A place to encourage the creativity of artistic minds of all ages. Offering Ideas, Inspiration and Instruction and sharing the work of others who inspire me!
Showing posts with label artistic inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label artistic inspiration. Show all posts
Decided it would be fun to share my personal Art History broken up in parts according to the various media I have got to work with over the course of my life. Part one and two are focused on my number one, main discipline, drawing/illustrating and painting. My hope is to encourage and inspire budding artists of all ages and for those just interested in watching. Who knows, maybe someone will discover they are more creative than they ever realized.
Couldn't resist sharing my newest petri dish technique pieces. Yes, more large heart pendants eventually for my Etsy Shop and some fun coasters. These pieces aren't very deep and yet really cool effects are still possible. So go ahead and try this technique!
Been having great fun creating fantasy style pendants using polymer clay, gemstones and nail art powders that have colour shifting abilities. They are called chameleon and the Pear Ex mica powders that can shift from one colour to the other are called DUO.
Since I have completed about four pendants, it seemed best to share each pendant in separate videos to avoid one long boring one! Because creating is my main focus I don't get to turn each piece into a tutorial, but I do try to take process photos so I can share my work as it happens and afterward. Then I can offer some hopefully useful information, that might inspire you to create an artistic piece of jewellery.
A Side Note:A watcher recently commented on one of my non-tutorial videos about how it would be more interesting to watch, if I showed the making "it" process. So I am writing the following to address their comment. Of course I also have tutorials as they happen too and Kudos to those great artists who faithfully create tutorials, I know how much time, planning and work it takes to put them together. As much as I love teaching the art making process, and wish it was easier to film/edit and upload tutorials. Because I have physical restrictions, my husband has to be home to help me set up and move around my camera. So I definitely do the tutorials when I can. Since taking photos is fairly easy for me, I can compile them to make videos like the one below. It may not be a detailed "how to make it," tutorial, but I do hope it stimulates those creative juices! WATCH here right below:
Materials:
I used...
💓It is easier to work on a ceramic tile that you can slip into the oven once you are done.
💓 Keep your tools and surfaces clean with rubbing alcohol and baby wipes
💓 A dark mix of Premo polymer clay
💓 chameleon nail art powders
💓 A largish gemstone cabochon (a Labradorite stone -about 30mm x 20mm).
💓 flatback crystals
💓 Liquid Polymer Clay or Bake and Bond
💓 Shaping and sculpting tools
💓 Dedicated baking pan, ceramic tile, aluminium foil to cover clay while baking.
The Process
My clay pieces are one of a kind so I can't tell you exactly how to copy anything. Instead, I am here to encourage you to create your own original work. Looking at the pictures for ideas, create your piece. Many artists pre-plan their work, sketching and drawing it out. If you follow my youtube channel and/or this blog, you know that is not how I create. When it comes to art making, there is no right or wrong way. Planning happens if I need to, but usually I just go with the urges to create. Whimsicalness is key.
What makes this a "fantasy" design? It is up to you, but I think using lots of decorative swirls and flowing forms help achieve that feel. As well, using shimmery sparkly bits and pieces makes me think fantasy. Fantasy is something imaginative, not real - think Lothlorien, the Elvish home from the Hobbit/Lord of The Rings. No, I am not an expert in labelling design styles, this is my opinion only 😃
The work of others inspire me. Materials inspire me. God's creation, always inspiring. I just gather what I need and begin building my piece. What is important is making it visually interesting using, line, shape, texture, colour and other elements of design.
The main step is set your cabochon in with a clay bezel and the rest is up to you. Keep reading to learn about bezels and cabochons, these are two key words used in my pendant design.
Cabochon/Bezel Talk
You need to set your stone with a clay bezel....
Until today, I though cabochons were beads without a hole. Turns out I had it wrong, cabochons are polished, shaped stones that aren't faceted. Working with polymer clay and gemstone cabs means that we can make jewellery pieces without being a metal smith, because you can form your own bezel to hold the stone.
What is a bezel? If you are reading this or watching it on a screen then you see a large bezel every day. The bezel is the part that goes around the stone (or computer/tv screen) edges to hold it in tightly. If you have a ring, you can probably see prongs holding on to the stone. We can set the stone with a clay prong type bezel, you just need to make sure it is well secured. I prefer pushing the stone into the clay and either letting the clay gently slip around the edges of the cabochon and letting it "hug" the stone enough to be secure. As long as it grabs just the edge well it will be secure.
You just need to barely capture the cabochon's edge with clay and it will be secure. Depending on the look you want, you can just lay it flat on the clay surface and then place a thin or wide strip of clay around the cabochon. Whichever way you choose, be sure to smooth and shape your bezel accordingly.
Decorate It!
Once the stone is secured, I decorate/design it, building around the stone's bezel, creating a one of a kind pendant! Of course you can use the same method to set a gemstone for other pieces, like a journal cover or a brooch pin.
The fun escalates as the clay is shaped and placed down as I think it looks best. If you don't like what you did, remove it and re-do it. The beauty of polymer clay
Choose A Cabochon to Use...I used Labradorite
See the blue flash in the labradorite!
