This time I alternated between 3 projects. The first was finishing the leaf pin. I "grouted" the pin and that process went well. Then I made the side, the bezel of sorts. It was trickier getting it smooth so I used the piece on my pin tool that has a criss-cross. It's the piece that screes up and down to hold the pin or let you change it. I like the effect and it hides imperfections quite well. In between all that I made the Textured Collage (page 120). The book shows a huge bead to apply the textured sheets on but I think the shape is ugly, kinda scary really. Looks like half a bug or snake-like animal. So I made a vessel using foil. It was my first try at this and the hardest part was getting the foil in the exact shape and proportion, the rest was easy. What a save on clay! So for the textures I made six. The first is the indented dots. Using a range of colors in the reds and greens I cut a skinner log, applied it in very small slices on the whole piece of clay (3" x 1 1/4") then using the big ball stylus indented the centers. Up the middle I had larger slices. I pressed a stamp in their centers. For texturing effect, the ball stylus came out better. It pushed the center of the skinner, made it look 3d while the stamp was just a stamp.
Making the vessel is a long process because you bake in between steps but the results are pretty good. The second is lattice. This one is straigthforward, I just layered red on white and slices that up. I almost tried to make a cane out of it because she calls it that but really it is just one color on top of another. Applying the stripes in different directions I got a nice pattern. I went over it slightly with the rod. Applying it to the vessel needed some touch ups but came out fine. After baking, the third is reversed skinner blend stripe. I didn't get that one, I used a skinner and sliced it like she said but the stripes were the same no matter how I placed them. I did manage a pattern of stripes, then textured it with a tool. The last side was cool. She calls it free form layered lace, it looks more like coral. It's fun anyway and it really looks like coral. I sheeted at the thinnest, then go over it with the criss-cross tool then poke little holes in between the criss-cross. It's amazing. the clay that has different color underneath makes an interesting pattern. I can see the possibilities for this. The top was a sheet of white with little balls of clay in different sizes and colors really close together. Again I used the small stylus and poked a pattern of holes in some of the balls. The underneath started out as a good idea. I wanted to make it like the sample pattern beads. Didn't quite work. I put green leaf stripes in the form of a flower with an orange middle. My middle was too much clay. When I sheeted it because the bottom needed to be flat. the orange spread too much and I lost most of the definition. Still a good exercise.
So in between baking I started the collage box (page 127) which turned into a collage table. It's covering a wooden object. I had a table not a box. For the sides of the table I tried the tiger roll cane, didn't work. I did what she said but when I twisted the log it kept breaking on top, I'd fix it and keep twisting. Eventually, I had a striped slab, I wanted one long continuous piece to go around my table so I put it through the pasta machine and ended up with a long striped sheet. I glued it to the wood, tried to smooth it out but some wood was bare and I couldn't have stretched the clay without distorting it, so I'll have to add something to hide the seam later. The second pattern is Voulkos Linoleum. That worked but was difficult to get it right. I reduced and re sized four times before I saw anything resembling a linoleum floor. So then I had a square log of this pattern and she says to apply and make a pattern. Now, I could see myself trying to smooth these slabs for hours so I decided to use the "grout". What I had just learned. So I sliced and glued and made a pattern. Some slices are thicker than others so I use the rod which spreads as it evens them out. Using the exacto I remade my grout corridors. The color I used for the grout brought out the colors in the slabs. Quite nice.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Book Review - Polymer Clay Color Inspirations, Techniques and Jewelry Projects for Creating Sucessful Palettes, by Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio, Part 2
The Rainbow Skinner (page19), I think there is too much yellow for the ratio of the other colors. I have very little purple or red, the orange and green is nice and the strip of yellow dominates. I even took a lot of yellow off the top. The Pinched Petals cane (page62) turned out pretty cool. I'll slice it later once it has cooled. I continued with another color exercise that taught me that red is a very strong color. Using the color scale (page 70) for the red and yellow, the red took 2 shots to get back to the original red while the yellow took 6 or more to go back.
