Tales of The Heart

In my workshops I always begin with a discussion of form. I wish I could throw all the shape-cutters and templates being sold for polymer clay into the ocean. Don’t get me wrong—I have templates for certain earring shapes that I designed myself that are my go-to when I have a clay veneer that will become an earring or element. But they are not cookie-cutter shapes, they reflect my aesthetic, not that of some manufacturer.

As I’ve mentioned in this blog before, your piece will become truly unique only if you address every single aspect of its design and source or design it yourself. That means devising your own shapes and forms whenever possible. The ‘quick sketching’ method works for this—for instance, choosing a heart shape—and spending a minute or two sketching that shape very quickly in your notebook. Don’t worry about size, just let your brain and all its accumulated input stream out through your pencil. Don’t edit. Your can use your copier to alter size later to suit your purpose for the element. One exercise that’s fun is to choose a few sketched shapes, make larger and smaller sizes of each using the copier and then combine them into one piece, say—a necklace, keeping the same colorway for all the elements.

Now that my work is finally in a gallery—the Art of Vermont Artisans Gallery in downtown Randolph, Vermont-- I’ve been working to change out my inventory to reflect the seasons and jewelry-gifting holidays. Valentine’s Day garners an enormous response from shoppers in search of the perfect gift so it’s a great excuse to obsess a bit with the ubiquitous ‘heart’ shape. Every year I do a sketchbook page full of heart shapes and this year my page looked like this.

This Valentine’s Day I’ve broadened my experiments to include pin/pendant options, as well as cuffs, bookmarkers and barretts. One of my first polymer projects was a French clip hair barrette and I still wear it a lot. For some strange reason, I haven’t made another, although every time I reach for my old stand-by I think “why don’t I make more of these in other colors?” Well, I plan to remedy that soon.

I find there’s something compelling about the traditional heart shape—it can morph and mold into so many variations. The basic shape, I think, is so well-balanced in its simplicity that it lends itself to abstraction and innovation. It’s got semiotic overtones as well--semiotics being “the study of meaning-making, the philosophical theory of signs and symbols” according to Wikipedia—so the shape itself means something to us culturally and anthropologically on a subconscious level. This is a good thing for the jewelry designer because it means that the heart shape is appropriate in any season for adornment, not just for a sweetheart-themed holiday in February, unlike a snowman pin, for instance.  It’s also a very universal symbol.

 

Organic heart - 2015 - polymer clay,

acrylic and oil paints, Prismacolor pencils

 

 

Not necessarily 'Valentine's Day' earrings - polymer clay, acrylic paint, crayons, Lillypilly slate veneer, handmade copper earwires

 

 

 'Landscapes of the Heart' - pin/pendant of 

polymer clay, acrylic paint, Kroma crackle medium

 

 

 Primitive heart cuff - polymer clay, acrylic and oil paints, Nunn Designs copper cuff base

 

 

 'Helter-Skelter' heart element-- older work using mokume gane technique

 

 

Valentine bookmark - polymer clay, acrylic paint,

crayon, Jan's Jewelry metal bookmark form

 

 

Textured heart earrings, 2015 -- polymer clay,

acrylic paint, crayons, handmade texture

plate and earwires

 

So even if you don’t get around to making hearts for Valentine’s Day this year, don’t despair—the shape is something that will work for you year ‘round. And what you can do when you add in color, texture and connectors! Have fun! XOXOXO