Premo – Ornamento

Polymer Clay Color Inspirations: The Final Word

By: ornamento.blog August 26, 2010August 29, 2010

Art, Lindly Haunani, Maggie Maggio, Polymer Clay, Polymer Clay Color Inspirations, Premo, problem solvingArt, crafts, creativity, inspiration, Polymer Clay, Tutorial2 Comments

Did you have a Grandmother who could grab a handful of this, add a half glass of that, a pinch of something else, throw in a few more things and come up with something so good that you remember it ten years after her death? How did she do it?

Think of the first time you cooked something. You probably had a general idea of what it was supposed to look like and how it was supposed to smell and taste. If you came close and no one got sick, you had a success. Then, as you became more proficient, you began to know what a dish was supposed to look like at each stage (is the batter supposed to be lumpy? Are the grains supposed to clump?). You began to learn what seasonings worked with one another. You started to know when something was done cooking or baking by the way it looked or the way it smelled or felt. Some of us got to the point where we could throw away our cook books and measuring cups and rely totally on instinct and experience. (Ok, Ok, some of us never learned to cook at all, or gave up cooking after many years. There’s a case to be made for that, too.)

When most of us start to learn a craft or an art form, we are not skilled enough to control the results. We become more proficient by doing. That’s the idea behind Polymer Clay Color Inspirations.

If you were taught to think of color theory as an arcane set of rules rather than as a way to express yourself, working through the exercises in Polymer Clay Color Inspirations will change the way you think. It’s not just another color reference book; the ten chapters of carefully planned exercises will teach you about color if you take the time to do them. As you progress through the book, you should start to internalize the information, with each chapter’s lesson building on the previous one. The goal is to teach you to make sound color choices with confidence, and to rely on your instincts rather than a rigid set of rules.

This was my experience. I won’t say that I am a color expert-far from it. But I think I am way beyond where I was when I started. The most important lessons I took away? Every color has a bias. A light color might be more saturated than a darker one. A color combo you hate might look very appealing in a different setting. If you’re not sure how colors will mix, combine a tiny proportion and see how you like the result.

I put up a permanent page with links to all the posts I generated in the course of working through the book. Even though I am technically finished with the book, I plan to keep it handy as a reference along with my color scales and other color tools I made.

Texture Sampler Pendant

Here is the latest in my foray into Polymer Clay Color Inspirations. We are on the second half on Chapter Nine, “Exploring Texture and Pattern in Your Colors.”
Texture has an influence on color because it affects the way light interacts with surfaces. And even the light from different times of day can can affect color (as anyone who’s been disappointed with a paint color that looked great in the store knows.) The goal of making the Texture Sampler Pendant was to get a hands on view of how texture and pattern affect color. In this exercise, you are directed to make a tapered pyramid shape and cover each side with a different texture. I had plenty of left over bits from my color scale mixing, so I had lots of colors to choose from. I had fun making lots of different texture samples, but I could only use four on the pendant.

Since my collage some texture in it, most notably the bumps on the flower pot and the sea horses, I applied little balls of clay in different collage colors to one side of the pendant. I tried to pick up the oranges and the greens on the second side with the “Dimensional Oval Cutout” technique from the book. I attempted to mimic the leaves in the collage with overlapping cane slices on the third side, and I used slices of another cane topped with indented dots on the fourth side.

I decided not to use the option antiquing the textures with paint. I deviated from the exercises with the “hat” of disk beads at the tip and I used slices from a striped cane to separate the segments rather then twisting two colors together.
With the exception of faux techniques, I have rarely used textures in my polymer clay work before. I think that’s about to change. Here are some pictures.

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Mosaic Leaf Brooch Exercise

We’re still on Chapter Eight of Polymer Clay Color Explorations. looking at contrast and proportion. The Mosaic Leaf Brooch Exercise is something I would have never tried on my own and the results I got surprised me. I didn’t like what I thought I would like and background colors that looked blah to me perked up when I incorporated them into the brooch.

I started out making a Skinner Blend with my palette colors, cut out strips, laid them down on a sheet of mud and indented the strips to mimic tiles. After baking, I grouted or back filled the pieces with randomly chosen colors of clay and added clay bezels.

For the “grout”, I chose ecru, “sunlight” left over from the Log Cabin Pin project, black, and light blue. For the “bezel” colors, I chose orange, red, light green, and a darker turquoise green.

Look at the effect the background color has on the “tiles.”

The brooches on the left (see below) have essentially the same color tiles as the brooches on the right. But they look different simply because the background colors are different. There’s lots of information in chapter eight explaining this phenomenon and giving examples and illustrations.

