Bonnie Bishoff Master Class

'400 Polymer Clay Designs: A Collection of Dynamic & Colorful Contemporary Work' was where I first met Bonnie Bishoff. Taking numerous trips through this goldmine of artwork by Polymer artists of the time her work stood out to me as something so innovative and stunning that I never got tired of looking at the pieces featured in this book. That was 10 years ago, a long, long time in the medium of polymer clay, we've come far since then but Ms. Bishoff still reigns Queen of the polymer veneers she artistically applies to her Husband J.M. Syron's exquisitely crafted furniture and home decor that are museum quality functional works of art.  

 

'Under the Sea' -  3"x4"

   Just this past month I got to meet Bonnie in person at our first Master Class of the new year at my local guild PAPCG. I wasn't sure what to expect as this was my first time taking a class in PC as I am a 'teach yourself' sort of artist but I was very glad I signed up for this. It was a long class (6 hours) but they seemed to fly by and I was so happy to know that Bonnie would be back the next day for our regular monthly meeting where she shared so much more of her wonderful techniques. 

 Bonnie demos translucent techniques

    Watching her create some of the canes she uses in her wonderful works was entertainment itself; like a magic show she turned a block of translucent clay with a bit of color added into clouds, swirls, ocean waves and more! It was fantastic to see how she creates depth in her pieces and not only that but to have her so generously share them with us. 

    

What is also amazing to me is how I spent 13 hours there over two days and only came home with three small pieces completed, which I really didn't like very much. So I set about for the next month to work through the things she taught and give myself time to grasp and improve. I was having difficulty mainly because my clay was sticky which took a lot longer because of this, but I eventually got the hang of it and produced a few decent pieces.   

Here's my three I did during the two days. 

Day One

 The Log Cabin and trying out my translucent canes over a skinner blend of gold and green. I really didn't like these very much but I'm not going to hate myself for my first tries.

   I did this landscape the following day, it was ok, but I knew I didn't have the kind of canes I needed to make this work to my satisfaction.

Day 2

 My re-do of this one I like much better using a skinner blend for the background and different shapes for the trees it elevates it to a higher level. I love trees and never can seem to make them to my satisfaction, but I like this second try.

My second attempt of the Log Cabin went a bit differently as I decided to think outside the box and instead of round or square, I made an elliptical shape log cabin square. Instead of the traditional red 'hearth' center, I went with gold foil. Adding this though made sanding prohibitive so this was the only one I did not smoothly sand and buff but rather tried out my newest favorite product, Renaissance wax.

So those were my re-do's for two of them and I went to make a re-do of the translucent canes over a background with this barrette but forgot to add that layer before putting in the oven. I decided to see how thin I could get it and if the colors would show through. They were dark with not much contrast to begin with. I was working very closely doing this with my glasses and magnifiers on and being that close you don't see the contrast problems as easy, oh well mistakes are learning tools!

And with this one I think a learned a new technique! along with managing to get the translucent canes really thin over a baked surface.

Bonnie Bishoff -  Birch Tree in Winter

When I saw this sample of Bonnie's work in trees I was in love! I love, love, love birch trees, probably because of the stark black and white bark which is very unique among trees and I love black and white! When I saw this an idea immediately came to mind to try something to emulate the birch using an old ivory/bone cane I had at home, and when I got home that's exaclty what I did.

It took three tries to work out some issues, but I think by my 'mistakes' I know what to do now. I have to think up something to make the improved version on but that will come, I'm sure. Meanwhile here are my three tries, Birch Trees in Autumn, not too bad I think for an old ivory cane with a few alterations.

 

I decided to try out another tree theme. Bonnie had a few samples of other trees and this is my version. I made a rather unique skinner blend cane so that I could get two looks of leaves from one cane.

   More lessons learned, my swirly canes are too large for this small application which measure about 4"x6" and my deep blue skinner blend with silver flecks from foil hardly show through but I'll know what to do and not do next time! 

Here is a close-up of one of the swirls, I like how this came out, the depth is really awesome.

And this is my variation on the swirls and cut and switch.

 

My last piece is the one shown at the top of this post, I just had to have my try at the fish, especially since I had made some canes, not knowing we were doing fish, but from brightly colored ones and just had to try them out. Here are some of my canes cut and thinned, ready for shaping into fish and applying. This piece has 5 layers yet is still micro thin.

