Diving into Exploration
April 4, 2021 Design lessons, Technique tutorials
Do you feel like you have to make a finished piece or be working on a particular design when you sit down at your studio table? Sure, it feels good, and it’s very exciting to have a finished piece to show and share, but learning a craft is as much about exploration as is about creating finished work.
So, if you’re not giving yourself that exploratory time, let me give you some reasons to highly consider it. And if you do a bit of exploring already, maybe I can offer up some new ideas about ways to use and organize your exploratory bits that you might not have tried.
The Exploratory Reasoning
When you’re fairly new to a material, technique, form, or construction method, it is to your advantage to spend time just playing with it. This is especially true, I think, of texture, mark making, color mixing, new techniques, and new materials including new brands of a familiar material. Trying to make finished work before you are familiar with the technique or material can get frustrating, if not downright depressing. You can gain more success in the long run if you develop a better understanding of what it is that you’re working and hone your skills a bit before gambling your time, materials, and hopes on finished work.
It certainly can be tempting to just pick up something and see what you can make with it right out the gate. With a lot of home craft materials, polymer clay in particular, you can create a decent completed piece within a day of picking it up. However, the ease of these materials is a bit of a deception. They may be easy to get started with, but mastering them, even just a little, takes time and effort. Give yourself a gift of that time to get to know what you’re working with without the pressure of trying to finish something presentable.
Samples to Reference
Probably the best way to explore new materials and techniques is to make small samples, ones you can keep and reference as you make decisions for future finished pieces. If the color of the sample is not relevant, you can just use scrap clay. If you use clay straight out of the package, you may also have an option to transform the samples into finished work. Let’s go over all these options.
(Although I’m going to talk specifically about polymer clay, if you work primarily in another material, consider an equivalent process. Consider how you can cut out or form small samples that can be saved as references. See if this clay focused process inspires you.)
For some orderly exploration, sheet your clay and then hand cut or punch cut the sheets into whatever shapes tickle your fancy. Then you can just go crazy with whatever you’re exploring. Use as many of these pieces as you like for each process you’re exploring. Keep the ones you are pleased with, etching with a needle tool or, after curing, writing on the back with permanent marker, what you made them with. Keep cured pieces in a baggie or punch holes in them before curing so you can string them on wire or chain, making them easy to flip through.
If you are playing with textures, mark making, or any kind of tooling on polymer clay, I would suggest sheeting three different thicknesses—the thickest setting, a medium setting, and the thinnest setting on your pasta machine. Then try out each of your experiments at least once on each of the three different thicknesses. Anything that impresses or otherwise moves around the clay will be affected differently by the clay thickness, sometimes subtly but sometimes quite dramatically.
Cure the samples you like, being sure to inscribe or write a note on the back indicating what thickness the clay sheet was along with what made the impression or marks.
If you’re color mixing, sheet the finished color, then punch out a decent sized shape, one that has enough room for you to write down your proportions for that color mix. For example, if you mix a deep rich purple by combining 6 parts cobalt, 3 parts magenta, and one part black, inscribe on the back:
6X blue
3X magenta
1X black
Also include a big initial for the brand of clay (P for Premo, F for Fimo, K for Kato, etc) since colors by the same name in one brand are usually nothing like those colors in another brand.
You can also note proportions visually by punching out a circle of clay, smaller than your mixed sample, from each of the colors you used in the mix. Cut out portions, like pie slices, from each color in proportion to how much was used in the mix to re-create a single circle showing how much of each color was used in the mix. Don’t forget to inscribe your initial for the brand of clay. See the image here for an approximate example of the purple mix above.
Adhere this combination pie to the mixed color shape, punch a hole in the sample, cure, and string on a chain or wire.
(If you are confused about how to figure out the parts aspect of the color mixing, just use a small cutter to punch your unmixed colors out of sheets of the same thickness. Each piece is a part. Use these punched bits of clay to make your mix, keeping track of how many pieces/parts you use to create the color you’re making.)
If you’re playing with a surface colorant, try it on both white clay and black clay or on clay colors you use quite often. It’s a rare colorant that doesn’t allow the clay base underneath to the show through, so trying it on black and white will give you an idea of how the colorant will appear on lighter versus darker colors, not just black and white.
I punch small-ish circles out of white and black sheets of clay, then I cut them in half and put a white half with a black half. I apply the colorant to these splits chips. After curing, I glue them to the colorant’s product container so my reference sample is right on the product. You can see here how well this works for those little mica powder containers, above. I keep them in a drawer with the samples facing up so I can quickly find the color I want.