When I tried to slice my Pinched Petals cane (page 62) I ran into some problems. After slicing, I managed to shape them OK but hers were curved from the inside and she asked for slices of 1/16". My cane had air pockets in the center of the green part of the rainbow. By the time I had filled that they were distorted. I cut mine at 1/8" and ended up with petals I could pierce. Don't know how they'll hold up to manipulation. I then tried the Bargello Beads (page 75). She called for mud. Mine was mud from Prince Edward Island because it was very dark red. Ha! Ha! Ah, well, at least it was brownish. The mixing of the mud to the other colors went well and I went to adding white. I'm learning to add and measure better for the color mixing. I made a cane fine, following instructions. The assembly of the bead was a little difficult. I tried to place my slices in a skewed way but didn't understand the pattern enough to get it right. Her photos show a black stripe or space in between her colors. Nowhere in the instructions does she mention adding stripes of black so I don't know where she got that. Was I supposed to just leave space in between the stripes? Don't know.
Trying again with the Rainbow Skinner (page 19). this time I reduced the yellow slightly and increased the last stripe of blue and red on the sides. While sheeting I adjusted the slab, evenly matched the colors and pushed the slab back in to shorten it, that way if still fit in the pasta machine and didn't get distorted. yeah! So I assembled the Stripe Blend (page 86). I didn't do everything she asked for, sticking to one in-between color- sunshine yellow. I thought it would take alot of clay and I didn't get the purpose. After doing it, I got the purpose. her technique of passing the stripes through like a skinner blend (the translucent sheet on top of the stripes makes it possible and blend the colors well) makes them come out really nice, although she calls for 20 times. The first one I did was 20 times and the colors were all blended together. the other i only did 10 times and the blending of the sunshine and the colors was more discernible and pleasing to me, especially that I was going to make the the log cabin pin (page 88). Making that was fun and easy. I haven't backed it up yet because I prefer to do that after baking using Kato's technique of cutting out the pin back out of the clay and then replacing it. Much neater. Anyway, I discovered another side to this stripe/skinner technique. the crosscut for the clay looks a lot like IKAT cane. Cool!
Now, I making the pattern sheets (page 113) I've whitewashed using white and color. I've just applied bulls eye cane on white and at the thinnest setting. The sides of the cane kinda meld together and give a 3-d effect.. Next, I had chosen to make a Mosaic Leaf Pin (page 106). She called for another rainbow skinner and I had leftovers from the previous one, so instead I decided to finish up the one I had left. I made 2, one with color following each other, the other I turned the IKAT side of the cane and had that showing. they turned out nice and tomorrow I'll do the grout part and then the re baking. Then I tried the pattern samples, I did the color-wash samples (page 114) technique. I'd noticed it before not realizing it was a technique. My wash wasn't great, I could have pressed it again to get a better finish. Then I used a bulls eye cane and applied a green skinner cane to a white background. The contrast was pleasing and the cane flattened into each other giving a dimensional effect. Very nice. I also used some kaleidoscope cane (Kato book) and arranged it on the clay. I was going for a square but it did not work. With this sheet, I made the sample Beads Bracelet (page 116), although not like she called for. I don't really like the shape of her beads and I had not made enough pattern to make enough. So I made a couple of beads.
When I tried to slice my Pinched Petals cane (page 62) I ran into some problems. After slicing, I managed to shape them OK but hers were curved from the inside and she asked for slices of 1/16". My cane had air pockets in the center of the green part of the rainbow. By the time I had filled that they were distorted. I cut mine at 1/8" and ended up with petals I could pierce. Don't know how they'll hold up to manipulation. I then tried the Bargello Beads (page 75). She called for mud. Mine was mud from Prince Edward Island because it was very dark red. Ha! Ha! Ah, well, at least it was brownish. The mixing of the mud to the other colors went well and I went to adding white. I'm learning to add and measure better for the color mixing. I made a cane fine, following instructions. The assembly of the bead was a little difficult. I tried to place my slices in a skewed way but didn't understand the pattern enough to get it right. Her photos show a black stripe or space in between her colors. Nowhere in the instructions does she mention adding stripes of black so I don't know where she got that. Was I supposed to just leave space in between the stripes? Don't know.
