up close to one another, for a more united front. The lack of spacing matches the sense of strength that shield like objects convey as well as working well with the bold size of the elements. What do you think?

This strong and bold look is fairly common in Svetlana’s work as you can witness on her Flickr and Livemaster pages.

_________________________________________

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

    businesscard-3.5inx2in-h-front   never knead -july-2015c-125

The Great Create Sept 15 blog   Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog

_________________________________________

Outside Inspiration: Varied Strokes

October 21, 2016

mary-k-bead-and-buttonWe’re wrapping up this week with a little more series variation with artist Mary Karg who works in metal, beads and glass although I find her pieces like the ones here very inspiring for polymer related work.

These pieces are copper with colored pencil. Did you know that was a valid way of coloring metal? It takes a couple of steps of preparation and, of course, a sealant to set it, but it’s actually very much like coloring polymer with colored pencils. The technique, although central to the success of these pieces, feels so well-integrated. The strokes are texture that compliments the texture of the metal behind those layers, further meshed into the design with what looks like pitting of the colored pencil surface. Unlike Wednesday’s pieces, the variation here is fairly minimal but each change upholds the expert design and the choices of dangles, colors and contrast fit the slightly varied mood of each.

I found Mary’s website quite interesting, especially her About page. She’s comes across as a real down to earth person, with making art rather than making a name for herself being her primary focus. Here is a little snippet from her website:

“I consider myself a wearable artist rather than a jewelry designer.  I seldom make the same thing twice, although I will get hooked on something I can’t quit until the itch is totally scratched (SERIOUS ART people refer to this as a series, I believe).”

Go explore her fun and varied designs on her website here.

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Work with a fairly simply design but make three related variations to each. If you change the color, consider what that color says or represents then change the form to match and seeing those two together, change up the texture to complement that. Do this 4 or more times to see how far your little explorations take you.

_________________________________________

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

Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog  never knead -july-2015c-125   2Wards Blog Sept 2016

The Great Create Sept 15 blog   businesscard-3.5inx2in-h-front

_________________________________________

Imperfect Embedding

June 11, 2014

Okay … we are still looking for the identities of the first two artists of this week. While we continue that search, why don’t we look at a couple of people I have been able to identify.

This beautiful pendant is by France’s Amarena Bijoux. I don’t know that these jewel like metal foil spots are embedded so much as punched in. The imperfect edges around the metal leaf application goes well with the loose, brushy swath of copper and the overall dark look of industrial decay.

8334592947_43551b03de_o

I found this approach a bit unusual for this commonly color enamored artists. Its nice to see the exploration into really different color palettes though. See more of her work on her Flickr pages, on her blog and 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.

14-P2 CoverFnl-blog   Blog2 -2014-02Feb-5   Basic RGB

A Little Chaos

December 7, 2013

For our last bit of scattered art, I did want to look at the whole of a design arranged in a scattered and random looking manner. Necklaces lend themselves well to this kind of design being there is a fair amount of space in which to “scatter” the components.

Russian artist Oksana Aleksandrovna Vedernikova working under under the name silverpepper23 on Flickr, looks to have a penchant for a little chaos. This necklace is a great example of not having to engineer your pieces with symmetrical arrangements.

3746017488_ae50f6dbaa_z

Chaos isn’t really the right word for most of Oksana’s work. Maybe intricate and definitely busy–but not in the overdone manner–would better describe this jewelry artist’s work. She is heavy into wire wrapping and stones as well as polymer and goes back and forth as well as mixing her materials. But regardless, it is really quite bold just how close she gets to chaos without going over the edge.

 

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.

Cover 13-P4 web  120113 snowflake display ad  WhimsicalBead051512

The Electroformed Form

November 5, 2013

I can’t tell you how excited I am to have an article on electroforming with polymer in the next issue. Electroforming is the process of using electrical current to adhere metal (copper in this case) to designated areas on a form. I have been dying to try this technique for years now, but the expense and seeming complexity has had me delay diving in. However, this article has convinced me that the process doesn’t have to be terribly expensive, and it’s pretty simple, too. What was even more exciting about this article was that it was written by a Russian artist, Elena Aleshina, with next to no English  fluency, and me with no Russian language knowledge at all! It kept hitting me how cool and crazy the world is that I can ‘talk’  with this artist from Russia without help of a third person. We did hire a translator to translate her Russian-written article, but it’s really neat to get emails in Cyrillic. Such pretty script it is. I don’t know, maybe my nerd side is showing too much, but new technology is just so cool sometimes!

