Wine Country Tessellated Necklace and Bracelet

The Wine Country necklace is finished. It proved a challenge since I wanted the kaleidoscope beads to not rotate and therefore made two channels for stringing. The round beads only have one hole, so the challenge was to find appropriate accent beads that would gradually channel into the one hole beads. A close-up view is below:

click on images to see larger versions

The clasp is also handmade, from coated brass wire:

The co-ordinating bracelet will be auctioned off in the ARCAC fund-raiser tonight and is pictured below:

Please feel free to leave comments or questions below. 

Perfection = Predictable = Boring! The Artist's Mark

It feels great to be back in the saddle!

pattern assembled from scraps cut from the kaleidoscope cane

I've touched on this before. We create art because we have something to say, something that can best be said visually, not verbally. The viewer of our art completes the creative act by responding to the art. One thing that can derail this interaction is boredom (there are other things which I'll talk about another time).

For many, anything predictable is quickly glossed over. The brain likes to be engaged, and when it can predict the outcome or the continuing pattern or the next step it yawns and moves on.

Why is it, then, that many artists struggle so hard to make their work perfect?!

In any work of art it is the unpredictable colour, the unfinished line, the hint of something partially erased, that intrigues and makes the viewer stay a little longer, savoring incongruity.

In polymer clay, perfection can be achieved and repeated ad nauseum by a well-built machine. Why would we want to turn out art that looks like it was made by a machine?

The mark of the artist is unique to that artist and distinguishes a piece as hand-crafted, unique, special. That's why I've named my new studio The Artist's Mark. It's to remind me to remember to let my individuality be an integral part of my work, and to leave it visible so no one can mistake it for 1 of 100,000 produced in a factory.

I'll be demonstrating Kaleidoscope Caning at an art event at ARCAC this Saturday evening. There is very little exposure to polymer clay out here on the east coast of Canada, and I hope to stir up some interest. I've developed a palette for this cane that I call Wine Country. It is rich and elegant with a deep metallic colour that I call Madeira Wine colour, a soft, pale neutralized green called Celadon, a deep woodsy dark green called Deep Woods Moss, a soft white called Ivory, Black and a soft yellow called Sunshine.

If you would like the formulas for the all the colors in the Wine Country palette, leave a comment at the end of this post and I'll make it available at no charge, either via email or in the blog if there are enough requests.

Here are the beads that will be assembled into a necklace and bracelet to auction off at the event on Saturday.

extruded cane slices on co-ordinated spacer beads

beads ready for backing, then second curing and finishing

canes ready to tessellate

Hollow focal bead for the necklace, slightly irregular, definitely hand-crafted!

I'll post a picture of the necklace and bracelet when assembled.

The Sand Sweeper - Completed

The Sand Sweeper, version #1

The Sand Sweeper, version #2

As an abstract artist, one thing I sometimes struggle with is getting too literal. This unfolding saga has exacerbated this problem, especially if I name a piece before it is completed. I then agonize over making the piece fit the title. With this one I had partially built the vessel and hung a "tassel" from the keel, including the "brush" and the quartz crystal, and this had led to the name.

Now, how to complete it! I got stuck until I got frustrated and angry (ok, I got mad!!) and that's when I'm able to throw caution to the wind and just play "what if?"

I find I tend to set problems for myself, simply because I get a lot of satisfaction from solving problems. In this piece I had created a very strong asymmetry. With jewelry one has to establish not just visual balance but also physical balance - you don't want this thing swinging around as you walk and hanging on an angle, especially since I had restrained the asymmetry with very symmetrical links going up to the neck. The kinetic (yes, it spins) polymer clay "wheel" sitting at the stern of the vessel increased the "weight" on the left side, but continued the visual line up from the tassel, so it "felt" good there. 

I needed considerable physical weight to balance the right, also I needed something relatively dark and not too small to balance the visual weight. I chose a large fossilized shark's tooth, discovered on a beach in Ponte Vedra, Florida, during one of many times my family exiled me to the beach to dispel my depressive episodes (I have over 6,000 shark's teeth! Maybe that says a lot about my state of mind at that time! See, I need the beach - it keeps me sane!)