The best part about all these samples is that while you’re designing a finished piece, you can pull them out and compare them side-by-side to see what works well together. You can also hold them up to a partially finished piece to see what you might want to add. Personally, I can’t imagine working without all my exploratory samples.
Turning Discovery into Works of Art
Now, for those of you who are anxious to produce something with your time at the studio table, you can take any samples you’re not going to save for reference and create with them. You can add additional layers, reshape, or attach embellishment to your extra samples to easily create pendants, earrings, or brooches. You can also use them for collages or mosaics.
Keep cured samples, even if you’re not going to use them for reference, for further experiments where you want to play with cured clay techniques or to test new glues or sealants. This way, not only is your time not wasted, neither are any of the materials you’re playing with.
Give Yourself Permission to Explore
Whatever your inclination, the big take-away here is that in-depth exploration can, and probably should, be a regular part of your creative process. Give yourself the permission and time to do this throughout your creative journey or career, not just when you’re starting out.
Keep in mind, not only does this kind of exploratory time hone your skills, your familiarity and confidence with the processes and techniques grow stronger and faster than they would if you tried to learn just through making finished work. This is because you are willing to take more chances with these scrap samples. They just don’t have the same stakes, right?
And, you know, taking chances with this exploratory sample work should eventually translate into taking bigger risks with your finished pieces. I think, when we take the big risks, that’s when we make the biggest leaps and create the most amazing work. Well, sometimes we make absolute disasters as well, but it’s all part of the process. You’re certainly less likely to have a disaster if you do a lot of exploration first.
So, if you have not let yourself just explore and play with the materials you work with, maybe, this week, you can either set some time aside or make all of your studio time exploration time. Making many of your mistakes in the exploratory phase and not always on completed pieces will make your creative time more efficient, less stressful, and more enjoyable.
Texture Hungry?
If you’re one of those who is looking for more ideas and direction on texture, don’t forget we have an entire issue of The Polymer Arts on texture, the Fall 2017 issue. Also check out the mark making focused edition of the Virtual Art Box from March of last year. All Virtual Art Box content that was previously members only is 40% off right now.
The Last of the March Giveaways
Our month of giveaways has ended, but all your wonderful comments have given me so many ideas for upcoming posts. I thank all of you who commented so very sincerely!
I have one last giveaway winner to announce. Valerie Hall is receiving the last batch of my giveaway Polyform clay. I was very excited about this. Valerie is a very active and giving soul who has been trying to teaching through the great clay shortage of 2020 in any way she can. So it’s fantastic to aid her with this clay package. Congrats Valerie!
This was so much fun. I will try to do this here and there as I receive samples or find opportunities to gather stuff for you. So stick around for more free stuff in the not-too-distant future!
You can support this blog by buying yourself a little something at Tenth Muse Arts or, if you like…
A Lovely Surprise
December 14, 2015 Inspirational Art
I don’t know what happens online but there have been long spells lately where nothing really jumps out at me as I wander through Pinterest, Flicker, Etsy, Google images, and the many blogs and art sites I keep bookmarked to look for amazing and inspiring work. Maybe it’s just me, but then, all of sudden, pieces are jumping out of the screen to charm me into digging further. This week, I want to share a few that have done that recently but for which I haven’t devised any themes to work them into and I’m just a bit too excited to wait to share them.
These pendants made me stop, not just because they are beautifully designed, but I thought certainly that these were one of the many pieces found on Pinterest that had been mistakenly marked as polymer. Looking into the artist further, I found that Katya Bo does, in fact, make these out of polymer. Only the findings they hang from and the stones embedded in them are not. I’ve done my share of raised thin lines in polymer and they are not at all easy to keep neat and even. It takes a lot of patience and a steady hand. Katya must have those in spades because, according to process photos I found, these are not stamped or cast as they might first appear to be.
Her art deco look sometimes crosses into renaissance and other times takes a whiplash swing into space age styles, but there is always that delicate design reminiscent of enamel using faux granite clay for the base. Her pieces are gorgeously conceived, beautifully detailed, and quietly balanced in design; a combination that seems fairly rare in art jewelry these days.
