Metallic Collages

As you could see in my post in early March, I have been bitten a bit by the collage bug - and I'm really enjoying it.  I think part of the intrigue is the puzzle-like aspect of making a sheet by fitting together various pieces.  Of course, determining the pieces themselves, their placement, and balancing colors is all part of the process.  I like the additional dimension of the cut out pieces - the circles in this case - that allow me to swap-out colors.  The lime and silver sheet has circle cut-outs.
The teal sheet was my second sheet using these colors and this time, rather than cut out additional shapes to "swap", I used an artist's tracing wheel and went along all the edges of each piece, creating a quilted stitch look.  This idea comes from Ron Lehocky, who has tons of excellent tips and tricks up his polymer sleeves.

The pieces I'm sharing with you today incorporate metal leaf into the clay.  Recently, I ran across a series of photos that demonstrated gently pressing the metal leaf sheet into the clay with the edge of the tissue blade, and then pressing and massaging the leaf "into" the clay so that it stayed on the surface but was imbedded a bit into the clay.  This creates a crackle effect and makes the sheets easy to use and cut.  The metal leaf just acts like part of the clay.  Of course, it is still a metal leaf surface, so the end product needs some sort of protective coating.  For my pieces, I used Lisa Pavelka's Magic Gloss.  I have always been pleased with the results of this product.

So, here are some photos of the pieces I've been making.  I love teals, so, of course, my first pieces used a custom mix for that color.   Lots of earrings and a pendant on the left, and a piece with some motion on the right.

Next, I went purple.  I liked this color with silver leaf, and, in addition to pendants and earrings, I made a bracelet.  It is hinged together with silver jump rings and uses 2 magnetic closures.

Finally, here is a red group.  I used Premo's Alizarin Crimson nudged up a few shades lighter.  I really like the rich red this created.

Straight from the Heart

I've just returned from Tennessee where I participated in a week-long polymer workshop at the Arrowmont School for Arts and Crafts.  I'll write more about that later.  This posting is about hearts, thousands and thousands of polymer hearts....

At Arrowmont, I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Ron Lehocky.   While Ron is an accomplished polymer artist, whose pieces have appeared in books and various collections,  it is his heart project I'd like to share with you today.  Dr. Lehocky volunteers on the Cerebral Palsy KIDS Center Board of Trustees.  In 2005, he created 100 heart pins to help with fund-raising efforts at the Center's annual fashion show.  This event turned out to be just the start.  Since then, Ron has made over 23,000 Heart Pins, and the project continues to grow.  Ron designs and creates each heart personally, in a wide variety of colors and designs.  One hundred percent of the money raised through this project goes to a fund which provides continuing education for the therapists at the Center, enabling them to continue to provide up-to-date therapies to the children. For more information, visit the website:  http://www.kidscenterky.org/HowToHelp/.

Often, Ron uses scrap from the canes and projects of other polymer artists.  I shared some of my clay pieces with Ron, and was delighted to see the creativity he applied to make some really unique hearts. The photos here show the cane I made and some of the hearts Ron created from that cane.  Not only does he use the cane "as is" - he reduces and manipulates the pieces to make a myriad of effects.  Amazing!