Barbara Sperling’s sconce, Seahorse Flambeau, (and other ideas on her 3D page) may give you some ideas.
You need a low wattage bulb near the polymer. Translucent and pearl clays open up a whole new world for light coverings.
From the monthly archives:
September 2005
I’m always browsing for designs and ideas. Check out the jewelry in the Ona catalog. It looks an awfully lot like rhinestones in polymer. Nice merging of crystals and mosaics. The description reads "…hand-molded from a patented clay and incrusted with swarovski crystals."
The Ona catalog has inspiring designs in other categories as well. It’s fun to mouse through.
Lorie Follett gets her fabulous rhinestones from rhinestoneguy.com. She says the selection is great and the prices are good. She recommends ordering the sample card to get ideas for sizes and colors.
I’ve been running into lots of organic, other-worldly shapes in polymer clay recently. The beads above are from Grant Diffendaffer.
Ford and Forlano have ventured into this realm. They explain their new aesthetic in an essay. The writer describes it their new work as having a "sci-fi quality." An interesting read.
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| Marie’s faux drusy |
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| Natural drusy |
Marie Segal started it at Shrinemont this year. She credits/blames Judith Skinner for starting the faux drusy craze.
Druse refers to a rock surface covered with tiny crystals such as are found inside geodes. Drusy has become popular in the gem world of late.
Drusy materials slowly appeared in the work of noted gem carvers and jewelry designers and, as a result, gained space in gem and jewelry publications.
Marie’s necklace pictured here is made by extruding cord and then making lanyards…like in girl scouts. The end pieces were made separately and baked and then glittered. The lanyard is then attached to the end pieces. The clasp in the center of the flowers is made from 20 gauge wire. Marie recommends glitter from Art Glitter.
A French polymer clay site led me to California’s Laurie Mika. Her mosaic furniture, boxes and wall art may make you rethink your next project. The colors are bold and bright. Take a look.
While you’re on Laurie’s site, you may want to follow some of her links for inspiration. Be sure to check out the work of Irina Charny, Marie Gibbons and others.