I spent way more time flipping through her Flickr pages than I had when I first saw her work, then I dug deeper and found her LiveMaster shop as well as her VK.com ‘workroom’ which has the process photos that reveal that, no, those lines are not wires or formed through a more precision method, but are all formed polymer. What a lovely surprise.
___________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
___________________________________________
Lining Up Your Own Dots
July 15, 2015 Inspirational Art
So, all this talk of lines and dots has you wanting to try out your own dot-line compositions, right? Well, being the cheerleader that I am, I’ve gone out and found a little something that might get you playing with some of those dots and lines regardless of how enthralled you are with the subject. Just try out this easy and rewarding application technique.
Svetlana Belova generously shares her process for creating these lovely pendants on LiveMaster. The types of patterns you can create this way are endless. It really lets you explore the possibilities without committing to a block of mokume or being limited by a stamp or texture sheet. This kind of work is very meditative and can be a fantastic way to relax or get yourself into a creative zone before working on something else.
Svetlana shares her techniques on her blog and sells her work through her LiveMaster shop where you can see other examples of this and other pretty compositions.
Giving Your Piece Purpose
April 23, 2015 Inspirational Art
Covering containers is not a new concept for clayers, but how small would you go? There are all kinds of small boxes, tubes, and cases out there that can be transformed into interesting polymer container adornments. This pendant by Cyprus’ Nicolas and Nora is just one such example I dug up. They’ve given the container a very specific purpose as well, which is just about as interesting as this charming pendant.
They label these ‘prayer box necklaces’ in their Etsy listing. They go on to describe in detail what a prayer box is and how to use it by saying these are “used by religious faithful to help them focus on their specific prayer needs and to facilitate contemplation on one’s faith … most people stuff notes of prayer items into the boxes. Think about what you truly want and write it down. Writing your desires out give them energy and increase the likelihood that your wishes will be answered.”
Not only is it a nice idea, but by giving the pendant a particular purpose is also a smart way to sell. It’s not unlike staging a house. If you can show people just what they can do with what you have for them, they are much more likely to buy because they can imagine, in a very specific way, how they themselves would use your piece. So, if you do make any kind of container adornment or house decor, display and photograph the work with possible things it could contain, not as a primary presentation, but for the purpose of selling such as you would in your online shop or at a craft show. It turns the work from just something beautiful to look at (not that this shouldn’t be enough!) into something the buyer/wearer can customize and use for a more personal and connected interaction with your work.
Nicolas and Nora don’t seem to have any more of these container-style necklaces in their shop right now, but if you like this earthy, bohemian look, or are curious what other personal approaches they use to grab the interest of their potential customers, jump on over to their Etsy shop and take a look around.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.
Started with Snails
August 20, 2014 Inspirational Art
Kristie Foss is definitely an explorer type of artist. Her blog is full of her exploits in polymer and the many different variations she gets from playing with a technique, surface treatment or form.
In this one post, you can see the progression of playing with shapes starting with the same clay treatment. She began with nautilus snail shapes then worked it into a leaf type of pendant and then finally into these intriguing horn shapes. Its rather neat to be able to see the progression of ideas. Makes me want to jump into the studio and see what comes of the scraps on my table!
But alas, that is not for me today. And tomorrow I am in LA for a week just checking in on family and having some time away from it all with a favorite person of mine. I’m going to get started finding items for next week’s blog as of today and my tired brain could so use some help. If any of you have any favorite pieces–of yours or of others–you think we need to share with everyone, send me a link to this fabulous work at sbray@thepolymerarts.com or message us on Facebook at The Polymer Arts. You’ll get a warm thank you mention in the post and a link to your site as well as a lot of gratitude from little ol’ me!
In the meantime, treat yourself to some downtime of your own with a cup of coffee or glass of wine and join Kristie on her blog for a bit of polymer adventuring.
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.
A Spot to the Side
June 17, 2014 Inspirational Art
Sometimes the surprise found in our work comes incidentally as we create with other intentions. Una-Odd Lynn was fascinated by a collection of moonglow beads and had planned some simple cut pendants in polymer for them but ended up with something just a little different.
“I cut out a hole, not reserving the removed clay, and planned to use a moonglow bead in the middle. Experimenting with a tube to punch out the hole I discovered [the extra clay] would make a nice side bead.” And these sweet little necklaces were born!
Mrs. Lynn’s pieces and ideas are kind of all over the place but that openness to working with whatever suits a mood is often exactly what is needed to allow for new discoveries. Una-Odd blogs about all the various things she does and ponders on her entertaining blog. Jump on over and explore a little yourself.
