Sometimes we polymer artists just want to sit and admire the work that goes into a series of canes like this lovely black and white grouping from Meg Newberg. And she doesn’t extrude!
Meg has a brain made for caning. She knows how to break the process down into bite-sized pieces that she shares in monthly tutorials. Take a look on Etsy, Facebook and her site.
Breathe in and let your eyes dance around the patterns. Feel better?
Australia’s Sabine Speisser (papagodesign) is pleased with how her online class with Christine Dumont and Donna Greenberg propelled her polymer work forward.
This 7″x 9″ vessel, a Microcosm of Micro-organisms, was created in Voila’s Creative Design Series. Sabine’s dense patterns quiver with energy and life force.
“Guided outside influence and critique opens us up to many more possibilities beyond one’s comfort zone,” says Sabine. Read more of her comments on Facebook and follow her on Flickr.
Ready to stretch your boundaries?
What do you do with those magnificent pieces of cane? Sometimes it’s a challenge.
Here France’s Laure Steele (LorEtCreations) makes pieces of a master class cane into a stunning pendant by elegantly joining two shield shapes. The accents she uses are subtle and effective.
See more of her sleight of hand on Pinterest and Facebook.
I’m in a cane class with Marie Segal in Kentucky and my eye is searching for ways to show off the best bits. Join the StudioMojo group for a Saturday morning report.
Samples of cane slices are not usually newsworthy but these translucent pieces from Maryland’s Kelly Russell will have you transfixed.
The patterns have a slightly DNA look. Kelly holds a #5 slice out in the sun and the delicate strands light up.
There’s much that we’re just discovering about building layers of pattern with translucent thanks to Kelly and other experimenters.
If you check her out on Facebook, you’ll also see the stunning results from her recent master class with Carol Simmons.
Meg Newbergs’ transforming cane shifts colors like a treasured and worn carpet. What’s one cane looks like many.
It’s difficult to comprehend how the simple canes she constructs can reduce to be so complex. She’s got a great grasp of geometry and she sends out pages of pictures and explanations of a new idea each month.
If you enjoy caning, her monthly subscription is a good deal. This transforming cane is August’s lesson.
Meg allows me to teach some of her designs to inmates who are delighted each time they follow her clear instructions. Not many tools are required and even the newest caners can experience success. Here she is on her site and Etsy.
Victoria’s Wanda Shum entered this dimensional Fish & Waves polymer-over-glass vase into the Sooke Fine Arts show that runs from now until August 1. The show is Vancouver Island’s longest-running juried fine art show and the island’s premier summer arts event.
Over her 18 years working with polymer Wanda has become expert at caning, often pushing canes from 2D slices to 3D sculptures and jewelry. Read about her on her website and then hop over to her Instagram page to see more of her collection.
You won’t want to miss Wanda’s signature cane and her alphabet canes. She offers unusual stainless steel and polymer chopsticks on her Etsy site. You’ll also find her on Facebook and Pinterest.
Looks like a matchy Monday, doesn’t it? This feather cane from Deb Hart of Texas comes in bright blues and greens that look good on PCD.
Deb’s an expert at feather canes and you’ll see them in most every color on her Facebook page, Pinterest board, and Instagram.
She sells her feathers as raw canes and uses them in her finished southwest jewelry designs that you can see on Etsy and learn about on CraftArtEdu. Deb is someone to follow if feathers tickle your fancy.
Few things can make a polymer artist more jealous than someone else’s neat stash of luscious canes. Libby Mills adds heaps of vision, skill and focus into one tidy box of blues group canes.
Then she shows us her next step, slices assembled into a sheet of veneer with some solid colors plus black and white stripes added to balance the mix.
She says beads are next but this is plenty for my eyes to absorb for now. To see where the blues take Libby, check Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
We haven’t visited Netherlands’ Patricia Beuting since last year’s holiday season. Her big beads are richly colored and heavily encrusted with cane slices. They look like they belong on a velvet holiday dress.
This one is part of Patricia’s Color Your Life series of necklaces that require a bold, color-loving wearers.
Study how she applies slices of stripes and flowers on solid backgrounds to make textured pattern combinations. There’s more to see on Flickr, Facebook and Patricia’s site.
Maine’s Jayne Dwyer has jump on spring with this big and complex pansy cane. If you’ve ever grappled with a big cane, you’ll be impressed by what Jayne has achieved – complicated shading and graduated, textured colors everywhere. We’ll have to check back to see what she makes of it.
Jayne thinks in both a painterly and a 3D way which can be downright tricky. The canes are very clever puzzles.
Go through her Paper Moon Jewelry Facebook page and Pinterest boards to see how she uses slices of reduced canes. She translates her Spring fever into polymer canes just in time for St. Patrick’s Day!
