Whirlwind polymer

There’s a whirlwind of activity at Creative Journey Studios in Georgia. Facebook sometimes scrambles the chronology of posts and this swirl of a piece from Lynda Gilcher was ready to post when I looked at the date and saw it was created in Loretta Lam’s September class at CJS. Oh well!

Lynda’s piece had already set my mind spinning with ideas. See more of Lynda’s work on Facebook. She has her own studio and store in Ohio.

Creative Journey’s gallery is considered mecca for polymer artists and contains some of the finest examples of work and the best tools you’ll see anywhere. Anke Humpert is teaching there in February followed by Bettina Welker. Studio owners Sue Sutherland and Ellen Prophater continue to line up an impressive list of teachers including me in October! Have a great weekend!

Composing a necklace

Karen Pasieka’s turquoise dots are suspended on wires that keep them grouped into a sunny garden of a necklace. Here’s another version on Facebook.

Her framed ranunculus compositions are similarly composed for hanging on the wall. Lean over her shoulder to see how she builds them.

On Instagram and Facebook Karen reveals her head start on spring gardening in polymer and wedding season accessories that she sells on Etsy.

Fishy polymer

The silly marine life from Denmark’s Estelle Marchal (lesptitsmobiles) gave me a laugh. She makes them into mobiles suspended from driftwood.

Can you imagine encountering these creatures floating in the night with their glowing eyes and fish grins? Sometimes a laugh or a surprise are what we need from our art. She claims they scare nightmares away.

There are more jollies and Estelle’s whole story on Instagram, her site, Pinterest and Facebook.

Polymer and pearls

Amy Davison updates the pearl choker with wraps of deeply textured polymer, sparkly spacers, glass and refined bling.

Country club meets art gallery at this year’s Baltimore ACC show in Booth 4811 on February 17-18.

Amy also teaches Designing Mixed Media Multiples online at the OnlineArtRetreats.

She has a background in academia and the corporate world and has returned home to her studio. Read all about her on Facebook and her site.

Taking heart

We’re nearing the end of January and must start collecting our hearts for V Day!

Let’s begin with Staci Louise Smith who likes her hearts pierced, stamped, cracked and colored with inks. Through all the battering, her pieces maintain a well worn and upbeat feeling.

Staci sold out of this heart but she’s uploaded a new batch on her Flickr site.

Do you have hearts on your work table? Send ’em if you got ’em.

Warm, sunny polymer

The news this Friday is full of talk about the cold, snowy weather in our neck of the woods. My eyes went hunting for something hot and colorful to warm the white weekend. They landed in Australia – Barwon Heads, Victoria to be precise.

Jemima Kingston (kingstonjewellery) uses a palette of sea and sun colors on her polymer jewelry. Her edges are roughly carved and splashed with wave-like paints or edged with dots and lines. All fresh and breezy.

You’ll want to spend some time first on her Instagram page to get the feel, then wander over to Facebook and Etsy for the full tour. Oh, plus stop by Pinterest to see her inspirations. I hope you’re warm, cozy and in the studio this weekend.

Hollowed beads revisited

When teachers begin to prepare for their 2016 classes, we get an early look at what’s ahead in polymer. Here Eva Haskova shows off her January 31 class samples with their graffiti-like marks and hollowed out interiors.

Eva and her students will be pushing the boundaries of the bead in her class in Prague. Wouldn’t you like to know how she uses embossing powders to achieve those spotty edges and slashes of color? See the other classes here and more of Eva’s newest work on Flickr and Facebook.

Special edition polymer warts

Gesine Krastner sells her popular polymer Worry Warts on Etsy. She auctioned this special Star Warts edition on Ebay. Great for those who enjoy a pun.

We totally missed her polymer Advent Calendar which she released day-by-day in December. She’s wondering if she should do it again in 2016. Go have a look and tell her if you’d like her to gear up again next December.

Gesine’s animations, illustrations and sculptures are childlike and delightful. Perfect if you need a laugh and help with your worries.

Winter birds

The winter birds were fluffy on the feeder this morning and naturally I was drawn to this intricately textured bird from Anna Oskina online.

She makes polymer miniatures and lately has moved into jewelry and birds. She shares her methods (as in this chevron pendant below) in free tutorials and even though they’re in Russian, you can get the gist.

Her Instagram site is great to browse. Not much to read, just enjoy the photos.

Meandering polymer

Yes, these neck pieces are polymer with an dramatic ethnic twist from Sona Grigoryan. Sona, now living in Barcelona, leans heavily on her Armenian heritage for those dark, meandering patterns that vine around necks and arms.

Her patterns weave in and out and she finishes them with dark metallic-like finishes.

Though her construction looks delicate, she engineers the pieces to sit comfortably and sturdily.

See all her works on Facebook, Pinterest (see her stash of Armenian designs) and Flickr.

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