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!

Man-made Handmade

Have you noticed that most people who work in polymer will cite nature as their primary inspiration? Do you, or would you, too? But isn’t it ironic that, as inspired as we are by nature, we work with a wholly man-made material? I’ve been thinking about this because, as I polished up the Polymer Journeys 2019 book, I was making notes on some of the trends and I noticed that all but three people who cited their inspiration said they were inspired by nature. It got me to thinking about why we aren’t more inspired by the man-made world, as rich and diverse as it is.

My curiosity piqued, I did some research and made more notes to see if, for one, my perception was correct in that polymer artists look to nature more than anything and, secondly, to see what things other than nature inspire people. So, the observations that inspiration from nature is predominant in polymer art was upheld by all I looked through. I also found it interesting that, when it boils down to it, nearly everything in almost all art forms looks to be inspired by nature or by man-made styles and designs that themselves were inspired by nature. To see examples of where nature is inspiration for man-made design, just take a look at styles such as Baroque or Art Deco. Flowers, trees, leaves, vines, butterflies, birds, and a myriad of other natural flora and fauna are evident sources of inspiration in the forms and lines of those styles. We might be inspired by the designs of that age but the inspiration is still rooted in nature.

However, I did my best to find pieces that were inspired by man-made objects, scenes, or styles. Let me tell you, it was not terribly easy but just because it is less often turned to does not mean it doesn’t have wonderful forms, colors, motifs, and textures for all of us. Let’s take a look at some of the work created by polymer artists who are inspired by the man-made.

A Gallery of Man-made Inspiration

One of the first people who came to mind when thinking about man-made inspiration was Cornelia Brockstedt. She has had several series such as “Street Life” and her “City” bangles. She also did a series of what she called “graphical studies” in 2015. So I went to her Flickr photo stream to find something to share with you and it struck me that, even with the graphical tendencies and inspiration taken from city life, there is so much organic that shows up in her work. This tended to be true with a lot of artists. This pendant, one of my favorite pieces of hers, was inspired by sidewalks and the grass that grows up from around it. So it was inspired by man-made walkways but with contrast in the nature that is still sneaking in.

 

Another artist who came to mind, even before I started my search, was Sona Grigoryan.  She did a lovely series of polymer and resin pieces inspired by the Barcelona cathedrals and stained-glass windows she sees where she lives.

 

And of course, we have to consider the work of the Georg Dinkel who is inspired by architecture and machinery to the extent that even when he decides to create some creatures, they too look mechanical. He is also, apparently, inspired by literature and humor, as this Don Quixote scene he set up with two of his mechanized creatures hints at.

 

And, when talking mechanical, we certainly can’t ignore the influence of the mechanical from movements like steampunk. From jewelry to sculpture to journals and phone cases, this style is everywhere but it’s hard to say whether polymer found steampunk or steampunk found polymer first. The steampunk monster heart that opened this post is a sculpture by Kimberly Hart who posts under MonsterKookies on Etsy.

Carol Blackburn, whose work is so colorful and graphic, often cites fashion styles and movements as her source of inspiration. I think these fall under her “Missoni” fashion inspired line.

 

Another artist who seems quite enamored of fabric but also of metal and other man-made textures is Nikolina Otrzan. Mostly, she’s just a texture fiend but you’ll notice that her textures generally have a certain uniformity to them that automatically makes them feel that they would be man-made in origin, whether they were intended to or not. Even her shapes, like these tube pieces, reflect a penchant for uniformity that is beautifully balanced with her choice of rough or edge softening surface treatments.

 

So has this got you pondering the possibilities of man-made forms and textures as a source of inspiration for you? I know I’ve been looking at the shapes in my house, the walls in the neighborhood, and the forms on the buildings I pass with new eyes.

Going for Man-made

Freebies

If you want to try a few man-made inspired textures or forms, there are quite a few out there although the quick and free were a bit more scarce. Nonetheless, here are a few pages with related free tutorials. You’ll want to pop the last two URLs into Google translate if it doesn’t automatically translate for you:

Tutorial Shops

Your best sources of tutorial with man-made inspiration are going to cost a couple of bucks, but are well worth it. Here are some of my favorite shops for this:

 

A Bit o’ News

And now for a few tidbits about things going on in the polymer community you might want to know about:

Vote for the 2018 International Polymer Clay Awards!

