Out of time polymer

Imagine my surprise when I picked these beads for today and then found that the artist, Kathy Richardson of Cincinnati, Ohio, had recently taken a class from Leslie Blackford (she was yesterday’s inspiration). Let’s call it great minds thinking alike.

Kathy was already a committed boho style, urban grunge, mixed media kinda gal. Leslie pushed Kathy to think about sculpture for her Out of Time Designs. The double entendre of her shop name makes you think, doesn’t it?

The polymer beads at the left are from another time when children played with wooden toys instead of video games. She applied colors, sanded and colored them again to give them the worn look of old toys. Peeling bark was the inspiration for the curled beads at the right.

Kathy says, “My shop started from a need to pay for this terribly addictive habit of making things to make people smile, make me smile and make the world a bit brighter in the process.” Take your time and smile as you look at her work this weekend.

Polymer grandmothering

This is my way of explaining why I didn’t get my research done today. These 3″ sculptures are all about creative grandmothering with polymer.

I loved the little sculptures that Leslie Blackford was making at the Ohio Bash weekend. This blue guy with an ominous face has bitten into a fish. He joins a whole group of mermaids, dogs and devils in striped pants. She’s posted a few finished ones here.

While I can’t begin to channel Leslie’s wonderfully weird vision, I couldn’t wait to try making mini-me dolls for my grandsons. Leslie taught me that first you make a head using an easy photo transfer (with water and a laser print) and then you model a body and embellish it with abandon.

I hope that my first clumsy attempt at photo transfer sculpture won’t scare my lovely toddlers. Not great art but I had great fun in the studio.

Pastel polymer

Dancing Flowers is an appropriate name for this bunch of polymer flowers by Zuzana Liptakova of Slovakia. She mixes delicately edged translucent petal cane slices with crystals, metal chain, beads and findings, draping them with style.

To make them into earrings, Zuzana hangs small glitzy jewels on chain from the center of a circle of petals. The colors are perfect for spring with just a bit of what looks like embossing powder worked in for interest.

She’s been working in clay since 2010 and has already attended an impressive list of master classes. With her spring flowers you can see how Zuzana is finding her own distinct style that you can discover in her Sashe gallery, on Flickr and Facebook.

Polymer cairns

Melanie Muir created three major neckpieces for a competition to choose twelve Scottish makers to exhibit in the SOFA Chicago fall show. “Even if I don’t get in,” she says, “I will have pushed my own boundaries which is a good thing.”

This entry is called her Cairn Necklace which was inspired by the stacks of stones traditionally placed on paths and hilltops by walkers. The colors reflect the ones she sees on a beautiful summer’s day on Scotland’s west coast.

The beads are all hollow which makes the necklace easy to wear despite the size and length.

You can see the other two entries, Arrowheads and Flight Waves in her Facebook photos and on her website. Be on the lookout for her new shapes and textures as well. She’s added several new designs and sells them on her Etsy site.

Melanie teaches her Rock Cuffs in a popular downloadable class at Craftcast and she’s preparing a second session on 3D Beads for a May debut.

Five Winners

Five lucky readers have won a copy of the Fire issue of From Polymer To Art magazine. Watch for it in the mail Cindy Bielefeldt, Laura Lee, Ashleen, Alene Cope and Randi Bystrom! Congratulations.

White-on-white polymer

Ease into your week with these lovely white-on-white beads from the UK’s Angela Guertel. She makes a plain white hollow bead base and adds slices of white shapes for interest. The shine on the slices adds an additional subtle note of contrast.

Angela says she uses small cutters to make her shapes. Extruded shapes would also work well for this understated, sophisticated look.

You’ll find Angela on Facebook and on the IPCA group page. She posted about going to Georg Dinkel’s EuroSynergy session so I hopped over there.

Wow! Have you seen the photos on the EuroSynergy page lately (more here on FB)? Stunning. There’s still time to sign up! I’ll be there to help you envision your future in polymer.