I’m saving Elena’s electroforming work for the article, but I also wanted to show you the American artist that first got me fascinated with the prospect some years back, Cassy Muronaka. She actually wrote up a ten part blog on the subject back in early 2011. Here are some of the pieces she posted in the process:

big-beedz-bead1 electroforming-61

Now tell me you’re not the least bit interested in knowing how the process works and you would never want to try it. Cassy’s process is slightly different than Elena’s so if you do have a keen interest, I would suggest reading Cassy’s blog posts as well as Elena’s article when the issue comes out later this month. Between the two of them, you just might find the right options to get yourself started on this amazing technique. Then tell me when you’re set up so I can come play too, because chances are you’ll have a set-up ready to go long before I find the spare time to do so.

Shimmering in the Darkness

August 31, 2018
Posted in

Sometimes it doesn’t take a lot to express emotion, energy, and atmosphere in such a way as to elicit a response. This necklace was just such a piece for me. It grabbed me as it came across my screen while I was rapidly scrolling through Pinterest and I slammed on the virtual brakes.

It may not speak to you quite so insistently but, then, I do have a penchant for things that are torn and worn down because of the sense of story I see behind them. It’s a twinge of curiosity, the same kind you would have if you saw an old torn dress – you would wonder what happened to it and the person that wore it. You just know there’s a story behind the state it is in. Story is fascinating and important to me, so visual echoes of a story will jump out to me. I imagine it does for this artist as well.

The artist here is Allison L Norfleet Bruenger, a metal jewelry artist who works in very organic shapes and applications. Much of her work is far more involved than this piece, with added color and layers but this necklace, with its dramatic torn edges and missing spaces, doesn’t need a lot of embellishment. It comes across as the remnant of some once functional object now elevated to a focused beauty. The sparkling teardrop, roughly wrapped with copper wire at its point relays a desperate but subtle insistence to raise what it is attached to up from a wrecked piece of metal to something precious in the eye of the viewer. And it does do that for me, and apparently many other people since it was shared around Pinterest quite a bit.

If this kind of work speaks to you, then you may want to take a moment to wander through Allison’s website here or follow her on Instagram.

Read More

Marriage of Materials

July 30, 2018
Posted in

I’m still kind of on the theme of looking back this week. How many of you remember Susan Lomuto’s Daily Art Muse blog? What a fantastic blog that was.  Susan included craft work of all kinds but spent a large number posts on polymer clay. She truly appreciated the medium and pulled from all corners of the globe for polymer inspiration.

This piece here is from a Daily Art Muse post from June 2009 about the work of Sarah Obrecht. Sarah used polymer for the color in her sculptural work. There is a delicacy to Sarah’s weathered copper sculptures and somehow the polymer adds substance even though it’s a softer, more malleable material. But visually it has more weight and the color pops out from within these metal forms. It’s a lovely combination of the materials used in a sculptural format.

I don’t know what has happened to Sarah as I have been unable to find recent work or a website for her but rereading the blog post and seeing other examples of her work is absolutely worthwhile. You can do so here.

 

Read More

Micro Mishap

February 2, 2018
Posted in

I still need to try my hand at something in PMC besides a basic bezel but it’s the unpredictability that makes me hesitate. However, with mishaps like this bit that happened to Patrik, maybe I really can just embrace it.

Patrik notes here that in the firing, not all the parts sintered properly–sintering being when the metal gets hot enough to bond but not liquefy, resulting in a partial but still strong fusing of metal parts. In precious metal clays, those parts are all the little particles suspended in the binder that allows the metal to be worked like clay. So here, not all the material fused as expected, leaving the copper with an uneven but interesting texture.