The International Polymer Clay Association member voting is now open through March 8. Active members should have received an email with a link for your ballot. If your membership has expired please renew at www.theipca.org before March 8, 2019 so that you may vote for your favorites.

Dan Cormier and Tracy Holmes Online Courses

Dan and Tracy have recently announced the lineup for their 2019 online Master Classes. Check out the present information and sign up for future announcements on their website here.

Polymer Journeys 2019 has been released!
  • Our latest publication, the second installment of the Polymer Journeys retrospective series was released this morning in digital format for those who purchased early or otherwise supported the project. (It was noon PST time if you need to search your inbox or your spam folder if not there.)
  • Print Pre-orders (ordered prior to Feb 27th) will go into the mail a little later than we had hoped but will be shipped directly from the printer on March 6. Our shipment should be our doorstep March 8, so newer orders will ship out as soon as we have them in our hot little hands. Buy yours here if you haven’t yet. (We’ve already sold half our print run so don’t wait too long!)
  • BOGO Half Off! We’ve added special package pricing for the new book … Purchase both the 2016 and 2019 edition of Polymer Journeys with half off the 2016 book, or get both the print and digital edition of the new 2019 book with half off the digital. No promo code needed. Packages available here when you click on the Polymer Journeys book cover here.
  • The Polymer Arts Collection on sale for HALF off! Purchases the whole collection of The Polymer Arts and get HALF off  the entire package – all 29 Digital issues or the 23 Print issues we still have available. If you want to collect them, now would be the time!

Until next week, have an inspired and creative Sunday and upcoming week!

Body of Work

June 20, 2017

Looking over a collection of work can tell you quite a bit about an artist and what intrigues them. The posts this week will give us a chance to consider, in a more complete and varied way, what an artist might be doing or be after in particular types of work.

Carole Monahan-Kampfe recently posted some rather intriguing pieces in what she refers to as her Steampunk collection but instead of jewelry, it looks like we are seeing a lot of ornaments. We are looking at Swellegant treatments (click the ad link below for more on this fascinating stuff) which make for some very yummy textures but the various shapes and variation on an ornament is what is most captivating about this work.

Although she is calling it steampunk and the influence of that aesthetic is there, many of the common motifs are, gratefully, missing and we can enjoy the exploration of the surface treatment and the manipulation of the ornament forms. I love the negative space in the ones with the floating centers and then those forms that are folding in on themselves which she calls Infinity Orbs. No standard ornament forms here either. Carole actually looks to be taking not the motifs and objects from the Steampunk arena but rather the inventive nature it is supposed to be representative of. Regardless, the choice of shapes and decorative touches are beautiful and more so in a collection like this where the various take on the elements and forms can be compared and contrasted.

The orbs at least, she lists as being made with Makin’s clay which is an air dry clay, rather than polymer but this could all be done with polymer as well of course. Carole just likes to try all kinds of things out as you can see on her Flickr photostream–another method of looking at an artist’s collection of work and over time at that. In this collection though, she seems to have really hit her stride and I hope she keeps playing with these ideas.

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A Different Kind of Fish

May 6, 2016

Nadine Pau fish ornamentI love art dolls. And ornaments. And I’m getting into this whole fish thing so it’s no wonder some odd but beautiful item like this fish ornament by doll and toy maker Nadine Pau caught my eye. There is an ode to steampunk here but I like that its present only in its basic forms. What would be watch gears in someone else’s piece are ornate wheels here. Instead of obvious screw heads and rivets we have simple lines with bead like accents regularly terminating them in a mostly alternate rhythm.

Then there is the face, of course. The illustrative look of the face is content and serene and that look (like it doesn’t find anything wrong with being a fish with a human face but is rather enjoying its strange existence) along with the way the face is integrated with the body using a simple wavy trim for the transition makes for a cohesive and very enjoyable creature.