The stone I used for this pendant is one of my faves, Labradorite. God's amazing creations come in so many forms, these rocks included. What makes these one of my favourites is that they are fairly affordable (I buy mine on Ebay, from India mostly - under free shipping), that helps. But they also have an incredible feature that enables them to reflect amazing colours. The iridescence or what is often called "flash," or "labradoressence," is gorgeous. They have a variety of colour possibilities, with really beautiful lines and depth. I suggest you read more about them by clicking here.
Make Your Own Faux Stone
If you want to make your own version, there are great polymer clay faux stone tutorials online. Here is a favourite, Ludmila Bakulina's tutorial here.
Once my piece was done, I made sure I had a place to suspend my pendant (do that in the beginning.) Then I used liqiud clay to secure crystals and brushed the coloured powders. I always bake my pieces for an hour or more. (if your oven if the correct temperature, you can never burn the clay.) Bake the piece on a ceramic tile, with foil or baking pan covering it. I completed the back after with liquid clay and textured raw clay- baking it again. Final step, I used UV Resin. HeArtfully Creating,
Handmade fantasy art ring using polymer clay and chalcedony gemstone.By Anita Berglund
Happy summer guys! Have you been creating in some form or other? Hope so.
It has been a fun artistic summer so far for me. Between creating one of a kind figurines,(see here) I have been experimenting with polymer clay and gemstone pendants (coming soon) and yesterday, a new gemstone ring idea.
This ring was totally whimsical, no pre-planning at all. Never been good at pre-planning. Because I love taking photos of what I make, I have a video below that features all angles of this pretty fantasy ring. I call it a fantasy ring or even cosplay because it has that look to it, some swirls and sparkle and a large glowing gemstone in the center! The ring itself, was formed around a metal cannoli cylinder. You can use any cylinder in the size you want, just wrap it in wax paper first and tape or it will be tricky to remove. For the base, I used white Premo and translucent clay and an aqua chalcedony onion briolette gemstone with facets (about 12mm across).
To be sure it was secure, I pushed the pointy part into the clay and surrounded it with a clay bezel and some embellishments. Unfortunately, I ended up losing half the stone in the clay. Chalcedony is an amazing stone that glows when light is near. You don't need a stone to make a ring, or you can make a faux stone out of clay or even a resin gemstone (that must be oven safe.) Then before curing in the oven for 1.25 hours at 275F, I coated the clay with a beautiful shimmering, metallic chrome nail art powder. I assume the born pretty nail art powders are mica, but am not a hundred percent sure. Hope you are inspired even a little to try creating a polymer clay ring.
See More Photos - Watch Video Below!
HeArtfully Creating, Anita Be sure to share your creations with us at our Heartfully Creating's Facebook Group
I know I recently posted my many photos of some recent handmade tube beads with one really large holed focal beads (click here to see). But, I decided I would take the bazillion pics and make them into a video. I hope it encourages you to create or at least be entertained for a few minutes!
HeArtfully Creating,
Anita
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Here is a video below that I made to hopefully inspire some polymer clay jewellery pendants. Here are a variety of methods and techniques. Hope you are even wee bit surprised!
Watch Below!
HeArtfully Creating,
Anita
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This polymer clay artist will make your jaw drop! Meet Stephanie Kilgast, she lives across the ocean from us in Canada! She is best known for her miniature food replica work. Here is an interview link of her on the Food Network! There may be a lot of miniature clay artists out here in web world, but Stephanie of PetitPlat, stands out to me. Not only does she branch to into other areas (as you cans in her videos below), I enjoy hearing what she has to say while she creates her videos. Her colours are vibrant, she strives for realism, and at times she exercises whimsical creativity! Check out her funky Elephant Hybrid! Enjoy her work and her artistic wisdom!
Whenever I see a great glass jar, I tell Craig to save it for me! So far, I have way too many bottles and jars but hey, it is best to have too many- because you never know when you want to make a gift or just feel like decorating a vessel. This project was created using a salsa jar. The shape of the jar was perfect for a vase. The bummer part is, my husband didn't like the salsa, so we won't be getting any more of these jars! :o(
Below is the video showing detailed photos of the vase making process. Or should I say, the jar transformation process. Colour Note: The colour purple is definitely a difficult colour to represent accurately in Digital photography. So as you will see, it looks like I am showing you to very different coloured vases. The true colour is not the blue purple as you see to the left, it is actually a reddish purple. Either way, the end result was pretty cool and I think my mom liked it.
Click here or below to see a great video with one of my favourite YouTube polymer clay artists, the unruly housewife - here she shows how to Cover a jar using clay that has been textured and coloured with Mica powders.
Materials needed to make a vase:
💗 polymer clay (I used Premo) Now, you can create canes or mokume-gane blocks to slice and add onto the surface like I did. Or just create a blend or mixture of whatever colours you want.
💗A Glass Jar or a tin can if you want
💗A cutting blade
💗Baking pan and aluminum foil to tent over while baking.
💗Ceramic tile to work on and bake on.
💗Mica powders
Yay! Happy winter. We are having another snow storm! I have been able to create a HeArtfully Creating Facebook page. Here, I can share everything artistic. But better still, anyone who wants to share photos of their art, can - just put them on the HC F/B page. Of course, the rules are that it can not be a place for people to promote businesses - just art by you!
