Giving Voice to Vision

Alev Gozonar, Herd Psychology I, 2019

Do you consider yourself one of those people who like to talk about their art, or do you want never to talk about it, like it might lose some of it’s magic if you try to explain it?

I think a lot of artists feel a little of both. We love what we do so much that we want to share it with anyone who has the slightest interest, but at the same time, we don’t want to over analyze it for fear of diminishing the personal and often mysterious process that is the creation of art work.

You don’t have to be over analytical about your art in order to verbalize what you do but you should consider how putting your thoughts about your process and what drives you to create into writing can help both yourself and those who view your work.

Let’s look at a few artists and their words to see how authentic and intelligent discussions of one’s work can illuminate and grow our appreciation for the art and its creator.

 

From the Mouth of Artists

For some artists, their intention is wound up intensely in the stories they would like to tell. Christine Damm is an artist who believes so strongly in the power of storytelling, that she named her business “Stories They Tell”. In her own words:

Stories They Tell is the name I call my company, because I am a storyteller. For me, life is a process, a journey, a transformation, an unfolding. And as our lives tell a story, so does our art. We – and it– are shaped by what we’ve done, who we’ve met, what we’ve learned, what we’ve struggled with or succeeded at. Life is an intersection with other souls, other lives, other ways of seeing, other ways of living. Art expresses that in a wonderful and ever-changing, topsy-turvy marvel of creation and discovery.

This paragraph from her website is an honest expression of how she sees the world and how that viewpoint lives with her and her day to day creative work. You can tell that it is a heartfelt view and description of herself, right? She’s not saying anything that hasn’t been said before, but she is saying it in her own words, and it gives us an understanding of what is important to her and what drives her creative process.

 

Alev Gozonar is a very conceptual artist. She clings to, and explores, words, stories, and specific ideologies as she creates. In the piece below I found on Instagram, she tags her images with just a handful of descriptors, primarily #concrete and #brutalism, referring to an architectural style in the mid-20th century that was characterized by monolithic, blocky, concrete elements. She contrasts the concrete shapes with delicate floral petals in this piece, but in other pieces in this line, the polymer petals are spattered or covered in concrete rather than just existing alongside the harsh building material, so there’s both an interesting juxtaposition and an immersion of the delicate in the hard and harsh. (You can find those other pieces on her Instagram page.) Now read how she sees her work. Her statements about reveal even more layers to her approach. In her words:

The dominant theme in my works is the composition of a whole via the repetition of parts.  This can be seen as an extension of my textiles education and has become a cornerstone of my identity as an artist. If I make an attempt to describe the general framework of my artwork, I would say that the most important starting points for me are the emotional losses and gains I have experienced in various phases of my life, my observations about life, my personal experiences and the way all of these things reflect on daily life, behavior and emotional states. 

Now what do you think when you look at this piece, or at the piece that opens this blog? Does it change how you see them?

 

Debra Adelson is a jewelry artist working in a “centuries old Bohemian cold work glass technique. Cold working does not use heat but, rather, water to keep the glass cool while manipulating it using abrasives such as sandblasting, grinding, drilling, and cutting.”

Look at her pieces below. If you did not know what her process was, you might take but a very quick glance at her work but you would not have had a lot to ponder. However, you now know something of her process and so probably have an increased appreciation and so, you’ll linger longer to identify how her process forms the work.


She has a very specific design process as well and often photographs her work to show the original inspiration which further informs us about the piece. For instance, it will be hard to look at the amber colored brooch and not see the water worn slot canyon walls, now that we have seen the photograph – the image is forever connected in our minds to that brooch, even if we see it without the image.

So, yes, images can help but, still, Debra gives us further insight into her process and thoughts with this selection of words from her online bio:

I am inspired by the natural world and our relationship to it. My pieces pay homage to changing forces that shape our landscape—both natural and manmade. I seek to create harmony in my work and find balance between our need to shape our environment while preserving and respecting the natural world. Each series begins with a distinct inspiration or concept. I base the initial piece on an image, a moment in nature and experiment to come up with my ‘visual language’ that tells a story for the series.

Her work is really amazing so do stop and click through to look at the colorful and very interestingly carved glass “gems” on her Instagram page or website.

 

Obviously, this is just a small taste of what people post to talk about their art. I might suggest that, as you zip around online and run into various artists that you admire or work that inspires you, go to their websites and read the ‘About’ page or their artist statements. The more of these you read and the more aware you become of how statements inform the artwork, the easier it will be for you to form a statement, a bio, or other text about you and your work that is authentic and truly brings across what it is you would like people to see in what you do.

 

Me and My Projects

I can’t tell you how energized and excited I am these days! For one, the Virtual Art Box which was released a bit over a week ago, has been so enthusiastically received (for which I am so relieved as I wondered how people would like it) and, secondly, because I’m getting to write tons about the things I am most passionate about! I get up in the morning and write like a mad woman. It just comes pouring out. I have to actually stop myself so I can make room for some guest artists and writers. When was the last time you were so excited about something that you could hardly think of anything else? It’s a great feeling!

It truly helps my enthusiasm to have such glowing comments sent to me (“This changed my life, already!”, “This was just what I needed. I thought I was burned out on creating but that wasn’t it …”, “I feel like I’m taking a college course!”) but I was a bit overwhelmed and emotional at moments. I am trying, in everything I do with my publications and projects, to affect other people’s lives in a positive and nurturing way but, unlike when teaching in person, in this business, you don’t get a clear idea of what people are doing with what they learn. But with the Creative Pursuits (a challenge and form in the Virtual Art Box that lets readers connect with me on their focus and goals) and the social media pages, not to mention the kind emails and messages I’ve been getting, I’m hearing exactly what your fellow polymer enthusiasts are up to and what they want. It’s fascinating and creates such energy for me and, I think, it will do so for the active VAB members. It’s so exciting!

If you aren’t getting the VAB, you can join in today by buying the one month February box, no subscription required, and then you can  check out what we are doing. You can get a subscription right now too although that won’t start you until March. Whatever you do, I just hope you have a chance to get in on this energy.

 

 

Lindly Needs a Little Love

If you have not already heard, one of our very dear community leaders and pioneers, Lindly Haunani, had a horrific accident a bit over a week ago. She has multiple broken bones, including bones in her dominant hand, and although she is sure to recover, it is going to be a very long and difficult road. Of course, this community jumped in to help her out in a huge way, but she will need your continued love and support for quite a while.

Take a look at her Go Fund Me page and send Lindly a little love this Valentine’s weekend if you can.

Additional fundraising avenues are being worked on as well. I will keep you updated on those and her well-being as I get news.

