Geometric Decorations

Geometric Decoration #18: Pyramid #2

2012-02-20T17:07:00.002-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #18

Subtitle: Pyramid #2

Completed: February 2012

Type: mounted Sculpey paint with acrylic

Status: Gift to Jodi Soares

Geometric Decorations #17: Pyramid #1

2012-02-20T17:03:00.001-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #17

Subtitle: Pyramid #1

Completed: February 2012

Type: mounted Sculpey paint with acrylic

Status: Reference

Geometric decoration #16: Mounted Sierpinski's Gasket

2012-01-06T05:19:00.000-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #16

Subtitle: Sierpinski's Gasket in red and yellow

Completed: December 2011

Type: mounted hard plastic

Status: Gift to Michael Strickland

Geometric Decoration #15: Penrose ornament #1

2012-01-04T06:21:00.000-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #15

Subtitle: Penrose Ornament #1

Completed: December 2011

Type: soft plastic glued ornament

Status: Gift to Michael Macrae
(photo by Eli McLaren)

When doing five fold symmetry, I'm going to be using the Olympic colors a lot (red, yellow, green, blue, black, with white as a background or highlight).

Geometric Decoration #14: The Purple Parliament of Owls

2012-01-03T04:39:00.000-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #14

Subtitle: The Purple Parliament of Owls

Completed: December 2011

Type: hard plastic mounted

Status: Gift to Eli McLaren
(photo by Eli McLaren)

Geometric decoration #13

2011-12-29T06:34:00.000-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #13

Completed: December 2011

Type: hard plastic mounted

Status: Gift to Karla McLaren
(photo by Eli McLaren)

Geometric decorations #12a and #12b: Rainbow Sierpinski's gaskets

2011-12-28T14:35:00.000-08:00

Title: Geometric Decorations #12a and #12b

Sub-title: Rainbow Sierpinski's Gaskets

Completed: December 2011

Type: soft plastic ornament, acrylic paints

Status: Gifts to Tino Plank
(photo by Eli McLaren)

Geometric Decoration #11: Rainbow Spiral #1

2011-12-27T05:44:00.000-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #11

Sub-title: Rainbow Spiral #1

Completed: December 2011

Type: Hard and soft plastic, mounted on acrylic with tack

Status: Gift to Janelle

Now that the holiday is done and I'm feeling better (bad cough on Christmas eve and Christmas day), I'll be posting pictures of the decorations I gave as presents. Thanks to my nephew Eli for taking pictures of these, as I forgot to bring my camera along to the get together.

Geometric Decoration #10: Christmas Ornament #2

2011-12-20T14:53:00.000-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #10

Sub-title: Christmas Ornament #2

Completed: December 2011

Type: Ornament, soft plastic and glue

Status: Gift for Bud Hubbard

This is the same design as Decoration #4, but with the soft plastic that is easier to glue, I was able to make the double thickness piece have a two tone effect, either red/white, white/green or red/green. I was happy with this one and gave it as a gift to my dad.

More ornaments are coming in different designs.

Geometric decoration #9: The grey and white owl

2011-12-18T01:41:00.000-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #9

Sub-title: Grey & White Owl #1

Completed: December 2011

Type: Hard plastic glued and taped ornament

Status: Gift to Holly and Cleavon Smith

This is the first owl ornament I completed, using the hard plastic pieces glued back to back then taped side by side. The hard plastic is heavier than the soft and the two sided tape adds those borders between pieces. For a while, I expect to save the hard plastic for mounted pieces and the soft plastic will be the standard for ornaments. The only exception is the long thin diamond shape you see around the edges. That is a 150 degree rhombus. It only comes in hard plastic and it is essential when making an owl. I will be making more owls, both mounted and ornaments.

Geometric Decoration #8: Black & White Owl

2011-12-17T14:46:00.000-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #8

Sub-title: Black & White Owl #1

Completed: December 2011

Type: Mixed plastic glued ornament

Status: Gift to Georgia Schrieber

The owl is a design I like. You will see several more this month.

Geometric decorations #7a and #7b: Same ornament, different media

2011-12-16T15:39:00.000-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #7a (right)

Sub-title: Christmas ornament #2a

Completed: December 2011

Type: Hard plastic taped ornament

Status: Gift to Jose Macias

Title: Geometric Decoration #7b (left)

Sub-title: Rainbow ornament #2b

Completed: December 2011

Type: Mixed hard and soft plastic, glued ornament

Status: Gift to Jo Scullion

I have geometric shapes with sides of about an inch in both hard and soft plastic. The hard plastic doesn't take to glue very well, so double sided tape works best. The piece on the left is all hard plastic and only the red pieces are painted. The visible boundaries between the shapes are the grey double sided tape.

