Shapes of our Past
May 17, 2020
Inspirational Art
How much do you think about shape and form when creating your work? That’s the core question posed in this month’s art box where we’re feeling out how those design considerations communicate our intention in our creative work. So this weekend, join me as I take a trip back through old posts but look at them with shape and form in mind. I’ll explain why I’m using past posts after we get through the much more exciting task of considering shape and form.
As you scroll through these images, just think about what your visceral reaction is to each of the individual shapes or forms you see. What would you say a particular shape or form communicates to you? There are no wrong answers. That is one of the great things about art. But taking note of your answers can tell you a lot about how you perceive various shapes and forms and, hopefully, will get you thinking about how they come across in your own work.
Simple shapes from February 2017
Some days, you just want things simple. You can do this in the studio any time and, regardless of your simple approach, you can still get stunning results. I think that once we engage the creative mind though, it will just keep going on its own momentum even when you were thinking that you wanted to do something quick and easy.
I’m guessing that this is what Veruschka Stevens was thinking when she first sat down to create the necklace that opens this post. As she says:
I generally use different techniques that vary in complexity for making our jewelry. This necklace in particular was made using the simplest technique I know. However, it is equally one of the most time-consuming and very much detail-oriented as well.
The complexity of layers and variety of geometric shapes takes what might, in a less busy composition, feel bold but relatively static into the realm of high-energy and a fun, unassuming sophistication.
A Talk of Pods from October 2013
When I think of pods, the first things that come to mind are round but elongated forms, with angular, pointed ends. But that is an extremely narrow image of a pod. In truth, pods come in quite a large variety of shapes.
Pods can be round or flat, long or squat, smooth or rough, and as small as a pea or so large it takes two hands to hold one. The only defining factor with pods is that they hold something, encasing a collection of possibilities within.
This interesting necklace below might be described as a study of pod varieties. Lori Phillips, who looks to work exclusively in ceramics now, took a detour into polymer a number of years back to create this piece.
Most of these beads look like they could have been inspired by real versions in nature, although I’m guessing, from looking at the free form work elsewhere on Lori’s Flickr page, that these came primarily from her own imagination. But either way, they show the possibility of working with a form and pushing the idea of what it could be.
The Many Forms of Petals from June 2013
There are, of course, many variations in the wide world of flowers, particularly their petals, which might make one conclude that many a cane must be made to build a decent collection of caned petal possibilities. But this is not necessarily so. This display of both traditional and not so traditional petal forms and patterning is a sample set by Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg. Her photo note on Facebook says the canes are “reduced, shaped, torqued, and recombined to make a seemingly endless array of elements that can be used to make all sorts of wearable art. Hearts and spirals, complex petals, wisteria and lotus blossoms are all found along the petal path.”
Geometric creatures from March 2017
With a beautifully stylized approach, Angela Garrod captures the look, and amusing expressions of some of people’s favorite animals, and this while playing with geometric shapes. Notice where angular shapes are used for birds, known for their flight and movement which is also a primary characteristics for angular shapes, and how the dogs and their get rounded off, depicting the softness and amiability we associate with the cute versions of these creatures.
The hand scratched texture keeps the geometric shapes from feeling too stiff and sterile and adds quite a bit to what would otherwise be simple shapes and lines through which we, somehow, recognize the variety of animals. I don’t know how our brains do that. The brain is just pretty darn nifty.
How are you reading the shapes in these pieces? Do you agree with my assessments? We certainly don’t have to. That is the great thing about creative work – you bring a whole other layer of your life experience and associations to what is being communicated.
Rough Roads
We are all facing our share of challenges right now so I hesitate to even say anything but I would like to explain that this month and maybe next things might be a little wonky. I will be able to get a blog out every Sunday morning – it’s the one thing I am sure I can get done on time– but I am experiencing some physical limitations again which is making it hard to hit deadlines, and get through all the emails daily, especially with no admin or production staff which, for various reasons, is not going to change anytime soon. So, I beg your patience with me. I can get help with shipping orders (I do have an imprisoned college student in the house) so those, at least, will not be delayed.
But, this weekend, to minimize my computer time after a rough week updating back end technical nonsense, I turned to old posts and edited them to fit our focus this month. I hope you don’t mind my taking a shortcut! Even if you remember the old posts, we’re looking at them with a new focus and for many of you, I bet, a better trained eye.
Well, time for me to get up and move before the arthritis in my neck becomes all too distracting. I hope you all are staying safe and well and enjoying finding the beauty in the shapes all around you.
You’ve Got to Move It, Move It
September 8, 2019
Inspirational Art, The Polymer Arts magazine news
What are some of the first choices you make when creating a piece? Do you ask yourself, what colors are you going to use? What forms to make? What textures, what themes, what techniques? Do you ever ask yourself, what kind of movement will this piece have?
Movement is not one of the primary options that come to mind for most people when designing. If movement or kinetic components are not essential to what you are doing, it may not come to mind until much later on, if at all. And yet, in three-dimensional work and especially in jewelry, this is an integral part of the design. Sometimes the idea of movement doesn’t come along simply because it is created through another avenue – visual movement is created by lines while physical movement is created by the chosen construction. But where and how you placed those lines or the choices about the construction are actually choices about movement.
Movement is one of my favorite things about creating in three dimensions. It took me a long time to be brave enough to work in pieces that move. Why does that take courage? Because a piece that moves changes and has not one look but a multitude of looks. We are used to seeing artwork, when on display or in photographs, facing us in one neutral position where it hangs or sits still. But just as sculpture in the round will look different as you walk around it, any object that is worn or used functionally will look different as the wearer moves or the user works with it, especially when it moves and that means you aren’t always going to be able to have complete control over what the viewer of the work will see because movement means a piece will change.