Then there is the question of what this is made of because it very obviously could be made from polymer. However, I believe this is papier mache as that is the only sculpting material she lists. It is possible that the face is fabric but this can all be done with fine papier mache and paint.

If you enjoy a wonderfully wacky creature or two, do take some time to wander through her gallery which you can find on her delightful website here.

 

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Take any direct imagery you usually use or that you admire and create highly stylized versions of it for a new piece or additions to a work in progress. If the direct imagery is simple, like a heart, you might want to make it more complex or if complex like gears, simplify it or its components so you come up with forms or imagery that is reminiscent of them but is quite different. How does using the stylized imagery change the feel of the work?

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News of the Day and Steampunk Fairies

April 30, 2015

steampunk-moon-fairyWe are going to interrupt our normal banter about art to talk a little about the news of the day and some upcoming news here at TPA. If you want to skip to the information about this wonderfully detailed doll, scroll to the bottom of the post.

The Perilous World of Niche Publishing

A number of things have happened over the last few months and especially the last few days, that has really driven home the hard reality of being a niche periodical publisher. Early in the year we saw Metal Clay Artist shut their doors due to their distributor going bankrupt and unable to pay them. Yesterday, we got the news that From Polymer to Art is closing up shop due to the burden of a difficult personal loss. After that announcement I got several texts and messages asking if our magazine is doing okay. The answer is, yes, TPA is doing well. But, we micro publishers do sit very precariously in this world.

I was reminded of this last week when computer issues resulted in nearly 4 days of lost work. Then not one, but two contributors had to pull out due to health and personal issue. To top it off, I tore a cornea a few days ago and was unable to work for any length of time for several days.

As I lay there, eyes closed trying not to move my eyeballs, praying this corneal tear was not a bad one (I have weak corneas so this is not a new thing for me and luckily this wasn’t a bad one), I thought about how easy it would for this business go down. If I couldn’t work for a time, the magazine would simply not happen. Many niche and material specific craft magazines are in a similar boat. There is usually just one or two people holding it together.

Behind the Scenes of The Polymer Arts

For those of you who don’t know, TPA is run out of my home, and I am the only full-time person on the crew. I have a handful of wonderful part-time contractors, a couple amazing volunteers and a distribution partnership with The Great Create (manufacturers and distributors of Lisa Pavelka and Christi Friesen products). I have it so things won’t come to a screeching halt if I am out of commission for any length of time, but nothing further would be produced. So, I have to keep going no matter what to keep this house of cards from falling down.

Now, why would I do this to myself and ultimately to my readers? Simply because there is no other way it could exist. Periodicals are not the cash cows they may seem to be. Every business and service we deal with takes an inordinately large chunk, and then often asks for more. There’s no much left for staffing.  So we work more, sleep less and live off your beautiful thank you emails and messages about how we’ve provided motivation, courage, knowledge or inspiration for you to do something you could not or would not do before. These notes may not pay the bills, but they bury any regrets that rise up as we sit editing or number crunching at 3 am.

So bottom line, TPA is not in any danger, but we have our challenges. I like to think that the universe is just checking to see if I really still want to do this. The answer is yes! Just keep supporting the micro businesses you love and depend on with whatever purchases you can afford and we’ll keep working away.

Odd Blog for the month of May

That all said, this coming month, we will have more than our usual share of challenges. The house will be under construction for about a week, I will be relocating my office to another room, and there is also a good possibility I’ll need a minor bit of surgery at some point. On top of all this, there is the Summer issue to get out, which is going to be later than scheduled, although, it should be released before May is up. In other words, it’s going to be nuts, and something will have to give. So here’s the deal …

During the month of May, I am going to reduce the blog to 3 times a week. Even with this, you may be seeing some very brief posts. I’ll do what I can, but please be understanding if things get a little lean over here.

Newsletters, if you get those, will also be on the short side. But, I promise they will be worth opening nonetheless!

Also, if you have general questions, comments, or any kind of query about the magazine or your subscription, to get a quick response, you will want to write my wonderful assistant Kat, not me directly, at connect(not sbray)@thepolymerarts.com, and she will get back to you within one business day.