Soft plastic takes to the glue very well. In fact, the long thin pieces in beige or white are hard plastic in both the ornaments. No matter, they are being glued to soft plastic and the soft plastic's easy use with adhesives means soft can be glued reliably to hard. Both the red and the white pieces are painted, this time with acrylic because of ease of use.

The soft plastic is also much lighter because it is more porous. I will do both glued and taped ornaments in the future, but the glued is easier and more reliable, so expect to see more of them. Glue is still the best medium in ornaments, even using hard plastic tiles because the mounted part is acrylic.

Geometric Decoration #6: Mounted spiral pattern #1

2011-12-16T15:23:00.000-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #6

Sub-title: Hard plastic, mounted with glue

Completed: December 2011

Type: Hard plastic taped ornament

Status: Gift to Diane Jassawalla

I like this little pattern. You will see it again in different colors.

Geometric Decoration #5: Rainbow ornament #1

2011-12-14T18:33:00.000-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #5

Sub-title: Rainbow ornament #1

Completed: December 2011

Type: Hard plastic taped ornament

Status: Gift to Lisa Brown

This is the first ornament that has different colors on the two sides. Like Decoration #4, this is an ornament made with two sided tape. Now that I will be using a softer plastic as well as the hard plastic, there will also be pieces that are entirely glued instead of taped. I made two that use roughly the same design, one with hard plastic taped and the other with hard and soft mixed but all attached with glue. Both of those will be shown this week once I give them away and they new owners have seen them first.

Geometric decoration #4: The first Christmas ornament

2011-12-04T17:52:00.001-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #4

Sub-title: Christmas Ornament #1

Completed: December 2011

Type: Ornament, hard plastic and tape

Status: Reference

The plastic pieces are made of high density polyethylene (HDPE for short), a type of low energy plastic that is difficult to glue to anything else. At TAP Plastics, one of the employees recommended double sided tape. This was my first experiment with double sided tape, and while it worked well enough, I've learned I can get a much better look by doing as much taping as possible first, then giving a base of spray paint.

For that reason, I am making this a reference piece. I'll go again with the same pattern, or perhaps a slight variation, but I believe I can make it look better the next time.

Geometric Decoration #3: The lucky die roll.

2011-11-27T19:44:00.001-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #3

Sub-title: The Lucky Die Roll

Completed: November 2011

Type: Mounted on acrylic

Status: Gift to Jodi Soares

This is the first piece I have given as a gift. No one is more deserving to be the first recipient of a geometric decoration as a gift because I treasure the painted pieces to the game Robo Rally that Jodi gave me many years ago.

I designed this with Jodi in mind. She is a game player, as am I. The red, yellow and blue shapes in the middle are meant to represent a die, and the colors that radiate from the center are all the lucky possibilities that can arise.

There are certainly visible flaws in this piece, which I expect to minimize as I learn more about the medium. Even with these flaws, I am happy with the outcome and glad that Jodi and I are still friends. I can only hope she values this as I value our friendship.

Geometric Decoration #2

2011-11-27T19:31:00.001-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #2

Completed: November 2011

Type: Mounted on Frame

Status: Reference

Here is the second piece. It is much cleaner because I used the proper type of spray paint. This is mounted on a small white board I planned to use in a class but never did. Many mounted pieces after this will be mounted on clear acrylic with a painted back.

Later pieces will be much more ambitious in terms of color and geometric complexity. This piece is also in my collection because I would not consider giving it away as a gift or selling it.

Geometric Decoration #1

2011-11-27T19:23:00.001-08:00

Title: Geometric Decoration #1

Completed: November 2011

Type: Ornament

Status: Reference

Welcome to the new blog. The pictures I post are very large so the blog will load very slowly.

This is my first attempt at a geometric decoration. It has many flaws and I learned a lot. Any piece that is not mounted onto a frame of some sort will be referred to as an ornament. From now on, any ornament will have a gap in it so it can be hung on a wire or a nail in the wall.

Reference means it is not for sale. I would be ashamed to take money for this one.