Movement is actually such a big part of design and I have so much to show you on this subject, that I’m going to split this up into two or three posts. Today let’s focus on work that has physical, kinetic movement and in jewelry in particular, but keep in mind that movement isn’t just for jewelry!
Moving Right Along
One way to add really dynamic movement that also forces you to just rip the Band-Aid off and give in to the constant change in composition that the movement will create is to dangle a lot of individual elements in a cluster. As you see in the necklace by Natalya Aleksandrova below, the gathering of elements is going to sway and rearrange itself as the wearer moves.
However, unlike the designs of this type that utilize wire, each bead element is on a leather cord looped around a thick collection of cords, a combination that limits the amount of movement since leather on leather does not move smoothly. If this was a single cord necklace, or better yet, a thick metal wire wrapping around the neck, and the elements were attached using metal wire loops, the beads would swing far more freely. Here the beads still move but, for what is normally a very kinetic type of design, that energy will be restrained. I think that actually works in this highly organic design as you rarely see organic elements in nature swinging as freely as these would if on metal loops.
The above is really a subtle example of what I think this next piece does really well. You see, you can use your choice of movement to add a touch of realism or connection to the real thing it represents or was inspired by. The feather set below is also Natalya’s work. You can see how well polymer can emulate the texture of a feather, but you know it could never move like one. Breaking these feathers up into multiple sections allows the pieces to flutter and at least harken back to the movement of a feather when on a bird.
Necklaces and earrings are not the only pieces that this kind of energetic movement can be added to. The pin you see opening this post is by Celie Fago and was originally created for Dan Cormier’s fantastic Broken Telephone Project. It is not the still little creation one might normally associate with brooches. The leaves of the pin flutter, not unlike leaves on a tree. The light and almost whimsical movement of the leaves plays well with the very open design and its flowing lines which themselves create visual movement (more on visual movement in a week or two).
Celie’s work also tends to include a lot of movement, so we’ll look at one more of hers as well, but this time her bracelets. Bracelets move up and down an arm, making movement almost inherent in the idea of a bracelet. Dangles and charms are also not uncommon for bracelets, especially chain types, but they are fairly uncommon for bangle versions. The way Celie adds movement to her bangles is genius – the rings and charms on these bangles move the way the bangle itself would move up and down an arm, like tiny bangles on the bangle. This type of movement creates some of the most dynamic movement you can get in a bracelet.
We’ve been looking at a lot of horizontal or circular compositions for movement but another way to have movement in a design is with a stack of elements that you hinge so they can swing somewhat independently. I love this design because the long vertical automatically gives the piece a sense of strength and boldness—characteristics intrinsic in vertical designs–especially when it’s really long. The movement as a kind of sophisticated energy because instead of pieces swinging in multiple directions, the whole line tends of beads or elements tend to move together.
Below is a piece by Carla Benedetti, with each component being attached to the one above it by jump ring hinges. The whole vertical line of elements will swing side to side and forward and back, fluidly, and all together. Using relatively large elements gives this vertical stack some weight which pulls the whole piece against the body when the wearer is upright and helps to keep the pieces lined up as it swings. In other words, the composition of this piece really doesn’t change even though it will move and sway. This allows for all the elements to be easily seen and gives you more control over the composition that the viewer will see while still harvesting the energy that movement imparts.
Let’s make this a two-pieces-per artists-post with a second piece by Carla! Another way to add movement while holding onto the composition somewhat, is to create layers of chains or beads that can move individually or altogether, to varying degrees. Multi-strand necklaces like the one below gives you the opportunity to change up and create contrast between the strands with both the forms, elements, type of strand, and even how much each one can move. For instance, the chained strands on here will move much more than the densely beaded ones. As a result, this piece has more dynamic energy than Carla’s vertical composition above, but the construction keeps it from being just a jumble.
I’m telling you there is so much to this whole movement in design thing. There are tons of examples of movements in pieces that are not jewelry, but I don’t seem to have time for that this post. Let me get a bunch of those together for you for next week and then maybe we’ll get to visual movement after that if we are all still having just a ton of fun with this.
If You’re Feeling Moved
I strongly believe that all choices in a piece of art should be intentional in order to bring out all the potential that your design has and, of course, that includes deciding how much, if any, movement your piece will have.
You can start thinking about movement now by looking at pieces that you’ve previously created or designs you have in progress on your table or in your sketchbook. Ask yourself, “Does this have movement or stillness and how well does that fulfill the need of the design?” Or, “Would this benefit from more movement, less movement, or no movement?” If you can get yourself to regularly think about movement in your work, you’ll be thrilled with the many options you have to add energy, atmosphere, and interest in your pieces. All you need to do is think about how movement should or could play into your designs to have a myriad of new possibilities suddenly open up before your eyes.
All Quiet on the Home Front
Strangely enough, I very little to report on the house and health situation. This is not to say that I’ve not been extremely busy, because I have. Getting this house back together is quite the huge task and there are dozens upon dozens of little things that need to be taken care of, things that might be barely noticed by others except if they were not done or finished properly.
I have started to feel some work withdrawal, however, and I think it’s keeping me up at night because some nights I just can’t fall asleep even though I don’t have anything overly stressful on my mind. I think I just feel a little out of touch. Thank goodness I have this blog to look forward to so I can connect with all of you!
Last Days of the DAMAGE SALE
The last few days I actually did do a fair amount of work although it wasn’t in production or writing. We had our Damage Sale and, holy moly, was that crazy! We sold out of half the stock in the first two hours. I think that may be a record!