In precious metal clays, like polymer, an insufficient cure will result in less strength but it looks like all the pieces that didn’t sinter were on the surface and aren’t involved in holding the shape and structure. Which does point out that although some accidents may look cool, the item still needs to be durable and perform as intended. But if your pendant comes out warped or the clay surface gets nicked, stop and consider if the powers that be are trying to tell you to try something new.

Patrik is a designer, artist and teacher specializing in precious metal clay jewelry. You can find more of his work including some enticing tutorial videos on his website.

Read More

A Favorite Blue

July 23, 2017
Posted in

So there is this article going around about the world’s favorite color. It’s a blue-green and although it is pretty, I am less than minutely moved by this seemingly momentous discovery. First of all, the result came from a poll, not some scientific study (although I was glad to read that some non-profit or government organization had not wasted oodles of funds to figure this out) and it was done by a paper company doing this as a promotion.

What I did find interesting was that it was being shared by so many. Why? It seems like the only color that matters to any of us is the one we like … in the moment. So it thought I’d do a small poll of my own and see what colors were are presently popular online. Culling several of my regular sources, I found that the most often pulled color was the same color that had previously been determined to be the most popular color in the world by a variety of past studies. Blue.

Using more of a category than a particular color like this one being talked about this month, prior studies aimed to find the favorite color from the standard six the classic color wheel is split on. A lot of people like blue. I am not, actually, one of them. I don’t dislike it, I just don’t usually gravitate to it. But this week, I will share some blue pieces that a lot of people, including myself, seem to gravitate to and, strangely, the most stand-out pieces turned out to be earrings.

This pair is an organic stunner by  Sona Grigoryan. Copper has been upstaged by a more steady version of a patina blue. Simple but curious with the copper peeking through and the two earrings unmatched but easily connected because of the dominant color and the similar shapes in that center of carved out space.

Although Sona focuses on form more than colors, her pops of dramatic color are used to great effect. Take a look at her recent work on her Flickr photostream to see what I mean.

_________________________________________

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

    The Great Create Sept 15 blog   businesscard-3.5inx2in-h-front   Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog

_________________________________________

Read More

Boldly Big and Metal Bright

April 27, 2017
Posted in

S Parenkova sheildsI have another bit of design contemplation for you today, this time in terms of color and finish.

This necklace, created by Svetlana Parenkova, as you can see by the watermark, has a lot of attractive details, things that on their own might draw the eye. The metallic shimmer of the shield like disks are a primary draw–human beings do like their sparkle and shine. The texture aids the shine by causing more varied reflection with dark contrast in the shadows of the texture. The blue and orange (copper in this case) is a classic color combination that has been enjoyed through the ages. The graduated size of the disks are also a classic necklace composition.

So with all these classic and long used elements, what makes this necklace stand out? Or perhaps you don’t think it stands out that much. If so, why not?

For my two cents, I think the bold size and clean finish certainly helps to carry it but perhaps it comes down to the centered notch in the sides of what would have been a background disk if it was not cut like two emerging fans.  This cut-away creates a space for the pieces to nudge up close to one another, for a more united front. The lack of spacing matches the sense of strength that shield like objects convey as well as working well with the bold size of the elements. What do you think?

This strong and bold look is fairly common in Svetlana’s work as you can witness on her Flickr and Livemaster pages.

_________________________________________

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

    businesscard-3.5inx2in-h-front   never knead -july-2015c-125

The Great Create Sept 15 blog   Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog

_________________________________________

Read More

Outside Inspiration: Varied Strokes

October 21, 2016
Posted in

mary-k-bead-and-buttonWe’re wrapping up this week with a little more series variation with artist Mary Karg who works in metal, beads and glass although I find her pieces like the ones here very inspiring for polymer related work.

These pieces are copper with colored pencil. Did you know that was a valid way of coloring metal? It takes a couple of steps of preparation and, of course, a sealant to set it, but it’s actually very much like coloring polymer with colored pencils. The technique, although central to the success of these pieces, feels so well-integrated. The strokes are texture that compliments the texture of the metal behind those layers, further meshed into the design with what looks like pitting of the colored pencil surface. Unlike Wednesday’s pieces, the variation here is fairly minimal but each change upholds the expert design and the choices of dangles, colors and contrast fit the slightly varied mood of each.

