Many people ask if today’s popular veneers (like silkscreening, the Galaxy Tutorial veneers, veneer you’ve created yourself for polymer clay earrings, or my very favorite the Faux Collaged veneers) can be used with whimsical sculptured creations. The short answer is: absolutely!!!
What is a Veneer:
A veneer is a sheet of clay with a design of a pattern on it. Some veneers may be loose and random, as seen in many of today’s modern earring trend. Some veneer patterns may be repeated and symmetric as seen in many silkscreens, stamps, and stencils. A veneer on its own, while many are gorgeous, do not have a purpose. It is just a sheet of clay. Something must be done with it in order to have a function or purpose. Many people turn these into earrings (as of late), brooches, pendants, or other jewelry items. Sometimes you see them as lightswitch covers, boxes, jewelry dishes, and other stylish accessories. But here’s the thing …
Veneers all have one thing in common: they are a flat sheet of clay that must be made into something else in order to serve a purpose.
Katie Oskin
Why Use a Veneer with Whimsical Sculpting?
Combining techniques is at the heart of a good whimsical sculptural artist. We’re constantly pulling out our bag of tricks, techniques, and applications and applying them in a way that makes sense, catches the eye, and conveys the message and heart of our piece.
Many artists are successfully able to combine a variety of techniques with powders, oils, acrylics, and other materials to get the desired effect. These Galaxy Dinos by Fiona Gosschalk successfully reinterpret a sparkling sky, are dynamically cute, and still leave you begging for more. While not a true veneer, a veneer-type technique was used on these dinosaurs. Even my Galaxy Face Vase manages to use the Galaxy & Face Vase Tutorials to incorporate its techniques & skills from both into a piece of art that has residence in my bedroom to this day.
Taking skills you already know and combining them into artistic pieces is both a skill and a talent. Some things you may naturally know, almost instinctively; many things you probably do without even thinking about it! While other things you may have to stretch your mind, fingers, and skills to balance them all. And yet other things you can learn (or may have learned) through a variety of projects, tutorials, and worksheets that are taught, learned or handed to you by teachers, artists, and others in the polymer clay community.
Whatever your desired to learn to blend these techniques, I hope that in all ways, none of us become a “one trick pony.” I hope that we all continue to challenge ourselves to grow, morph, change, and become better versions of ourselves tomorrow than we are today; in all things, not just in our polymer clay art.
Sculpting Blessings,
