YouTube – Ornamento

Some Art History Worth Watching on YouTube

By: ornamento.blog October 6, 2022October 5, 2022

Art, illustration, YouTube, YouTube VideosArt History Videos, MC Escher, Pete Beard, YouTubeLeave a Comment

I admit that I am brain dead right now and that I am not up to a detailed blog post. I am in the process of going through and organizing for sale or donation possessions that I have stored in my house for years, including camera equipment, musical instruments, depression glass, artwork and other items that I have squirreled away in my 916 square foot abode. The process has taken me on a trip down memory lane, which is sometimes difficult to navigate.

One of the ways I’ve taken to relaxing lately is to pour myself a glass of wine after my husband goes to bed, and sit with Boris and watch YouTube. There’s a lot of junk on YouTube but there’s so much valuable and entertaining information, I can hardly believe it’s free. I have some recommendations.

The first is a documentary on M.C. Escher from 2013. One of the big revelations for me in watching this documentary is that Escher was greatly influenced by Islamic art and visited the Alhambra where he did a lot of drawing. It makes perfect sense when you think about it. Read more about Escher’s experience at the Alhambra, here. And then watch the wonderful documentary.

But wait! Just like the Ginsu knives, there’s more! I’ve always loved to draw and I’ve struggled with drawing in one form or another for years. Just ask Boris. So I have a great deal of admiration for illustrators. Pete Beard, who is an illustrator from the U.K., turns out to be quite a filmmaker too. He’s put together a video series called “The Unsung Heroes of Illustration.” Each video is about 12 minutes long give or take, meticulously researched, engagingly narrated, and lavishly illustrated. I believe there are about 84 short films.

On the YouTube site, Beard says, “I had always thought that many illustrators from the past got nothing like the attention they deserved so I decided to make some videos about a few of these almost forgotten talents. The unsung heroes series was originally intended to be about illustrators from what’s known as the golden age of illustration. But I soon realised that meant ignoring many early 20th century illustrators who strictly speaking didn’t fit that description. So I compromised and ended up with parameters of those born between 1850 and 1910.”

Beard has a number of other worthwhile videos on his channel that you can watch after you’ve finished with the The Unsung Heroes of Illustration.

Polymer Clay Videos on YouTube

By: ornamento.blog April 21, 2022April 20, 2022

Art, Polymer Clay tutorials, Polymer clay video, YouTube, YouTube Videosalgorithm, Art, Donna Kato polymer clay, Polymer Clay Tutorial, YouTube polymer clay tutorialLeave a Comment

I have gotten back into polymer clay after a couple of years on hiatus. I’m always looking for new polymer clay ideas and YouTube is loaded with polymer clay tutorials. So every night, after my husband has gone to bed, I pour myself a glass of wine and Boris and I plop in front of the TV and troll YouTube for new videos.

The problem with YouTube is the algorithms it uses can actually limit the videos is recommends to you because of the way the algorithms work. I am not going to pretend that I know how to beat the algorithms. What I have found, however, is that if you subscribe to any channel with videos that interest you, you will get a wider variety of new recommended videos in your feed. Subscribe to the channels for those videos and you will get an ven wider array of recommendations. And on and on.

I have finally started to get new (to me) polymer videos from Europe and Asia which, while not always in English are easy to follow, and sometimes subtitled. Lots of interesting stuff. Here’s some stuff I’ve found.

Donna Kato has a new channel and is adding new videos to it steadily. Much of the material is basic but she presents it in the inimitable Kato way and you always learn something new. The video below is part of a series on how to make hollow carved beads.

Sona Grigoryan from Spain

Ludmila Bakulina, Ukraine by way of Thailand

From Sandartes, hollow translucent beads. I always wanted to know how to color translucent clay without making it opaque. Now I know.

Watch a few videos and get your creative juices flowing.

New Years in Philadelphia Means Mummers

By: ornamento.blog December 27, 2012January 9, 2013

Art, Holidays, Mummers, New Years Day, Philadelphia, YouTube, YouTube VideosArt, Philadelphia Holiday Traditions, Philadelpia Mummers, South Philly Vikings2 Comments

Here is a video I took at last years’ winning champion in the Fancy Brigades, the South Philly Vikings performing Ka “Light” Oscope: Harness the Power of the Spectrum

Want to learn more about the Mummers and see some cool archival footage? Press here and here.