Slices of cane used for Under the Sea

Fish laid out on top of mica shift brushed skinner blend

Fish inlaid, wave swirls and bubbles

Baked , sanded and buffed!

 So glad I got to meet and study under this wonderful artist and lady! 

 Thanks Bonnie!

 

 

 

  

 

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Fall Edition of Polymer Arts Magazine - Plein Air Polymer

       The Fall edition of Polymer Arts Magazine  published today includes my first contribution to this wonderful magazine dedicated to aspiring and professional PC artists; titled Plein Air Polymer.

       In it you will find the outing at my favorite lake and some texture plates I made while visiting.  I did not however make anything from them for the article but thought I should do something with them so you can see how the impressions from weeds and trees can make striking and interesting textures that can be turned into very intriguing pieces of art, wearable and decorative.

      First one I did was of the bark of a tree I didn't recognize and since the weather wasn't so great that day I had to hurry to make my plates and take photos before the rain came. But it had very striking bark covered with lots of lichens.

      This is what the bark looked like; I took the impression from a different area, one not as densely covered with the lichens.

       There are many, many trees in this world and each one has it's own individual 'skin'. I might just set out in the fall to do a series of texture plates from a variety of trees to play with over the winter months and see what great designs can be made with those. 

    Meanwhile this is what I came up with using the texture plate of this tree. 

      These earrings were done at different intervals using white clay as a base. Successive applications of chalks, paints, inks and waxes helped to bring out the depth of the texture and give them the look of a surreal painting.

   I am gradually changing my philosophy on what constitutes art, my art in particular. I am a perfectionist by personality type and strive to do the best I can at anything I tackle but I've come to realize at this stage in the game that I don't want my art to be work, I want it to be an expression, and extension of who the 'free me' truly is.

     Striving for perfection all the time does not bring about possessive energy and this stress of trying to get something perfect actually strangles the need and ability to create, I know because I've been there, done that, don't want a return visit.

Now what has this got to do with these earrings you ask? Well I am just letting go and not striving for perfection because I don't want my art to look manufactured and I was there to be more human than machine look to it. We are all created perfectly imperfect and we aren't even symmetrical!  in fact people don't look good when they are symetrical (I saw on the net once a photoshop of a mirror image of a person flipped to make the other side of their face, compared to the true image they just looked unreal) and I want to be more 'real', so...

     When trying to decide what to do with this impression I had gotten from the bark plate I decided to free hand cut out the pieces, not using a template, not using a  cutter, just a  thin clay blade. I did make the shapes similar for cohesion, but not the same. One is bigger than the other, one is wider, but then again the impression is different and the colors are different which makes each one unique and interesting, just like people, even twins aren't exactly alike, why should your earrings be?

     So, after cutting these out I baked them, and then had to decide what to do with them next. In keeping with the new philosophy  I laid them onto a sheet of silver clay which I had textured slightly and cut around it. then I molded it to the piece, blending it in as I went. I had the foresight to try something different and made a long narrow tab at the top which I folded over to create a bail.

     Next came the coloring and bringing out the texture without making it look like bark.   I think I succeeded and won't go into details because when I get into that zone I just go with the colors and let my hands play and my mind wander!

     When it came time to make these into earrings I was stymied. I didn't just want to use an ordinary jump ring with all the extraordinary things I'd done so far so I went hunting.

     I'll let you in on a little secret I've come upon, I'm sure others have too but it's new to me. I used to have all my findings in little plastic egg cartons, stacked on top of each other and in a plastic drawer. Every time I wanted to make something I really had to know beforehand what, and when looking for it desperately trying to keep from catching the trays on anything and sending hundreds of findings all over the place!

     Well, I got fed up and I'm glad I did. Sure I could have bought some storage pieces to sort and store them but I still felt it would be hard to see what all I have.

     My solution? A simple little ziplock bag. Most everyone has these either bought or received with a bead order or findings, or you could go to your local dollar store and get 100's for cheap there.