 

Shimmer and Shine … and Get Published.
Deadline for submission of ideas is March 15th

Scheduling this for Fall 2020, the Polymer Arts Projects – Shimmer and Shine book will, like the PAP – Organic’s book, feature numerous in-depth tutorials by some of our community’s most accomplished artists.

If you feel you are one of these folks that have something fantastic to offer readers for this theme, I am now open for submission ideas. Here are the basic guidelines:

  • As the theme is Shimmer and Shine, the project should be shiny, glitzy, sparkly, or blingy but also artistic, well-designed, and skillfully conceived.
  • The tutorial should work for readers in the experienced novice to moderately advanced range. This will not be for absolute beginners.
  • The tools and materials, or workable alternatives, should be obtainable by the majority of our worldwide readership.
  • The project should have a specific technique or look that can be reproduced in different forms and styles with examples of possible variations shown.
  • Artists submitting should be experienced at photographing their process and writing detailed tutorials.

This special publication offers payment and profit sharing for our contributing artists. Keep an eye on these newsletters for your submission opportunity next month. Check out the Polymer Arts Projects – Organics  book for further examples of the kind of tutorials we will be looking for.

At this time submit just the summary of your idea–just a few sentences–and links or small attachments to images of the technique and/or pieces of the kind your proposed tutorial would include. Send them to sage(a)tenthmusearts.com. My response will be sent after the March 15th deadline.

I look forward to your ideas!

Well, my dear readers, I do hope you’ve had a loving weekend. I’m off to spend the rest of it with my sun and stars. I hope you have an exciting and creative week!

Mixing and Mingling, New Cover, & 33% off Back issues

We have a bit of business to do first today but it’s exciting business! I wanted to share with you the next cover of The Polymer Studio, coming late April.

We are thrilled to include projects from Cynthia Tinapple, our featured and interviewed artist for this issue, as well as Christi Friesen, Kathy Koontz, Elena Mori, the Mitchell sisters, Deb Hart, and Wendy Moore. Also, tips, tricks, and other bits of wisdom from Debbie Crothers, Ginger Davis Allman, and little old me. And you won’t want to miss the tour of Christine Dumont’s studio, complete with a conversation about her space and process, which I think you’ll find very intriguing.

All this and more, just a month away! Support our projects, this blog, and the betterment of your own polymer journey, of course, or just because you’d like to look at all the pretty things tucked into those pages, by subscribing to The Polymer Studio here.

(Be sure to scroll down to the last section for the 33% off sale stuff.)

A Fine Mix-up

So, did you get a chance to look through the winning entries for the IPCA awards? Here’s the link again if you didn’t see them. The winning entries are just beautiful and maybe even a bit surprising. If you saw it, did you notice any trends or changes in trends and what was presented? I thought it was interesting that there were a lot of mixed-media pieces where polymer clay might have been the focus, but other materials played large roles in important design aspects and visual impact of the work.

One of the reasons I find this so interesting is that the idea of expanding into other materials seems to be a regular conversation myself and many other people are having. I couldn’t say exactly what that means but I do believe that polymer, with its unparalleled flexibility for combining with other materials, has kind of come of age where our exploration of what it can do is being placed on the back burner in order to focus on artistic expression. I look at these mixed-media pieces in the awards and other pieces I find during my research and general perusing online, and it seems that we are seeing more instances where polymer centric artists decide what they want to make and then determine the best materials for the work rather than push to see if polymer can be used for most, if not all, of the components of a piece. Or perhaps I am just hoping this is the case because I would love to see more folks focused on personal expression will rather than letting our obsessive, but understandable, infatuation with the material determine our creative parameters.

Of course, for most of us who work in polymer now, this colorful, durable, and chameleon material will remain our primary love and, regardless of other options, we will often still try to do as much as we can with polymer, if just to see if we can push it a little bit farther. But, opening oneself up to the possibilities of combining it with other materials in major ways will allow us, and even the viewer, to focus more on the design and expression and less on the material itself, which will let the artist’s expression, vision, creativity, and aesthetic really shine. I find this very exciting!

So, this week, let’s look at some of the mixed-media pieces where other materials play a primary role alongside polymer. This could be very helpful for you if you have felt like you’re in a rut or are too often hitting technical or design walls in your work. Trying out a different material may just be the thing to inject you with new enthusiasm and, possibly, send you down a new path with your artwork.

Mixed Directions

Let’s first look at some of the winners of the IPCA awards and in many ways that other materials have been mixed in.

This first piece is both a mixed-media and a mixed artist piece. Ellen Prophater or worked with Sherry Mozer, a glass artist, led to the use of the black glass piece with its shades of green within reflected in the mokume polymer it sits upon. It is set in a silver bezel and accented with Swarovski crystals. Both the mokume and the glass show off a subtle transparency, drawing the connection between the two along with the green cast colors. It’s a nice reminder that collaboration can also push us in new directions making new discoveries in our work and even ourselves and our friendships.

 

Donna Greenberg just killed it as the professional mixed-media category. This wall piece is called Wedgewood Wave but the word that keeps coming to mind for me is swoon. Not just because I feel like swooning, it’s just so gorgeous, but that’s also the word that comes to mind from that fabulous flow of energy through those waves, back into the pool of blue. Those waves are paper, but the application of color and shape are similar to the polymer pieces so the different materials feel cohesive. This is definitely one of those cases where another medium was the better choice. Trying to create those waves in polymer would’ve been just silly, even though it could be done. The paper gives a lighter feel to the overall piece as well as a light and easy flow to the visual movement. She also used Ultralight polymer alongside the Arches cold press paper, acrylic gouache paints, watercolor pencils, and Apoxie paste, each material fulfilling its purpose in a way that another material would not have been as successful with.

 

With the issue of the environment heavy in many of our minds, we are seeing a lot of exploration into found or recycled or upcycled items. Sarah Machtey offered up this steam punk pouch necklace with removable magnifying glass for the mixed media category of the awards with a bit of all of that. The front and back of this small pouch is from a soda can turned inside out – you can still see the printing of the soda can on the inside – but she embossed the can with decorative lines and used mica powder infused liquid polymer in the recesses to make them stand out. The band across the top is upcycled copper from a renovation project while the side leaves and earrings are polymer clay. Not sure if the magnifying glass was bought or found but it certainly could have been reused from something else.

The pouch is 7” (18 cm) in height from the top edge to the bottom of the magnifying glass, so it’s no small bit of tin on there. Of course, she could have used polymer to create the metal sections but it would’ve been a bulkier piece. The tin keeps the weight down as well as adding some structural strength that would only have been accomplished with a much thicker wall of polymer.

