Mix it Up: What’s the Buzz on Mixed Media Jewelry?
7 August 2009
Author: Margot Potter - The Impatient Crafter™
Dip your toes into the Mixed Media Jewelry pool with renowned author, blogger and mixed media jewelry designer Margot Potter.
Mixed Media Art
Pl. n. (used with a sing. verb)
1. A technique involving the use of two or more artistic media, such as ink and pastel or painting and collage; that are combined in a single composition.
If you’ve been making the crafty scene these days, you’ve probably heard the buzz about Mixed Media. It’s not exactly a new concept, but a new definition for the work of a person who loves to mix it up in their crafting. Some folks zero in relentlessly on one discipline and master it with increasing complexity, while others are more stimulated by picking one from column a and one from column b and then combining them to see what happens.
Mixed Media Art is, as the name implies, the mixing of varied techniques and mediums together in your artwork. It can be applied to virtually any focus from jewelry making to fiber arts to paper crafts and beyond. Mixed media art integrates found objects, paper arts, collage, assemblage, gel mediums and paints, cold connections, resins, soldering, fiber arts, re-crafted and recycled items and more to create uniquely interesting finished designs.
It’s a natural progression in my mind for a creative person to be ignited and excited by new pathways for expression. I’m inspired constantly by everything around me and the aisles at my local craft stores; hardware stores, flea markets and thrift shops offer me an endless supply of new toys for my creative tool box. If you’re the same sort of crafter, there are plenty of books and magazines like Somerset Studios and Belle Armoire to explore as well as mixed media events with intensive classes you can attend, including Art Unraveled and Art and Soul. If you go to these events you can study with talented mixed media artists like Michael DeMeng, Traci Bautista, Susan Lenart Kazmer, Jane Anne Wynn and a host of other notable figures at the forefront of this ever expanding art and craft movement.
If you’re intrigued and you’d like to explore mixed media jewelry making, I’ve recently published a book for the Average Jane (or Joe) who may want to dip their toes in the pool of mixed media called Beyond the Bead. It’s a beginner’s technique based title with finished gallery projects to show you how to integrate the techniques into your jewelry designs. Everything in it is easy to recreate using affordable items you can buy at your local craft stores, online and at hardware stores. The pieces pictured in this article represent techniques from the book to give you a little taste of mixed media jewelry making.
Check out the book and be sure to share your mixed media jewelry projects in the gallery!