USA polymer

Olympic fervor has thrown us into an oddly patriotic mood. Who better to show team spirit than Chicago’s Dan Crowley? His ladies, loosely based on his aunts, are his favorite characters. This one is called America the Beautiful!

Dan is a sculptor and puppeteer and you can watch him build a finger puppet while he talks about his career in this short video interview. He sells online through Etsy and Art Of Toys and shares new works and tidbits on Facebook.

Five winners

Five lucky PCD readers will be picked to win a copy of the Fire issue of From Polymer To Art magazine published by Saskia and Marjon in the Netherlands.

Scroll down and submit a comment to this post and you’re automatically entered in the giveaway drawing. Instead of competing for Olympic gold or silver, you’ll be in the running for Fire if you make a comment by Sunday midnight. Look at the goodies in this issue and have a winning weekend.

Less and more polymer

Eri Dimitriadi’s earrings are composed of flattened curvy wafers of black polymer layered on top of each other with metal stamens poking out. One of the stamens becomes the earwire. That’s it and yet it’s much more.

Eri is a fulltime architect in Greece and she calls herself a minimalist. See her wall installations and read about how she likes to pare down nature’s complexity to essential shapes.

She sticks with a black and white palette with an occasional dash of color and prefers her necklaces off-center. You can see her works on Facebook and catch a glimpse of her influences on Pinterest.

When you’re tied up in technique and color, it’s refreshing to see how less can be more.

Well heeled polymer

Using sheets of patterned clay, bits of fabric and hardware finds, Dayle Doroshow satisfies her craving for shoes.

She hunts for historic patterns or fashionable footwear that appeal to her and then lets her imagination take flight. With the addition of a pin back, the shoes become brooches. Dayle shows the basic process on this free video tutorial.

See more of Dayle’s enchanting work and find out where she’s teaching on her blog and on Facebook. She’s at Maureen Carlson’s and at the New York guild in May.

Tool party tonight

Be sure to join the online party at Craftcast tonight. It’s the 5th edition of I Love Tools and you’re going to love this one.

Polymer phone home

A snake crawls through Leslie Blackford’s polymer woodland scene and bird peeks out of one of the tree stumps. Moss creeps onto the rocks. The creatures are waiting for something.

This small pastoral scene provides a perfect setting for a cell phone!

Leslie worked out the structure (it’s 4″ x 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″) so that a phone balances perfectly against the trees. Now your phone which used to get laid down and lost has a stand that makes it easy to find.

She devised a Candyland scene and other themes for her phone cradle sculptures. Making polymer art that doubles as a useful household item is a trick that Leslie does with style.

Read about the L’Atelier: Polymer Clay Workshop that Leslie and friends are setting up from June 1-3 at the French Lick Resort in Indiana. Registration opens February 24.

Polymer nerve tonic

Need a dose of Nerve Tonic to begin your week? Romania’s Claudia Chindea says her business name came from her grandmother who thought that color was a cure for the soul. Polymer artists would agree.

Claudia’s business that combines polymer, fiber and fabric is now based in Sweden.

Always a seamstress and then trained in graphics, Claudia says, “I learned to observe in a much closer way. To draw first, and then to move on to the material. My mind opened up. That’s how my collection of jewels, made out of fabric, with much color and texture, begins.”

You can read a little about her (use a translator) and see more of her fabric purses in interviews here and here and on Instagram. Helen Breil sent this new link along.

Free I Love Tools

The weekend rehearsal for Wednesday’s free I Love Tools webinar on Craftcast gave me a peek at really cool new tools and ideas. These artists are clever!

Plus Alison Lee is always able to dig up generous giveaways and tempting coupons. Whether you’re in the mood for heavy equipment, the latest little gizmo or just want to keep up with tool trends, you’ll want to join Wednesday’s online party. Sign up. No cost.

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