Feeling bad for anybody who didn’t get to read the newsletter right after it was sent out, I went through the unopened boxes in my storage space, opening and pulling out many of the so often damaged first and last copies in the boxes, and found some publications that took some damage during shipping that was unnoticeable until boxes were opened.
So, the sale items were restocked some and even today there are still a decent number of magazines and books, in slightly imperfect condition, that are available for up to 60% off. You can get to the sale page here.
The sale will go on through Wednesday September 11th, or until all items are sold out, whichever comes first. I only sell the imperfect copies for one week each year because it’s a bear to track them separately from the other items on an ongoing basis, so you’ll want to grab these deals now while they are still available.
Well I am off to work on the Mosaic backsplash I am creating for the kitchen. I promise to share that when there’s any real visual progress but right now it’s just a lot of cutting little tiles. Do enjoy the rest of your weekends and have a beautifully inspired and moving week!
One Element at a Time
February 3, 2019
Inspirational Art
I don’t know if you have ever considered, or found important, the fact that most polymer art is a collection of elements constructed into a single piece. Yes, I know I am stating the obvious here but consider the fact that most polymer art is put together in such a way as to make the individual elements blend into a cohesiveness whole. Have you ever considered that maybe each element can be its own little piece of art, even if it’s to be a part of something bigger?
If you make the work about each individual elements and not the single composition they are part of, you should be able to give yourself more freedom in the creative process. The idea would be to just focus on the single component in front of you without regard for the other parts it may eventually be joined with. Since you don’t have to consider any other elements you should be able to just let your mind and hands go play. You could, in fact, just create tons of individual pieces and then pull together the ones that you find relate and from that create a finished piece. There would be no pressure to make things work together or fit. Does that sound intriguing?
Elemental Artists
There are a lot of artists that do this almost exclusively. When Debbie Crothers creates, a finished piece is usually the last thing on her mind. She is in love with seeing what the material will do and spends most of her time playing and exploring. Once her stock builds up, or just whenever the bug bites her, then she will create finished pieces of wearable art.
Recently she has also been incorporating her love of found objects as you can see in the image above. This is just a part of a very long necklace of Debbie’s. (The whole of which I’ve not seen her posted anywhere but will be featured in the upcoming Polymer Journeys 2019 book. Look for pre-sale announcements this coming week.) Each individual component definitely stands on its own here since each individual polymer and found object component is framed. But you can also see, if you look at her work on Facebook or on her website, that her pieces are almost always a variety show, one that features the results of her exploration and just having fun with the clay.
Another cool thing about this type of artwork is that the viewer will probably want to look at each and every individual component. Just the variety heightens the interest in these kinds of pieces which means the people viewing it will spend more time looking at it and more time appreciating your work. That can really help in terms of sales too because the more time someone spends looking at a piece the more likely they will be to want to buy it.
I think this kind of intrigue born of variety may be the primary draw when it comes to the jewelry of Olga Ledneva. This piece you see here is a bit more dense and has more potential movement than her newer work but I thought it was also a good example of how all these pieces, together, create a textural canvas since they are all kind of dangling on top of each other, and yet, as cohesive as it feels, you still want to look carefully at each piece in the assembly. Olga’s Facebook page and Flickr photostream are good places to look around for other assembled element ideas.
I know those two ladies make some pretty interesting and complex components but don’t think you have to go to that extent. The individual elements you create in this process can be as simple as punched out squares such as you might see in one of Laurie Mika’s mosaics. I am such a fan of this kind of free-form collage work, one that allows you to simply show off the characteristics you love about working with clay. You can assemble bits of your alcohol ink treated sheets, mokume gane, complex canes, impressed clay components, or hand sculpted forms. A mosaic or even a necklace of just simple shapes can let those treatments and colors shine, each on their own.
Of course, this approach isn’t just for polymer clay. This brilliant green assemblage necklace by an artist known only as Gebrufa is all fabric and fiber, although some components could as easily have been polymer. My guess would be that she gave herself just the restriction of a limited color palette but otherwise made all the individual pieces as whimsy led her. Should you want to know that you can have a cohesive finished piece when you are done freely creating components, this kind of approach would give you a path to that while still creating with relative freedom.
So, have I got you thinking about the individual elements of your pieces in a different way now?
Planning and meticulously designing pieces is essential in many circumstances but letting yourself just explore can also be an important part of your artistic growth as it helps to free up and expand your creativity. Letting yourself just play can be hard to do when you don’t have a lot of time and you want the time you do have to result in finished pieces. Knowing you can focus on making great little individual components which you can later put together into a fabulous necklace or wall piece might just be the thing that gives you the license to let go and doodle away with your clay.
THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO:
- Want to CLAY OUT EAST or CLAY OUT WEST? Registration for both of this multi-instructor, 4 day workshop events are open now. Clay out East is in Atlantic City, New Jersey, June 12-15th and Clay out West will be held Sept 30 – Oct 3 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here is the link for the East event’s registration. I couldn’t scare up a link for the West event registration but you can email them at clayoutwest@aol.com to get the details.
- Did you catch the “Make Your Own Silkscreens” article in the Summer 2018 issue of The Polymer Arts? It was so much fun to make these and right now, the company that made it so fun and easy, EZScreenPrint if having a 15% off sale but it ends today! Go here, and use coupon code JAN15. No minimum purchase required.
- Did you know that Poly Clay Play has a Shopping Discount Club? If you go through a lot of supplies (or just tend to get overly excited around polymer clay and tools and want to buy everything you see) this discount club could help in big ways. PCP is one of my favorite shops, especially for pastes, powders, and alcohol ink. She gets them all! Go here to check out the club deal or just shop around.
Always glad to get your feedback!