 

Keep in mind, when we are talking mixed-media it doesn’t necessarily have to be another art material. For instance, I combined poetry with photos of polymer in a challenge last year that I was posting on my personal Instagram page. Other people mix it up by installing the work in unusual places so that the what is placed on becomes part of the artwork such as fairy doors installed on walls or in tree trunks or tiles installed into a kitchen backsplash. Rachel Gourley takes it just a touch further, installing her little collections so that they recede into the landscape. She scatters her polymer elements out and about in natural settings, looking much like organic growths but unexpected in their color, shape, and placement.

 

Putting Together Your Own Mixer

This week, I didn’t pull any tutorials for you to try because it would have to be a mad, a long list of other materials to give you any real idea of your options. Instead, I might suggest that you keep your eye open for what other polymer artists are doing with other materials. Perhaps one of the above ideas piqued your interest already. If so, research that other material and find ways to acquire or hone your skill in that medium. Just put “polymer clay and [fill in the blank with the material you’re curious about]” into the search bar on Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr, or Google images and see what pops up. Add the word “tutorial” to see what offerings there are online. I’m sure there will be plenty of inspiration.

You can also grab your Spring 2015 – Diversity issue of The Polymer Arts or the Convergence themed issue from Spring of 2016, both of which have a ton of ideas around using other materials with polymer. You can see the table of contents for all back issues of The Polymer Arts on this page to check out what these issues have to offer. Then, if you don’t have the issues, you can order them on the website.

In fact, let’s have a sale!

Why don’t you grab a few back issues and take a full 33% off 3 or more! Good on digital or print, I’ll keep this up until next Sunday so grab them this week. Use promo code TPA33 at checkout.

And … I’m Off!

I would normally have some community news and deals for you to look into at this point, but I did not get to that. This week has been a struggle. I am being kept busy by a house that has decided to just fall apart all of a sudden. My creative energies have been used up relocating kitchen activities to the garage, the porch, and even my studio because of plumbing issues while getting tons of exercise running large circles around the house because the garage door won’t open, washing my clothes in the bathroom sink because the laundry machine won’t drain, and constantly shuffling ice packs from freezer to fridge because the fridge is on and off and its replacement is weeks away from getting here. All this happening two weeks before we start some (apparently!) much-needed kitchen remodeling. I’m not making this up.  But talk about mixing it up!

So, I’m going to get back to my at-home glamping while trying to get the next issue wrapped up for you. But tune in next week for more polymer pretties and inspiration, and, hopefully, less house drama from Sage’s corner! In the meantime, if you work with another medium, please share it below. Or tell us the most unusual medium you’ve combined with polymer! I’d love to get a feel for what you all are working on besides polymer. Leave links to the work as well if available! (If you get this by email, click on the post title to get to the post page and scroll down to comments.) I’m excited to see what you all have to share!

Inside a Glass Tower

July 20, 2018

Since we got on a glass kick this week, I rummaged through my outside inspiration board on Pinterest and came up with this fantastic artist who I have long wanted to share with you.

Jean Fernandes was born in India but was raised both there and in California. After graduating with a Masters in Glass from the University of Texas at Arlington, she became an award-winning emerging artist and winner of a 2015 Niche award.

And it’s no wonder. Just look at this simple but mesmerizing cast glass tower she created in 2015—its interiors look almost alive with movement. The basic shape and grayscale color palette allows the interior lines and undulating forms to captivate us without distraction. The vertical shape relies on a sense of strength, as vertical forms and lines do, adding to the monumental feel of this piece even though it’s only 16 inches high.

Jean considers herself a multimedia artist although glass has been her primary medium. To quote her from an interview in 2015, “Often, I work with glass because of its conceptual flexibility and duality. It has the ability to be fragile or strong, transparent or opaque, stiff or flexible, etc. and acts as an excellent metaphor in my work. The properties of the media are often integral to my work; I’ve used yarn for its softness and strength, ice for its temporality, wax for its ability to melt when introduced to heat, etc. and all of these qualities often play a large role in the concept of the piece I am working on.”

This brings up an interesting thought that I’ve discussed with several artists recently and that is whether our art is defined by our medium or do we work with the mediums that help us to define our art? I think those who put the artwork first may often find themselves working in various mediums simply because they’re looking for the materials that help them realize what they want to express. It’s wonderful that polymer’s versatility can fulfill many artistic needs so readily, but I thought I’d take this moment to remind us that we can, and should, use other mediums when it helps us express what it is we want to put out there in the world.

Take a look at more of Jean’s work on her website here.

 

Through a Glass Prettily

July 16, 2018

Apparently, I’m a bit of a wreck. I’m only telling you this because you are probably going to see a bit of a slowdown in our publications coming out and maybe a little less research here on the blog. As many of you know, I’m the only full-time person who works on The Polymer Arts projects and I’m dealing with two injuries that occurred earlier this year and arthritis in my neck, none of which are happy with how much I work. So, doctor’s orders, I have to cut my computer time down the next few months while I focus on healing. It’s going to be hard to slow down, workaholic that I am, but I’m counting on you all to hold me to it!

So to minimize my research time, I’m going to be pulling things to share from my stash on my Pinterest boards and favorites on Instagram and Flickr and such for a while. We will, therefore, be seeing a fair amount of older work, but there’s so much really inspirational and timeless work to share.

This week’s first piece is from Adrianne Jeswiet whose work I discovered not too long ago. Her shop on Etsy is called “Kissing Glass” and it is filled with various glass vessels covered in detailed imagery. This piece includes tiny dragonflies, water lilies, irises and cattails applied to a recycled glass vase colored with glass paint. Take a close look to see the myriad of tiny details that are sure to make this a conversation piece wherever it finds its new home.

Pop over to Adrianne’s Etsy shop to see the full range of what she does.

The Many Faces of Glass Beads

June 10, 2017

To round out this week’s quick focus on beads, I thought I’d share focal beads in another medium that is very well-known for them–glass.

Glass artists have some very particular and, literally, inflexible limitations and yet they create these extremely intricate and amazing beads. They do get to work with super clear transparency–a characteristic of their medium that they use to great advantage–which is something that is difficult to achieve in polymer, but their forms and patterns are something that, I think, could be a gold mine of inspiration and a jumping off point for ideas in polymer that go beyond the basic and common beads seen in polymer.

Here are just four examples of the intricacy and beauty in glass bead making today. Starting from top left is a bead created by Leah Nietz, top right is Lisa Fletcher, bottom left is Andrea Guarino, and bottom right is Ikuyo Yamanaka. You can click on each artist’s name to reach their shop or website to look further into what they create. You can also immerse yourself in glass focal beads by putting that very phrase into a Pinterest, Google Images, Etsy, Flickr, or even Instagram.

Weekly Inspiration Challenge: Choose your favorite image posting service, such as those just listed above, and enjoy the art and inspiration that comes up when you search for “focal beads”. Choose a couple of images and try to determine what you like best about the bead or beads and then figure out how to recreate those characteristics in polymer. Hopefully that leads you to some original and very fulfilling polymer bead explorations.

