BARBARA SPERLING
Being able to combine my love of nature with my passion for art and exploration is very inspiring for me. While striving to stretch my creativity with my favored medium of polymer clay, discovering new techniques and uses keeps it fresh. My intricately detailed and colorful millefiori canework gives my work a painterly effect; while mimicking micro-mosaics, faux or unusual translucent finishes keeps customers guessing. I have always loved a good puzzle and find that polymer clay has many pieces.
Millefiori canework is the process of building a log with a picture running through it. Essentially, it is making a two dimensional picture with three-dimensional rods of a particular medium. My medium of choice is polymer clay. I have been asked many times how I figure out the detail in my work. I can visualize what I need to do to make the spatial relationship from a two-dimensional picture into a three-dimensional cane. It is similar to putting a puzzle together; I break it down into many small parts, make them and then put it together.
To make a millefiori cane: I begin by mixing all the colors and shades of clay that I will need, then make all the individual logs of designs that will make up the image. Each individual feather of a bird or petal of a flower must be made into a log of clay first. I reduce these pieces in size by stretching or rolling, then tightly pack them together to form the cane. The finished cane can again be reduced in size allowing the many applications and detail that you see in my work. Using slices of the canes with other polymer techniques such as mokume gane, hand made molds, textures, and metal leaf and rubs, I make one of-a-kind pieces of wearable art. My work is contemporary with intricate detail not often found in polymer clay. After forming the jewelry pieces, they are baked in a convection oven at 265 degrees. The process is time intensive as it can take several days to mix all the colors and shades, and up to two weeks to make a difficult cane.
I was drawn to this medium after seeing some swirled colorful beads made from polymer clay and began experimenting with it in the fall of 1994. I received my state juried status in Non-Metal Jewelry with the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen in October of 1995. My state juried status now includes Polymer Clay and PMC in jewelry and sculpture. I was the chairperson on the standards committee that developed the guidelines for Polymer Clay and I am a juror for new artists in the mediums of Polymer Clay, PMC, Non Metal Jewelry, and Multi Media. My jewelry is sold through the League shops, fine galleries and specialty shops.
