Polymer Clay Daily

Signature earrings

These melon-colored glow earrings from Lindly Haunani are summer favorites. The beauty of the pinched petal design and black-outlined gradations made them Niche Award winners and help tell Lindly’s story.

Her Hawaiian heritage and color expertise shine through in the floral shapes. If you’d watched her assemble the slices, you’d also have caught a glimpse of how her training in mise en place preparation in the kitchen translates to polymer production.

All the parts are cooked, sorted and ready. You can see her hands following the recipe here.

I interviewed Lindly for the first edition of the StudioMojo newsletter, the new weekend edition of PCD that’s full of behind-the-scenes fun stuff. She tells a fascinating story and cautions you not to wait to become an artist. Sign up for Studio Mojo and check out her interview in the archives.

Faux bohemian batik

This Bohemian Nouveau mixed media wall piece by Heather Campbell leads us down her unusual polymer path. She tends toward large, ornate mixed media pieces that tell fanciful stories.

Heather says, “I am drawn to the wandering nontraditional nature of the Bohemian, which is evident in the shapes and layers of color and the intermingling of techniques. I am captivated by the beautiful flowing scrolls, floral motifs and distinct design elements of the Art Nouveau era. Together they seem to merge into a style and feeling that reflect my own life experience.”

The background on this piece is done with a faux batik polymer technique that Heather details in an article that was published in the July issue of Art Jewelry Magazine. You can download the template (shown at the right) for Heather’s sample batik from the magazine’s website.

Decorating with polymer

Pictures of beautifully painted stairs have been featured on decorating blogs recently. These inspirations made me itch to continue the saga of my own small stairway. (Polymer mosaic tiles were a 1998 project and the wall installation was added in 2007.)

Mareike Scharmer’s fantastical interiors on Flickr (don’t miss the bathroom) and then Wendy Malinow’s ethereal dining room wall in Portland (here’s a snapshot of it), emboldened me to have another go at my humble hallway.

First, friend and muralist Bonie Bolen painted the risers and trim. Then we collaborated on embellishing the risers with paint, small round mirrors and baked polymer cane slices.

The only problem with the resulting sparkling “celestial stairs” is that they lead you to believe that there’s something special upstairs…something more than a bedroom and office. The project to polymerize my decor continues.

Adding color

Edgar Hernandez’ world is inhabited by red-nosed Santa or W.C. Fields-like characters who combine cranky, sad and amusing traits. This piece, Adding Color to My Life, is from his Lost Kingdom series of mixed media pieces that combine paintings and polymer sculptures, each representing the lost, lonely feelings that we all experience from time to time.

Edgar Hernandez was born in Mexico and has been a musician, sculptor and animator since moving to the U.S. See more of his work on his Etsy site and Facebook page. The link was passed along by Etsy polymerist, Marcia Palmer.

Working in circles

Working in circles is how Utah’s MaryAnne Loveless describes the polymer collages she assembles on boxes and books and jewelry.

I’d already spotted her work because of its range of pleasing patterns and palettes. A note from MaryAnne’s son made me bring her to you today.

“My mother is an amazing polymer artist, all familial bias aside,” said Joe. He thought that recognition on PCD would surprise her and make her proud. A son’s thoughtfulness makes for a heartwarming Monday story.

Sometimes good things happen even when you feel like you’re working in circles.

Safari polymer

France’s Helene Klym brings us a light, cool polymer necklace to end a hot week. Long thin tube beads interspersed with simple spacers might be fun to wear (and to make) in this heat.

I’m guessing that the tubes are extruded, an easy process when the clay is warm and pliable.

Helene offers this design in a range of colors. The ivory color looks best for our safari-like climate. Take it easy this weekend.

Rugged polymer

Rugged beauty has a double meaning in Marlene Brady’s case. This heavily textured polymer necklace owes its roughness to an indoor/outdoor rug that Marlene purchased and used for a mold before she put it on the floor. She paired the rough bead with other deeply stamped pieces and added layers of paint.

Marlene’s going through that stage when everything you see is a polymer tool. You’ve been there, right? Check out her series of stamps from the bottoms of plastic bottles.

The clincher is the bag of metal pieces she thrifted thinking that she could surely cover them or use them as polymer tools. But there was another message in the bag.

Beat-the-clock polymer

Japanese designers Yuji Kawauchi and Yuri Hamaguchi of Atelier Sango sculpted mini-portraits out of polymer clay (Bend and Bake) at the recent Dwell on Design event in Los Angeles. Twice a day they picked someone from their audience and created a portrait in 30 minutes.

The duo produce figures for claymation videos and presented their work as part of the Yakitate! (fresh baked) show of emerging artists.Watch the video in the right column to see Kawauchi in action.

Can you imagine sculpting a likeness in front of a crowd with the clock ticking? They’re used to working fast since a 30-minute movie requires approximately 21,600 stops to change the figures for the frames.

You can see their animations and more information about them on the DesignBoom site. The link came to us from DailyArtMuse/Susan Lomuto.

Layered-look quilt

This Mini Clay Quilt class with Laurie Mika already happened during the April Artfest. Even so, it’s inspiring and worth a Monday look.

Seems Laurie has taken her remarkable array of surface techniques and added a new emphasis on layering. You’ll remember Laurie’s earlier mosaics and her collaborative quilt entry in last year’s Synergy II Exhibit. Her polymer mosaic book is a “must have” and now there’s a Kindle edition.

Laurie’s off for the summer (in Egypt and Jordan) and will be gearing up for fall teaching in September.

I ran into the link on Julie Fei-Fan’s Pinterest board.