Daily tips about polymer clay art and artists from Cynthia Tinapple
These mosaics by British artist Cleo Mussi make my mouth water. It's easy to see how Mussi began in fabrics and migrated to mosaics. The size of her works is impressive as well.
Her site is just pure pleasure to wander through and full of inspiration. Thanks to Hawaii's Karen Shiroma for this great link.
Potter, poet, printer Ebby Malmgren finds that she can call upon all her talents by using polymer clay for her printing plates. "Soon after I started making prints I realized I missed the 3-D possibilities of clay and it occurred to me that polymer clay might be a solution," says Malmgren.
Her detailed description of the process makes me want to experiment. See one of her prints at the left and the polymer printing plate at right.
The artist splits her time between Annapolis, Maryland and Taos, New Mexico. She recently received a lifetime achievement award from the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County. Many thanks to Susan Rose who alerted me to this wonderful artist.
The person behind yesterday's "empty vessel" blog is none other than Susan Rose who's been forwarding terrific links to me for months! Small world. Beautiful blog. Bookmark it.
And of course she's sent a couple perfect links to round out our week of "intensity." While artworks made from fruit pits and spools of thread may seem a long way from polymer clay, they round out our week of demonstrating how what's in your head and your heart translate into art.
The topic of intensity seems to have struck a chord with readers. Take a look at a couple more along the same line. Harriet Estel Berman creates bracelets from tin cans and Kate Cusack makes pins from zippers. It's the "vision thing" that speaks loudly. These artists are following their own creative impulses and aren't waiting for the next new technique.
Since it's back-to-school time, here's one for homework. Visit the site of the Plastics Historical Society. The next time you're asked about when polymers were discovered, you'll be able to answer with confidence.
One of the characteristics that draws us to great pieces is intensity. Two polymer clay artists sent in this link to Jennifer Maestre who sculpts using colored pencils. They both found her works inspiring. I'll add Liana Kabel's jewelry made of Tupperware (or try this link) and Margaux Lange's series made entirely of Barbie doll parts as great examples.
I want to spend the day looking at this site but I have no time. Carrotbox is totally kewl and I hope you can luxuriate there. The author has a "ring thing" and the site contains some of the features I plan to add here in the next few months. A great big thanks to Columbus' Donna Reed, who was reviewed on the site (look at April 5) , for putting me onto this one!
Here's one from Carrotbox. I know it's resin and not polymer but it's a terrific idea. These resin "wobble" rings contain magnets. The detachable magnetic pebbles allow you to pile on whatever sizes and colours suit your mood. This "wearable toy" jewellery is the brainchild of Edinburgh's Kaz Robertson, one third of the Diverse Workshop group of designers.
Sarah Shriver is directly responsible for many of the kaleidoscope cane freaks out there. Sarah makes it look disceptively easy and few artists reach her level of balance between chaos and control in their work.
As entertainment and practice for those who can't get enough of repeating patterns, I recommend you go to this site and play for a while. Have a great weekend. I'll be on vacation next week and the site will be on auto pilot with some fun posts.
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