Last week we did some history, this week was about how you approach your work. Did you like the subject and did it get you thinking? Or do you thoughts on other things you’d like for me to research and write about? Just let me know. Write me in the comments below this post (click here if you are reading this in an email).
Now for Something Completely Different
May 11, 2015
Inspirational Art
“Something completely different” is the theme this week, or so that’s what I am aiming at. Maybe I look at way too much polymer work on a daily basis, but certain forms and applications are so well used as to be beyond common. I won’t name names, but a rather influential person in our industry turned to me in a recent conversation and said “If I see one more of those domed pendants with the hole cut out, I’m just gonna …” with the unspoken threat left hanging in its possibilities. I kind of like those domed peek-a-boo pendants, but I do have to say they are a form that has been well-represented in the community.
That and a funny conversation online about whether Hollywood can come up with anything original anymore had me thinking about whether our constant and global exposure has somehow diluted originality. We see so much of certain things that we start to automatically create similar items. So, I thought I’d make it a goal this week to find things that just look nothing like anything else I’ve seen in recent years.
This amazing piece is by England’s Rebecca Thickbroom. I’m not sure why pieces like this aren’t making the wide rounds on Pinterest and Facebook. I think it’s quite stunning, and I didn’t find this online, not initially. I actually had the pleasure of seeing this in person last year in Malta where I got to meet Rebecca and take a few of my own photos of it. The insufficient and yellow light of the reception room where I snapped the shot you see on the bottom didn’t do this justice at all, hence the nice photo I acquired from Rebecca’s Facebook page.
The size of the piece is quite bold, but it’s the textures and numerous interesting objects in the piece that grab you. There appears to be some mysterious symbolism in the collection of objects framed here, and, of course, it looks like it could be a museum piece from some long-lost tribal culture. I find it very intriguing, and I can’t say I’ve seen anything like it in recent years besides other pieces from Rebecca’s portfolio. She’s quite original.
Rebecca’s work can be found in greater quantity on her Facebook page, Clectic Designs, where you can find more unusual and curious pieces to tickle your imagination.
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.
The Form of a Box Pendant
April 21, 2015
Inspirational Art
Here is another take on the inro form; although, the creator has labeled these “Box as Pendant” pieces. Enkhtsetseg Tserenbadam’s versions are not as heavily decorated as what we saw yesterday, but the variety of forms is a pleasure to see. The interest lies in the surface treatment and color combinations, which subtly accent the primarily organic forms.
Enkhe’s work is often hollow, although, not always in order to hold something and not always as a jewelry. She makes purses and table top boxes. She does play a lot with hollow forms in her jewelry but with many a revealing opening. Her largely minimal palettes make her forms particularly important, and that is where most of her focus lies.
Enkhe’s work can be found online, primarily on her art website.
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.
Peeli’s Intricate Precision
March 26, 2014
Inspirational Art
Sometimes I feel like I post a bit much on the polymer embroidery technique but it’s hard not to fall in love with the intricate beauty of the work. Peeli Rohini has a lovely set of polymer embroidered beads right at the start of the gallery of beads in the Lark’s 1000 Beads book. There is such a precise and well thought out patterning in Peeli’s application of this technique. It really looks like intricate needlework.
Peeli’s work is inspired by the rich and ethnic cultures all over the world and their rich luxurious fabrics. She has a passion and love for polymer clay and a longing to create miniature wearable pieces of art! Check out some of her photos of her work on her Facebook page also.
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.
Outside Inspiration: Pure Shape and Balance
February 28, 2014
Inspirational Art
Polymer clay as a medium gives you so many choices as to color, texture, size … it really is one of the most limitless mediums. But unlimited options are not always a good thing. Limitations can force you to work more creatively. For instance, we have here British Artist, Henry Lanham, a jewelry artist who works with wood. If he wants to show off the beauty of the wood, there is a very limited palette. If you have few color options, as we saw last week, you have to lean on other design elements. Here, Henry resorts to shape and symmetry with absolutely stunning results.
Henry is a design sculptor who creates jewelry and body landscapes made from hand carved and fabricated wood pieces. Not only are the pieces visually stimulating to look at, but they also make an interesting and pleasant cacophony of sounds when in movement. To see his art as a performance, take a look at his YouTube video, “Landscapes of Time.”
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
The Contrast of Randomness & Order
February 3, 2014
Inspirational Art
In a piece like the one here, would you say order was introduced into the randomness of the elements or randomness was used to give order more liveliness? It really is a guess as to what the artist was up to but it’s fun to ponder and will also make you more aware of your own decision making.
What I think is that in something like this, it is a matter of adding contrast but I can’t say which direction the artist came from on it. Most all the elements here are square or rectangular or are arranged in something like a block, but the ‘blocks’ themselves are not aligned and there is a lot of variation in each block. Although color is not a variation (and I do wish there was more color, maybe even just one accented red block to give the eye a place to rest and move from) the monochromatic theme does also help unite the random elements as does having every block sit straight and square.
The artist here is not necessarily a polymer artist although the work is a collection of polymer elements. Ali Ferguson says she is “an artist exploring hand-stitch.” I do so like that many artists who see themselves as masters of another medium find a place in their studio for polymer. If you like mixed media, do take a look around Ali’s website where driftwood, old charts, buttons, fabrics and all kind of found objects find their way into interesting wall and wearable art.
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.
Framed Beads
February 1, 2014
Inspirational Art
Frames are great for directing focus and presenting your beads and surface treatments but it let’s look at one more way to make them an integral element. In this case, let’s essentially make them the beads themsevles.
In this beaded necklace by Gera Scott Chandler, she provides a rich three dimensional bead by combining multiple elements, which includes beads and frames.
