Carrotbox first showed these polymer clay rings by Mary and Lou Ann which are sunnier than other recent works from this duo. That led me to StyleHive…and trouble. Don’t go there unless you’re a serious voyeur. It’s designer heaven.
I’m a bit daunted by the "communities" and "hive it" jive but I’ll go back and catch on when I need a shot of shopping. This one deserves some quality time. The Etsy folks were there way ahead of me. Being hip is so hard.
The graceful polymer clay designs of Ohio’s Grace Stokes are featured on the cover of the September issue of Art Jewelry Magazine
Along with the article, Grace has unveiled her web site which is full of her works which mix polymer clay with precious metal, pearls, seed beads and other materials. Her delicate lines have a very up-to-date design feel.
Definitive Color
After ten years of teaching polymer clay color, Maggie Maggio and Lindly Haunani are writing the book. They’re looking for your previously unpublished images to illustrate their pages. See all the details on the NPCG site. The deadline is November 1.
Primitives and meditative polymer clay art has surfaced as the theme this week so we’ll end the week with these faux ivory pieces from Luann Udell.
It was a roundabout trip to Luann. I read her comment on craft marketer Bruce Baker’s site about how his tapes had helped her. "Your tape enabled me to really think about why I make crafts and to convey that feeling to my customers. You have taken the angst out of selling and made it enjoyable," she said, and I wanted to see what Luann was up to.
Take a look (don’t miss her little movie) and have an enjoyable weekend.
I was all set to send you to some mouthwatering polymer clay photos (like this "Spondylosis" from Maryland’s Rachel Gourley) when I realized that they were from a Lark’s 400 Polymer Clay Designs volume
So instead, I found a stash of photos from the book on Google Books site which looks to be a legit use. Not only can you look at lots of pictures from this book, but you can thumb through pages and pages of information from many polymer clay books and get a very good idea of what a book’s about before you invest.
Perhaps I’m the last one to figure out this Google Books thing, but I’ve been having such fun here that I just had to share.
Sue Ossenberg recommends Fetchbook for the serious book shopper.
There’s a freshness and energy in the Polymer Clay Artist’s Guild of Etsy. They’re a "street team," a grass-roots group actively engaged in getting the word out about Etsy.com and the value of buying handmade goods directly from the maker.
Each member must have at least five polymer clay items listed in his/her Etsy shop at all times. Its membership is geographically and philosophically diverse.
Check out the current featured Etsy artist, Marcia Palmer from Georgia whose work displays a wide range of styles and techniques. She uses rubber stamps in unusual ways that reflect a strong sense of style and message. Keep your eye on these folks.
North Carolina’s Bobby Wells incorporates themes based on her own spiritual and meditative practices into her polymer clay altar pieces and jewelry.
She mixes gold leaf and semi precious stones into works that reflect the beauty of her Appalachian Mountain surroundings. The setting for her long studio career sounds idyllic and we can thank Nadja Fuenfsinn (from Switzerland) for sending us the link.
Utah’s Kim Detmers’ creepy crawly polymer clay artforms were a huge hit at the New England Pest Management Association’s winter training seminar and sold out within the first 15 minutes of the conference.
Now her creations can be found not only on on the pest control group’s web store but also on her Etsy site. Last year Detmers sold 650 bugs locally and at Utah Artists Hands Show and the Tubac, AZ Center. I’m particularly fond of the card holder above that she made for a local beekeeper.
Claudia Zafran-Rona (Kim’s fan and student) sent us to Etsy to check out Detmers’ other works like this new line of her art nouveau pins.
I hooked the computer up to the tivo/tv this weekend and spent lots of time on wiring and software and having computer fun with my son….which left me no time for the slideshow this week. Please keep signing the guestbook, the slideshow will be back.
It was like old home week except that I’d only met Todd Popp and Doug Motz online. Local gallery owner Sherrie Hawk threw a glitzy party for Motz and Popp (PoMo). Their polymer clay jewelry personalized to local and personal themes has developed quite a following.
Illustrator Jeanette Canyon was there (she’s got a new book
Todd and Doug recently did a segment on HGTV’s That’s Clever about their bracelets that was playing in the gallery. They use hot glue to attach their photos to the glass pebbles and their process, which they generously share, is terrifically smart and easy. Be sure to take a look…and have an easy weekend.
Ponsawan Silas’ necklace stringing slide show is worth a bit of clicking. (It first appeared as a very small image but if you click around or wait a bit it turns into a workable viewing version.)
Not only does Ponsawan string polymer clay beads in fanciful ways, but she makes very clever use of the slideshow software (and it’s free). No need for a video camera, just add your step-by-step pictures to a slideshow. Genius!
Make sure you scroll down her page and see the rest of her "wild things" necklaces.
A whole contingent of polymer clay artists have been experimenting with liquid polymer. Marcella Brooks has her mysterious process that we covered on Monday. Today we’ve got Carly Seibel who creates faux glass beads using the liquid stuff. Where have I been?
While I was looking at Carly’s site, I ran across this necklace that looks like a vacation on a string to me….a perfect July image. Her site shows a nice mixture of techniques and tutorials and her combinations of seed beads with polymer clay is very effective.