Just wanted to show you the video I just made to share some more about just how inspiring flowers Georgia O'Keefe knew that, take a look at some of her beautiful paintings. It was because of her, that I even thought of painting close-ups of these most colourful blooms. Check out this Kid's activity page on Pinterest about Georgia's work.
Leon checking out my unfinished painting.
have been in my artistic life. You'll see a few of the hundreds of photos of those flowers I took. Oh, I forgot to say, that some of the flowers, I even planted from seeds just so I could be inspired when they grew up! If you want to know how to be inspired try looking at flowers in a really close way. God didn't want us to just pass them by.
I love flowers and I love creating. It only made sense to learn how to make my favourite flower out of
From our garden
fabric, then they wouldn't die like all flowers have to do. Below are a couple of photos of the gorgeous blooms we are blessed with year after year that inspired me to create. You can see why I would want to try to have these flowers in our home all year round. As you will see, creating two dimensional poppies is one of my favourite things to do. Including recently, as I have been learning how to use polymer clay. To the right, after watching many YouTube tutorials, I figured out how to make a "Poppy" cane out of polymer clay. (I will be writing more about polymer cane making in the future.) For now, I just wanted to share these photos so you can see what we can create when we are inspired by God's creation.
Our garden
Inspired to Create
Most of us are inspired to create because of others who create. God being Thee number one Creator, His creation is perfect. We are created in His image, so it makes sense to me that we love creating. His creation has inspired me my entire life. It is important to use your eyes, and other senses to seek out things that stir your creativity.
My polymer poppy can- pencil holder can
Capture Inspiration
I suggest that if you see anything that stirs your heart to create, take pictures of it so you have them to refer to when you are ready to create. Ideally, if you can draw or paint outside, in real life, instead of using a photograph, then go for it. Whether you choose to draw it, paint it, sculpt, use textiles like fabric, thread, yarn, knitting, stitchery, cut it out in paper... in polymer clay like I have done already or whatever method you want, create away. The methods we can use to make art or create, is endless. I receive my inspiration from looking at what other artists do as well as whatever God makes.
Photography itself is not only a great way to record images you can create from, but it is also a way to express yourself creatively. Photos themselves are works of art.
My Poppies...Painted
Since this is about Poppies, as you will see Poppies are one of my most favourite sources of inspiration.
The poppy flowers we grew from seeds to plants that return yearly in our garden, inspire me to take tonnes of photos and the photos inspire me to paint and draw and now make using polymer clay and in fabric.
Over the last twenty to thirty years as an artist, I use to only paint and draw poppies in two dimensions. Two dimensions means the art work has height and width. I wanted to share some of those paintings with you so you can see just how one flower inspires to create. And then I will show you how the poppy also has inspired me to creating it in three dimensional form. Three dimensions are what we are, we have height, width and depth. Ever been to a 3D movie?
A poppy I painted using Acrylic paint. By Anita Berglund Copyright
A poppy I painted using Acrylic paint. By Anita Berglund Copyright
This Poppy - I tried to be more abstract with
I do love blue, this is called an Himalayan Poppy - by Anita Berglund
Four canvasses make up this poppy painting I did over fifteen years ago
My Poppies in Three Dimension I love oriental poppies and wanted to try to learn how to make my own in fabric. When I first started out, I made a couple as hair ornaments using fabric.
This poppy was made using satin and beads sewn in place.
Organza poppy made by Anita Berglund
Ideas of what you could made with a handmade flower...that's me, Anita
Ready for Lift Size Poppies
After some research I was blessed with the idea to make life size poppies to decorate our home. Take a look...if I can make these, you can too.
They were made using taffeta fabric, a lot of tea lights and matches to melt the edges of the petals. The centre part of the poppy, was constructed using a cotton ball stuffing that has been packed into a stitched circle of fabric including a layer of organza for sparkle and a stretchy black jersey, then tightened and stitched to form, a flat orb, think tangerine or persimmons. To make the pie slice like sections, I jammed a thick darning needle down the centre of the orb with a thin black cord and came back out and back in around and around until the centre was looking similar to a real poppy centre. The black fuzzy stamens in a real oriental poppy are velvet and fluffy. Mine were made with a lot of hot glue gun blisters as I glued pieces of whatever thinnish black string or cording I could find all around the underside of the "orb" centre.
A LOT of hot glue was used...Oh right, the petals were secured with the hot glue and a long 18 gauge floral stem was connected to the center part. Once it was all where I wanted it to be, I needed to buy and cut thin wooden dowels for stability. To make the stems look more stem like, I wrapped them in green floral tape.
Bouquet number one sits in our living area. Red is such a nice pop of colour.
Can you see the divided section in the centre.
Here is one out of two bouquet's that I made. So rewarding and beautiful.
SO MUCH FUN!
This project was so much fun. Even when something is time consuming, if you love it, you'll do it.
The size of the flowers across, are about ten inches. I have noticed that keeping the petals from drooping is tricky. Anyone have any ideas? let me know. :o)
