hosted by EBSQ Self-Representing Artists and Alma Lee
Monday, August 10th at 9pm Eastern (6pm Pacific)
EBSQ Chat Room

King David Danced - Alma Lee

I have always loved drawing and detailing with color pencils, but until recently I had no idea of their virtually unlimited potential for PAINTING. Not only do color pencils have the same depth, and vibrancy of color, but they also have the added precision of a graphite pencil that results in a satin-like glowing finish rivaling oil.  New innovations and materials made it possible to “paint” on a variety of substrates previously off limits; including wood and MDF fiber panels. During my LIVE presentation I will be demonstrating some of the possibilities of Color Pencil, in a step-by-step visual diary of my painting process.

About the presenter:
Alma Lee with a degree in Marketing Communications studied both Fine Art and Marketing, at Stout University and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Wisconsin. Is a full time art licensor and artist living and working in Green Bay WI.

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hosted by EBSQ Self-Representing Artists and Alma Lee
Monday, August 10th at 9pm Eastern (6pm Pacific)
EBSQ Chat Room

King David Danced - Alma Lee

I have always loved drawing and detailing with color pencils, but until recently I had no idea of their virtually unlimited potential for PAINTING. Not only do color pencils have the same depth, and vibrancy of color, but they also have the added precision of a graphite pencil that results in a satin-like glowing finish rivaling oil.  New innovations and materials made it possible to “paint” on a variety of substrates previously off limits; including wood and MDF fiber panels. During my LIVE presentation I will be demonstrating some of the possibilities of Color Pencil, in a step-by-step visual diary of my painting process.

About the presenter:
Alma Lee with a degree in Marketing Communications studied both Fine Art and Marketing, at Stout University and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Wisconsin. Is a full time art licensor and artist living and working in Green Bay WI.

Please Make a Note of the Time by your Zone:

• Pacific 6 pm
• Mountain 7 pm
• Central 8 pm
• Eastern 9 pm
• Or look your time-zone up.

Like what you see here?  We hope you’ll consider leaving a comment or subscribing to one of our feeds. Never miss another cool post from EBSQ. Subscribe to EBSQ: Art Meets Blog v2.0 by Email today!

This demonstration was originally presented by Lauren Abrams on 22 June 2009

I’m going to show you how I make one of my split pendants. It involves using a Skinner Blend, a simple cane, and a “gem” I make out of alcohol inks and silver leaf.

The first thing you have to do when working with polymer clay is to condition it. You can do this by rolling it out with a rolling pin, kneading it with your hands, or any number of ways…but the best and easiest for me is my pasta maker…and with a motor on it it’s even easier! You just push the clay through the top and it comes out underneath at whatever thickness you’ve set it on…there are between seven and ten usually on a pasta maker. Once you’ve put it through a number of times, it’s conditioned and ready to use.

The first thing I want to demonstrate is the Skinner Blend, so called because of the person who figured it out…Judith Skinner. She made it easy to do a beautiful graduation of colors with just a few easy steps. The first one is deciding which colors you want to use, and conditioning them…I’ve done my blue, now I’m doing a white clay.

I’ve decided I don’t want a chalky white, so I’m adding a bit of translucent clay and a tiny bit of yellow..then conditioning it while mixing the colors together at the same time, using the pasta machine.

Once you’ve mixed the colors you want and have them the same thickness…you put one on top of the other, and using your tissue blade(very sharp)cut a triangle through both, so they are the same size.

Take them apart and put the longest sides together…

Squish them together a bit so they don’t come apart the first time you put them through the pasta machine…sometimes you need to overlap a bit..

Now, just fold it in half like in the picture, and put it into the pasta machine.

Catch it, fold it again THE SAME WAY… and put it through again and again…it’s most important that you always fold it the same way.

Keep doing this until you start to see a blending begin, then do it until you are happy with the blend…sometimes you can do it in five or six times, others it might take you twenty.

I’m pretty happy with this graduation so I stop.

I place the graduated color on top of another sheet of clay and trim it

I set the pasta maker thickness at number one..which is it’s thickest setting

Putting it through the pasta machine, I now have a nice big piece of graduated clay, with a solid base

Using a circle cutter, I cut out a circle on an area of the graduation that I like.

Using my tissue blade, I cut it in half

Setting that aside, I start making my cane.

