No messy dip-dying for South Carolina’s Kathy Koontz (flowertownoriginals).
Her Easter eggs are covered with polymer scraps turned into stripes and then taken a step farther.
Kathy offsets the stripes to make a bargello veneer. Her resulting zigzag pattern is hypnotically, obsessively detailed.
Now what? Veneers are fun to make but it’s not always clear how to use the results. Eggactly!
If making bargello is new to you, watch this YouTube tutorial from Australia’s Jessama.
Australia’s Linzy Whiteley (Gracie Face) will jolt you over the midweek hump with her high-speed scrap dance.
A little Aretha, a lotta RESPECT. Twist, cut, zigzag, realign, and roll.
Cute little studs are paired with curvy dangles and it’s showtime. Take a closer look on her website.
Perth, Australia’s Olga Perova showed this 7″x11″ polymer vase in the Wanaroo Arts Awards exhibit.
She is drawn to vessel shapes and bargello-like patterns. Here she combines both favorites, lining up multicolored patterns in a most meticulous way.
By my count, there are twelve segments to this piece. Can you imagine applying all those strips of clay? It seems too textural to be a cane. It is baffling.
Look more closely on Facebook and Instagram.
Oklahoma’s Katie Way made stripes in her own distinctive palette using Carol Blackburn’s clever instructions. By cutting slim slices and incrementally jogging their positions, Katie re-assembled her stripes into a veneer that looks like a miniature afghan. It could provide warmth in some dollhouse this winter.
The result is so alluring she probably hates to cut it to make her holiday jewelry line. Go to Katie’s Instagram to see what her veneer becomes.
Over at StudioMojo this weekend, I’m taking a deep breath and revealing the subject of a new book I’m writing. I won’t be alone. There are several other polymer artists who are writing this fall. Join us to read about the bumper crop of books and the trends that have started a buzz.
Does this puffy flamestitch from Jana Roberts Benzon boggle your mind? Jana shares lots of examples of her newest laser cut (no lasers, just laser-like focus) and techniques on her site here and here and on Flickr.
This piece looks like a 3-D map and my brain has a hard time sorting out how the construction is possible. When that happens, it’s time to take a class.
Jana Roberts Benzon says that the stunning new works on her site, “…are the fruits of those priceless de-stressing days.”
“The first three show the fun I’ve had playing with form; this type of work is zen-like and apropos to my state of mind. The last three images show my woven style of work, this time with undulating dimension,” she explains.
In Jana’s Dimensional Woven Brooch, she builds on the bargello style first popularized by Laura Liska and adds dimension within flowing shapes. Jana’s works are sold at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Thanks to Randee Ketzel for the link!