Trying again with the Rainbow Skinner (page 19). this time I reduced the yellow slightly and increased the last stripe of blue and red on the sides. While sheeting I adjusted the slab, evenly matched the colors and pushed the slab back in to shorten it, that way if still fit in the pasta machine and didn't get distorted. yeah! So I assembled the Stripe Blend (page 86). I didn't do everything she asked for, sticking to one in-between color- sunshine yellow. I thought it would take alot of clay and I didn't get the purpose. After doing it, I got the purpose. her technique of passing the stripes through like a skinner blend (the translucent sheet on top of the stripes makes it possible and blend the colors well) makes them come out really nice, although she calls for 20 times. The first one I did was 20 times and the colors were all blended together. the other i only did 10 times and the blending of the sunshine and the colors was more discernible and pleasing to me, especially that I was going to make the the log cabin pin (page 88). Making that was fun and easy. I haven't backed it up yet because I prefer to do that after baking using Kato's technique of cutting out the pin back out of the clay and then replacing it. Much neater. Anyway, I discovered another side to this stripe/skinner technique. the crosscut for the clay looks a lot like IKAT cane. Cool!
Now, I making the pattern sheets (page 113) I've whitewashed using white and color. I've just applied bulls eye cane on white and at the thinnest setting. The sides of the cane kinda meld together and give a 3-d effect.. Next, I had chosen to make a Mosaic Leaf Pin (page 106). She called for another rainbow skinner and I had leftovers from the previous one, so instead I decided to finish up the one I had left. I made 2, one with color following each other, the other I turned the IKAT side of the cane and had that showing. they turned out nice and tomorrow I'll do the grout part and then the re baking. Then I tried the pattern samples, I did the color-wash samples (page 114) technique. I'd noticed it before not realizing it was a technique. My wash wasn't great, I could have pressed it again to get a better finish. Then I used a bulls eye cane and applied a green skinner cane to a white background. The contrast was pleasing and the cane flattened into each other giving a dimensional effect. Very nice. I also used some kaleidoscope cane (Kato book) and arranged it on the clay. I was going for a square but it did not work. With this sheet, I made the sample Beads Bracelet (page 116), although not like she called for. I don't really like the shape of her beads and I had not made enough pattern to make enough. So I made a couple of beads.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Book Review - Polymer Clay Color Inspirations, Techniques and Jewelry Projects for Creating Sucessful Palettes, by Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio, Part 1
I read and worked from this book in February 2010.
I'm hoping this book teaches me how to look at color in a more precise manner. I wish to use color an another tool, a technique to enhance my creations. Here goes!
After reading the pages on color theory from which I've retained maybe 30%, I did the first exercise Package ColorTesting (page 31) which was to mix white with other colors, stack them and bake. I was surprised how much or how little white can change a color. they say that that is due to the strength of the color. Next it was hue or value, which is how much black or white there is in a color. I made a grid, Value Grid (page 33), from white to black to use as a gauge for the other colors. Then I made the Pivot Tiles (page 34) which are a grid of one color with their secondary values of white, gray and black. You end up with 12 blocks with the true color in the middle. She made her tiles very big, I used a quarter of the clay she called for and still arrived with a grid I can use. The exercise showed me what adding color to another can do. Some are surprising, like add gray to yellow and get kacki green. Since I wanted usable beads, I moved to the next one and made a Pivot Bead Strand (page 36). Once I figured out what she wanted it was easy enough. I still have so much to learn about how this medium will act. The instructions are clear but I re-read them 5-6 times and then proceeded from one step, re-read then the next. The results are quite nice.
In the next chapter, the authors talk about mixing color to approximate colors found in what they call a collage. Essentially, you regroup images of favourite things in similar colors. Then you change the colors and do another collage. You end up with a collage with primarily blues, or reds or yellows. She recommends having these collages in all the colors. the following entry follows this thread of thought.
Then I tried the Color Mixing (page 60). Using a circle cutter to measure the clay. Each is conditioned and sheeted to the thickest setting on the pasta machine. Using the blue collage, I matched up and created the blues. First is a water mist blue. The recipe = 1 part blue, 1/4 p. red, and 1/2 white. It did not capture the soft violet in the water. I figured adding red would get me the violet but then there was too much. It's close but not cigar. Second, is the anemone dark blue (looks like snow at dusk). This one was really long to get. I underestimate the strength of the red to the blue. It still isn't perfect but it's very close. So my final formula is 1 p. blue, 1/8 p. red and 1/4 p. black. In the process I found the original color of the first blue tryout and that is 1 p. blue, 1/3 p. red, 1/20 p. black to which I would add 1/8 or 1/4 p. white. The dark turquoise is 1 p. blue, 1/8 p. yellow and 1/2 p. black. The medium turquoise is 1p. blue, 1/8 p. yellow and 1/8 p. white. I'm getting better at this.