The effect was that of an anchor, but it created a problem - it visually takes your eye down rather than up to the face, and that's not good in jewelry.

Furthermore, the piece hung too low for such a relatively large focal point, so I enlisted the eye of a fellow artist (my younger daughter - I knew all the difficulties of raising children would pay off someday!) and the decision was made that the piece had to hang higher, which meant the two mokume gane beads had to go. 

The shark's tooth "anchor" was exchanged for a heavy, dark glass bead bracketed by two heavy copper endcaps to bring the eye up on the right.

The three white seaworm casings  with swarovski crystals at the tips are very kinetic and also move along the black wire, creating a strong, light focal area as well as eye-catching movement. They also add a feeling of fragility to an otherwise substantial piece.

Detailed images follow:

 

Gamla : The Saga Continues

Back home, house is listed for sale, you could definitely say my trip to the beach was eventful! We're moving - to the ocean. I guess you can only keep a Norwegian away from salt water, seaweed, wind, sand and smoked mackerel for so long before she starts to shrivel and become nasty!!! So, the excellent adventure continues. It probably explains the sea-related sagas that have taken up room and board in my head.

The Troll from the Tre Bukkene Bruse Book Bracelet 

thatch-roofed house

the complete bracelet with the oldest Billy Goat Gruff

The bridge under which the troll lives

the book

More characters have appeared and I'll introduce them as they develop.

Gamla (The Olden One): More feared than the Krakken, more terrifying than Surt, the Fire Giant, Gamla sits in her rocking chair, wizened and shrunken. A mountain of pillows add nothing to her diminutive size and the heavy blankets do little to keep the cold from chilling her bones. No one is sure of just how deep her knowledge of the olden ways goes, or of how far reaching her inner sight. None call her kin, yet none dare to send her away.

Gamla stretched out a gnarled hand, gripping my arm with surprising strength. Her skin like thin parchment stretched over a bony frame with veins dancing beneath the surface like swollen worms pulsing with life. Her years stretched thin: her body a frail 4 stone, her will - iron! Fierce determination gleamed in her eye. She had lost none of her passion. "You must tell the story, Anne-Brit!" she rasped. "It cannot end with me, for then there will be no escaping the fjaerning! " Gamla coughed and wiped some spittle from her lip, "Someone must keep watching" she hissed. "Call The Gatherer." Closing her eyes she seemed to shrink into the blankets, dismissing Anne-Brit with a deep sigh.

Liv tugged urgently at her mother's skirt. Anne-Brit was white as the lace on her blouse. "Mama, what was she talking about?" she asked, fearful as much for the look on her mother's face as for the words she had just heard. "I don't know, child...... I don't know." Her mother's voice was low. "Is she a troll?" Liv's words drew a quick glance from her mother. "Don't be rude, child." she admonished. Liv couldn't stop, "But she looks just like a troll with that one big eye glaring at me like that," she muttered.

to be continued.......

Burlesque Blend - More Color Variations

In preparation for the final workshop this coming weekend, here are a few more color variations. These are less dramatic, but very elegant. When exploring a particular technique, keeping certain design elements similar, really helps you to see the impact of the elements that you are experimenting with. In this case, the shape of the bead and the shape of the "path" are similar and this makes it easier to concentrate on color.

Pretty in Pink

More Burlesque Blend pieces as I prepare to teach these upcoming workshops (yes, I'm anal-retentive, obsessive-compulsive!) The interesting thing about this particular colour combination is how beautiful it looks on all types of skin. Pasty-white or deeply-tanned, this just glows.

The design in this piece works well for me. The asymmetry of the pattern in the focal piece keeps the necklace from becoming boringly symmetrical; the large amount of pink in the two pieces flanking either side of the focal element draw the eye away from the middle and up towards the face; the next two flanking pieces, with the diagonal patterning moving diagonally down and out stop the eye from leaving and pulls it back to the central elements.