The second brooch from the left reminds me of Halloween candy. What was I thinking? I’m not sure I like it but when I chose the colors, I was sure I’d love it! The brooch on the far left reminds me of a fall harvest and I think it’s much more interesting. The brooch on the far right makes me think of a summer ear of corn (which I can’t have right now because I just had dental surgery and my mouth is packed with dressing and stitches!) It’s amazing how altering the background and bezel color can change feel of the piece. Not only has this exercise showed me how colors affect those around them; it has also given me examples of how one can use color to communicate.

On another note-

I mistakenly went from Chapter Seven to Chapter Nine, a few weeks ago. My next post on my journey through Polymer Clay Color Explorations will be on the second half of Chapter Nine which explores the effect that texture has on color. I really enjoyed that exercise, so stay tuned.

Pattern Samples and Bracelet

I’m up to to Chapter Nine in Polymer Clay Color Explorations, “Exploring Pattern and Texture in Your Colors.” The first exercise entails making 3 x 3 inch polymer clay pattern swatches based on your collage and using them as veneers in a bracelet.

I made lots of color washed sheets and ended up not using most of them. I did use the one you see above which is also embellished with simple canes like the ones you see below.

There aren’t many patterns in my collage except for the hobnail style pottery and the pattern on the seahorses. I didn’t have much to imitate, so I spent a lot of time auditioning checkerboard patterns, cut out shapes and randomly applied pattens. I stuck with the random patterns and shapes. When I tried to get too precise, my work ended up looking sloppy.

Simple canes on solid backgrounds

Since I used random patterns, my bracelet is different on each side. I would not normally make this style bracelet, but I found it an excellent design to use for learning how to combine different patterns and color combinations into a cohesive piece using my color collage as a starting point. It was fun to make the swatches and try different combinations.

Trying Color Scale Triangles

By: ornamento.blog April 6, 2010April 7, 2010

Art, Color, Lindly Haunani, Maggie Maggio, Polymer Clay, Polymer Clay Color Inspirations, Polymer clay new techniques, Premo, problem solvingArt, crafts, creativity, inspiration, Polymer Clay, Tutorial3 Comments

Here are pictures of some more of my latest forays into Polymer Clay Color Explorations.

The advantage of making color scale triangles is that you get to see a bigger sampling of the colors you can mix with your primaries — the eggplants and the browns, for example. I know I don’t usually mix these colors except by accident. After I finished a couple of triangles, I was struck by how appealing some of these colors can be and how in the color mixing I had been doing, I had been limiting myself to “safe” predictable colors (like white and a touch a green makes mint). The color scale triangles let me see the nuances that emerged with each color combination.

This exercise is more than academic. Since it requires you to document your color mixtures, you come away with a concrete idea of how you got every color in the triangle. The practical application is that when you want to mix a particular color- say something you saw in a magazine, and the exact color is not in your triangle, you have a good idea of what colors you need to start with, and what to add to the mixture, to get the shade you want. Amazing!

These two triangles are similar, but the one on the left uses slightly different blue and magenta primaries than the one on the right.

This is a “color wheel” that I mixed with my primaries going from my yellow to my blue, my blue to my magenta, and my magenta to my yellow. The colors in the middle of all of the scales are made of 1/2 of the base color and 1/2 white.

My primaries are: Yellow-1/2 zinc and 1/2 cadmium with a pea of white, Magenta-3/4 fuchsia and 1/4 medium red with a pinch of white and Blue: 7/8 ultramarine and 1/8 cobalt with a pinch of white.

Watch Maggie Maggio’s excellent video on mixing color scale triangles for a thorough explanation of the exercise.

Color Scales Are Addicting and Surprising

By: ornamento.blog March 4, 2010March 17, 2010

Art, Color, inspiration, Lindly Haunani, Maggie Maggio, Personal Growth, Personal History, Polymer Clay, Premo, problem solvingArt, crafts, creativity, inspiration, Philadelphia Polymer Clay Guild, Tutorial4 Comments

When I tackled the color scales exercises in Polymer Clay Color Inspirations, I learned that they are addicting to make and yield surprising results. I mixed three color scales for each warm and cool packaged Premo color using the yellows (cadmium, zinc and fluorescent) as my light colors. The cool colors were ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, turquoise, sea green, green, and fluorescent green. The warm colors were alizarin crimson, medium red, cadmium red, florescent red, fluorescent pink, fuchsia, purple, violet, and orange. I also mixed a black and white color scale (or value scale), for the heck of it.