This Canadian artist likes to combine polymer clay with found objects for her mixed media wearable art, canvases and sculptures. Gera’s work can be found in collections in Canada, USA, Europe, Australia, and Japan, as well as on her Flickr site. She talks also about her process, and even provides some brief tutorials, in her blog “a Mused Studio” on her website.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
How much do you think about shape and form when creating your work? That’s the core question posed in this month’s art box where we’re feeling out how those design considerations communicate our intention in our creative work. So this weekend, join me as I take a trip back through old posts but look at them with shape and form in mind. I’ll explain why I’m using past posts after we get through the much more exciting task of considering shape and form.
As you scroll through these images, just think about what your visceral reaction is to each of the individual shapes or forms you see. What would you say a particular shape or form communicates to you? There are no wrong answers. That is one of the great things about art. But taking note of your answers can tell you a lot about how you perceive various shapes and forms and, hopefully, will get you thinking about how they come across in your own work.
Simple shapes from February 2017
Some days, you just want things simple. You can do this in the studio any time and, regardless of your simple approach, you can still get stunning results. I think that once we engage the creative mind though, it will just keep going on its own momentum even when you were thinking that you wanted to do something quick and easy.
I’m guessing that this is what Veruschka Stevens was thinking when she first sat down to create the necklace that opens this post. As she says:
I generally use different techniques that vary in complexity for making our jewelry. This necklace in particular was made using the simplest technique I know. However, it is equally one of the most time-consuming and very much detail-oriented as well.
The complexity of layers and variety of geometric shapes takes what might, in a less busy composition, feel bold but relatively static into the realm of high-energy and a fun, unassuming sophistication.
A Talk of Pods from October 2013
When I think of pods, the first things that come to mind are round but elongated forms, with angular, pointed ends. But that is an extremely narrow image of a pod. In truth, pods come in quite a large variety of shapes.
Pods can be round or flat, long or squat, smooth or rough, and as small as a pea or so large it takes two hands to hold one. The only defining factor with pods is that they hold something, encasing a collection of possibilities within.
This interesting necklace below might be described as a study of pod varieties. Lori Phillips, who looks to work exclusively in ceramics now, took a detour into polymer a number of years back to create this piece.
Most of these beads look like they could have been inspired by real versions in nature, although I’m guessing, from looking at the free form work elsewhere on Lori’s Flickr page, that these came primarily from her own imagination. But either way, they show the possibility of working with a form and pushing the idea of what it could be.
The Many Forms of Petals from June 2013
There are, of course, many variations in the wide world of flowers, particularly their petals, which might make one conclude that many a cane must be made to build a decent collection of caned petal possibilities. But this is not necessarily so. This display of both traditional and not so traditional petal forms and patterning is a sample set by Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg. Her photo note on Facebook says the canes are “reduced, shaped, torqued, and recombined to make a seemingly endless array of elements that can be used to make all sorts of wearable art. Hearts and spirals, complex petals, wisteria and lotus blossoms are all found along the petal path.”
Geometric creatures from March 2017
With a beautifully stylized approach, Angela Garrod captures the look, and amusing expressions of some of people’s favorite animals, and this while playing with geometric shapes. Notice where angular shapes are used for birds, known for their flight and movement which is also a primary characteristics for angular shapes, and how the dogs and their get rounded off, depicting the softness and amiability we associate with the cute versions of these creatures.
The hand scratched texture keeps the geometric shapes from feeling too stiff and sterile and adds quite a bit to what would otherwise be simple shapes and lines through which we, somehow, recognize the variety of animals. I don’t know how our brains do that. The brain is just pretty darn nifty.
How are you reading the shapes in these pieces? Do you agree with my assessments? We certainly don’t have to. That is the great thing about creative work – you bring a whole other layer of your life experience and associations to what is being communicated.
Rough Roads
We are all facing our share of challenges right now so I hesitate to even say anything but I would like to explain that this month and maybe next things might be a little wonky. I will be able to get a blog out every Sunday morning – it’s the one thing I am sure I can get done on time– but I am experiencing some physical limitations again which is making it hard to hit deadlines, and get through all the emails daily, especially with no admin or production staff which, for various reasons, is not going to change anytime soon. So, I beg your patience with me. I can get help with shipping orders (I do have an imprisoned college student in the house) so those, at least, will not be delayed.
But, this weekend, to minimize my computer time after a rough week updating back end technical nonsense, I turned to old posts and edited them to fit our focus this month. I hope you don’t mind my taking a shortcut! Even if you remember the old posts, we’re looking at them with a new focus and for many of you, I bet, a better trained eye.
Well, time for me to get up and move before the arthritis in my neck becomes all too distracting. I hope you all are staying safe and well and enjoying finding the beauty in the shapes all around you.
What are some of the first choices you make when creating a piece? Do you ask yourself, what colors are you going to use? What forms to make? What textures, what themes, what techniques? Do you ever ask yourself, what kind of movement will this piece have?
Movement is not one of the primary options that come to mind for most people when designing. If movement or kinetic components are not essential to what you are doing, it may not come to mind until much later on, if at all. And yet, in three-dimensional work and especially in jewelry, this is an integral part of the design. Sometimes the idea of movement doesn’t come along simply because it is created through another avenue – visual movement is created by lines while physical movement is created by the chosen construction. But where and how you placed those lines or the choices about the construction are actually choices about movement.
Movement is one of my favorite things about creating in three dimensions. It took me a long time to be brave enough to work in pieces that move. Why does that take courage? Because a piece that moves changes and has not one look but a multitude of looks. We are used to seeing artwork, when on display or in photographs, facing us in one neutral position where it hangs or sits still. But just as sculpture in the round will look different as you walk around it, any object that is worn or used functionally will look different as the wearer moves or the user works with it, especially when it moves and that means you aren’t always going to be able to have complete control over what the viewer of the work will see because movement means a piece will change.
