Argentina’s Turkana (turkanajoyeria) uses translucent clay in her extruded cane (the retro cane developed by Bettina Welker).
Turkana’s designs have a carefree looseness in contemporary colors that appeal on an uptight Monday morning. Let’s let the light in.
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Let’s see what happens with this work-in-progress cane from Australia’s Kate Lee Foley.
It’s the beginning of her “Picnic” series which sent me fantasizing about spring and outdoor dining and life as usual.
“What is life as usual?” we wonder in this week’s StudioMojo We may be returning to simple delights and projects made only to give pleasure. Mobiles, magnets, book nooks. Join us as we explore in our Saturday edition.
There are easy-breezy polymer approaches with pieces joyfully slap-dashed together. And then there are intense and enthusiastic polymer artists.
Yesterday we had intense miniature cats. Today it’s butterflies.
UK’s Fiona Abel-Smith dives deep to create When I Grow Up a 4 x 16 x 8-inch sculpture. There’s a metaphor embedded in this caned and sculpted piece.
Fiona says, “The little caterpillar doesn’t realize that she will grow into a beautiful moth and is already a stunner in her own right if only she could see herself as we do.”
Fiona documents her progress in videos and photos on Facebook and shows us the intensity required to tell her story.
Minnesota’s Layl McDill says she’s reducing this 13-pound giraffe cane as a stress reliever. What a way to absorb some of the election shockwaves!
Luckily she uses the soft Prism&Pro clay but still, it’s a major challenge.
Layl’s teaching online these days and she takes a most unusual, carefree approach to clay. Browse through her gallery of fantastical creations.
My brain’s all mushy and there’s nothing better than this cane reveal from Australia’s Robyn at Kaori Studio to capture a tired mind. That first slice is the equivalent of a cat toy for caners.
Robyn has pumped out one big batch of extruded dots! She has a baby so she works at night which accounts for the lighting. Doesn’t it make you want to try it? This is what we extruder types dream about. Watch her upcoming jewelry to see where this pops up.
Get the full slicing effect on Robyn’s Instagram (@shop.kaori). Now wasn’t that satisfying?
What would Poland’s Anna Nell make with the Skinner blends she showed on Instagram? A few days later she gives us the answer.
She says she uses translucent clay, porcelain (I’m guessing she means pearl), and glow in the dark (she calls it “night effect”). She added pastels as well and some gold leaf for bling
Anna surrounds herself with a large collection of succulent inspirations so it’s difficult to distinguish real from polymer.
Mira Pinki Krispil surrounds her pieces with women and that feels comfortable for a Monday. The faces seem concerned and connected.
The polymer portraits have been cured on a 6 1/2″ marble vase. The other side of the vessel is covered with Mira’s bright millefiore flowers.
Some years ago she came to polymer after enduring eight surgeries on her hands. Working with clay was part of her occupational therapy and she used it to document her recovery. “Since then I can’t stop creating with this amazing material,” Mira admits.
Even more than the size of this face cane from Warsaw’s Sacra Argilla, the dramatic dark pose, and dense background draw us in.
Sacra adds layer upon layer of slim lengths of clay around the portrait. At the smallest size, the background still vibrates with color.
The project took over 135 hours and she documents her process on YouTube and Instagram. This cane will last forever!
This is Sacra’s second try at the project. Her first one in 2017 was a disaster. Imagine devoting that much time and energy to a single project! It must resonate deeply with her.
What project won’t leave you alone?
There’s time this weekend to whip up a manly soap dish for Father’s Day or just for fun. These are from Moscow’s Juliya Laukhina and are intended for her brother.
The men will be impressed that the patterns are composed of scrap. Use a Stroppel cane or Kim Korringa’s mosaic trick or some other variation of a scrap veneer.
Useful, not too fussy, and made with love – what more could your men want?
If you need more fresh-squeezed creative juices, head on over to StudioMojo to see what goodies we pulled out of our stash of new ideas and products that wouldn’t fit into PCD.There’s so much going on! Our juices are flowing.
Sweden’s Barbara Nalepa was nominated by EvaMarie Törnström to take part in an ad hoc challenge for 10 days.
Barbara’s creatures have a wild and funny demeanor with an unexpected sprinkling of shimmering glitter from what may be low-fire enamel powder on polymer.
Since the challenge specifies that the artists don’t have to explain a thing, it’s hard to determine all that’s going on. Perhaps Barbara will elaborate on her quirky characters later.
More characters roam through her Facebook.
