{"id":3088,"date":"2013-04-08T14:00:10","date_gmt":"2013-04-08T20:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/daveonline.net\/thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/?p=3088"},"modified":"2013-04-08T12:54:01","modified_gmt":"2013-04-08T18:54:01","slug":"obsession-with-curls-and-swirls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/obsession-with-curls-and-swirls\/","title":{"rendered":"Obsession with Curls and Swirls"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the ways I manage to keep up with blogging daily is to keep a list of links to interesting art I find in my many forays down the internet highway as well as those sent by staff and readers. I noticed today as I looked over some options that my list consisted heavily of pieces with curls and swirls and spiraling things. We even had a couple curly things last week. It got me to thinking &#8230; what is it about the curly swirlies that we like so much? Okay, yes, I may have a penchant for them but the links that I have include work sent from others and come from what I run across just randomly. So what is it?<\/p>\n<p>Well, from a design standpoint, curls, swirls and things that spiral to a center make for very strong focal points. These elements are made up of directional lines that take you from an outside point into a center or a more tightly wound end point of the line. Your eye can&#8217;t help but follow these lines from outside to inside or to the end point. Even when grouped in multiples where they may make up a pattern rather than draw your eye to a primary focal position, the feeling that each curl is trying to draw your attention makes for a very dynamic visual.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m thinking I&#8217;ll take the next few days to ponder several variations of this element from what I have on my list. Today let&#8217;s take a look at the spiral lentil &#8230; haven&#8217;t we all made one or a hundred (or at least contemplated making them?) And have you ever meet a skillfully made swirl lentil you didn&#8217;t like? It would be hard to speak of swirl lentils and not bring up our community&#8217;s master swirler, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.swirlstone.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Laura Timmins<\/a>. I&#8217;ll let her provide the example of a wonderfully dynamic grouping of swirls in this very organic necklace.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.swirlstone.com\/Jewelry\/Slideshow\/#6\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"3090\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/obsession-with-curls-and-swirls\/myn\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/MYN.jpg?fit=500%2C410&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"500,410\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"MYN\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/MYN.jpg?fit=430%2C353&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3090\" alt=\"MYN\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/daveonline.net\/thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/MYN-480x393.jpg?resize=480%2C393\" width=\"480\" height=\"393\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/MYN.jpg?resize=480%2C393&amp;ssl=1 480w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/MYN.jpg?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That brings to mind another reason we may be so drawn to the encircling elements &#8230; they are so very common in nature. From curling vines to swirling tornadoes to winding tentacles to nautilus shells to the whorls of our fingerprints &#8230; these lines are familiar and present all around us. And we will always be drawn to the comfort of the things we recognize as familiar.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">But back to polymer &#8230; if you&#8217;ve not attempted a swirl lentil before or have had limited success, you may want to check out this very clear tutorial by <a href=\"http:\/\/desiredcreations.com\/howTo_CALentilSwirl.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Desiree McCrorey<\/a>. Her instruction and tips\u00a0could have you making any number of these beauties below in no time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/desiredcreations.com\/howTo_CALentilSwirl.htm\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"3089\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/obsession-with-curls-and-swirls\/swirlingbiconedemo2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/swirlingBiconeDemo2.jpg?fit=558%2C430&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"558,430\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"swirlingBiconeDemo2\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/swirlingBiconeDemo2.jpg?fit=430%2C331&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3089\" alt=\"swirlingBiconeDemo2\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/daveonline.net\/thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/swirlingBiconeDemo2-480x369.jpg?resize=480%2C369\" width=\"480\" height=\"369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/swirlingBiconeDemo2.jpg?resize=480%2C369&amp;ssl=1 480w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/swirlingBiconeDemo2.jpg?w=558&amp;ssl=1 558w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the ways I manage to keep up with blogging daily is to keep a list of links to interesting art I find in my many forays down the internet highway as well as those sent by staff and readers. I noticed today as I looked over some options that my list consisted heavily&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13,912,190,166,47,347,58,29,30,12,11,913,914,50,911,148],"class_list":["post-3088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspirational-art","tag-artistic-inspiration","tag-curly","tag-desiree-mccrorey","tag-jewelry","tag-laura-timmins","tag-natural-elements","tag-nature","tag-necklace","tag-organic","tag-polymer-art","tag-polymer-clay","tag-spiral","tag-spiral-lentil","tag-swirl-lentil","tag-swirls","tag-tutorials"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2O0Lm-NO","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3088\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepolymerarts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}