Movement is actually such a big part of design and I have so much to show you on this subject, that I’m going to split this up into two or three posts. Today let’s focus on work that has physical, kinetic movement and in jewelry in particular, but keep in mind that movement isn’t just for jewelry!
Moving Right Along
One way to add really dynamic movement that also forces you to just rip the Band-Aid off and give in to the constant change in composition that the movement will create is to dangle a lot of individual elements in a cluster. As you see in the necklace by Natalya Aleksandrova below, the gathering of elements is going to sway and rearrange itself as the wearer moves.
However, unlike the designs of this type that utilize wire, each bead element is on a leather cord looped around a thick collection of cords, a combination that limits the amount of movement since leather on leather does not move smoothly. If this was a single cord necklace, or better yet, a thick metal wire wrapping around the neck, and the elements were attached using metal wire loops, the beads would swing far more freely. Here the beads still move but, for what is normally a very kinetic type of design, that energy will be restrained. I think that actually works in this highly organic design as you rarely see organic elements in nature swinging as freely as these would if on metal loops.
The above is really a subtle example of what I think this next piece does really well. You see, you can use your choice of movement to add a touch of realism or connection to the real thing it represents or was inspired by. The feather set below is also Natalya’s work. You can see how well polymer can emulate the texture of a feather, but you know it could never move like one. Breaking these feathers up into multiple sections allows the pieces to flutter and at least harken back to the movement of a feather when on a bird.
Necklaces and earrings are not the only pieces that this kind of energetic movement can be added to. The pin you see opening this post is by Celie Fago and was originally created for Dan Cormier’s fantastic Broken Telephone Project. It is not the still little creation one might normally associate with brooches. The leaves of the pin flutter, not unlike leaves on a tree. The light and almost whimsical movement of the leaves plays well with the very open design and its flowing lines which themselves create visual movement (more on visual movement in a week or two).
Celie’s work also tends to include a lot of movement, so we’ll look at one more of hers as well, but this time her bracelets. Bracelets move up and down an arm, making movement almost inherent in the idea of a bracelet. Dangles and charms are also not uncommon for bracelets, especially chain types, but they are fairly uncommon for bangle versions. The way Celie adds movement to her bangles is genius – the rings and charms on these bangles move the way the bangle itself would move up and down an arm, like tiny bangles on the bangle. This type of movement creates some of the most dynamic movement you can get in a bracelet.
We’ve been looking at a lot of horizontal or circular compositions for movement but another way to have movement in a design is with a stack of elements that you hinge so they can swing somewhat independently. I love this design because the long vertical automatically gives the piece a sense of strength and boldness—characteristics intrinsic in vertical designs–especially when it’s really long. The movement as a kind of sophisticated energy because instead of pieces swinging in multiple directions, the whole line tends of beads or elements tend to move together.
Below is a piece by Carla Benedetti, with each component being attached to the one above it by jump ring hinges. The whole vertical line of elements will swing side to side and forward and back, fluidly, and all together. Using relatively large elements gives this vertical stack some weight which pulls the whole piece against the body when the wearer is upright and helps to keep the pieces lined up as it swings. In other words, the composition of this piece really doesn’t change even though it will move and sway. This allows for all the elements to be easily seen and gives you more control over the composition that the viewer will see while still harvesting the energy that movement imparts.
Let’s make this a two-pieces-per artists-post with a second piece by Carla! Another way to add movement while holding onto the composition somewhat, is to create layers of chains or beads that can move individually or altogether, to varying degrees. Multi-strand necklaces like the one below gives you the opportunity to change up and create contrast between the strands with both the forms, elements, type of strand, and even how much each one can move. For instance, the chained strands on here will move much more than the densely beaded ones. As a result, this piece has more dynamic energy than Carla’s vertical composition above, but the construction keeps it from being just a jumble.
I’m telling you there is so much to this whole movement in design thing. There are tons of examples of movements in pieces that are not jewelry, but I don’t seem to have time for that this post. Let me get a bunch of those together for you for next week and then maybe we’ll get to visual movement after that if we are all still having just a ton of fun with this.
If You’re Feeling Moved
I strongly believe that all choices in a piece of art should be intentional in order to bring out all the potential that your design has and, of course, that includes deciding how much, if any, movement your piece will have.
You can start thinking about movement now by looking at pieces that you’ve previously created or designs you have in progress on your table or in your sketchbook. Ask yourself, “Does this have movement or stillness and how well does that fulfill the need of the design?” Or, “Would this benefit from more movement, less movement, or no movement?” If you can get yourself to regularly think about movement in your work, you’ll be thrilled with the many options you have to add energy, atmosphere, and interest in your pieces. All you need to do is think about how movement should or could play into your designs to have a myriad of new possibilities suddenly open up before your eyes.
All Quiet on the Home Front
Strangely enough, I very little to report on the house and health situation. This is not to say that I’ve not been extremely busy, because I have. Getting this house back together is quite the huge task and there are dozens upon dozens of little things that need to be taken care of, things that might be barely noticed by others except if they were not done or finished properly.
I have started to feel some work withdrawal, however, and I think it’s keeping me up at night because some nights I just can’t fall asleep even though I don’t have anything overly stressful on my mind. I think I just feel a little out of touch. Thank goodness I have this blog to look forward to so I can connect with all of you!
Last Days of the DAMAGE SALE
The last few days I actually did do a fair amount of work although it wasn’t in production or writing. We had our Damage Sale and, holy moly, was that crazy! We sold out of half the stock in the first two hours. I think that may be a record!
