Polymer connections

Susan Waddington of Polydogz does many things well. What I found myself stuck on as I cruised through her galleries was her ingenious bails for pendants, some from years past, some new.

Integrating polymer bails into pendant design is quite a trick and Susan’s mastered it. She’s fond of using a paper-bead type construction which she camoflages with decorative coverings as in the shield shape with textured folded circle shown here. Layers of patterns form connections that fit seamlessly into her collages of polymer pattern.

You can see more examples on a sister site here and on Etsy here.

Paper bead updated in polymer

If you made paper beads as a kid, you may appreciate Greti Botka’s latest tweak on the technique in polymer. Beneath the summertime cool Skinner blends on their cracked outside surfaces, the beads offer just a peek at a layer of thin black and white stripes underneath.

Greti shows a number of her experiments on her Flickr site, including this weird and wonderful Snails Parade of polymer creatures, all born in Austria. Be careful if you’re a fiber freak, Greti has some great wool projects that will snag you.

Texture your trash

Dayle Doroshow’s oversized paper beads (these are each about 1 1/2″ wide) echo exotic, tribal themes.

Dayle admits they’re made from the tail ends of her polymer projects, simple tall triangles rolled onto a fat skewer and then flattened with stamps and textures. Paints and powders and whatever is handy add the final effect.

Since Dayle and I are playing together this week, we’ve decided to giveaway one of our Creative Sparks books signed by both of us. Dayle shares how she developed habits and tricks that tease her back into the studio when she’s stumped or stewing.

Leave us a comment and we’ll dash an autographed book off to the winner on Friday.