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.
Do you feel like you have to make a finished piece or be working on a particular design when you sit down at your studio table? Sure, it feels good, and it’s very exciting to have a finished piece to show and share, but learning a craft is as much about exploration as is about creating finished work.
So, if you’re not giving yourself that exploratory time, let me give you some reasons to highly consider it. And if you do a bit of exploring already, maybe I can offer up some new ideas about ways to use and organize your exploratory bits that you might not have tried.
The Exploratory Reasoning
When you’re fairly new to a material, technique, form, or construction method, it is to your advantage to spend time just playing with it. This is especially true, I think, of texture, mark making, color mixing, new techniques, and new materials including new brands of a familiar material. Trying to make finished work before you are familiar with the technique or material can get frustrating, if not downright depressing. You can gain more success in the long run if you develop a better understanding of what it is that you’re working and hone your skills a bit before gambling your time, materials, and hopes on finished work.
It certainly can be tempting to just pick up something and see what you can make with it right out the gate. With a lot of home craft materials, polymer clay in particular, you can create a decent completed piece within a day of picking it up. However, the ease of these materials is a bit of a deception. They may be easy to get started with, but mastering them, even just a little, takes time and effort. Give yourself a gift of that time to get to know what you’re working with without the pressure of trying to finish something presentable.
Samples to Reference
Probably the best way to explore new materials and techniques is to make small samples, ones you can keep and reference as you make decisions for future finished pieces. If the color of the sample is not relevant, you can just use scrap clay. If you use clay straight out of the package, you may also have an option to transform the samples into finished work. Let’s go over all these options.
(Although I’m going to talk specifically about polymer clay, if you work primarily in another material, consider an equivalent process. Consider how you can cut out or form small samples that can be saved as references. See if this clay focused process inspires you.)
For some orderly exploration, sheet your clay and then hand cut or punch cut the sheets into whatever shapes tickle your fancy. Then you can just go crazy with whatever you’re exploring. Use as many of these pieces as you like for each process you’re exploring. Keep the ones you are pleased with, etching with a needle tool or, after curing, writing on the back with permanent marker, what you made them with. Keep cured pieces in a baggie or punch holes in them before curing so you can string them on wire or chain, making them easy to flip through.
If you are playing with textures, mark making, or any kind of tooling on polymer clay, I would suggest sheeting three different thicknesses—the thickest setting, a medium setting, and the thinnest setting on your pasta machine. Then try out each of your experiments at least once on each of the three different thicknesses. Anything that impresses or otherwise moves around the clay will be affected differently by the clay thickness, sometimes subtly but sometimes quite dramatically.
Cure the samples you like, being sure to inscribe or write a note on the back indicating what thickness the clay sheet was along with what made the impression or marks.
If you’re color mixing, sheet the finished color, then punch out a decent sized shape, one that has enough room for you to write down your proportions for that color mix. For example, if you mix a deep rich purple by combining 6 parts cobalt, 3 parts magenta, and one part black, inscribe on the back:
6X blue
3X magenta
1X black
Also include a big initial for the brand of clay (P for Premo, F for Fimo, K for Kato, etc) since colors by the same name in one brand are usually nothing like those colors in another brand.
You can also note proportions visually by punching out a circle of clay, smaller than your mixed sample, from each of the colors you used in the mix. Cut out portions, like pie slices, from each color in proportion to how much was used in the mix to re-create a single circle showing how much of each color was used in the mix. Don’t forget to inscribe your initial for the brand of clay. See the image here for an approximate example of the purple mix above.
Adhere this combination pie to the mixed color shape, punch a hole in the sample, cure, and string on a chain or wire.
(If you are confused about how to figure out the parts aspect of the color mixing, just use a small cutter to punch your unmixed colors out of sheets of the same thickness. Each piece is a part. Use these punched bits of clay to make your mix, keeping track of how many pieces/parts you use to create the color you’re making.)
If you’re playing with a surface colorant, try it on both white clay and black clay or on clay colors you use quite often. It’s a rare colorant that doesn’t allow the clay base underneath to the show through, so trying it on black and white will give you an idea of how the colorant will appear on lighter versus darker colors, not just black and white.