A Steampunk Fairy

In the meantime, enjoy this beautiful doll by Amanda Haney. I couldn’t go through this week without taking a bow to the polymer fairies. Fairies must  be the most commonly produced polymer doll. I know that may not make this seem unique enough to present, but there is a reason for their popularity that can’t be ignore. They are charming, and polymer lends itself to truly fantastical creations.

Amanda’s Steampunk Moon Fairy includes some fun little touches like the moon morphing into (or out of) a gear at the top, and the bones of the wings being replaced with hinged bars and gears. It’s just a fun piece. And fun is certainly a legitimate mode of art.

Find more of Amanda’s skillfully crafted dolls on her pages on Elfwood, a long-standing home for Science Fiction and Fantasy artists to post their portfolios.

 

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.

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Design Inspired by Man-Made

September 16, 2013

We spend a lot of time looking at inspiration that comes directly from nature here so I thought this week we should look at things inspired by man. That turned out to be a tall order. Man-made inspiration seems to make up only a fraction of inspiring sources for polymer artists which made finding subjects for this week’s theme challenging. It is even more challenging if I try to eliminate man-made creations that were inspired by nature themselves. It all comes back to nature at some point, really, but this week I aim to find work inspired by our purely functional forms. We’ll see how that goes.

Of course, when you first think about man-made inspiration in our community, the steampunk trend is likely to come immediately to mind. I will try not to make this a steampunk week but let’s start with that as a first example. Mind you, I like the steampunk aesthetic having been exposed to its basics even before there was such a categorized aesthetic but it is harder and harder to find it done well these days.

I think the original idea of steampunk–an fantasy-esque alternate history of Victorian times with anachronistic technology–has been rather buried under some misconception that it can be simply represented by the presence of watch gears. I am not a purist and I don’t believe an idea should be preserved in its original form just for the sake of preserving it but it is a little disappointing that the idea of steampunk or even just the borrowing of elements of that aesthetic is so often used as the only reason for creating a piece rather than creating work that calls for including such elements.

What exactly does that mean? Well, you can say “I want to create a steampunk piece based on a heart shape.” That’s fine but I would not call that making art. If you instead wanted to show the idea of love being an automated emotion for some people or if you wanted to contrast human emotion with the machinery of our every day world then a heart that has gears and metal plates created with these concepts in mind could become art as long as it also follows rules of good design.

The fact is, too much steampunkery is slapped together without concern for concept or good design. Watch gears and screw heads tossed onto a form do not alone make a piece beautiful or interesting. So I decided my first task was to find a piece that was inspired by steampunk but for which good design obviously came first. I think this piece by Australia’s Sabine Spiesser is exactly that. Can you see why?

sabine time

 

In this piece Sabine uses watch gears as visual design elements, creating lines and focal points within the beads that make up this necklace. She is visually presenting an abstraction, time, as a rich and beautiful concept with movement, color and texture.  The gears are laid out in an orderly fashion which can be read as reflecting on how we use the organizational construct of time. Time visually winds its way through the piece, presenting itself in both large a small ways in much the same way as we think of time with its big and small moments in our lives. I can’t say that Sabine had these specific ideas in mind as she created the necklace but she does end up with a piece using watch parts to build and support the design, not to have watch gears just for the sake of it.

This is a really detailed piece so you will want to be sure to visit her Flickr page and see the piece in her detailed shots as well as look at the beautiful pieces she’s been making of late. She has really done some great work expanding on Eugena’s faux cloisonné technique as well as creating work that is becoming more and more recognizable as her own fresh, original, artistic voice.

 

Steampunk Flash Drive

March 2, 2013

Just a fun piece to share with you today. We’ve been working on the next issue which is themed “Mixed Media” so covering objects has, of course, come up and is the focus on one of the feature articles. This fun and detailed flash drive created by Lynn Reno is one the items I came across while researching possibilities.

230201_10Jul12_steampunk-usb-flashdrive

 

Pretty nifty, huh? We have so many very ordinary objects around us but they don’t need to stay ordinary. What can you add to something you use or see  regularly to bring a little more art and beauty to your day?

