The “mocha” gallery on Maine artist Suzanne Anderson’s YIKES! gallery drew me in as I lazily cruised the web today. You may be tempted by any one of Suzanne’s color pages. These bangles look like a good way to use up bits of pattern and color as you clean out your studio for the new year.

Fretting about what lies ahead? Tory Hughes offers some words of inspiration for 2012 on her site.

Christine Damm is busy using up the orphans and odd bits in her studio. I’m partial to these Carpathia earrings and wonder if there could be anything that magical among my scraps.

If you’re ready for a master class to catapult you into the new year, look no further than the new online book and master class offered by Dan Cormier and Tracy Holmes. The layout of the book is inspired, the lessons detailed and engaging, and the concept is spot-on.

Die-forming is an important trend for polymer art in 2012. Dan and Tracy are offering a package deal on the book and must-have tools for the rest of this week!

  • reply Christine Damm ,

    Thanks for mentioning my earrings, Cynthia! I’m always honored to be on PCD. Have a Happy New Year!

    • reply Ronna ,

      What beautiful artistry Christine Damm is using in her earwires. They are part of the design rather than utilitarian ready-made afterthoughts. As we wrap up 2011, what a lovely visual metaphor for the final details at the end (the year, the process of creating art) being just as important as the start. Thank you for another inspirational year of this very magical blog, Cynthia.

      • reply Trina Williams ,

        Lots of good looks here but Tory’s is spot on! Thanks for the kick in the rear.

        • reply Dan & Tracy ,

          Hi Cynthia,

          Thank you so much for including our book in your post today, and thanks for your kind words. Thank you also to all your PCD readers who have found their way from here to our site to learn more about it. It means so much to us, to finally be sharing this project with the world. This book project has been our biggest collaboration ever (more than ten years developing the technique, and a good six months turning it into this debut book). When we launched it last week, we really weren’t sure what to expect, but the response has been wonderful. We are overwhelmed (in a good way), and feel blessed to be part of such an enthusiastic, dedicated, and supportive community. It’s been a dream for a long time to write this book… now we can’t wait to get started on the next one.

          Saludos,

          Dan + Tracy

          • reply Nancy ,

            The ear wires in the sites you mentioned today are an education in themselves! These are great.

            • reply kathy ,

              I ordered Dan and Tracy’s book and it is great! I am now waiting on the die-forms to arrive from Canada so I can bring the ideas to fruition. I am not good at waiting!

              • reply Nena ,

                Wow, great book. I will have to find a way to buy it. 🙂

                • reply Sabine Spiesser ,

                  Cynthia, I would love to take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of my heart for creating and maintaining this most fabulous craft resource imaginable. Every link and every image is a fertile source of inspiration for us all. The polymer clay community is the most sharing and friendly community I have come across since giving away ceramics. In all this sharing and communication Tory’s are so relevant to most of us. We need to look beyond tutorials and workshops and find our own voice to create a creative language that is entirely our own. It’s only when we push ourselves past our comfort zone, that we can really appreciate what we are capable of.
                  I wish you all a Happy and Creative 2012.

                  • reply sandra ,

                    Thanks Cynthia for the holiday cruising. I got more ideas.

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