Canes using polymer clay are generally made by stacking different colors and shapes of clay, then slicing it to reveal it’s pattern…once you make a cane, you can slice many pieces of it to use. This striped cane is one of the simplest to make. If you are interested, just do some research on the variety of canes people have designed in the thirty odd years since polymer clay hit the art scene. These were modelled after the millifiori (many flowers)that glass makers have been making for centuries…

I”ve decided to use three complimentary colors and different thicknesses for this cane.

I start stacking the different colors and thicknesses of clay, rubbing them down a bit in between to get rid of air bubbles.

I keep stacking until I get what I want as a pattern(you can slice the end and see how it’s going)

On this particular cane I want a repeat, so I just cut the can in half and put one half onto the other.

Slicing the end, I decide it’s what I’m looking for…and stop.

On a this backing piece of clay, I lay down a sliced and spliced together piece of cane

I line Up my two parts of the graduated blend I’ve already done and snug them up on either side of the cane slice.

Using a number 11 xacto knife, I cut out carefully around the oval that is formed by doing this and remove excess clay

I step back from the piece and decide what to do next

I’m going to make a coil of clay to border the pendant, and I want to use some of the cane in it…so I cut a couple of thin slices

I take a deep rust color clay(one of the ones I’ve used in the cane)and roll out a thing coil

Laying two of the thin slices on the coil, I roll some more to make the coil thinner and by doing that it also incorporates the cane slices into the coil

I arrange this around the pendant and press it into place

I add another sliced cane piece at the top, and start to add some small balls of the blue clay…here I’m using a brush to apply some liquid polymer clay, which will act as a glue to adhere the delicate pieces in place.

Here I am taking a ball of green clay and pressing it into a silicone rubber mold I have made

I press it into place at the bottom…

I step back and look at what I’ve done so far and decide that this is the time for my “gem”

Using a commercial cabochon mold I have, I press a piece of Premo Pearl into a round one of the right size

Then I prepare the covering, the super duper shiney thing we all love!

I lay a piece of silver leaf(aluminum) on top of a piece of pearl clay…rub it down

Using alcohol based inks, I paint some on top of the silver leaf until I like the look

Then I take some Premo translucent clay and put it through the pasta machine, making it thinner each time I put it through until it is at the thinnest setting possible….

Sorry it’s kind of hard to see but in this photo I am putting the sandwhiched clay, leaf, inks and translucent top through the pasta machine…just once or twice, depending on how much crackle you want.

Cover the piece you made with the cabochon mold with this sheet of clay…trim the excess and stretch it carefully over it and underneath a bit too.

For this one I want a bit of a base that’s a little larger than the “gem”..so I use an appropriately sized circle cutter as shown

Using a bit of liquid clay for glue, I put them together

I smush down a piece of green clay to support the “gem” and paint it with liquid clay

I press the “gem” in place

I start adding different little pieces to complete it

Into the oven it goes…at 275 for about thirty minutes. Some people like to use a dedicated toaster oven for their polymer clay. I will get around to that eventually lol..

After the piece has cooled, I coat the top of the “gem” with Futura floor covering…it gives it a great shine
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I make a drop using the same clay and cane and add some annodized jump rings for findings

Once that is done and fired again, I add a multistrand steel necklace and voila, my split pendant!

Just wanted to show you a few different pieces so you could see what the “gems” can look like with different colored inks…

hosted by EBSQ Self-Representing Artists and Kari Tirrell
Monday, July 13th at 9pm Eastern (6pm Pacific)
EBSQ Chat Room

Buzz and Baby - Kari Tirrell

Soft pastels are the purest form of painting material available. They are made from pure pigment, with just enough binder to form the pigment into a usable stick. I love their brilliance and intensity of color, but it is the immediacy of soft pastels that has made them my favorite medium. During my LIVE presentation, I will demonstrate my process of painting, step-by-step from start to finish.

About the presenter:
Kari Tirrell is a self-taught artist living in Gig Harbor, Washington.

Please Make a Note of the Time by your Zone:

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Curlicue by Lauren Abrams

Polymer clay is one of the newest and most exciting mediums in the fine craft world, and it’s fast becoming one of the most popular. It is inexpensive, easy to use and doesn’t require a lot of equipment. I’m going to be demonstrating a few basic but fascinating techniques, such as the Skinner Blend, simple cane making, and the use of alcohol inks and silver leaf.

