Australia’s Heidi Helyard’s smooth droplets of bright colors poke up through perfect holes in a heavily textured white circle of clay.
A fantastic volcanic eruption? The mischievous imaginings of a happy child bubbling up? A clever girl fooling around?
Heidi’s simple pendant doesn’t rely on her clay skills. It leans on whimsy and spirit and fun.
California’s Linda Brooks scooped up the brightest circles – the ones that didn’t have proper mates during her spinner earring production.
Look at how nicely they all play together as a necklace. Her textile-like sketchy patterns threaded on a red string turn any outfit into party attire.
Recognize the Christmas tree in these earrings from Chicago’s Molly (SlabandStone)? She calls them Modernist.
Shapes boiled down to their essence make me inexplicably happy. Look at the way Molly pairs semicircles, half rounds, and ovals with metal shapes and her own fresh twist on terrazzo polymer cutout shapes. Here she is on IG.
Fresh twists are what I’ve bumped into again and again this week as I scoured the web for StudioMojo tidbits.
I’ve found some real bright spots in this December-to-Remember. Come squint at the 2021 sky with us to see what’s ahead.
Monday can be a shock to the system and sometimes it helps to start slowly. What could be easier than buttons?
These simple gems from France’s Helene JeaneClaude have a surprising sophistication. The shape is common but the patterns are exciting. Some have a fiber look, others could be stone.
She may have used silkscreens over marbled clay. Go to her Instagram to see lots of others. Helene has been in a button mood lately and her methods change from batch to batch.
Swap out ho-hum buttons with your own fashionable versions. Two holes in a colorful slab of polymer and you can extend the life of your favorite sweater or jacket.
Two big thick circles with a narrow slab in between are all it takes to make a stunning polymer vase like this one from Baltimore’s Linda Loew.
The periwinkle and purple colors are lush, the edges are smoothed and there’s a freeform design in the circles’ centers.
Why not show off some of spring’s bounty in a vase made especially for the occasion? Here’s Linda on Instagram.
UK’s Clare Lloyd doesn’t quite know why but she’s been making rainbows lately. “Somehow all the bright colors together seem to be necessary at the moment,” she says.
No fancy techniques here. Clare concentrates on color. The jolt of color is a tonic for me. Need more? Here’s her website.
Perth’s Pickled Ginger (pickledgingerjewellery) is on fire…in a good way. Owner Fe is one of the young, energetic, enthusiastic polymer artists that are currently on the cutting edge in polymer clay art.
They know how to use social media, they know how to produce products, collaborate with clothing designers and start social campaigns. They take simple designs like these Drifters earrings and inject them with color and excitement.
Over at StudioMojo, we’re spending January looking ahead to see what’s on the horizon. Australian artists seem to have a strategy that works. Come on over if you’d like to know what secrets the Aussies have unlocked and why they’re so hot right now. They’re teaching us a thing or two.
It’s not too early to shop, is it? For polymer art, you can’t do better online than Artful Home.
I searched the site for “polymer clay” and page after page of gorgeous jewelry popped up. I counted 22 polymer artists in this high-end catalog!
These simple circle studs from Pennsylvania’s Klara Borbas appealed to me. But oh, there’s much more!
CEO Lisa Bayne is to be congratulated for including such a rich selection of polymer art into her great online catalog. Judy Belcher and I met Lisa some years ago at an ACC meeting. Judy has a way of connecting with people and she certainly connected with Lisa and introduced her to polymer.
If you’re struggling with holiday shows, take a look and take heart! Stick with it and you’ll go places.
Australia’s Kate Lee Foley gives us sweet innocence with pastel gradations on bell earrings. Flat two-sided cutouts with curved edges wrap around and overlap to form a soft cone shape.
Circular holes cut out of the polymer let light through as the earrings dangle. Simple and sweet.
After a frustrating day in the studio, it’s a relief to me to see how something like these post earrings from South Carolina’s Shannon Tabor (Charleston_Clay_Jewelry) can be so straightforward and successful.
Sometimes we make things more difficult than they need to be.
Shannon cuts textured circles in several sizes then highlights the textures and stacks them falling downward.
Unusual, sophisticated and done! Posted on Instagram.