Now to try the yellow collage. The perch dark yellow turned out much harder than it looked because I added black thinking I'd get a darker yellow and I got green. Will I ever learn? Anyway, final results are; 1 p. yellow, 3/8 p. red, 1/4 p. white and 1/8 p. black. Next! The orangey rock formation happened on the first try, either I was lucky or I'm getting better; 1 p. yellow, 1/4 p. red and 1/8 p. white. This one I called African water which is a pale olive green, sort of. The recipe is 1p. yellow, 1/8 p. red, 1/2 p. white and 1/16 p. blue. She also talks about mud color which is made by mixing all the primaries together. Care needs to be taken here because the proportions of the colors are not the same for each because some colors are stronger than others. One rule, the red will always be stronger and therefore needs less to achieve the desired color. Yellow is the least strong color.
I'm hoping this book teaches me how to look at color in a more precise manner. I wish to use color an another tool, a technique to enhance my creations. Here goes!
After reading the pages on color theory from which I've retained maybe 30%, I did the first exercise Package ColorTesting (page 31) which was to mix white with other colors, stack them and bake. I was surprised how much or how little white can change a color. they say that that is due to the strength of the color. Next it was hue or value, which is how much black or white there is in a color. I made a grid, Value Grid (page 33), from white to black to use as a gauge for the other colors. Then I made the Pivot Tiles (page 34) which are a grid of one color with their secondary values of white, gray and black. You end up with 12 blocks with the true color in the middle. She made her tiles very big, I used a quarter of the clay she called for and still arrived with a grid I can use. The exercise showed me what adding color to another can do. Some are surprising, like add gray to yellow and get kacki green. Since I wanted usable beads, I moved to the next one and made a Pivot Bead Strand (page 36). Once I figured out what she wanted it was easy enough. I still have so much to learn about how this medium will act. The instructions are clear but I re-read them 5-6 times and then proceeded from one step, re-read then the next. The results are quite nice.
In the next chapter, the authors talk about mixing color to approximate colors found in what they call a collage. Essentially, you regroup images of favourite things in similar colors. Then you change the colors and do another collage. You end up with a collage with primarily blues, or reds or yellows. She recommends having these collages in all the colors. the following entry follows this thread of thought.
Then I tried the Color Mixing (page 60). Using a circle cutter to measure the clay. Each is conditioned and sheeted to the thickest setting on the pasta machine. Using the blue collage, I matched up and created the blues. First is a water mist blue. The recipe = 1 part blue, 1/4 p. red, and 1/2 white. It did not capture the soft violet in the water. I figured adding red would get me the violet but then there was too much. It's close but not cigar. Second, is the anemone dark blue (looks like snow at dusk). This one was really long to get. I underestimate the strength of the red to the blue. It still isn't perfect but it's very close. So my final formula is 1 p. blue, 1/8 p. red and 1/4 p. black. In the process I found the original color of the first blue tryout and that is 1 p. blue, 1/3 p. red, 1/20 p. black to which I would add 1/8 or 1/4 p. white. The dark turquoise is 1 p. blue, 1/8 p. yellow and 1/2 p. black. The medium turquoise is 1p. blue, 1/8 p. yellow and 1/8 p. white. I'm getting better at this.
Now to try the yellow collage. The perch dark yellow turned out much harder than it looked because I added black thinking I'd get a darker yellow and I got green. Will I ever learn? Anyway, final results are; 1 p. yellow, 3/8 p. red, 1/4 p. white and 1/8 p. black. Next! The orangey rock formation happened on the first try, either I was lucky or I'm getting better; 1 p. yellow, 1/4 p. red and 1/8 p. white. This one I called African water which is a pale olive green, sort of. The recipe is 1p. yellow, 1/8 p. red, 1/2 p. white and 1/16 p. blue. She also talks about mud color which is made by mixing all the primaries together. Care needs to be taken here because the proportions of the colors are not the same for each because some colors are stronger than others. One rule, the red will always be stronger and therefore needs less to achieve the desired color. Yellow is the least strong color.
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