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Last month I revisited several artists who use collections of tiles to create wall installations and I suggested that you keep your eye on Turkey’s Alev Gozonar. This artist consistently uses polymer clay in bold and exciting ways.
Gozonar’s new work gives you an idea of why she’s one to watch. I don’t know what her inspiration was for this wall installation, but I am intrigued by the way she used hundreds of polymer clay cane slices attached to wires, arranged in plexiglass boxes and assembled to create a larger abstract image.The possibilities are endless and she is blazing a path for all of us – congratulations Alev!
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Amy Fraser (aka Exalted Beauty) has added another collection to her polymer clay medallions. One of the things I like about Amy’s blog is that she takes us through her whole process, from inspiration to unbaked medallions to work-in-progress medallions to the final result. The other thing that always strikes me? She works in groups. The pictures below show just a handful of the more than 100 Mindworks medallions in this new collection. Makes a powerful statement.
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Did you know that Alison Lee was a Girl Scout? I happily flunked Girl Scouts, but was glad to see it brought back pleasant memories for Lee. She covers this and a lot of other ground in her interview with polymer clay pioneer Dan Cormier.
Canadian charmer Cormier talks about being in love with the “Eureka!” moment, moodling and his dentist. Oh my…it makes perfect sense when you hear the whole interview…you really must listen to these two creative minds chat. Fun and enlightening – I love a good ‘fly on the wall’ moment when you get a glimpse into how a fellow creative thinks and works (think White Necklace).
From the interview:
I think we copy to learn. If you copy just to copy then you are never really earning the rewards and to me there are such rewards to developing your own ideas that really don’t come any other way and if I can help people pursue that, then that’s the best thing.
I like to think that I’m providing them with an alphabet that allows them to go and make their own poetry.
Another fabulous interview brought to you by best-girlfriend Lee with one of my favorite people, who also happens to be one of the leading artists working with the medium today.
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Polymer clay sculptor extraordinaire Katherine Dewey gave loyal Polymer Clay Central readers a mega-tip on how to make what she calls Quick Plates, another way to add texture and pattern to your polymer clay work. From the PCC thread:
There’s always the “Quick Plate”. That’s what I call it, as it’s replaced solar plates for many of my projects when I need to stamp a design into the clay, and less expensive than solar plates. I use it to etch bas relief templates into
the clay, and, most recently to create tree bark in the proper scale. It only works if your ink jet printer has the slower drying dye based inks. You need a clean design, embossing powder, a heat gun and medium weight glossy photo paper.
1. Print the image in black (300 ppi bitmaps, no antialiasing, work best) onto the medium weight glossy paper.
2. Place in tray or box and immediately cover with embossing powder.
3. Shake off the excess powder.
4. Melt the powder with a heat gun.
5. After it cools, sprinkle with talcum powder and sprinkle the clay too.
6. Use a soft brush to spread the powder around.
7. Place the clay sheet on the embossed design (powdered surface to powdered surface) and run through the pasta machine.
8. Peel off the clay sheet and place on bakeable work surface. Bake as is or refine the design with a ball stylus or a v cutter before baking.
Below is a link to the Tree Bark Quick Plate, the pattern created from it, and the mold pulled from the pattern. I used it for the dead oak tree in the sculpture called Family tree.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/kadewey/bark.jpg
I also used it to put a face on a gift for a friend titled Goblin Cup. Here’s the original design:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/kadewey/gobcup1.gif
Here’s the Cup:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d173/kadewey/gobcup2.jpg
Enjoy,
da frog
http://www.elvenwork.com
Edited to add another option:
Eraseable ball point pens don’t dry, so embossing powder will stick to the ink. Create your work free hand or trace over your pattern with such a pen and then use the steps described above.
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I’m back with one more post to get your Spring weekend off to an inspirational start.
Alev Gozonar is one of the most adventurous polymer clay artists on the scene today, always taking the clay to unexpected places in unexpected ways with barrier-smashing results. At Synergy we got a glimpse of her work-in-progress hotel installation (pictures coming soon) and next week I hope to show you more new work from this exciting talent. Until then, take a look at the pictures Gozonar sent along of her tulip entry for Turkey’s annual Tulip Festival. Gozonar is one of 75 artists participating in the 3-month exhibit of tulip art during tulip season. Just look at what she’s done!
Stay tuned for more from this exciting, gracious talent.