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

March 24, 2019
Posted in , ,

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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Man-made Handmade

March 3, 2019
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Have you noticed that most people who work in polymer will cite nature as their primary inspiration? Do you, or would you, too? But isn’t it ironic that, as inspired as we are by nature, we work with a wholly man-made material? I’ve been thinking about this because, as I polished up the Polymer Journeys 2019 book, I was making notes on some of the trends and I noticed that all but three people who cited their inspiration said they were inspired by nature. It got me to thinking about why we aren’t more inspired by the man-made world, as rich and diverse as it is.

My curiosity piqued, I did some research and made more notes to see if, for one, my perception was correct in that polymer artists look to nature more than anything and, secondly, to see what things other than nature inspire people. So, the observations that inspiration from nature is predominant in polymer art was upheld by all I looked through. I also found it interesting that, when it boils down to it, nearly everything in almost all art forms looks to be inspired by nature or by man-made styles and designs that themselves were inspired by nature. To see examples of where nature is inspiration for man-made design, just take a look at styles such as Baroque or Art Deco. Flowers, trees, leaves, vines, butterflies, birds, and a myriad of other natural flora and fauna are evident sources of inspiration in the forms and lines of those styles. We might be inspired by the designs of that age but the inspiration is still rooted in nature.

However, I did my best to find pieces that were inspired by man-made objects, scenes, or styles. Let me tell you, it was not terribly easy but just because it is less often turned to does not mean it doesn’t have wonderful forms, colors, motifs, and textures for all of us. Let’s take a look at some of the work created by polymer artists who are inspired by the man-made.

A Gallery of Man-made Inspiration

One of the first people who came to mind when thinking about man-made inspiration was Cornelia Brockstedt. She has had several series such as “Street Life” and her “City” bangles. She also did a series of what she called “graphical studies” in 2015. So I went to her Flickr photo stream to find something to share with you and it struck me that, even with the graphical tendencies and inspiration taken from city life, there is so much organic that shows up in her work. This tended to be true with a lot of artists. This pendant, one of my favorite pieces of hers, was inspired by sidewalks and the grass that grows up from around it. So it was inspired by man-made walkways but with contrast in the nature that is still sneaking in.

 

Another artist who came to mind, even before I started my search, was Sona Grigoryan.  She did a lovely series of polymer and resin pieces inspired by the Barcelona cathedrals and stained-glass windows she sees where she lives.

 

And of course, we have to consider the work of the Georg Dinkel who is inspired by architecture and machinery to the extent that even when he decides to create some creatures, they too look mechanical. He is also, apparently, inspired by literature and humor, as this Don Quixote scene he set up with two of his mechanized creatures hints at.

 

And, when talking mechanical, we certainly can’t ignore the influence of the mechanical from movements like steampunk. From jewelry to sculpture to journals and phone cases, this style is everywhere but it’s hard to say whether polymer found steampunk or steampunk found polymer first. The steampunk monster heart that opened this post is a sculpture by Kimberly Hart who posts under MonsterKookies on Etsy.

Carol Blackburn, whose work is so colorful and graphic, often cites fashion styles and movements as her source of inspiration. I think these fall under her “Missoni” fashion inspired line.

 

Another artist who seems quite enamored of fabric but also of metal and other man-made textures is Nikolina Otrzan. Mostly, she’s just a texture fiend but you’ll notice that her textures generally have a certain uniformity to them that automatically makes them feel that they would be man-made in origin, whether they were intended to or not. Even her shapes, like these tube pieces, reflect a penchant for uniformity that is beautifully balanced with her choice of rough or edge softening surface treatments.

 

So has this got you pondering the possibilities of man-made forms and textures as a source of inspiration for you? I know I’ve been looking at the shapes in my house, the walls in the neighborhood, and the forms on the buildings I pass with new eyes.

Going for Man-made

Freebies

If you want to try a few man-made inspired textures or forms, there are quite a few out there although the quick and free were a bit more scarce. Nonetheless, here are a few pages with related free tutorials. You’ll want to pop the last two URLs into Google translate if it doesn’t automatically translate for you:

Tutorial Shops

Your best sources of tutorial with man-made inspiration are going to cost a couple of bucks, but are well worth it. Here are some of my favorite shops for this:

 

A Bit o’ News

And now for a few tidbits about things going on in the polymer community you might want to know about:

Vote for the 2018 International Polymer Clay Awards!

