When Maggie Maggio quietly fiddles and fusses at a retreat, you know that she’s brewing a new scheme. She generously agreed to share with you her latest development, polymer clay split ring chains. Making this design was a relaxing way to look busy, get rid of scrap and have great looking new jewelry. By the end of the week we had heaps of links. I got out my camera and you can see the resulting video in the right column.
Students of Maggie and Lindly’s color book will probably pounce on the concept and come up with great variations. We only scratched the surface. Many thanks to Maggie for showing us her new method which she’s calling Maggie’s Missing Link.
Download the split ring template sheet and read Maggie’s latest blog post here.
Bangles are everywhere! Corliss Rose (2RosesJewelry) recently stitched up a fabulous polymer patchwork bracelet. She took the quiltmaking that she learned from her grandmother and brought it to polymer. The Roses experiment with all kinds of materials and it’s great when polymer pops up in their work.
The Roses studio led me to Lauren Abrams brass-based bangle covered with polymer that’s been deliciously striped with alcohol inks.
Lauren led me to the source of this bangle craze, Melanie West. I watched Melanie make one of her lovely biobangles this year and it’s been on my mind ever since.
She’s developed great new techniques and I had no idea that I could refresh my memory with an inexpensive online tutorial. (The brass bangle tutorial is not currently listed but I’m guessing Melanie will put it back up.) Off to the studio!
Ponsawan Sila makes us grin as we end the week and begin a hot summer. Last summer her friend posed wearing a slice of real watermelon as a fashion statement from her garden.
Without missing a beat, Ponsawan created her own version in polymer. The rind is made from a mokume gane stack of shades of green. The interiors are Skinner blends of red to white.
She’ll be adding these rind rings to her Etsy store soon. Have a juicy weekend.
Dede Leupold gives me a vicarious thrill on a day when I can’t get to my own studio. She posted pictures from her process in creating a masterful kaleidoscope cane on Facebook.
It takes thought and planning to achieve such delicate shading and color combinations that sing. Here are earlier looks (1 and 2) at Dede’s work and the jewelry made from her canes on her Esty site.
Cynthia Toops and her husband, glass artist Dan Adams, have launched a new site with loads of mouthwatering work, old and new.
While Cynthia is known for her figurative polymer micromosaic pieces, in the last few years she has been concentrating on thin sheet work, creating the cone and claw necklaces and the rolodex series. Cynthia will teach at Arrowmont in September. This comes to us via the DailyArtMuse site.
You may enjoy revisiting this Seattle Art Museum video about Cynthia and this earlier post.