And boy, I got some surprises! I used to love cadmium yellow and ultramarine blue, but after mixing the color scales, I found that mixtures made with zinc yellow and cobalt blue produced colors that were more attractive to me. I had hardly ever touched fluorescents before, but I learned that they can produce vibrant colors that don’t look gaudy.

I also discovered, much to my delight, that purple, violet, and fuchsia mixed with the yellows produce some yummy shades of caramel and chocolate.

After completing thes exercise I ended up changing the mixtures in my personal palette. Before, my blue was 1 oz ultramarine blue with a pea of fuchsia and white; my yellow was 1 oz cadmium yellow with a pea of fuchsia and white; and my magenta was 1 oz fuchsia with a pea of white.

This is my improved personal palette: blue: 7/8 oz cobalt, 1/8 oz ultramarine, and a pea of white; yellow: ½ oz cadmium yellow and ½ oz zinc yellow and a pea of white; magenta: ¾ oz fuchsia, ¼ oz medium red and a pea of white. I’ll use this to complete my first color scale triangle. Stay tuned.

I am beginning to get an idea of the colors can do.

My Palette, Color Scales and an Exercise

By: ornamento.blog February 18, 2010February 19, 2010

Art, Lindly Haunani, Maggie Maggio, Personal Growth, Polymer Clay, Polymer Clay Color Inspirations, Premo, problem solving, risk takingArt, Color, crafts, creativity, inspiration, jewelry, Polymer Clay1 Comment

As I continue to work my way through Polymer Clay Color Inspirations, I am finding new color formulas and combinations that are more interesting than the color palettes I was most comfortable with when I started.

I am currently making color scales (with side diversions into mold making and resin jewelry-I’ll post on that later) and finding that color mixtures I thought would be attractive don’t interest me at all and formulas that I never dreamed would have worked are wowing me. It’s one surprise after the other. I am starting to see the bigger color picture.

After doing the collages, I mixed my personal palette based on combinations of fuchsia, cadmium yellow and ultramarine blue. The pictures below show the resulting color scales, the collage they’re based on, and the pinch petal necklace exercise. (You make a multi part Skinner Blend from your palette colors, wrap it around a black and white Skinner Blend, and make petal beads in gradating colors that you have to keep in order while baking and stringing them.) I like my necklace, which I’ve strung on memory wire, but I think my personal palette is no longer my favorite palette. Am I palette fickle? After I finish the color scales, I’ll reassess. And so the journey continues.

My Pivot Beads

Here are my pivot beads from the exercise in Polymer Clay Color Inspirations. The top pictures show the pivot color variations mixed according to the directions in the book. You apply thin sheets of the colors over thin sheets of the stripes. One of the purposes of the exercise is to show what effect stripes of black, white and gray have on the layers of color applied over them. Even though I took a Watercolor Technique class with Maggie Maggio some time ago, what I learned there is starting to make more sense. On to color collages!

To see some of my interpretations of the Watercolor Technique, press here, here, or here.

This just in! I was thrilled to see that Seth Savarick has an article in the latest issue of Art Jewelry Magazine on how to make his distinctive, lightweight bangle. I have taken two classes with Seth and he has taught me so much about craftsmanship-an area where I can aways improve. He also inspired me to learn how to burn my own screens for printing on polymer clay. I wrote two articles explaining the process that appear in the Fall 2007 and Winter 2007-2008 issues of Polymer Cafe. You can order the back issues to find out how to do it with a Speedball kit and some inexpensive equipment. And if you have the chance to take a class with Seth, don’t pass it up!

I’m Inspired!

By: ornamento.blog November 6, 2009November 16, 2009

Art, caning, inspiration, Lindly Haunani, Maggie Maggio, Polymer Clay, Premo, problem solvingArt, Color, creativity, inspiration, Polymer Clay, Tutorial5 Comments

I have started to work through Polymer Clay Color Inspirations: Techniques and Jewelry Projects for Creating Successful Palettes, and am quickly becoming obsessed with what this wonderful book by Maggie Maggio and Lindly Haunani has to offer.

I decided to limit myself to Premo in order to limit my choices and because that’s the clay I usually use. I completed the package color testing exercise and made a value sorter.

This was getting interesting. Terms like tint, shade and value started to make more sense. I read about pivot tiles and made six of them.

I was so fascinated by the color shifts that I made six more pivot tiles with different colors.

Then I made clay plugs from the leftover colors this time, extruded them and made canes. Since each cane started from the same pivot color, they all work on some level. Now I am hooked. To pivot beads and beyond!!!