     I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner, as I recall I did something similar in my sewing room years ago. When storing all my notions, templates, etc I would forget what I had, buy it again or never get to try it.  To solve that problem I used the sandwich sized zip close bags, punched a hole in the top under the zipper part and used a pushpin to hang on my wall. Now all my notions were in front of me, catching my eye, whispering me to try them out and I did!

     Well this is similar but because these are mostly tiny items, using the 1"x2" bags suffice. I took some time to carefully gather everything out of dozens of  egg cups and into the bags. I sorted by type, color and metal. I threw these bags into plastic shoe storage boxes, the kind you get for a dollar and have them without their lids, stacked within easy reach on my jewelry assembly table. Now when turning my clay pieces into jewelry I can very quickly got through the box of bags, grab a few out to 'audition' and put them back just as easily, just remember to zip the bag shut before you do! 

So with this new system it allowed me to be adventurous and it also sparked creativity to solve this dilemma.  I'll let you try and figure out what I used, but I must say I really liked this look and plan on using it again.

This post got a lot longer than I planned so I will parse out the other pieces in posts to come, meanwhile if you haven't subscribed to Polymer Arts Magazine you can still do so and get this issue in paper form or the digital version.

Updated! Wool Day and Honey Day!

UPDATE!!!!: Just found out about this through Heifer International, there is a movement called Keep the Fleece, and one of their efforts is to knit the worlds largest scarf to raise money for fighting hunger around the world. If you are a knitter, check it out here. This is a world wide event, so you will be part of something BIG! They hope to raise a quarter million with this project that will all be joined together at the New York Sheep and Wool Festival Oct 17-18, 2009. So go sign up today!



Yesterday I couldn't post and I had not prepared one to post by itself ( blogger has a scheduled posting, did you know that?) . Yesterday, as declared by Heifer International, was 'Wool Day' and today is Honey Day!

Heifer International is a non-profit organization whose goal is to help end world hunger and poverty through self-reliance & sustainability.

Organic Odysseys makes a donation each month for a beehive which you can read about here.

I would just like to draw attention to this worthy charity, and in honor of Wool Day, have made this cool little knitting sheep pin. It will make it's debut into one of my shops shortly!







And for today, which is Honey Day , (video here ) I made this necklace featuring a shiny silver-plated Honeybee, busy about his work on a Globe Amaranth blossom (which looks a lot like clover, another flower they love!). This too will be debuting in my shop soon.





Please take a bit of time to investigate Heifer International and give where and when you can, Pass on the gift!


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Heifer International Charity Pledge 2009 for Organic Odysseys

Bees...................................The one thing about bees that most folks know is to basically stay out of their way! Some are downright terrified of anything that buzzes, and for good reason, some can be deathly allergic to a sting from a bee. But bees are more than little flying stingers, in fact they are very important to everything living, plant, animal and human alike. You may have picked this up if you happened to see Jerry Seinfelds movie last year, The Bee movie. While it was a cute and funny movie, the story line did help to educate many who are not so aware of this.

Something others may not be aware of is that there has been a crisis of late with the bees. Modern technology is believed to be the culprit as it only seems to be happening in high tech countries. Some blame the cellular phones we all can't do without. To learn more about that just google "Bees disappearing" and you will find a wealth of articles on it.

In poor countries where food is not such a convenience, working to grow crops can be daunting and lots of hard work for little pay in vegetables, and grains for bread. This is where having bees in residence and abundance can be a great blessing.

Heifer International realizes this and offers those in need, through donations of caring supporters, bees, equipment and also most importantly, training on how to keep them. Having these bees can greatly increase the yield of their crops, even doubling it in some countries.

That is why Organic Odysseys has pledged Each month of the coming year to sponsor a Hive to those who could use it best through Heifer international. I will be using the proceeds from my shop to fund this. If all I take in is just enough to do so , then so 'bee' it. :) This is a commitment of Organic Odysseys to help others who are trying to help themselves grow good , healthy and abundant crops, somewhere on our planet. We at Organic Odysseys believe in being our brothers keeper and to share in the blessings we receive with those in need.

We ask that you help in this endeavor by visiting our shop and looking at the diversity of organic themed items there, jewelry, functional art, home decor, and even personal apparel and accessories and choose something , knowing that a part of your purchase of art made from produce from an organic farm is going to help others raise food organically so that they too may live a more healthy and productive life!