Feeling bad for anybody who didn’t get to read the newsletter right after it was sent out, I went through the unopened boxes in my storage space, opening and pulling out many of the so often damaged first and last copies in the boxes, and found some publications that took some damage during shipping that was unnoticeable until boxes were opened.
So, the sale items were restocked some and even today there are still a decent number of magazines and books, in slightly imperfect condition, that are available for up to 60% off. You can get to the sale page here.
The sale will go on through Wednesday September 11th, or until all items are sold out, whichever comes first. I only sell the imperfect copies for one week each year because it’s a bear to track them separately from the other items on an ongoing basis, so you’ll want to grab these deals now while they are still available.
Well I am off to work on the Mosaic backsplash I am creating for the kitchen. I promise to share that when there’s any real visual progress but right now it’s just a lot of cutting little tiles. Do enjoy the rest of your weekends and have a beautifully inspired and moving week!
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I don’t know if you have ever considered, or found important, the fact that most polymer art is a collection of elements constructed into a single piece. Yes, I know I am stating the obvious here but consider the fact that most polymer art is put together in such a way as to make the individual elements blend into a cohesiveness whole. Have you ever considered that maybe each element can be its own little piece of art, even if it’s to be a part of something bigger?
If you make the work about each individual elements and not the single composition they are part of, you should be able to give yourself more freedom in the creative process. The idea would be to just focus on the single component in front of you without regard for the other parts it may eventually be joined with. Since you don’t have to consider any other elements you should be able to just let your mind and hands go play. You could, in fact, just create tons of individual pieces and then pull together the ones that you find relate and from that create a finished piece. There would be no pressure to make things work together or fit. Does that sound intriguing?
Elemental Artists
There are a lot of artists that do this almost exclusively. When Debbie Crothers creates, a finished piece is usually the last thing on her mind. She is in love with seeing what the material will do and spends most of her time playing and exploring. Once her stock builds up, or just whenever the bug bites her, then she will create finished pieces of wearable art.
Recently she has also been incorporating her love of found objects as you can see in the image above. This is just a part of a very long necklace of Debbie’s. (The whole of which I’ve not seen her posted anywhere but will be featured in the upcoming Polymer Journeys 2019 book. Look for pre-sale announcements this coming week.) Each individual component definitely stands on its own here since each individual polymer and found object component is framed. But you can also see, if you look at her work on Facebook or on her website, that her pieces are almost always a variety show, one that features the results of her exploration and just having fun with the clay.
Another cool thing about this type of artwork is that the viewer will probably want to look at each and every individual component. Just the variety heightens the interest in these kinds of pieces which means the people viewing it will spend more time looking at it and more time appreciating your work. That can really help in terms of sales too because the more time someone spends looking at a piece the more likely they will be to want to buy it.
I think this kind of intrigue born of variety may be the primary draw when it comes to the jewelry of Olga Ledneva. This piece you see here is a bit more dense and has more potential movement than her newer work but I thought it was also a good example of how all these pieces, together, create a textural canvas since they are all kind of dangling on top of each other, and yet, as cohesive as it feels, you still want to look carefully at each piece in the assembly. Olga’s Facebook page and Flickr photostream are good places to look around for other assembled element ideas.
I know those two ladies make some pretty interesting and complex components but don’t think you have to go to that extent. The individual elements you create in this process can be as simple as punched out squares such as you might see in one of Laurie Mika’s mosaics. I am such a fan of this kind of free-form collage work, one that allows you to simply show off the characteristics you love about working with clay. You can assemble bits of your alcohol ink treated sheets, mokume gane, complex canes, impressed clay components, or hand sculpted forms. A mosaic or even a necklace of just simple shapes can let those treatments and colors shine, each on their own.
Of course, this approach isn’t just for polymer clay. This brilliant green assemblage necklace by an artist known only as Gebrufa is all fabric and fiber, although some components could as easily have been polymer. My guess would be that she gave herself just the restriction of a limited color palette but otherwise made all the individual pieces as whimsy led her. Should you want to know that you can have a cohesive finished piece when you are done freely creating components, this kind of approach would give you a path to that while still creating with relative freedom.
So, have I got you thinking about the individual elements of your pieces in a different way now?
Planning and meticulously designing pieces is essential in many circumstances but letting yourself just explore can also be an important part of your artistic growth as it helps to free up and expand your creativity. Letting yourself just play can be hard to do when you don’t have a lot of time and you want the time you do have to result in finished pieces. Knowing you can focus on making great little individual components which you can later put together into a fabulous necklace or wall piece might just be the thing that gives you the license to let go and doodle away with your clay.
THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO:
- Want to CLAY OUT EAST or CLAY OUT WEST? Registration for both of this multi-instructor, 4 day workshop events are open now. Clay out East is in Atlantic City, New Jersey, June 12-15th and Clay out West will be held Sept 30 – Oct 3 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here is the link for the East event’s registration. I couldn’t scare up a link for the West event registration but you can email them at clayoutwest@aol.com to get the details.
- Did you catch the “Make Your Own Silkscreens” article in the Summer 2018 issue of The Polymer Arts? It was so much fun to make these and right now, the company that made it so fun and easy, EZScreenPrint if having a 15% off sale but it ends today! Go here, and use coupon code JAN15. No minimum purchase required.
- Did you know that Poly Clay Play has a Shopping Discount Club? If you go through a lot of supplies (or just tend to get overly excited around polymer clay and tools and want to buy everything you see) this discount club could help in big ways. PCP is one of my favorite shops, especially for pastes, powders, and alcohol ink. She gets them all! Go here to check out the club deal or just shop around.
Always glad to get your feedback!
