River Rock Beads
A few years ago, just about this time of year, I spent a month living outside of Santa Fe, NM, with other polymer artists. During that month the vegetation turned from autumn reds and golds to brown and straw. As the vegetation became less colorful the varied colors of the rocks in the arroyos (dried river beds) became increasingly apparent. I was inspired to make these polymer “river rock” beads using caning for the different surface textures and colors I saw on my walks.
It seems to me that polymer artists have barely scratched the surface of the abundant possibilities for using canes to create visual texture rather than designs or imagery. Two standouts in this respect are master artists Cynthia Toops and Ford and Forlano.
(More images on my flickr site.)
Addendum {1/3/11): Dan Cormier has done some wonderful work along these line with mica shift patterns/textures (perhaps combined with canes?)
