Doesn’t the name, BeadUnsupervised, intrigue you? The thing is, Carol Beal’s work looks unsupervised in the most delightful way. She mixes her media (fiber, felt, glass, wire and more) with abandon and she isn’t shy about color. She uses whatever materials and colors strike her fancy.

Carol’s background is in illustration and design and she is able to make lots of unlikely colors and textures play together nicely even though you wouldn’t think they’d get along. She gathers her samples on her Flickr page and sells on Etsy.

Supervised shopping

Need some suggestions for your last-minute shopping? May I recommend some of the excellent polymer books that have come out this year? Like Polymer Clay Global Perspectives by Cynthia Tinapple – you knew I’d say that, right?

Some other newcomers that offer good work plus valuable tips and tricks include:

• Polymer Clay Artists Guide by Marie Segal
• Polymer Clay Art Jewelry by Ilysa Ginsburg and Kira Slye
• Polymer Clay Gemstones by Kim Schlinke and Randee Ketzel
• Creating Lifelike Figures in Polymer Clay by Katherine Dewey
• Clay Characters for Kids by Maureen Carlson
• Polymer Clay Master Class by Judy Belcher and Tammy Honaman

And they can be under your tree by Christmas!