The International Polymer Clay Association member voting is now open through March 8. Active members should have received an email with a link for your ballot. If your membership has expired please renew at www.theipca.org before March 8, 2019 so that you may vote for your favorites.

Dan Cormier and Tracy Holmes Online Courses

Dan and Tracy have recently announced the lineup for their 2019 online Master Classes. Check out the present information and sign up for future announcements on their website here.

Polymer Journeys 2019 has been released!
  • Our latest publication, the second installment of the Polymer Journeys retrospective series was released this morning in digital format for those who purchased early or otherwise supported the project. (It was noon PST time if you need to search your inbox or your spam folder if not there.)
  • Print Pre-orders (ordered prior to Feb 27th) will go into the mail a little later than we had hoped but will be shipped directly from the printer on March 6. Our shipment should be our doorstep March 8, so newer orders will ship out as soon as we have them in our hot little hands. Buy yours here if you haven’t yet. (We’ve already sold half our print run so don’t wait too long!)
  • BOGO Half Off! We’ve added special package pricing for the new book … Purchase both the 2016 and 2019 edition of Polymer Journeys with half off the 2016 book, or get both the print and digital edition of the new 2019 book with half off the digital. No promo code needed. Packages available here when you click on the Polymer Journeys book cover here.
  • The Polymer Arts Collection on sale for HALF off! Purchases the whole collection of The Polymer Arts and get HALF off  the entire package – all 29 Digital issues or the 23 Print issues we still have available. If you want to collect them, now would be the time!

Until next week, have an inspired and creative Sunday and upcoming week!

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Body of Work

June 20, 2017
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Looking over a collection of work can tell you quite a bit about an artist and what intrigues them. The posts this week will give us a chance to consider, in a more complete and varied way, what an artist might be doing or be after in particular types of work.

Carole Monahan-Kampfe recently posted some rather intriguing pieces in what she refers to as her Steampunk collection but instead of jewelry, it looks like we are seeing a lot of ornaments. We are looking at Swellegant treatments (click the ad link below for more on this fascinating stuff) which make for some very yummy textures but the various shapes and variation on an ornament is what is most captivating about this work.

Although she is calling it steampunk and the influence of that aesthetic is there, many of the common motifs are, gratefully, missing and we can enjoy the exploration of the surface treatment and the manipulation of the ornament forms. I love the negative space in the ones with the floating centers and then those forms that are folding in on themselves which she calls Infinity Orbs. No standard ornament forms here either. Carole actually looks to be taking not the motifs and objects from the Steampunk arena but rather the inventive nature it is supposed to be representative of. Regardless, the choice of shapes and decorative touches are beautiful and more so in a collection like this where the various take on the elements and forms can be compared and contrasted.

The orbs at least, she lists as being made with Makin’s clay which is an air dry clay, rather than polymer but this could all be done with polymer as well of course. Carole just likes to try all kinds of things out as you can see on her Flickr photostream–another method of looking at an artist’s collection of work and over time at that. In this collection though, she seems to have really hit her stride and I hope she keeps playing with these ideas.

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A Different Kind of Fish

May 6, 2016
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Nadine Pau fish ornamentI love art dolls. And ornaments. And I’m getting into this whole fish thing so it’s no wonder some odd but beautiful item like this fish ornament by doll and toy maker Nadine Pau caught my eye. There is an ode to steampunk here but I like that its present only in its basic forms. What would be watch gears in someone else’s piece are ornate wheels here. Instead of obvious screw heads and rivets we have simple lines with bead like accents regularly terminating them in a mostly alternate rhythm.

Then there is the face, of course. The illustrative look of the face is content and serene and that look (like it doesn’t find anything wrong with being a fish with a human face but is rather enjoying its strange existence) along with the way the face is integrated with the body using a simple wavy trim for the transition makes for a cohesive and very enjoyable creature.