 

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A Collective Shine

February 4, 2017

mosaic wallThe art form with the ultimate bits-and-pieces approach has to be mosaics. With mosaics you can take any material that can be collected in chunks that are small enough to puzzle together among themselves or with other smallish chunks. That makes for a lot of possibilities. The possible forms for the application of mosaics is pretty wide open. Even opening the form is possible and breaking the frame is a possibility with mosaics.

Robin Evans‘ choice of material is primarily glass from which she creates jewelry and, apparently, some pretty amazing wall art in a mosaic style. I hesitate to call it a full mosaic as it looks like the swaths of gold, copper, and green are cracked glass or mirrors which gives the impression of a mosaic even though it’s not although it is a pretty cool look.

Then there are the actual mosaic parts which not only flow through from one panel design to the next but also move right off it and onto the wall to make their ways across. This not only connects the vertical panels but brings the piece alive with movement that breaks the frame of each one. And it’s shiny!

I couldn’t find a gallery of much of Robin’s wall art or at least not a gathering of it but you can find pieces scattered among her jewelry on her Facebook page, in her Etsy shop and on Instagram.

Weekly Inspirational Challenge: Create something beautiful from unassuming elements. This could be a great way to use old canes, extra beads, scrap clay and even cured and deserted elements. See what you have in your spare bins and boxes in your studio space and see what can be resurrected from the stuff you set aside.

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Outside Inspiration: Glass Reveals

November 29, 2013

I know very little about making glass beads, so I can’t even begin to guess how Harold Williams Cooney made this amazing piece.

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So … do you cut into glass to get this? Grind it down? Carve it out while hot some how? Yep, I’m clueless on the technique. The only thing I do know is that this kind of thing could be done beautifully with polymer clay by cutting, carving, or grinding. It reminds me somewhat of Jana Roberts Benzon’s lazer cut technique, just with more form and less cut away. Also, consider Vera’s beads from yesterday’s post. If they were covered by a solid sheet of clay and the cuts were farther apart to allow more surface, the cut-out areas would look something like what we see in these glass beads. But it’s definitely something to think about–especially for all you extrusion-mad clayers.

Harold is a particularly prolific artist with a lofty goal. It’s hard to explain his single-source American Trade Bead collection, but basically he is collecting his own work in order to create the largest collection made by a single bead artist. If you’re interested in his concept, you can read more about it on his blog. But if you are more interested in wonderful glass beauties, go look at his Etsy shop. There are more than just this bead to inspire a polymer artist there!

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Outside Inspiration: Color Contrast

November 8, 2013

Yesterday we talked about the one aspect of color that actually removes the importance of what many consider the defining characteristic of color–hue. So, knowing how important color is to most of us in this community, I thought today we’d treat you to a little color overload.

With color, i’ts not too hard to go overboard and go from harmonious contrast to chaos. The point between those two is a very fine line. So how can you tell if you are heading for the precipice of chaos? Well, for our outside inspiration Friday, let’s examine some extremely colorful glass beads that amble up to that point, but delightfully avoid heading over that cliff.

These juicy beads are the creation of Israel’s Michal Silberberg. She uses almost every color of the rainbow in these, setting up a whole array of contrast between all the various colors. There are quite a few other contrasting elements here as well–round on square forms, thick lines running side-by-side with dotted lines, small and large circles, and statically centered nested circles on top of energetic moving lines. For all that, it doesn’t feel like she’s gone overboard. Do you know why? Hint … it has to do with a lack of contrast.

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The trick to using contrast well is balance. If everything contrasts, there is no order to anchor the viewer. These beads work because of an element with no contrast, a bit of restraint and some adherence to order. Okay … can you identify the element that is not contrasted? It’s a characteristic of color. What’s that? Saturation you say? Well, yes! That’s it.

All these colors are heavily saturated and bright. Even the black is just black and the whites are just white, with no grays. This consistency in saturation makes using every hue in the rainbow workable. There is also some restraint in the use of other elements, like only using circles and squares rather than a myriad of shapes. And then there are the two different types of lines–dots vs. solid lines–which follow the same paths, making them feel related. If she had increased the contrast in either of these areas, she would have tipped over into visual chaos.

Alright, back to working on the final details to get the next issue off. Go enjoy your weekend. Keep an eye out for contrast and note how it works in the the designs you enjoy. Becoming more aware of the elements as you observe them will translate to being more aware and more in control of such things when creating your own work. You can start by checking out more of Michal’s wonderful bead designs in her Etsy shop. A big dose of color on a Friday is always a good thing!

A Little Faux Lampwork

May 15, 2013

Wow … thank you all for chiming in with your comments and emails on what to do with the rest of the week. It’s really very cool to hear from you all. Perhaps we’ll pose options (and giveaways!) for upcoming weeks on a regular basis. You can tell me what is of the most interest … I get very energized writing because of your feedback rather than the ideas that pop into my head, out of the ether. And who doesn’t like a chance to get free stuff! Sounds like a win-win to me!

So, faux came in heavy right off but a call to see more about variation started coming up from behind as the evening went on. The end result is … we are going to start with faux this week then look at how to work out variations next week.

Since Iris and Hilla brought to our attention another art form emulated in polymer, why don’t we stick with other craft arts that we can create in polymer? Try to keep in mind as we look at these techniques that the objective is not to find other arts to emualte but to see new directions that polymer can be pushed in your studio. For instance, I thought we’d start with an artist who’s faux lampwork has fascinated me since I stumbled on it a few years back. I love experimenting with liquid polymer and I was fascinated by how high Sharon Solly makes her glass like dots and how well controlled they are.

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Sharon may have an bit of an advantage over the rest of us as she actually does lampwork. I am really curious as to how similar the work is. I know I experimented for a while trying to get the dot not to spread. My solution was to either add just a smidge at a time, hitting it with a heat gun between dabs or preheating the base clay so the dot of liquid polymer would start to solidify immediately. The pre-heat worked well on flat items as I could lay the base clay on a hot plate/mug warmer and work on that but the round beads  … I just couldn’t get the same effect that Sharon is getting. But if you can work on building up liquid polymer like this, you could add a bit of the faux lampwork look to many things you couldn’t add glass to in the first place. There are tremendous possibilities for decorative dotting!

If you are in the least bit interested, do look through Sharon’s Flicker pages. This one image is a bare tip of the iceberg … she has a broad body of work showing her on-going experimentation with this process. Actually, Sharon looks to be a major faux experimentator with a large variety of stones and dichroic-like pieces done in polymer.

So go explore some faux! Tomorrow we’ll announce the winner of the Cosmic Ceramic giveway as well. See you then!