I punch small-ish circles out of white and black sheets of clay, then I cut them in half and put a white half with a black half. I apply the colorant to these splits chips. After curing, I glue them to the colorant’s product container so my reference sample is right on the product. You can see here how well this works for those little mica powder containers, above. I keep them in a drawer with the samples facing up so I can quickly find the color I want.
The best part about all these samples is that while you’re designing a finished piece, you can pull them out and compare them side-by-side to see what works well together. You can also hold them up to a partially finished piece to see what you might want to add. Personally, I can’t imagine working without all my exploratory samples.
Turning Discovery into Works of Art
Now, for those of you who are anxious to produce something with your time at the studio table, you can take any samples you’re not going to save for reference and create with them. You can add additional layers, reshape, or attach embellishment to your extra samples to easily create pendants, earrings, or brooches. You can also use them for collages or mosaics.
Keep cured samples, even if you’re not going to use them for reference, for further experiments where you want to play with cured clay techniques or to test new glues or sealants. This way, not only is your time not wasted, neither are any of the materials you’re playing with.
Give Yourself Permission to Explore
Whatever your inclination, the big take-away here is that in-depth exploration can, and probably should, be a regular part of your creative process. Give yourself the permission and time to do this throughout your creative journey or career, not just when you’re starting out.
Keep in mind, not only does this kind of exploratory time hone your skills, your familiarity and confidence with the processes and techniques grow stronger and faster than they would if you tried to learn just through making finished work. This is because you are willing to take more chances with these scrap samples. They just don’t have the same stakes, right?
And, you know, taking chances with this exploratory sample work should eventually translate into taking bigger risks with your finished pieces. I think, when we take the big risks, that’s when we make the biggest leaps and create the most amazing work. Well, sometimes we make absolute disasters as well, but it’s all part of the process. You’re certainly less likely to have a disaster if you do a lot of exploration first.
So, if you have not let yourself just explore and play with the materials you work with, maybe, this week, you can either set some time aside or make all of your studio time exploration time. Making many of your mistakes in the exploratory phase and not always on completed pieces will make your creative time more efficient, less stressful, and more enjoyable.
Texture Hungry?
If you’re one of those who is looking for more ideas and direction on texture, don’t forget we have an entire issue of The Polymer Arts on texture, the Fall 2017 issue. Also check out the mark making focused edition of the Virtual Art Box from March of last year. All Virtual Art Box content that was previously members only is 40% off right now.
The Last of the March Giveaways
Our month of giveaways has ended, but all your wonderful comments have given me so many ideas for upcoming posts. I thank all of you who commented so very sincerely!
I have one last giveaway winner to announce. Valerie Hall is receiving the last batch of my giveaway Polyform clay. I was very excited about this. Valerie is a very active and giving soul who has been trying to teaching through the great clay shortage of 2020 in any way she can. So it’s fantastic to aid her with this clay package. Congrats Valerie!
This was so much fun. I will try to do this here and there as I receive samples or find opportunities to gather stuff for you. So stick around for more free stuff in the not-too-distant future!
You can support this blog by buying yourself a little something at Tenth Muse Arts or, if you like…
Read More
I don’t know what happens online but there have been long spells lately where nothing really jumps out at me as I wander through Pinterest, Flicker, Etsy, Google images, and the many blogs and art sites I keep bookmarked to look for amazing and inspiring work. Maybe it’s just me, but then, all of sudden, pieces are jumping out of the screen to charm me into digging further. This week, I want to share a few that have done that recently but for which I haven’t devised any themes to work them into and I’m just a bit too excited to wait to share them.
These pendants made me stop, not just because they are beautifully designed, but I thought certainly that these were one of the many pieces found on Pinterest that had been mistakenly marked as polymer. Looking into the artist further, I found that Katya Bo does, in fact, make these out of polymer. Only the findings they hang from and the stones embedded in them are not. I’ve done my share of raised thin lines in polymer and they are not at all easy to keep neat and even. It takes a lot of patience and a steady hand. Katya must have those in spades because, according to process photos I found, these are not stamped or cast as they might first appear to be.
Her art deco look sometimes crosses into renaissance and other times takes a whiplash swing into space age styles, but there is always that delicate design reminiscent of enamel using faux granite clay for the base. Her pieces are gorgeously conceived, beautifully detailed, and quietly balanced in design; a combination that seems fairly rare in art jewelry these days.
I spent way more time flipping through her Flickr pages than I had when I first saw her work, then I dug deeper and found her LiveMaster shop as well as her VK.com ‘workroom’ which has the process photos that reveal that, no, those lines are not wires or formed through a more precision method, but are all formed polymer. What a lovely surprise.