Then there is the question of what this is made of because it very obviously could be made from polymer. However, I believe this is papier mache as that is the only sculpting material she lists. It is possible that the face is fabric but this can all be done with fine papier mache and paint.

If you enjoy a wonderfully wacky creature or two, do take some time to wander through her gallery which you can find on her delightful website here.

 

Inspirational Challenge of the Day: Take any direct imagery you usually use or that you admire and create highly stylized versions of it for a new piece or additions to a work in progress. If the direct imagery is simple, like a heart, you might want to make it more complex or if complex like gears, simplify it or its components so you come up with forms or imagery that is reminiscent of them but is quite different. How does using the stylized imagery change the feel of the work?

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News of the Day and Steampunk Fairies

April 30, 2015
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steampunk-moon-fairyWe are going to interrupt our normal banter about art to talk a little about the news of the day and some upcoming news here at TPA. If you want to skip to the information about this wonderfully detailed doll, scroll to the bottom of the post.

The Perilous World of Niche Publishing

A number of things have happened over the last few months and especially the last few days, that has really driven home the hard reality of being a niche periodical publisher. Early in the year we saw Metal Clay Artist shut their doors due to their distributor going bankrupt and unable to pay them. Yesterday, we got the news that From Polymer to Art is closing up shop due to the burden of a difficult personal loss. After that announcement I got several texts and messages asking if our magazine is doing okay. The answer is, yes, TPA is doing well. But, we micro publishers do sit very precariously in this world.

I was reminded of this last week when computer issues resulted in nearly 4 days of lost work. Then not one, but two contributors had to pull out due to health and personal issue. To top it off, I tore a cornea a few days ago and was unable to work for any length of time for several days.

As I lay there, eyes closed trying not to move my eyeballs, praying this corneal tear was not a bad one (I have weak corneas so this is not a new thing for me and luckily this wasn’t a bad one), I thought about how easy it would for this business go down. If I couldn’t work for a time, the magazine would simply not happen. Many niche and material specific craft magazines are in a similar boat. There is usually just one or two people holding it together.

Behind the Scenes of The Polymer Arts

For those of you who don’t know, TPA is run out of my home, and I am the only full-time person on the crew. I have a handful of wonderful part-time contractors, a couple amazing volunteers and a distribution partnership with The Great Create (manufacturers and distributors of Lisa Pavelka and Christi Friesen products). I have it so things won’t come to a screeching halt if I am out of commission for any length of time, but nothing further would be produced. So, I have to keep going no matter what to keep this house of cards from falling down.

Now, why would I do this to myself and ultimately to my readers? Simply because there is no other way it could exist. Periodicals are not the cash cows they may seem to be. Every business and service we deal with takes an inordinately large chunk, and then often asks for more. There’s no much left for staffing.  So we work more, sleep less and live off your beautiful thank you emails and messages about how we’ve provided motivation, courage, knowledge or inspiration for you to do something you could not or would not do before. These notes may not pay the bills, but they bury any regrets that rise up as we sit editing or number crunching at 3 am.

So bottom line, TPA is not in any danger, but we have our challenges. I like to think that the universe is just checking to see if I really still want to do this. The answer is yes! Just keep supporting the micro businesses you love and depend on with whatever purchases you can afford and we’ll keep working away.

Odd Blog for the month of May

That all said, this coming month, we will have more than our usual share of challenges. The house will be under construction for about a week, I will be relocating my office to another room, and there is also a good possibility I’ll need a minor bit of surgery at some point. On top of all this, there is the Summer issue to get out, which is going to be later than scheduled, although, it should be released before May is up. In other words, it’s going to be nuts, and something will have to give. So here’s the deal …

During the month of May, I am going to reduce the blog to 3 times a week. Even with this, you may be seeing some very brief posts. I’ll do what I can, but please be understanding if things get a little lean over here.

Newsletters, if you get those, will also be on the short side. But, I promise they will be worth opening nonetheless!

Also, if you have general questions, comments, or any kind of query about the magazine or your subscription, to get a quick response, you will want to write my wonderful assistant Kat, not me directly, at connect(not sbray)@thepolymerarts.com, and she will get back to you within one business day.