Giving Voice to Vision

February 16, 2020
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Alev Gozonar, Herd Psychology I, 2019

Do you consider yourself one of those people who like to talk about their art, or do you want never to talk about it, like it might lose some of it’s magic if you try to explain it?

I think a lot of artists feel a little of both. We love what we do so much that we want to share it with anyone who has the slightest interest, but at the same time, we don’t want to over analyze it for fear of diminishing the personal and often mysterious process that is the creation of art work.

You don’t have to be over analytical about your art in order to verbalize what you do but you should consider how putting your thoughts about your process and what drives you to create into writing can help both yourself and those who view your work.

Let’s look at a few artists and their words to see how authentic and intelligent discussions of one’s work can illuminate and grow our appreciation for the art and its creator.

 

From the Mouth of Artists

For some artists, their intention is wound up intensely in the stories they would like to tell. Christine Damm is an artist who believes so strongly in the power of storytelling, that she named her business “Stories They Tell”. In her own words:

Stories They Tell is the name I call my company, because I am a storyteller. For me, life is a process, a journey, a transformation, an unfolding. And as our lives tell a story, so does our art. We – and it– are shaped by what we’ve done, who we’ve met, what we’ve learned, what we’ve struggled with or succeeded at. Life is an intersection with other souls, other lives, other ways of seeing, other ways of living. Art expresses that in a wonderful and ever-changing, topsy-turvy marvel of creation and discovery.

This paragraph from her website is an honest expression of how she sees the world and how that viewpoint lives with her and her day to day creative work. You can tell that it is a heartfelt view and description of herself, right? She’s not saying anything that hasn’t been said before, but she is saying it in her own words, and it gives us an understanding of what is important to her and what drives her creative process.

 

Alev Gozonar is a very conceptual artist. She clings to, and explores, words, stories, and specific ideologies as she creates. In the piece below I found on Instagram, she tags her images with just a handful of descriptors, primarily #concrete and #brutalism, referring to an architectural style in the mid-20th century that was characterized by monolithic, blocky, concrete elements. She contrasts the concrete shapes with delicate floral petals in this piece, but in other pieces in this line, the polymer petals are spattered or covered in concrete rather than just existing alongside the harsh building material, so there’s both an interesting juxtaposition and an immersion of the delicate in the hard and harsh. (You can find those other pieces on her Instagram page.) Now read how she sees her work. Her statements about reveal even more layers to her approach. In her words:

The dominant theme in my works is the composition of a whole via the repetition of parts.  This can be seen as an extension of my textiles education and has become a cornerstone of my identity as an artist. If I make an attempt to describe the general framework of my artwork, I would say that the most important starting points for me are the emotional losses and gains I have experienced in various phases of my life, my observations about life, my personal experiences and the way all of these things reflect on daily life, behavior and emotional states. 

Now what do you think when you look at this piece, or at the piece that opens this blog? Does it change how you see them?

 

Debra Adelson is a jewelry artist working in a “centuries old Bohemian cold work glass technique. Cold working does not use heat but, rather, water to keep the glass cool while manipulating it using abrasives such as sandblasting, grinding, drilling, and cutting.”

Look at her pieces below. If you did not know what her process was, you might take but a very quick glance at her work but you would not have had a lot to ponder. However, you now know something of her process and so probably have an increased appreciation and so, you’ll linger longer to identify how her process forms the work.


She has a very specific design process as well and often photographs her work to show the original inspiration which further informs us about the piece. For instance, it will be hard to look at the amber colored brooch and not see the water worn slot canyon walls, now that we have seen the photograph – the image is forever connected in our minds to that brooch, even if we see it without the image.

So, yes, images can help but, still, Debra gives us further insight into her process and thoughts with this selection of words from her online bio:

I am inspired by the natural world and our relationship to it. My pieces pay homage to changing forces that shape our landscape—both natural and manmade. I seek to create harmony in my work and find balance between our need to shape our environment while preserving and respecting the natural world. Each series begins with a distinct inspiration or concept. I base the initial piece on an image, a moment in nature and experiment to come up with my ‘visual language’ that tells a story for the series.

Her work is really amazing so do stop and click through to look at the colorful and very interestingly carved glass “gems” on her Instagram page or website.

 

Obviously, this is just a small taste of what people post to talk about their art. I might suggest that, as you zip around online and run into various artists that you admire or work that inspires you, go to their websites and read the ‘About’ page or their artist statements. The more of these you read and the more aware you become of how statements inform the artwork, the easier it will be for you to form a statement, a bio, or other text about you and your work that is authentic and truly brings across what it is you would like people to see in what you do.

 

Me and My Projects

I can’t tell you how energized and excited I am these days! For one, the Virtual Art Box which was released a bit over a week ago, has been so enthusiastically received (for which I am so relieved as I wondered how people would like it) and, secondly, because I’m getting to write tons about the things I am most passionate about! I get up in the morning and write like a mad woman. It just comes pouring out. I have to actually stop myself so I can make room for some guest artists and writers. When was the last time you were so excited about something that you could hardly think of anything else? It’s a great feeling!

It truly helps my enthusiasm to have such glowing comments sent to me (“This changed my life, already!”, “This was just what I needed. I thought I was burned out on creating but that wasn’t it …”, “I feel like I’m taking a college course!”) but I was a bit overwhelmed and emotional at moments. I am trying, in everything I do with my publications and projects, to affect other people’s lives in a positive and nurturing way but, unlike when teaching in person, in this business, you don’t get a clear idea of what people are doing with what they learn. But with the Creative Pursuits (a challenge and form in the Virtual Art Box that lets readers connect with me on their focus and goals) and the social media pages, not to mention the kind emails and messages I’ve been getting, I’m hearing exactly what your fellow polymer enthusiasts are up to and what they want. It’s fascinating and creates such energy for me and, I think, it will do so for the active VAB members. It’s so exciting!

If you aren’t getting the VAB, you can join in today by buying the one month February box, no subscription required, and then you can  check out what we are doing. You can get a subscription right now too although that won’t start you until March. Whatever you do, I just hope you have a chance to get in on this energy.

 

 

Lindly Needs a Little Love

If you have not already heard, one of our very dear community leaders and pioneers, Lindly Haunani, had a horrific accident a bit over a week ago. She has multiple broken bones, including bones in her dominant hand, and although she is sure to recover, it is going to be a very long and difficult road. Of course, this community jumped in to help her out in a huge way, but she will need your continued love and support for quite a while.

Take a look at her Go Fund Me page and send Lindly a little love this Valentine’s weekend if you can.

Additional fundraising avenues are being worked on as well. I will keep you updated on those and her well-being as I get news.

