I am a trained artist, working in the field of 2D design, who only discovered Polymer Clay and its possibilities a year or three ago. It's been a fascinating journey.
This fascination led me to the rich and ancient history of beads and bead making, which in turn led to my interest in making jewellery using my beads and designs.
I am mainly concerned with pattern, random or repeated, natural or generative, used as embossed texture or as surface elements. My practice involves ways of bringing the results of my explorations into the world of generative and other random-fractal digital image making out into the real world as both 2D and 3D elements in my work.
I use my digital work both as transferred images and as templates for texture sheets.
I am intrigued by the way certain surface treatments can make what is a very modern thing, a computer generated image on a piece of late twentieth century material, Polymer Clay, look as though it has been dug up from an archaeological site after lying in the ground for 200 years. . .
My bead making can be split into three areas of interest, image transfer, texture, and more recently, various surface treatments.
Image transfer beads are made from polymer clay onto which my own digital images have been transferred.
Texture beads are made by stamping or rolling onto unbaked polymer clay using texture sheets and rollers derived from my digital images, via a UV light sensitive silicon called Photopolymer.
Though I increasingly combine these textures with impressions made from found objects, natural or man made.
I use various inks, paints and waxes/varnishes to impersonate ancient/antique surfaces. I also like to explore faux ceramic and stone surface effects.
I make necklaces, cufflinks and earrings using my beads, handmade wire components, found objects, and some commercially available spacer beads and other components.
I am always exploring and experimenting, following my fascination with both the digital and the physical mediums I have chosen, and can't imagine a time when I would have nothing more to discover.
Thank you for reading. Feel free to contact me for any further information. Contact details below. Jon x
I have an online shop at Indiemade, called JBDRusticOrganic where you can see my latest work.
I also have a blog called Following The Fascination which you might enjoy reading.
You can also email me via the link below.
Credits:
All photos by Jon Burgess