The finishing details often get neglected because one gets so focused on the clay technique. In this case, although the pink is very cool, suggesting silver would be a good accompaniment, the metallic sparkle in the 3 central pieces is more muted and casts a bit of a gold tint, which knocks back the colour intensity in the polymer and also allows me to choose spacer crystals that are metallic gold-tone with a hint of pink interference. These crystals are flanked on each side by an oblong, faceted black crystal and this combination really enhances the sparkling feel of this piece.

To finish off the necklace, round black agates are used instead of crystals, keeping the focus in the main polymer area and providing a very comfortable feel on the neck. Notice, though, that it is not just a bland, monotonous strand of beads. These agates are broken up periodically with a pink/gold interference tube seed bead, again adding interest, but not detracting from the main attraction.





I'm working out more colour combinations for variety for the students. It's not logistically feasible to structure a workshop so every student can choose every element, but colour is very personal, and where possible, I like to provide that choice while maintaining limits on size, shape, pattern, etc., as seen here:

The Wind Whisperer

The Wind Whisperer

No more Mr. Nice Guy, or should I say, no more "pretty" stuff. I'm caught up in imagery and story-telling and that's going to be the focus for the foreseeable future. It's like with my paintings - I'm drawn to old (no, not I AM old, I'm DRAWN to old!!!), slightly grungy, stuff with history or herstory or, at the least, a story. The more illusory, the better - more like sagas and runes and eddas - stories with lots of word-of-mouth distortions that may or may not be true, yet spin emotional realities in the unfolding. "Unfolding", "enfolding"... yummy words that keep me awake at night spinning verbal visuals that I find enthralling. So... jumping in with both feet, hairy and grungy, but excited to take the next steps.

The first birth: The Wind Whisperer. She sits quietly on the rocky outcrop, gazing raptly through the fir boughs for glimpses of star-strewn sky, the black velvet of night like a warm caress. Can't let the moment enfold her - there are stirrings by the bridge! The wind teases wisps of hair across her forehead. "I hear her", she whispers, "She's awake!" The soughing rises and branches punctuate the symphony with their brittle talk.
"Hush," the Wind Whisperer cautions, "The time is not right, not yet!"

This piece will walk with you through the moss-coated trees and maybe, just maybe, you'll hear the breath of a soft whisper.

The important thing for me in these pieces is that most of it be of my imagination. Except for the odd glass or stone bead, when that bright bit of glimmer becomes essential, the remaining oddments and fragments and antiquities and relics are made by me from polymer clay, metal, and an assortment of mixed media. The shapes are important, as is their arrangement. I'm still figuring out what's gestating here. I'll say more when more unfolds.

A few close-ups:

 

Selling the Sizzle!

Hiroki, The Dragon Lady, on display

http://www.claymagination.blogspot.ca/2012/03/sculpted-polymer-clay-relics.html

I'm sure some of you feel the way I do after presenting my work - it's the most unpleasant part of the creative process!!! I'm exhausted and unsettled even though things went extremely well and most of the collection was accepted and even applauded (I've included a couple of pictures from their window display). I guess that's why many artists have agents. That having been said, I recognize the need for good marketing strategy and, yes, I want my work to be seen, and it does feel wonderful when someone appreciates a piece to the point where they will pay to own it.

So with that in mind, let's talk a bit about how to "value-add" to the actual work of art.

Selling the Sizzle

My husband was a marketing executive. Early in his career his boss took him out for lunch. The first steakhouse they came to was known for its excellent food and there were several people inside, enjoying lunch. They walked on to a second steakhouse which also had a good reputation. Here the steaks were cooked in a glassed-in area so the chef was visible to both the diners inside and people passing by on the street. The place was packed. His boss asked, "What's the difference? Both have great steaks." He then dropped this gem: "The first place sells great steaks. This one sells great steaks and it also sells the sizzle!"

This powerful lesson has been translated into the marketing of my art, both paintings and jewelry.