 

Shimmer and Shine … and Get Published.
Deadline for submission of ideas is March 15th

Scheduling this for Fall 2020, the Polymer Arts Projects – Shimmer and Shine book will, like the PAP – Organic’s book, feature numerous in-depth tutorials by some of our community’s most accomplished artists.

If you feel you are one of these folks that have something fantastic to offer readers for this theme, I am now open for submission ideas. Here are the basic guidelines:

  • As the theme is Shimmer and Shine, the project should be shiny, glitzy, sparkly, or blingy but also artistic, well-designed, and skillfully conceived.
  • The tutorial should work for readers in the experienced novice to moderately advanced range. This will not be for absolute beginners.
  • The tools and materials, or workable alternatives, should be obtainable by the majority of our worldwide readership.
  • The project should have a specific technique or look that can be reproduced in different forms and styles with examples of possible variations shown.
  • Artists submitting should be experienced at photographing their process and writing detailed tutorials.

This special publication offers payment and profit sharing for our contributing artists. Keep an eye on these newsletters for your submission opportunity next month. Check out the Polymer Arts Projects – Organics  book for further examples of the kind of tutorials we will be looking for.

At this time submit just the summary of your idea–just a few sentences–and links or small attachments to images of the technique and/or pieces of the kind your proposed tutorial would include. Send them to sage(a)tenthmusearts.com. My response will be sent after the March 15th deadline.

I look forward to your ideas!

Well, my dear readers, I do hope you’ve had a loving weekend. I’m off to spend the rest of it with my sun and stars. I hope you have an exciting and creative week!

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Mixing and Mingling, New Cover, & 33% off Back issues

March 24, 2019
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We have a bit of business to do first today but it’s exciting business! I wanted to share with you the next cover of The Polymer Studio, coming late April.

We are thrilled to include projects from Cynthia Tinapple, our featured and interviewed artist for this issue, as well as Christi Friesen, Kathy Koontz, Elena Mori, the Mitchell sisters, Deb Hart, and Wendy Moore. Also, tips, tricks, and other bits of wisdom from Debbie Crothers, Ginger Davis Allman, and little old me. And you won’t want to miss the tour of Christine Dumont’s studio, complete with a conversation about her space and process, which I think you’ll find very intriguing.

All this and more, just a month away! Support our projects, this blog, and the betterment of your own polymer journey, of course, or just because you’d like to look at all the pretty things tucked into those pages, by subscribing to The Polymer Studio here.

(Be sure to scroll down to the last section for the 33% off sale stuff.)

A Fine Mix-up

So, did you get a chance to look through the winning entries for the IPCA awards? Here’s the link again if you didn’t see them. The winning entries are just beautiful and maybe even a bit surprising. If you saw it, did you notice any trends or changes in trends and what was presented? I thought it was interesting that there were a lot of mixed-media pieces where polymer clay might have been the focus, but other materials played large roles in important design aspects and visual impact of the work.

One of the reasons I find this so interesting is that the idea of expanding into other materials seems to be a regular conversation myself and many other people are having. I couldn’t say exactly what that means but I do believe that polymer, with its unparalleled flexibility for combining with other materials, has kind of come of age where our exploration of what it can do is being placed on the back burner in order to focus on artistic expression. I look at these mixed-media pieces in the awards and other pieces I find during my research and general perusing online, and it seems that we are seeing more instances where polymer centric artists decide what they want to make and then determine the best materials for the work rather than push to see if polymer can be used for most, if not all, of the components of a piece. Or perhaps I am just hoping this is the case because I would love to see more folks focused on personal expression will rather than letting our obsessive, but understandable, infatuation with the material determine our creative parameters.

Of course, for most of us who work in polymer now, this colorful, durable, and chameleon material will remain our primary love and, regardless of other options, we will often still try to do as much as we can with polymer, if just to see if we can push it a little bit farther. But, opening oneself up to the possibilities of combining it with other materials in major ways will allow us, and even the viewer, to focus more on the design and expression and less on the material itself, which will let the artist’s expression, vision, creativity, and aesthetic really shine. I find this very exciting!

So, this week, let’s look at some of the mixed-media pieces where other materials play a primary role alongside polymer. This could be very helpful for you if you have felt like you’re in a rut or are too often hitting technical or design walls in your work. Trying out a different material may just be the thing to inject you with new enthusiasm and, possibly, send you down a new path with your artwork.

Mixed Directions

Let’s first look at some of the winners of the IPCA awards and in many ways that other materials have been mixed in.

This first piece is both a mixed-media and a mixed artist piece. Ellen Prophater or worked with Sherry Mozer, a glass artist, led to the use of the black glass piece with its shades of green within reflected in the mokume polymer it sits upon. It is set in a silver bezel and accented with Swarovski crystals. Both the mokume and the glass show off a subtle transparency, drawing the connection between the two along with the green cast colors. It’s a nice reminder that collaboration can also push us in new directions making new discoveries in our work and even ourselves and our friendships.

 

Donna Greenberg just killed it as the professional mixed-media category. This wall piece is called Wedgewood Wave but the word that keeps coming to mind for me is swoon. Not just because I feel like swooning, it’s just so gorgeous, but that’s also the word that comes to mind from that fabulous flow of energy through those waves, back into the pool of blue. Those waves are paper, but the application of color and shape are similar to the polymer pieces so the different materials feel cohesive. This is definitely one of those cases where another medium was the better choice. Trying to create those waves in polymer would’ve been just silly, even though it could be done. The paper gives a lighter feel to the overall piece as well as a light and easy flow to the visual movement. She also used Ultralight polymer alongside the Arches cold press paper, acrylic gouache paints, watercolor pencils, and Apoxie paste, each material fulfilling its purpose in a way that another material would not have been as successful with.

 

With the issue of the environment heavy in many of our minds, we are seeing a lot of exploration into found or recycled or upcycled items. Sarah Machtey offered up this steam punk pouch necklace with removable magnifying glass for the mixed media category of the awards with a bit of all of that. The front and back of this small pouch is from a soda can turned inside out – you can still see the printing of the soda can on the inside – but she embossed the can with decorative lines and used mica powder infused liquid polymer in the recesses to make them stand out. The band across the top is upcycled copper from a renovation project while the side leaves and earrings are polymer clay. Not sure if the magnifying glass was bought or found but it certainly could have been reused from something else.

The pouch is 7” (18 cm) in height from the top edge to the bottom of the magnifying glass, so it’s no small bit of tin on there. Of course, she could have used polymer to create the metal sections but it would’ve been a bulkier piece. The tin keeps the weight down as well as adding some structural strength that would only have been accomplished with a much thicker wall of polymer.