A New Beading Angle

By: ornamento.blog August 30, 2012August 30, 2012

Art, beading, beads, YouTube, YouTube VideosArt, beaded beads, Cubic Right angle weave, inspirationLeave a Comment

Well, it’s not really new. I have always had a fascination with beaded beads. I could not rest until I learned how to make the Puffy Heart which is really a beaded bead made from the two strand version of right angle weave known as cross weaving or the Hachinoji–ami or Kousa-ami stitch that one often sees in Japanese three dimensional bead work. For a simple project pattern, press here.

Arguably the dodecahedron shapes above and below are not really right angle weave because the beads don’t all sit at right angles to one another.

These beads are cubic right angle weave which is a wonderful stitch. It works up quickly and you can turn out shapes as if by magic. I was tearing my hair out trying to learn this stitch until I realized that it started with a beaded cube and the rest of the stitch was just a continuation of the cube. So I was able to figure it out on my own. But my mind works in funny ways. I am still stymied by the fax machine in the office where I work.

Anyway, I looked at a few on-line videos because I wanted to teach the stitch to Beading Yoda, (who is the Empress and number one Ambassador of flat right angle weave).

Most of the videos took a straight forward technique and complicated it to the point where it resembled Chinese Algebra rather than beading. And that’s not a good thing.

But then I came on this video by Heather Collin. It’s lucid, understandable, and you can see what she’s doing. Take a look.

I’m winding up with a picture of some more beaded beads including new Klimt inspired beads. I’ll post more on these later. I am still experimenting and have not gotten them out of my system. Yet.

On-Line Ideas and Inspiration for Jewelry Makers

I troll the Internet in search of ideas and inspiration. Here are some new finds and some old favorites I want to share:

Nancy LT Hamilton offers free metalsmithing videos on sawing, riveting, soldering, making findings and other techniques. She offers a few metal working tools and her site is full of useful information about tools, metal, measuring, ring sizing, drill bits and more.

Beaducation sells jewelry making tools, books. DVDs and findings. In addition paid on line classes, Beaducation offers free on line classes in several mediums including metalsmithing, felting, resin jewelry making and beading

Brenda Sue Lansdowne sells cool vintage jewelry supplies on her web site, B’Sue Boutique and her blog, Jewelry Making Outside the Box is chock full of interesting information. She also offers free on line videos showing how she uses her products to make eye-catching mixed media jewelry. The videos and blog are great places to get ideas and inspiration.

Speaking of ideas and inspiration, I found these silver plated serving forks at a flea market. I plan to saw off the handles and make the serving ends into pendants.

If you think you have seen it all when it comes to jewelry made from spoons, knives or forks, you must watch this video by Italian Artist Giovanni Scafuro.

Jewelry from the Trash Can

I have been exploring textile arts and learning techniques for incorporating them into jewelry. And making up a few of my own. The bracelets below are from recycled materials: old clothing dyed, stamped, painted and shredded, cast off electrical wire stripped and straightened, scrap stained glass tumbled and drilled, some gilded twigs from the sidewalk, pieces of old jewelry, and old plastic bangles or wire forms, There is no plan; I just start to wrap and embellish. I hit some of the bracelets with a heat gun to see how it would affect the fabric. Depending on the fabric, it will burn, seal the frayed edges, or melt the fabric to reveal what’s beneath. I got this idea from a video by Textile and Mixed Media Artist Maggie Ayres. There is so much information out there. Don’t limit yourself to what you already know or think you have to take a class (unless you are learning how to use a torch, or another technique where proper safety instruction is vital). Don’t be afraid to try something new!

More Christmas Ornament Ideas

It’s the time of the year for Santa’s workshop to be in full swing. I am making ornaments again, and this year I am incorporating felting with the polymer clay. I could use some elves to do the needle work for me, but I find needle felting very relaxing (when I don’t stab myself with the needles-thankfully not too often) and mixing the different yarns and color of roving reminds me of painting.

The ornaments here are mostly needle felted over styrofoam balls. I wet felted one base and decided that needle felting worked better for me. The embellishments are pom poms, additional yarn and roving, and polymer clay canes and beads.

The Internet is full of sites offering free felting directions. Feltmakers List FAQ is a good place to start. YouTube has lots of videos and some are quite good. And since crafters have diverse ways of doing the same thing, it’s always helpful to read a few sets of instruction and watch a few different videos.