About the presenter:
Lauren Abrams has been creating art and fine crafts in one form or another for about 35 years. She lives in the beautiful Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania with her husband and a variety of woodland creatures, such as deer, turkeys and black bears.

Please Make a Note of the Time by your Zone:

• Pacific 6 pm
• Mountain 7 pm
• Central 8 pm
• Eastern 9 pm
• Or look your time-zone up.

Like what you see here?  We hope you’ll consider leaving a comment or subscribing to one of our feeds. Never miss another cool post from EBSQ. Subscribe to EBSQ: Art Meets Blog v2.0 by Email today!

Curlicue by Lauren Abrams

Polymer clay is one of the newest and most exciting mediums in the fine craft world, and it’s fast becoming one of the most popular. It is inexpensive, easy to use and doesn’t require a lot of equipment. I’m going to be demonstrating a few basic but fascinating techniques, such as the Skinner Blend, simple cane making, and the use of alcohol inks and silver leaf.

About the presenter:
Lauren Abrams has been creating art and fine crafts in one form or another for about 35 years. She lives in the beautiful Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania with her husband and a variety of woodland creatures, such as deer, turkeys and black bears.

Please Make a Note of the Time by your Zone:

• Pacific 6 pm
• Mountain 7 pm
• Central 8 pm
• Eastern 9 pm
• Or look your time-zone up.

Like what you see here?  We hope you’ll consider leaving a comment or subscribing to one of our feeds. Never miss another cool post from EBSQ. Subscribe to EBSQ: Art Meets Blog v2.0 by Email today!

hosted by EBSQ Self-Representing Artists and Barbara Haviland
Monday, April 20th, at 9pm Eastern (6pm Pacific)
EBSQ Chat Room

What Is Lurking Beneath In The Bayou - Barbara Haviland

Not comfortable with oils? Want to know more about painting with them? Then join us for April’s LIVE presentation where long time artistBarbara Haviland will take us through the creation of one of her paintings.

About the presenter

Barbara Haviland has been painting for more than 33 years. She enjoys learning anything new about painting and never limits her subject matter so she never becomes bored with what she does. She loves the Cypress trees and the alligators where she lives, so the bayou is a favorite subject. Barbara lives and creates in Groves, Texas.

Please Make a Note of the Time by your Zone:

• Pacific 6 pm
• Mountain 7 pm
• Central 8 pm
• Eastern 9 pm
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Please join us tonight at 9PM EST (6PM Pacific) in the EBSQ Chat Room for Kris Jean’s EBSQ LIVE presentation on how to recycle junk mail and scrap paper – along with adding petals and other pretties, to make your own artisan paper. It is going to be a comprehensive presentation that will include how to use additives and drying times. It’s time for spring cleaning and this is a unique way to clear out the clutter and it’s certainly more interesting than carrying the recycling and trash to the curb.

When Daisies Collide - Kris Jean

All the information on this presentation can be found on the Education page. To get there at any time, please click the “Learn” tab at the top of any page on the main EBSQ site. If you have an idea for an EBSQ LIVE presentation, or if you have a question, please drop a line to edu@ebsqart.com.

hosted by EBSQ Self-Representing Artists and Kris Jean
Monday, March 9th, at 9pm Eastern (6pm Pacific)
EBSQ Chat Room

A Day or Two by Kris Jean

The art of making paper has been around for ages. Recycling paper at home is starting to gain interest again with the new found “Green” attitude we are experiencing lately.

Kris will show you the basics of how to recycle junk mail and scrap paper to make one of a kind artisan papers for use in your art, including easy to understand definitions, using additives and proper drying techniques.

About the presenter

Kris Jean, a world wide collected artist, has dabbled in her fair share of mixed media. She has been recycling her own paper for years. In the past 5 years no scrap paper has left her studio; it has all been recycled.

Please Make a Note of the Time by your Zone:

• Pacific 6 pm
• Mountain 7 pm
• Central 8 pm
• Eastern 9 pm
• Or look your time-zone up.

Like what you see here?  We hope you’ll consider leaving a comment or subscribing to one of our feeds. Never miss another cool post from EBSQ. Subscribe to EBSQ: Art Meets Blog v2.0 by Email today!