 

Keep in mind, when we are talking mixed-media it doesn’t necessarily have to be another art material. For instance, I combined poetry with photos of polymer in a challenge last year that I was posting on my personal Instagram page. Other people mix it up by installing the work in unusual places so that the what is placed on becomes part of the artwork such as fairy doors installed on walls or in tree trunks or tiles installed into a kitchen backsplash. Rachel Gourley takes it just a touch further, installing her little collections so that they recede into the landscape. She scatters her polymer elements out and about in natural settings, looking much like organic growths but unexpected in their color, shape, and placement.

 

Putting Together Your Own Mixer

This week, I didn’t pull any tutorials for you to try because it would have to be a mad, a long list of other materials to give you any real idea of your options. Instead, I might suggest that you keep your eye open for what other polymer artists are doing with other materials. Perhaps one of the above ideas piqued your interest already. If so, research that other material and find ways to acquire or hone your skill in that medium. Just put “polymer clay and [fill in the blank with the material you’re curious about]” into the search bar on Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr, or Google images and see what pops up. Add the word “tutorial” to see what offerings there are online. I’m sure there will be plenty of inspiration.

You can also grab your Spring 2015 – Diversity issue of The Polymer Arts or the Convergence themed issue from Spring of 2016, both of which have a ton of ideas around using other materials with polymer. You can see the table of contents for all back issues of The Polymer Arts on this page to check out what these issues have to offer. Then, if you don’t have the issues, you can order them on the website.

In fact, let’s have a sale!

Why don’t you grab a few back issues and take a full 33% off 3 or more! Good on digital or print, I’ll keep this up until next Sunday so grab them this week. Use promo code TPA33 at checkout.

And … I’m Off!

I would normally have some community news and deals for you to look into at this point, but I did not get to that. This week has been a struggle. I am being kept busy by a house that has decided to just fall apart all of a sudden. My creative energies have been used up relocating kitchen activities to the garage, the porch, and even my studio because of plumbing issues while getting tons of exercise running large circles around the house because the garage door won’t open, washing my clothes in the bathroom sink because the laundry machine won’t drain, and constantly shuffling ice packs from freezer to fridge because the fridge is on and off and its replacement is weeks away from getting here. All this happening two weeks before we start some (apparently!) much-needed kitchen remodeling. I’m not making this up.  But talk about mixing it up!

So, I’m going to get back to my at-home glamping while trying to get the next issue wrapped up for you. But tune in next week for more polymer pretties and inspiration, and, hopefully, less house drama from Sage’s corner! In the meantime, if you work with another medium, please share it below. Or tell us the most unusual medium you’ve combined with polymer! I’d love to get a feel for what you all are working on besides polymer. Leave links to the work as well if available! (If you get this by email, click on the post title to get to the post page and scroll down to comments.) I’m excited to see what you all have to share!

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Inside a Glass Tower

July 20, 2018
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Since we got on a glass kick this week, I rummaged through my outside inspiration board on Pinterest and came up with this fantastic artist who I have long wanted to share with you.

Jean Fernandes was born in India but was raised both there and in California. After graduating with a Masters in Glass from the University of Texas at Arlington, she became an award-winning emerging artist and winner of a 2015 Niche award.

And it’s no wonder. Just look at this simple but mesmerizing cast glass tower she created in 2015—its interiors look almost alive with movement. The basic shape and grayscale color palette allows the interior lines and undulating forms to captivate us without distraction. The vertical shape relies on a sense of strength, as vertical forms and lines do, adding to the monumental feel of this piece even though it’s only 16 inches high.

Jean considers herself a multimedia artist although glass has been her primary medium. To quote her from an interview in 2015, “Often, I work with glass because of its conceptual flexibility and duality. It has the ability to be fragile or strong, transparent or opaque, stiff or flexible, etc. and acts as an excellent metaphor in my work. The properties of the media are often integral to my work; I’ve used yarn for its softness and strength, ice for its temporality, wax for its ability to melt when introduced to heat, etc. and all of these qualities often play a large role in the concept of the piece I am working on.”

This brings up an interesting thought that I’ve discussed with several artists recently and that is whether our art is defined by our medium or do we work with the mediums that help us to define our art? I think those who put the artwork first may often find themselves working in various mediums simply because they’re looking for the materials that help them realize what they want to express. It’s wonderful that polymer’s versatility can fulfill many artistic needs so readily, but I thought I’d take this moment to remind us that we can, and should, use other mediums when it helps us express what it is we want to put out there in the world.

Take a look at more of Jean’s work on her website here.

 

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Through a Glass Prettily

July 16, 2018
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Apparently, I’m a bit of a wreck. I’m only telling you this because you are probably going to see a bit of a slowdown in our publications coming out and maybe a little less research here on the blog. As many of you know, I’m the only full-time person who works on The Polymer Arts projects and I’m dealing with two injuries that occurred earlier this year and arthritis in my neck, none of which are happy with how much I work. So, doctor’s orders, I have to cut my computer time down the next few months while I focus on healing. It’s going to be hard to slow down, workaholic that I am, but I’m counting on you all to hold me to it!

So to minimize my research time, I’m going to be pulling things to share from my stash on my Pinterest boards and favorites on Instagram and Flickr and such for a while. We will, therefore, be seeing a fair amount of older work, but there’s so much really inspirational and timeless work to share.

This week’s first piece is from Adrianne Jeswiet whose work I discovered not too long ago. Her shop on Etsy is called “Kissing Glass” and it is filled with various glass vessels covered in detailed imagery. This piece includes tiny dragonflies, water lilies, irises and cattails applied to a recycled glass vase colored with glass paint. Take a close look to see the myriad of tiny details that are sure to make this a conversation piece wherever it finds its new home.

Pop over to Adrianne’s Etsy shop to see the full range of what she does.

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The Many Faces of Glass Beads

June 10, 2017
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To round out this week’s quick focus on beads, I thought I’d share focal beads in another medium that is very well-known for them–glass.

Glass artists have some very particular and, literally, inflexible limitations and yet they create these extremely intricate and amazing beads. They do get to work with super clear transparency–a characteristic of their medium that they use to great advantage–which is something that is difficult to achieve in polymer, but their forms and patterns are something that, I think, could be a gold mine of inspiration and a jumping off point for ideas in polymer that go beyond the basic and common beads seen in polymer.

Here are just four examples of the intricacy and beauty in glass bead making today. Starting from top left is a bead created by Leah Nietz, top right is Lisa Fletcher, bottom left is Andrea Guarino, and bottom right is Ikuyo Yamanaka. You can click on each artist’s name to reach their shop or website to look further into what they create. You can also immerse yourself in glass focal beads by putting that very phrase into a Pinterest, Google Images, Etsy, Flickr, or even Instagram.

Weekly Inspiration Challenge: Choose your favorite image posting service, such as those just listed above, and enjoy the art and inspiration that comes up when you search for “focal beads”. Choose a couple of images and try to determine what you like best about the bead or beads and then figure out how to recreate those characteristics in polymer. Hopefully that leads you to some original and very fulfilling polymer bead explorations.