A Steampunk Fairy

In the meantime, enjoy this beautiful doll by Amanda Haney. I couldn’t go through this week without taking a bow to the polymer fairies. Fairies must  be the most commonly produced polymer doll. I know that may not make this seem unique enough to present, but there is a reason for their popularity that can’t be ignore. They are charming, and polymer lends itself to truly fantastical creations.

Amanda’s Steampunk Moon Fairy includes some fun little touches like the moon morphing into (or out of) a gear at the top, and the bones of the wings being replaced with hinged bars and gears. It’s just a fun piece. And fun is certainly a legitimate mode of art.

Find more of Amanda’s skillfully crafted dolls on her pages on Elfwood, a long-standing home for Science Fiction and Fantasy artists to post their portfolios.

 

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Design Inspired by Man-Made

September 16, 2013
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We spend a lot of time looking at inspiration that comes directly from nature here so I thought this week we should look at things inspired by man. That turned out to be a tall order. Man-made inspiration seems to make up only a fraction of inspiring sources for polymer artists which made finding subjects for this week’s theme challenging. It is even more challenging if I try to eliminate man-made creations that were inspired by nature themselves. It all comes back to nature at some point, really, but this week I aim to find work inspired by our purely functional forms. We’ll see how that goes.

Of course, when you first think about man-made inspiration in our community, the steampunk trend is likely to come immediately to mind. I will try not to make this a steampunk week but let’s start with that as a first example. Mind you, I like the steampunk aesthetic having been exposed to its basics even before there was such a categorized aesthetic but it is harder and harder to find it done well these days.

I think the original idea of steampunk–an fantasy-esque alternate history of Victorian times with anachronistic technology–has been rather buried under some misconception that it can be simply represented by the presence of watch gears. I am not a purist and I don’t believe an idea should be preserved in its original form just for the sake of preserving it but it is a little disappointing that the idea of steampunk or even just the borrowing of elements of that aesthetic is so often used as the only reason for creating a piece rather than creating work that calls for including such elements.

What exactly does that mean? Well, you can say “I want to create a steampunk piece based on a heart shape.” That’s fine but I would not call that making art. If you instead wanted to show the idea of love being an automated emotion for some people or if you wanted to contrast human emotion with the machinery of our every day world then a heart that has gears and metal plates created with these concepts in mind could become art as long as it also follows rules of good design.

The fact is, too much steampunkery is slapped together without concern for concept or good design. Watch gears and screw heads tossed onto a form do not alone make a piece beautiful or interesting. So I decided my first task was to find a piece that was inspired by steampunk but for which good design obviously came first. I think this piece by Australia’s Sabine Spiesser is exactly that. Can you see why?

sabine time

 

In this piece Sabine uses watch gears as visual design elements, creating lines and focal points within the beads that make up this necklace. She is visually presenting an abstraction, time, as a rich and beautiful concept with movement, color and texture.  The gears are laid out in an orderly fashion which can be read as reflecting on how we use the organizational construct of time. Time visually winds its way through the piece, presenting itself in both large a small ways in much the same way as we think of time with its big and small moments in our lives. I can’t say that Sabine had these specific ideas in mind as she created the necklace but she does end up with a piece using watch parts to build and support the design, not to have watch gears just for the sake of it.

This is a really detailed piece so you will want to be sure to visit her Flickr page and see the piece in her detailed shots as well as look at the beautiful pieces she’s been making of late. She has really done some great work expanding on Eugena’s faux cloisonné technique as well as creating work that is becoming more and more recognizable as her own fresh, original, artistic voice.

 

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Steampunk Flash Drive

March 2, 2013
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Just a fun piece to share with you today. We’ve been working on the next issue which is themed “Mixed Media” so covering objects has, of course, come up and is the focus on one of the feature articles. This fun and detailed flash drive created by Lynn Reno is one the items I came across while researching possibilities.

230201_10Jul12_steampunk-usb-flashdrive

 

Pretty nifty, huh? We have so many very ordinary objects around us but they don’t need to stay ordinary. What can you add to something you use or see  regularly to bring a little more art and beauty to your day?

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