The key is The Story - the story behind the birth of the piece..... the story about the artist..... the story about the process itself. People enjoy hearing about these stories, and so often, when purchasing a work of art, the buyer is also buying a bit of the artist. Knowing what led the artist to make that particular piece, knowing a bit of the history of the artist, her/his quirks, foibles, needs, knowing a bit of the process of the creation or of the material from which it's made, this gives the buyer inside information that she/he can share with those who notice their purchase. It's called "selling the sizzle". It makes the piece more than just a visual experience. It enlarges it, giving it history, connections,  reasons for being, even an aura of mystery with hints of even more to know.

How to value-add? One simple but very effective way is to include a little write-up about the piece with the piece. For example, each of the pieces in this collection has a specific, personalized write-up, including the name of the piece as well as a bit of background on the medium itself and on the experience of the artist (me). At the back of the little folder I have cut two slits so I can insert my business card. Not only does this give the potential buyer "the story", but it makes it easier and more interesting for the sales staff to present the piece to their shoppers. Furthermore, it becomes a more interesting item to buy as a gift for someone else.

Mine are all handmade. The inside is printed on my printer for easier reading, but each is personalized to the specific piece of jewelry. This is a choice I've made (over having it professionally produced) because of my feelings about "the mark of the artist", discussed in an earlier post. That's why I also make my own clasps to the extent possible. I want as much of each piece to be handmade by me as can reasonably be done.

So I encourage all of you to consider "selling the sizzle" along with your art.

Now let's talk pricing.  Another unpleasant facet, but necessary and therefore dealt with. I decide how much I need to get out of the piece including material cost and reasonable labor costs. I don't include prototyping because that is very time consuming and the most enjoyable part of the process for me. Coming up with a new creation, whether a new technique for surface veneer or new shapes or new connections is what I love to do and would do over and over and over again. Having made the prototype (and having worn it to make sure I have worked out all the kinks) I then make a second. That gives me a realistic idea of how much time is involved. On that basis I work out a reasonable wholesale price, then double it and look at it from the standpoint of whether I, as a buyer, would consider spending that amount of money to acquire that specific piece. If it is way too high, I look at ways I can change the production of it to make it more reasonable. If it is not possible to do that, I don't make any more of that type of art.

It is important to differentiate between one-of-a-kind and reproducible pieces. I have chosen to position myself as a one-of-a-kind artist and as such I charge more for my work. I'm willing to put myself into a smaller buyer pool, knowing that, in time, my work will prove itself unique, interesting, well-made, and that this reputation is what will fuel future purchases.

Completing the Collections - Earrings

Flamenco Earrings
These have really got me brainstorming! I'll be working up something this week. Just have to get through the presentation to the Boutique! Next

Pegasus Earrings - pierced ears

Urban Urchins - Graffiti earrings

 



Pegasus Earrings - clip-ons

Studio Tip #2 - Baking on Curved Form

When I want to get a slight curve, as in the pieces in the Pegasus Necklace, I bake on a round glass form (an old IKEA lamp shade). So now I'm working on earrings to go with the jewelry lines I'll be presenting. This pair go with the Pegasus necklace and I want to make a version with a clip-on since I have had several requests from ladies who do not have pierced ears. I want to embed the clip-on so it is invisible, rather than just gluing it to the back. Here's what I do:

The surface veneers are made and baked on the top of the glass form.

Two sheets are cut to the shape of the earring veneer: a textured sheet that will become the back, through which I have cut a small slit so the clip-on back can slip through, and a plain sheet that will be sandwiched in the middle, the same thickness as the metal back of the clip-on, with a cutout window that is the shape of the back of the clip-on so that it sits embedded smoothly. Slip the clip-on back through the textured sheet, rotate into proper orientation and set into the cutout on the second sheet. Gently press the two sheets together.

These backs are baked on the INSIDE of the same glass form. The difference in the diameter of the form shape is only 2 times the thickness of the glass, which is negligible, and the veneer and the two-layer back piece fit very well together:

Scratch the surfaces that meet together, on the inside, with a needle tool, apply liquid clay (thin layer), edge with a thin strip of black to give a nice finish, apply your signature, rebake, and you're done, with the clips nicely embedded in the back.

Tomorrow, two finished pairs of earrings to go with their respective necklaces.