 

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A Collective Shine

February 4, 2017
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mosaic wallThe art form with the ultimate bits-and-pieces approach has to be mosaics. With mosaics you can take any material that can be collected in chunks that are small enough to puzzle together among themselves or with other smallish chunks. That makes for a lot of possibilities. The possible forms for the application of mosaics is pretty wide open. Even opening the form is possible and breaking the frame is a possibility with mosaics.

Robin Evans‘ choice of material is primarily glass from which she creates jewelry and, apparently, some pretty amazing wall art in a mosaic style. I hesitate to call it a full mosaic as it looks like the swaths of gold, copper, and green are cracked glass or mirrors which gives the impression of a mosaic even though it’s not although it is a pretty cool look.

Then there are the actual mosaic parts which not only flow through from one panel design to the next but also move right off it and onto the wall to make their ways across. This not only connects the vertical panels but brings the piece alive with movement that breaks the frame of each one. And it’s shiny!

I couldn’t find a gallery of much of Robin’s wall art or at least not a gathering of it but you can find pieces scattered among her jewelry on her Facebook page, in her Etsy shop and on Instagram.

Weekly Inspirational Challenge: Create something beautiful from unassuming elements. This could be a great way to use old canes, extra beads, scrap clay and even cured and deserted elements. See what you have in your spare bins and boxes in your studio space and see what can be resurrected from the stuff you set aside.

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Outside Inspiration: Glass Reveals

November 29, 2013
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I know very little about making glass beads, so I can’t even begin to guess how Harold Williams Cooney made this amazing piece.

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So … do you cut into glass to get this? Grind it down? Carve it out while hot some how? Yep, I’m clueless on the technique. The only thing I do know is that this kind of thing could be done beautifully with polymer clay by cutting, carving, or grinding. It reminds me somewhat of Jana Roberts Benzon’s lazer cut technique, just with more form and less cut away. Also, consider Vera’s beads from yesterday’s post. If they were covered by a solid sheet of clay and the cuts were farther apart to allow more surface, the cut-out areas would look something like what we see in these glass beads. But it’s definitely something to think about–especially for all you extrusion-mad clayers.

Harold is a particularly prolific artist with a lofty goal. It’s hard to explain his single-source American Trade Bead collection, but basically he is collecting his own work in order to create the largest collection made by a single bead artist. If you’re interested in his concept, you can read more about it on his blog. But if you are more interested in wonderful glass beauties, go look at his Etsy shop. There are more than just this bead to inspire a polymer artist there!

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.

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Outside Inspiration: Color Contrast

November 8, 2013
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Yesterday we talked about the one aspect of color that actually removes the importance of what many consider the defining characteristic of color–hue. So, knowing how important color is to most of us in this community, I thought today we’d treat you to a little color overload.

With color, i’ts not too hard to go overboard and go from harmonious contrast to chaos. The point between those two is a very fine line. So how can you tell if you are heading for the precipice of chaos? Well, for our outside inspiration Friday, let’s examine some extremely colorful glass beads that amble up to that point, but delightfully avoid heading over that cliff.

These juicy beads are the creation of Israel’s Michal Silberberg. She uses almost every color of the rainbow in these, setting up a whole array of contrast between all the various colors. There are quite a few other contrasting elements here as well–round on square forms, thick lines running side-by-side with dotted lines, small and large circles, and statically centered nested circles on top of energetic moving lines. For all that, it doesn’t feel like she’s gone overboard. Do you know why? Hint … it has to do with a lack of contrast.

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The trick to using contrast well is balance. If everything contrasts, there is no order to anchor the viewer. These beads work because of an element with no contrast, a bit of restraint and some adherence to order. Okay … can you identify the element that is not contrasted? It’s a characteristic of color. What’s that? Saturation you say? Well, yes! That’s it.

All these colors are heavily saturated and bright. Even the black is just black and the whites are just white, with no grays. This consistency in saturation makes using every hue in the rainbow workable. There is also some restraint in the use of other elements, like only using circles and squares rather than a myriad of shapes. And then there are the two different types of lines–dots vs. solid lines–which follow the same paths, making them feel related. If she had increased the contrast in either of these areas, she would have tipped over into visual chaos.

Alright, back to working on the final details to get the next issue off. Go enjoy your weekend. Keep an eye out for contrast and note how it works in the the designs you enjoy. Becoming more aware of the elements as you observe them will translate to being more aware and more in control of such things when creating your own work. You can start by checking out more of Michal’s wonderful bead designs in her Etsy shop. A big dose of color on a Friday is always a good thing!

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A Little Faux Lampwork

May 15, 2013
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Wow … thank you all for chiming in with your comments and emails on what to do with the rest of the week. It’s really very cool to hear from you all. Perhaps we’ll pose options (and giveaways!) for upcoming weeks on a regular basis. You can tell me what is of the most interest … I get very energized writing because of your feedback rather than the ideas that pop into my head, out of the ether. And who doesn’t like a chance to get free stuff! Sounds like a win-win to me!

So, faux came in heavy right off but a call to see more about variation started coming up from behind as the evening went on. The end result is … we are going to start with faux this week then look at how to work out variations next week.

Since Iris and Hilla brought to our attention another art form emulated in polymer, why don’t we stick with other craft arts that we can create in polymer? Try to keep in mind as we look at these techniques that the objective is not to find other arts to emualte but to see new directions that polymer can be pushed in your studio. For instance, I thought we’d start with an artist who’s faux lampwork has fascinated me since I stumbled on it a few years back. I love experimenting with liquid polymer and I was fascinated by how high Sharon Solly makes her glass like dots and how well controlled they are.

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Sharon may have an bit of an advantage over the rest of us as she actually does lampwork. I am really curious as to how similar the work is. I know I experimented for a while trying to get the dot not to spread. My solution was to either add just a smidge at a time, hitting it with a heat gun between dabs or preheating the base clay so the dot of liquid polymer would start to solidify immediately. The pre-heat worked well on flat items as I could lay the base clay on a hot plate/mug warmer and work on that but the round beads  … I just couldn’t get the same effect that Sharon is getting. But if you can work on building up liquid polymer like this, you could add a bit of the faux lampwork look to many things you couldn’t add glass to in the first place. There are tremendous possibilities for decorative dotting!

If you are in the least bit interested, do look through Sharon’s Flicker pages. This one image is a bare tip of the iceberg … she has a broad body of work showing her on-going experimentation with this process. Actually, Sharon looks to be a major faux experimentator with a large variety of stones and dichroic-like pieces done in polymer.

So go explore some faux! Tomorrow we’ll announce the winner of the Cosmic Ceramic giveway as well. See you then!

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