Thank goodness that Croatia’s Nikolina Ortzan revealed her painterly polymer methods in a free tutorial that she uploaded this week. Her process is hard to guess but easy once you see it done.
Nikolina starts with a crisp graphic style that she later softens and blends for a retro effect. Thanks for the tute!
Her Flickr site is full of other examples including this clever cat design. She likes to doodle on polymer.
Spring cleaning
Thanks to the eagle-eyed Facebook fans who let me know that the PCD posts weren’t appearing in FB. I replaced the dusty old 2007 plugin with a shiny new one. I guess we wore it out!
The “painterly” adjective is an easy one to attach to some works. But lately, “painterly” polymer has been pushed to a whole new level as in these Rustica Erosion beads.
Alison Sachs of BeadsByEarthTones paints, textures, scuffs, and swipes her beads into something more than you may have thought possible. “Down to earth and full of imperfect texture…like me,” she says.
Polymer is attracting more fiber artists, glass artists, ceramicists and, well, painters who bring very different expectations and sensibilities to our craft.
Thanks for piling on your comments to Dave and Steve yesterday. Speaking of painterly, I’ve looked and looked at this new collage from them and my head can’t quite take it in.
Steven Ford solicits your opinion on the findings on this new Shells necklace. Silver or blackened silver for the chain and clasp? Silver or gold-leafed centers for the shells? Version 1 or 2? Steve contends that the white silver looks “unconsidered” while Dave likes the slinky polished white silver. How do you weigh in? (Leave a comment on their blog.)
Steve explains that, “In a way, this new work is getting back to our roots with caning polymer clay. There is an added layer of my recent interest in printmaking too, as the clay is embossed with a linoleum cut plate. It’s also painted to bring out the texture of the surface, and to complicate the color within the clay itself.” Read the full story here.
This shell design sat around in the studio for a couple of years before the artists could decide how to use it. Do you have designs marinating in your studio?
France’s Celine Charuau (GrisBleu) starts our week with her another of her sinuous, alien polymer and silver constructions. This one is called Fleur plume rouillée which translates to Rusted feather flower.
The perspective shown here zooms in to study the polymer. You may be surprised to see the actual size of the pendant and how it is intended to be worn.
Celine’s ethereal pieces are often based on exotic species as in this Brachystelma angustum based on the Flickr picture here. I can’t decide if Celine’s a botanist or an engineer. She brings a wonderful blend of sensibilities to her jewelry. There are few clues on her site. What would you guess?
You can see her body of work best on her Flickr, DaWanda and Facebook sites.
