Everyone is Irish today

Elena Sevva is from Ukraine and lives in Israel but everyone is Irish today. Her polymer necklaces have a dark, woodsy, organic look.

Many of Elena’s pieces on Flickr are loosely strung on twine. You can picture a barefoot sprite in a gauzy dress dancing in the woods wearing this.

Perfect for St. Patrick’s Day, right?

Makes you want to pull out your favorite beads and start knotting.

Join us on StudioMojo on Saturday morning for a look behind-the-scenes and a gentle nudge toward the week ahead.

Cruising creatively

We gotta have a chat with Christi Friesen and find out what’s going so right in her life. She’s been churning out new ideas, following her bliss and coloring outside the lines for months.

Take these freeform bowls, for instance. Forget symmetrical half dome bowls. Christi stretches her polymer into shallow elongated irregular ovals. She draws her images of branches, leaves, and flowers and adds color with pastels or paints or whatever strikes her fancy.

Christi’s preparing samples for her upcoming Aloha Creative Hawaiian cruise. That would definitely improve your mood, wouldn’t it? She’s planning another one in 2019 so save your pennies.

You can see more of her brainstorms and samples on Instagram and Facebook.

Polymer on a string

What may look like a modern painting with layers of wire over watercolor is Alev Gozonar’s latest exploration into using polymer extrusions.

This Istanbul artist’s long flat strings of black polymer curl across the surface, ending as faces in silhouette. On the paper Alev has drawn circles of watercolors that overlap, creating a shadowy background.

If you look back through Alev’s Instagram shots you’ll see how she played with these forms and arrived at this latest iteration which combines polymer and watercolor and takes both in a new direction.

What crazy idea is stuck in your head that need to be played with and explored?

Polymer envy

When you can’t get into the studio, looking at what others are producing is especially inspiring. “Yes, that’s what I’d be doing if I had my taxes done,” I tell myself.

Look at how Angie Wiggins layers silkscreens over a juicy blend of colors. But Angie can’t stop there. Her inner embroiderer has to add a few bits that look stitched on. Oh, I’d much rather look over Angie’s shoulder than add up columns of numbers.

Or maybe I’d rather follow Nadia (NadVals) lead and whip up some imitative turquoise. Those strands of tiny faux beads embedded in the middle of the pendant give the stone a more arty and authentic edge.

You go look, I’m pretending I’m a bookkeeper today (sigh). Some days are like that.

On hiatus

Small farmers

We end our week of characters with a tip of the straw hat to small farmers. These guys are from Oregon’s Gesine Kratzner. She’s an artist/illustrator/animator.

On her website you can see how she moves easily between drawing and sculpting. See these guys in action here.

Her works include Squids, Grumpy Pets, Worry Warts, Astroturf Planets and more strange creatures. You’ll find them on Facebook and Etsy then smile your way through Pinterest and Instagram.

Nothing like a good chuckle to get you in a weekend mood. Join us on StudioMojo if you need more smiles.

Furry polymer

Helen Violet sculptures on PolymerClayDaily.com

Toronto polymer sculptor Helen Violet has a full schedule of commissions for 2017. In late summer/fall of this year she’ll open a shop for those pet lovers hoping to get on the 2018 list and you can read the details of her ordering and pricing here.

Previously an illustrator, Helen created her first polymer and acrylic sculpture in November 2015 as a gift. She was quickly swamped with orders for the 7″ to 8.5″ replicas of favorite pets (like Brutus here) which you can see on Instagram and Facebook.

“This is not a ‘business’ to me, but an opportunity to connect my love for animals with my love for creating and share that with wonderful people who have been touched by their fur friends as well,” Helen says.

What a treat to see polymer art that hits the sweet spot on so many levels!

Warbling character

This simple sweet warbler from Melissa Terlizzi continues our review of characters. She was so anxious to hear songbirds again that she made her own. Zoom in close and you can almost hear him singing.

A smooth base shape, some marbled polymer cane feathers neatly arranged and some color details for the head, eye and beak. Melissa knows her birds!

Turns out this is one of the samples for a CraftArtEdu class that Melissa is working on! He may have to be slightly smaller to perch on your lapel.

Have you followed along on FB as Melissa drilled us on our ABC’s? She spent 26 days sculpting a most exotic alphabet.

Polymer paintbrush guy

Alice Stroppel’s Brush Man is part of a new series of Found Object Character classes at her Studio 215 in Florida. Repurposing objects is not new to Alice. Who can forget her Alice tea service?

Alice has been hosting more and more events in her facility. She credits finishing ideas learned in Doreen Kassel’s Pods and Flowers class at Studio 215 for enlivening her characters.

Looks like this might be Character Week on PCD. Don’t you have weeks when your eye gravitates to a style? See one and then see them everywhere? Why fight it? Is there a brush in your basement waiting to be rediscovered?

Polymer Om

A quick liftoff for the week! This serene polymer doll is from Barcelona’s Elena Kantur.

Elena’s text is hard to translate but the graceful hands and meditative posture of the horned creature make her seem hopeful and calm. We can leave it at that.

The delicacy of Elena’s characters’ hands and faces inspire. See all her sculptures on Instagram and Facebook. Happy Monday!

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