I found Mary’s website quite interesting, especially her About page. She’s comes across as a real down to earth person, with making art rather than making a name for herself being her primary focus. Here is a little snippet from her website:

“I consider myself a wearable artist rather than a jewelry designer.  I seldom make the same thing twice, although I will get hooked on something I can’t quit until the itch is totally scratched (SERIOUS ART people refer to this as a series, I believe).”

Go explore her fun and varied designs on her website here.

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Work with a fairly simply design but make three related variations to each. If you change the color, consider what that color says or represents then change the form to match and seeing those two together, change up the texture to complement that. Do this 4 or more times to see how far your little explorations take you.

_________________________________________

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

Shades of Clay Sept 15 Blog  never knead -july-2015c-125   2Wards Blog Sept 2016

The Great Create Sept 15 blog   businesscard-3.5inx2in-h-front

_________________________________________

Read More

Imperfect Embedding

June 11, 2014
Posted in

Okay … we are still looking for the identities of the first two artists of this week. While we continue that search, why don’t we look at a couple of people I have been able to identify.

This beautiful pendant is by France’s Amarena Bijoux. I don’t know that these jewel like metal foil spots are embedded so much as punched in. The imperfect edges around the metal leaf application goes well with the loose, brushy swath of copper and the overall dark look of industrial decay.

8334592947_43551b03de_o

I found this approach a bit unusual for this commonly color enamored artists. Its nice to see the exploration into really different color palettes though. See more of her work on her Flickr pages, on her blog and 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.

14-P2 CoverFnl-blog   Blog2 -2014-02Feb-5   Basic RGB

Read More

A Little Chaos

December 7, 2013
Posted in

For our last bit of scattered art, I did want to look at the whole of a design arranged in a scattered and random looking manner. Necklaces lend themselves well to this kind of design being there is a fair amount of space in which to “scatter” the components.

Russian artist Oksana Aleksandrovna Vedernikova working under under the name silverpepper23 on Flickr, looks to have a penchant for a little chaos. This necklace is a great example of not having to engineer your pieces with symmetrical arrangements.

3746017488_ae50f6dbaa_z

Chaos isn’t really the right word for most of Oksana’s work. Maybe intricate and definitely busy–but not in the overdone manner–would better describe this jewelry artist’s work. She is heavy into wire wrapping and stones as well as polymer and goes back and forth as well as mixing her materials. But regardless, it is really quite bold just how close she gets to chaos without going over the edge.

 

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.

Cover 13-P4 web  120113 snowflake display ad  WhimsicalBead051512
Read More

The Electroformed Form

November 5, 2013
Posted in

I can’t tell you how excited I am to have an article on electroforming with polymer in the next issue. Electroforming is the process of using electrical current to adhere metal (copper in this case) to designated areas on a form. I have been dying to try this technique for years now, but the expense and seeming complexity has had me delay diving in. However, this article has convinced me that the process doesn’t have to be terribly expensive, and it’s pretty simple, too. What was even more exciting about this article was that it was written by a Russian artist, Elena Aleshina, with next to no English  fluency, and me with no Russian language knowledge at all! It kept hitting me how cool and crazy the world is that I can ‘talk’  with this artist from Russia without help of a third person. We did hire a translator to translate her Russian-written article, but it’s really neat to get emails in Cyrillic. Such pretty script it is. I don’t know, maybe my nerd side is showing too much, but new technology is just so cool sometimes!

I’m saving Elena’s electroforming work for the article, but I also wanted to show you the American artist that first got me fascinated with the prospect some years back, Cassy Muronaka. She actually wrote up a ten part blog on the subject back in early 2011. Here are some of the pieces she posted in the process:

big-beedz-bead1 electroforming-61

Now tell me you’re not the least bit interested in knowing how the process works and you would never want to try it. Cassy’s process is slightly different than Elena’s so if you do have a keen interest, I would suggest reading Cassy’s blog posts as well as Elena’s article when the issue comes out later this month. Between the two of them, you just might find the right options to get yourself started on this amazing technique. Then tell me when you’re set up so I can come play too, because chances are you’ll have a set-up ready to go long before I find the spare time to do so.

Read More
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