February Polymer Collages

Several members of the Westerly Artists' Cooperative met today to "hang" the February show. I had some new pieces I put in my display area. I enjoy the concept of "collage" and it's fun to do in polymer. Here are some pendants I made to include in the show. In the pendant on the left, the largest section was made with pan pastels as background, and black mica powder through a silk screen for the overlay design. There is also some gold clay and a shiny section with copper leaf. I left this piece with a spayed matte finish. The two pendants below contain sections with textured clay as well as some silk screened sections. Both of these pendants are covered in resin, and are very shiny in person.

Master Class Camp 2015 - Colors the Haunani Way

Ah, I adore color.  It's one of my favorite things about using polymer.  And I especially love the way Lindly Haunani leads you to find your own color-way, exploring options along the way.   For me, there is something that just clicks in the way she presents color.  Step by interesting step, Lindly helped us evaluate tones, hues, and saturations, until each person in the 2-day workshop had developed a rainbow palette that was a personal "fit."

We started by choosing photos from magazines that appealed to us and making them into a collage.  Although the pile of pictures was the same for everyone, people naturally gravitated in different directions, and the collages were all distinct and unique. Here's a snapshot from mine.

Next, Lindly helped each of us determine the appropriate primaries for making our own personal rainbow Skinner blend. It was fun to see how different the various rainbows were - and everyone seemed pleased with their results.

We developed a few canes based on our blends, and then used those canes to create beads.  The pile of beads to the left are some of mine.










This next photo shows some of my beads laid on top of my collage. How's that for a match!!









Finally, we fashioned the beads into a fun bracelet.

One of the things I found especially wonderful and intriguing about this class is that the process can be used over and over again and, depending on the season or my mood, my color choices will shift and alter a bit. Yet, I know that given a collection of items based on multiple personal collages (mine), there would be a color way that would stand out as being just "me."  How lovely!

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.

Polymer Collages

What fun!  I've tried mosaics with polymer, but I haven't really tried to do much with collages.  I owe a big thanks to Lindly Haunani who presented her version of collages at CFCF 2015.  Of course, she used Skinner blend rainbows, and they made the collages especially attractive and interesting.   My first piece to the left is pretty much based on Lindly's designs.









Then I started branching off on my own a bit, using white as well as black to delineate between the colored shapes.  I also started trying different outlines for the overall shape of the pieces.  Note the gold tone rounded piece in the middle in this cluster of pendants and pins.




Here's a shape and design I really like.  One of the things that I love about polymer is the more you play, the more a technique or process evolves and becomes "your own." When you look at my first piece and then this one, I think you can see the evolution.

Next are some photos of earrings in various shapes, sizes and color-ways.

And, to add a finishing touch, I covered another little paper-mache' box using the collage technique. 

Rainbows & Stripes

Continuing on with my metal leaf and alcohol ink experiments....After the blue shades, I decided to try adding more colors on the silver leaf.  I added pinks and reds to the blues first, and came up with the pendant on the left.  I really like the way the colors pool where they meet, making areas that look black and add excellent contrast. The sterling silver piece just seemed to want to be there.
Then I went wild with colors.  This was such fun, and I loved the rainbows that developed.  It is important to avoid putting opposing colors next to each other in order to avoid "mud."   Here are some pieces of the rainbow.

I had a few bits and pieces from the two silver metal leaf sheets I had made. They weren't large enough to do anything on their own, but I loved the colors and didn't want to just toss them.  So, I tried my hand at my first clay collage.  I think this is my favorite piece from all these first experiments.

I made one more rainbow sheet and cut the sheet in strips to make the striped pieces at the bottom. They're bright and vibrant.  Once again,  I think the piece I like best in this last collection is the triangular piece with the irregular slices.  I'm going to have to do more.  Playing with color is just too much fun!