___________________________________________
Like this blog? Lend your support with a purchase of The Polymer Arts magazine and visit our partners:
___________________________________________
Read MoreSo, all this talk of lines and dots has you wanting to try out your own dot-line compositions, right? Well, being the cheerleader that I am, I’ve gone out and found a little something that might get you playing with some of those dots and lines regardless of how enthralled you are with the subject. Just try out this easy and rewarding application technique.
Svetlana Belova generously shares her process for creating these lovely pendants on LiveMaster. The types of patterns you can create this way are endless. It really lets you explore the possibilities without committing to a block of mokume or being limited by a stamp or texture sheet. This kind of work is very meditative and can be a fantastic way to relax or get yourself into a creative zone before working on something else.
Svetlana shares her techniques on her blog and sells her work through her LiveMaster shop where you can see other examples of this and other pretty compositions.
Read More
Covering containers is not a new concept for clayers, but how small would you go? There are all kinds of small boxes, tubes, and cases out there that can be transformed into interesting polymer container adornments. This pendant by Cyprus’ Nicolas and Nora is just one such example I dug up. They’ve given the container a very specific purpose as well, which is just about as interesting as this charming pendant.
They label these ‘prayer box necklaces’ in their Etsy listing. They go on to describe in detail what a prayer box is and how to use it by saying these are “used by religious faithful to help them focus on their specific prayer needs and to facilitate contemplation on one’s faith … most people stuff notes of prayer items into the boxes. Think about what you truly want and write it down. Writing your desires out give them energy and increase the likelihood that your wishes will be answered.”
Not only is it a nice idea, but by giving the pendant a particular purpose is also a smart way to sell. It’s not unlike staging a house. If you can show people just what they can do with what you have for them, they are much more likely to buy because they can imagine, in a very specific way, how they themselves would use your piece. So, if you do make any kind of container adornment or house decor, display and photograph the work with possible things it could contain, not as a primary presentation, but for the purpose of selling such as you would in your online shop or at a craft show. It turns the work from just something beautiful to look at (not that this shouldn’t be enough!) into something the buyer/wearer can customize and use for a more personal and connected interaction with your work.
Nicolas and Nora don’t seem to have any more of these container-style necklaces in their shop right now, but if you like this earthy, bohemian look, or are curious what other personal approaches they use to grab the interest of their potential customers, jump on over to their Etsy shop and take a look around.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or an issue of The Polymer Arts magazine, as well as by supporting our advertising partners.
Read MoreKristie Foss is definitely an explorer type of artist. Her blog is full of her exploits in polymer and the many different variations she gets from playing with a technique, surface treatment or form.
In this one post, you can see the progression of playing with shapes starting with the same clay treatment. She began with nautilus snail shapes then worked it into a leaf type of pendant and then finally into these intriguing horn shapes. Its rather neat to be able to see the progression of ideas. Makes me want to jump into the studio and see what comes of the scraps on my table!
But alas, that is not for me today. And tomorrow I am in LA for a week just checking in on family and having some time away from it all with a favorite person of mine. I’m going to get started finding items for next week’s blog as of today and my tired brain could so use some help. If any of you have any favorite pieces–of yours or of others–you think we need to share with everyone, send me a link to this fabulous work at sbray@thepolymerarts.com or message us on Facebook at The Polymer Arts. You’ll get a warm thank you mention in the post and a link to your site as well as a lot of gratitude from little ol’ me!
In the meantime, treat yourself to some downtime of your own with a cup of coffee or glass of wine and join Kristie on her blog for a bit of polymer adventuring.
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.
Read MoreSometimes the surprise found in our work comes incidentally as we create with other intentions. Una-Odd Lynn was fascinated by a collection of moonglow beads and had planned some simple cut pendants in polymer for them but ended up with something just a little different.
“I cut out a hole, not reserving the removed clay, and planned to use a moonglow bead in the middle. Experimenting with a tube to punch out the hole I discovered [the extra clay] would make a nice side bead.” And these sweet little necklaces were born!
Mrs. Lynn’s pieces and ideas are kind of all over the place but that openness to working with whatever suits a mood is often exactly what is needed to allow for new discoveries. Una-Odd blogs about all the various things she does and ponders on her entertaining blog. Jump on over and explore a little yourself.
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.
Read More