Polymer at heart

South Carolina’s Kathy Koontz combined 7 polymer hearts in reds, pinks and purples to make this 4″ valentines dish. She textured the clay before curing, later applying white paint to enhance the marks. The dish sits on short purple legs.

Kathy’s bright colors are everywhere on her Etsy store, Flickr, her blog and her Pinterest boards. Oh, and Facebook too!

One of the reasons Kathy landed on polymer is that she gets bored easily. She jumps with delight from dishes to buttons to jewelry, changing techniques along the way but retaining distinctive and personal colors and themes. She’s a polymer artist at heart.

Lo-cal polymer

France’s Stephanie Kilgast places tiny polymer chocolate pralines into a 3/4″ heart box for part of her valentine’s offering. Light on calories and heavy on charm.

Stephanie’s miniatures can be found on her Etsy shop and Facebook. On her blog she reveals her latest creations, miniature coral reefs that she transforms into jewelry.

This new art, she says, makes her happy. What a pleasure to have these small reminders of important times and places. Stephanie shares some free tutorials on her site.

Tender tentacles

Arizona’s Kaity O’Shea has a long term love affair with octopuses and her tentacle heart necklace begins our week of love. Kaity sells smaller items on her Etsy site (Killer Tentacle Octopus) and shows her commissions and larger pieces like this Killer necklace with matching earrings (fake gauges) and bracelet on her Deviant and Tumblr pages.

She also posted some in-progress shots and shows her glow-in-the-dark octopi on Deviant. The Comic and Anime communities share Kaity’s tender feelings for tentacles and she has a growing fan base there. Thanks to Carol Simmons for prodding me to look at this unusual polymer work.

Interactive polymer

Tory Hughes has been scouring Radio Shack stores for her latest polymer pieces.

She dismantles the small robotic toys she finds and upcycles the components to make moving sculptures.

This one is called Lurch and you can watch it dance and sway below.

Cats are some of her most appreciative art patrons. Watch this feline go crazy for art that rolls and ricochets.

Tory’s Jump Spin Wobble Hop class in March is designed to get your art moving.

New polymer shoots

These New Shoots from Kentucky’s Leslie Blackford may make you smile. She combines found shell casings and polymer into a hopeful, bittersweet visual pun.

The tag line on her recently updated web site says, “For those seeking out the odd and unusual.” Her work champions outcasts and unloved characters and somehow she makes their oddness endearing.

Leslie has a raw talent that doesn’t rely on technique. Her fingers put her heartfelt sentiments into the polymer and she is able to communicate keenly through her work. Her themes often center on animals and ephemera found in Kentucky’s moody woods. Her Pinterest page may amuse and delight you too.

Micro polymer hearts

Newfoundland’s Melissa McCarthy brings us a tiny bit of love in her heart-backed micro dinosaur. Her polymer Stegosaurus is only 1.5 inches long.

If you felt overwhelmed by yesterday’s complex art, you may feel reassured to know that simple, small polymer art can make a big statement too.

Melissa’s tiny sculptures of pandas, penguins and lots of other small creatures have quite a following on Etsy. Her shop is closed temporarily but you can still see her sold items and you can follow her on Facebook.

Embedded beauty

Laurie Mika embeds whatever she likes into her lusciously colored polymer mosaics. If you look closely your eyes will dance over bits of glass, jewelry, beads and ephemera that come together to tell her story. Of course many of the tiles are stamped, textured and painted polymer as well.

This is a sample for her March class in Detroit. Below are some of the virgins, saints, angels, gypsies and mermaids that were created by students in a recent class. And here are pictures from an earlier Treasures from the Heart class at the Institute of Mosaic Art.

She alludes to a class in Detroit in March but I don’t see it listed in her upcoming workshops.

Here she is on Facebook with more to inspire you on Pinterest and Etsy. Total yum!

Polymer dwellings

Jessica Jane is a 20-something California girl with a head full of sweet petite houses and creatures in happy colors. This group represents the first installment of her 30-day Dwelling a Day challenge. Jessica doesn’t say much about herself but a stroll through her Flickr and her blog will introduce you to her view of the world and start your week on a bright note.

Glazed polymer flock

Israel’s Hila Bushari has helped a flock of birds take wing from her studio. You can watch as she cuts out the flat chicks that she makes into wall decor.

What brings them to life are the details and the faux ceramic glazes and finishes that she adds.

Mottled colors and textured surfaces give these otherwise simple creatures mystery and depth. Hila and Iris Mishly have developed a Cosmic Ceramictutorial series about their glazing techniques. See more of Hila’s glazing samples on her Flickr site.

Folk polymer

Jannelle Berryman‘s Santa has already changed into civilian clothes and I hope you have too.

Jannelle has moved onto steampunk robots, monsters and polymer characters with a valentines flavor that you can sample in her Etsy shop where her originals are sold.

Since 1997 Jannelle has licensed reproductions of her works which are sold in giftshops. She started with a graphic art company, moved on to painting ceramic pots, and landed in sculpture and giftware. Though she dabbles in jewelry her main focus is her Pumpkinseeds Originals creations. She’s part of the Spooky Time Jingles crowd of folk art lovers as well.

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