Polymer Faces
April 30, 2018
Inspirational Art
Did you know that faces will always be the most prominent element in any work of art? Yes, our eye will always go to the face or faces in any artwork, photograph, or space that we walk into. It is ingrained in us to look at the faces of people or creatures that we see before us. Survival dictated that we look at and read those faces to assess potential danger or to otherwise understand, as best we can, their purpose for being present. So if you have a face in your work, it is going to be a focal point.
This also makes the use of faces rather dramatic so if you choose to put a face in your work, just keep in mind that it will have a very strong draw for your art and will diminish the importance of everything else that goes with it.
This lovely, intricately decorated necklace is one such example. It generally takes a while for the eye to be drawn away from the face and move around the rest of the piece. Initially, you take in everything else but the face all at once. But this doesn’t mean that you can’t have all kinds of complex and busy work around the face while the face acts as a resting point. That is what Valeria Belova has done here. The Labradorite and colorfully metallic feathers do their best to compete but the eye is always drawn back to the face.
This is actually one of her less detailed pieces but you rarely see a three-quarter view of the face in jewelry so I just had to share it. Not being straight on makes it a less dramatic presentation of a face, pushing us to think more about the possible story behind it. I don’t know that this is polymer because she talks about the technique more than the material, but it absolutely could be. If you like this, you should take a look at the rest of her work and her LiveMaster shop, where faces from all positions are intricately set in jewelry pieces.
Bringing it Back to Center
March 6, 2014
Inspirational Art
Although this pin by Kay Bonitz is asymmetrical, the pin uses the rule of thirds that we innately identify as balanced. The rule of thirds is a theory that says we recognize beauty and balance in images and objects whose proportions can be split into thirds. Our bodies are composed of elements that are built primarily on mirrored parts but all our limb to torso proportions and many facial proportions can be broken down into thirds which is why we likely identify with other items with proportions in thirds. In this case, Kay also has added further balance by using the feathers to create a center focal point.
Kay, who is a retired accountant, has moved from counting numbers to counting beads. She is actually a beading artist who embellishes her polymer clay creations with beads and feathers. You can see more of her work and learn more about this artist 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.
The Advantage of Cane Complexity
July 11, 2013
Inspirational Art
Because reducing canes makes the details of the original grouping of colors and shapes so small, you really can add in a lot of complexity with multiple regrouping and reductions. This characteristic of caning can be used to do some pretty cool things with scrap as well. You can put together all kinds of scrap canes and through some manipulation and reduction basically erase the scrap cane images so they become just part of a new image. And the old or unsuccessful canes can become part of something great again.
Feathers seem to be a favorite image to rework scrap canes into in this fashion. I really like this version found on Polymer Clay Central by Jean Sheppard. She doesn’t lose the color composition of the original canes here, just the shapes. The elongation of things like a strawberry and star become realistic looking components of a feather. Rather of amazing, really.
There are also many, many examples online of clayers doing the same basic thing, but with kaleidoscope canes. The mix of colors and shapes in the scrap canes just add complexity to the these reworked canes, sometimes making them even more intriguing than if they were started with more uniform and planned colors and lines. Its just another way to reuse that scrap that keeps piling up, not to mention being a lot of low key fun that can result in great canes!
Did you know that faces will always be the most prominent element in any work of art? Yes, our eye will always go to the face or faces in any artwork, photograph, or space that we walk into. It is ingrained in us to look at the faces of people or creatures that we see before us. Survival dictated that we look at and read those faces to assess potential danger or to otherwise understand, as best we can, their purpose for being present. So if you have a face in your work, it is going to be a focal point.
This also makes the use of faces rather dramatic so if you choose to put a face in your work, just keep in mind that it will have a very strong draw for your art and will diminish the importance of everything else that goes with it.
This lovely, intricately decorated necklace is one such example. It generally takes a while for the eye to be drawn away from the face and move around the rest of the piece. Initially, you take in everything else but the face all at once. But this doesn’t mean that you can’t have all kinds of complex and busy work around the face while the face acts as a resting point. That is what Valeria Belova has done here. The Labradorite and colorfully metallic feathers do their best to compete but the eye is always drawn back to the face.
This is actually one of her less detailed pieces but you rarely see a three-quarter view of the face in jewelry so I just had to share it. Not being straight on makes it a less dramatic presentation of a face, pushing us to think more about the possible story behind it. I don’t know that this is polymer because she talks about the technique more than the material, but it absolutely could be. If you like this, you should take a look at the rest of her work and her LiveMaster shop, where faces from all positions are intricately set in jewelry pieces.
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Although this pin by Kay Bonitz is asymmetrical, the pin uses the rule of thirds that we innately identify as balanced. The rule of thirds is a theory that says we recognize beauty and balance in images and objects whose proportions can be split into thirds. Our bodies are composed of elements that are built primarily on mirrored parts but all our limb to torso proportions and many facial proportions can be broken down into thirds which is why we likely identify with other items with proportions in thirds. In this case, Kay also has added further balance by using the feathers to create a center focal point.
Kay, who is a retired accountant, has moved from counting numbers to counting beads. She is actually a beading artist who embellishes her polymer clay creations with beads and feathers. You can see more of her work and learn more about this artist 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.
Because reducing canes makes the details of the original grouping of colors and shapes so small, you really can add in a lot of complexity with multiple regrouping and reductions. This characteristic of caning can be used to do some pretty cool things with scrap as well. You can put together all kinds of scrap canes and through some manipulation and reduction basically erase the scrap cane images so they become just part of a new image. And the old or unsuccessful canes can become part of something great again.
Feathers seem to be a favorite image to rework scrap canes into in this fashion. I really like this version found on Polymer Clay Central by Jean Sheppard. She doesn’t lose the color composition of the original canes here, just the shapes. The elongation of things like a strawberry and star become realistic looking components of a feather. Rather of amazing, really.
There are also many, many examples online of clayers doing the same basic thing, but with kaleidoscope canes. The mix of colors and shapes in the scrap canes just add complexity to the these reworked canes, sometimes making them even more intriguing than if they were started with more uniform and planned colors and lines. Its just another way to reuse that scrap that keeps piling up, not to mention being a lot of low key fun that can result in great canes!
Read More