Last week we did some history, this week was about how you approach your work. Did you like the subject and did it get you thinking? Or do you thoughts on other things you’d like for me to research and write about? Just let me know. Write me in the comments below this post (click here if you are reading this in an email).
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“Something completely different” is the theme this week, or so that’s what I am aiming at. Maybe I look at way too much polymer work on a daily basis, but certain forms and applications are so well used as to be beyond common. I won’t name names, but a rather influential person in our industry turned to me in a recent conversation and said “If I see one more of those domed pendants with the hole cut out, I’m just gonna …” with the unspoken threat left hanging in its possibilities. I kind of like those domed peek-a-boo pendants, but I do have to say they are a form that has been well-represented in the community.
That and a funny conversation online about whether Hollywood can come up with anything original anymore had me thinking about whether our constant and global exposure has somehow diluted originality. We see so much of certain things that we start to automatically create similar items. So, I thought I’d make it a goal this week to find things that just look nothing like anything else I’ve seen in recent years.
This amazing piece is by England’s Rebecca Thickbroom. I’m not sure why pieces like this aren’t making the wide rounds on Pinterest and Facebook. I think it’s quite stunning, and I didn’t find this online, not initially. I actually had the pleasure of seeing this in person last year in Malta where I got to meet Rebecca and take a few of my own photos of it. The insufficient and yellow light of the reception room where I snapped the shot you see on the bottom didn’t do this justice at all, hence the nice photo I acquired from Rebecca’s Facebook page.
The size of the piece is quite bold, but it’s the textures and numerous interesting objects in the piece that grab you. There appears to be some mysterious symbolism in the collection of objects framed here, and, of course, it looks like it could be a museum piece from some long-lost tribal culture. I find it very intriguing, and I can’t say I’ve seen anything like it in recent years besides other pieces from Rebecca’s portfolio. She’s quite original.
Rebecca’s work can be found in greater quantity on her Facebook page, Clectic Designs, where you can find more unusual and curious pieces to tickle your imagination.
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.
Here is another take on the inro form; although, the creator has labeled these “Box as Pendant” pieces. Enkhtsetseg Tserenbadam’s versions are not as heavily decorated as what we saw yesterday, but the variety of forms is a pleasure to see. The interest lies in the surface treatment and color combinations, which subtly accent the primarily organic forms.
Enkhe’s work is often hollow, although, not always in order to hold something and not always as a jewelry. She makes purses and table top boxes. She does play a lot with hollow forms in her jewelry but with many a revealing opening. Her largely minimal palettes make her forms particularly important, and that is where most of her focus lies.
Enkhe’s work can be found online, primarily on her art website.
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.
Sometimes I feel like I post a bit much on the polymer embroidery technique but it’s hard not to fall in love with the intricate beauty of the work. Peeli Rohini has a lovely set of polymer embroidered beads right at the start of the gallery of beads in the Lark’s 1000 Beads book. There is such a precise and well thought out patterning in Peeli’s application of this technique. It really looks like intricate needlework.
Peeli’s work is inspired by the rich and ethnic cultures all over the world and their rich luxurious fabrics. She has a passion and love for polymer clay and a longing to create miniature wearable pieces of art! Check out some of her photos of her work on her Facebook page also.
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.
Polymer clay as a medium gives you so many choices as to color, texture, size … it really is one of the most limitless mediums. But unlimited options are not always a good thing. Limitations can force you to work more creatively. For instance, we have here British Artist, Henry Lanham, a jewelry artist who works with wood. If he wants to show off the beauty of the wood, there is a very limited palette. If you have few color options, as we saw last week, you have to lean on other design elements. Here, Henry resorts to shape and symmetry with absolutely stunning results.
Henry is a design sculptor who creates jewelry and body landscapes made from hand carved and fabricated wood pieces. Not only are the pieces visually stimulating to look at, but they also make an interesting and pleasant cacophony of sounds when in movement. To see his art as a performance, take a look at his YouTube video, “Landscapes of Time.”
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.
In a piece like the one here, would you say order was introduced into the randomness of the elements or randomness was used to give order more liveliness? It really is a guess as to what the artist was up to but it’s fun to ponder and will also make you more aware of your own decision making.
What I think is that in something like this, it is a matter of adding contrast but I can’t say which direction the artist came from on it. Most all the elements here are square or rectangular or are arranged in something like a block, but the ‘blocks’ themselves are not aligned and there is a lot of variation in each block. Although color is not a variation (and I do wish there was more color, maybe even just one accented red block to give the eye a place to rest and move from) the monochromatic theme does also help unite the random elements as does having every block sit straight and square.
The artist here is not necessarily a polymer artist although the work is a collection of polymer elements. Ali Ferguson says she is “an artist exploring hand-stitch.” I do so like that many artists who see themselves as masters of another medium find a place in their studio for polymer. If you like mixed media, do take a look around Ali’s website where driftwood, old charts, buttons, fabrics and all kind of found objects find their way into interesting wall and wearable art.
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.
Frames are great for directing focus and presenting your beads and surface treatments but it let’s look at one more way to make them an integral element. In this case, let’s essentially make them the beads themsevles.
In this beaded necklace by Gera Scott Chandler, she provides a rich three dimensional bead by combining multiple elements, which includes beads and frames.
This Canadian artist likes to combine polymer clay with found objects for her mixed media wearable art, canvases and sculptures. Gera’s work can be found in collections in Canada, USA, Europe, Australia, and Japan, as well as on her Flickr site. She talks also about her process, and even provides some brief tutorials, in her blog “a Mused Studio” on her website.
If you like this blog, support The Polymer Arts projects with a subscription or issue of The Polymer Arts magazine as well as supporting our advertising partners.
