Artful Experimentations…

It’s time again for another Art Bead Scene challenge.

I’m not sure who selects each month’s inspiration,

but the variety is amazing.

Techniques, artist’s origins, subjects, eras, color palettes…

This month is no exception.

An 1896 art nouveau oil on pastel from

The  Seasons series by Alphonse Mucha.

Titled “Autumn”.

But I bet you could have guessed that.

And just to get our creative juices flowing, on the side, is a color palette

derived  by Brandi Hussey.

There is just something so appealing in Mucha subject matter, mostly women,

and his nature inspired lines and colors.

I get the same feeling from another artist of this period,

Charles Rennie MacIntosh, although his work is more spare and stylized.

His rose motif is probably his most famous design element.

I purchased a small ceramic tile on one of our trips

to Glasgow many years ago (which I now cannot find !)

 

 

Which leads me to today’s artful meanderings…

I was thinking how to incorporate some art nouveau tile inspired beads into a piece of jewelry for this challenge.

 I’d bookmarked this polymer clay tutorial a while ago,

thinking how cool the faux ceramic treatment looks.

Today was the perfect day to give this tute a try.

Here’s my first attempts with this technique.

Quick steps:  Using white Sculpty III clay, roll out to 1/4 inch or so.

 Print the clay with stamps.

Cut out with cookie cutters or in the case of the small tile beads,

cut into small squares.  Bake.

Paint with a mixture of liquid polymer clay and alcohol inks.

Bake.  Paint with a satin varnish.

Show and Tell Time:

Stamps used

Unbaked clay

Paint tray…Fun part, but messy.

I probably used my fingers as much as the paint brushes.

Ready for the second baking.

Faux ceramic tile beads, ready for some jewelry experiments.

These will have decorative ornament hangers added for some holiday markets.

Some final thoughts…I really, really love this technique !!

And I think it’s worth more time and experimentation.

Stay tuned.

Hopefully, I’ll have a piece of jewelry worthy of submitting

to the Art Bead Scene challenge by the end of the month !