Polymer Clay and Wood - a Collaboration




 Sometimes working with another artist produces a unique piece of art.  In this case my older brother, Dave, turns wood and makes beautiful vases, bowls, platters and any other item that comes to his mind and hands.

Another polymer artist Cynthia Tinapple and her husband's work combining combining polymer inlay in wood intrigued me.  I've wanted to try it for quite a while.  I researched the technique and invested in a digital thermometer and a heat gun.  I knew some day I would use them.

When Dave said he was turning a walnut vase I asked him to make two recessed bands about 1/8th inch deep and 1/2 to 1" wide.  We collaborated to determine the placement and size.  He lives in Kansas and I live in Arizona so there were lots of emails and phone calls.

My job was deciding on the pattern and design to use in the grooves.  With a lot of experimentation  I decided to make a Stroppel cane.   Using old polymer canes layered between black and another set layered between turquoise, I started building my designs.  Some layers of cane colors are thicker that others making a difference in the design. As you can see in the photo below,changing the layer colors changes the look.

Examples of Stroppel Cane - and earrings waiting to be finished!
The mail came and I opened the box to find a beautiful walnut vase with a natural organic top edge.

Now I had the exact size of the grooves and could start applying the polymer.  It is important for it to be even with the wood and fit exactly.  At this point the polymer is very pliable and easily marred.

This is the design I chose for the vase.
Ready to cure the polymer.  Usually the polymer is baked in an oven with a temperature of 275 degrees.  Obviously that would dry out the wood.  In one hand I held the digital thermometer and in the other I held the heat gun.  Slowly moving the heat gun back and forth and occasionally taking the polymer's temperature, I could see the texture change becoming more satin and firmer.  I did a test piece first to be sure of the technique.  It worked! 

Finished Walnut and Polymer Hand Turned Vase 
 Dave has about 8 hours of work in this piece and I have a few more.  We talked about making more pieces and I guess we will think about it.  By the time we add shipping, I think the cost will be greater that is practical.  We both are really happy with the result.   Just the fun of working together on this project made it worthwhile.

The vase is back in Lenexa scheduled to go to a wood workers show and tell meeting!



Labels:
Location: Prescott, AZ, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning As We Go!

Image
Viking knit is the oldest method of chain making and I've become fascinated by it.  Once I conquered the single knit, I decided to add beads.  I could have googled or asked how it was done but it seemed like something I could just figure out.  And I've learned a lot as I proceeded first with tumbled turquoise beads and then with pearls.  I thought I'd share a few of the things I've learned.   Iif you want a great tutorial on viking knit technique, Trina Ann at http://blog.trinaann.com/  has written a clear concise easy to understand tutorial.  I highly recommend it.    Tumbled tuquoise beads in viking knit  I used tumbled turquoise beads in the first viking knit chain and I did not really know what I was doing.  But I went right ahead and as it turned out, I liked the end result.  Since the beads were irregular in shape there was a random quality to the finished product. During that process, I beg...
Read more

Polymer Clay Conversation

Image
One of the polymer clay groups on FaceBook is 'Polymer Clay Collective'.  This is a group of artists working in polymer clay who share ideas and support each other.  I'm so glad to be a part.  A new feature of this group is the 'Polymer Clay Collective Conversations' where a different member answers a set  of questions.  I get to be first - the trailblazer! I hope you enjoy learning a little more about me and in two weeks I get to learn more about someone else. • Tell us a bit about where you live. I live in Prescott AZ right next to the national forest.   When I look out my studio windows, I often see large black ravens swooping between the pine trees.   Binoculars are always available for close viewing of our smaller forest birds.   You’ve probably read about the forest fires we have had in our area this summer.   The monsoon rains we are having are so welcome. • What do you do when you're not polymer claying? As of 2010, I...
Read more

I'm Back with New Pieces of Art Jewelry

Image
It’s been a while since my last post and while I missed writing them, I hope you also missed sharing my adventures!  Between a road trip to Berkeley and having painful (very painful) shoulder tendonitis my activities really slowed down.  Now I’M BACK!  Ready to explore new techniques and have fun. When I see a good tutorial about something new that catches my fancy, I buy it and eventually the day comes when I just have to try it.  Staci Louise Smith wrote a tutorial “Gold Rush: The Rustic Crackle Technique” for Craft Art Edu.  I loved the pictures of her necklaces and wanted to see what I could do.  If you like the crackle effect  on my pieces or want to try something new, check out her tutorial on   www.CraftArtEdu.com    They have good classes on many subjects. When I started following tutorials, I expected my pieces to look like the instructors.  That just did not happen and it is not the fault of the tutorial or ...
Read more