Significant others

Did Ron Lehocky think we’d celebrate Valentines Day without featuring the King of Hearts? Not possible.

His production of polymer heart brooches reached 25,801 yesterday and if you multiply that by ten you’ll have calculated how much this Kentucky doctor has raised for kids. You helped him by donating your scrap.

This year he also set his sights on helping the Samunnat women in Nepal and he was relentless. He knows how art can make a difference in lives and how the significance of bit of effort ripples out as others join in. Love to all who were part of that effort this year.

Ron used Lucy Struncova’s extruder disks to make this special edition of heart patterns. He has finally jumped onto social media and shares his methods and his news on Facebook.

Valentimes

It’s hard to choose your valentines…or valentimes as Laura Schiller (clock) and Marie Segal (watch heart) interpret them.

Arden Bardol’s are Captured. Marie Segal’s art is from her heart. Donna Greenberg’s version of Frida is antlered and pierced.

There are many to choose from. Please prowl around and find your polymer loves.


Marie Segal	Donna Greenberg	Arden Bardol

Polymer at heart

South Carolina’s Kathy Koontz combined 7 polymer hearts in reds, pinks and purples to make this 4″ valentines dish. She textured the clay before curing, later applying white paint to enhance the marks. The dish sits on short purple legs.

Kathy’s bright colors are everywhere on her Etsy store, Flickr, her blog and her Pinterest boards. Oh, and Facebook too!

One of the reasons Kathy landed on polymer is that she gets bored easily. She jumps with delight from dishes to buttons to jewelry, changing techniques along the way but retaining distinctive and personal colors and themes. She’s a polymer artist at heart.

Lo-cal polymer

France’s Stephanie Kilgast places tiny polymer chocolate pralines into a 3/4″ heart box for part of her valentine’s offering. Light on calories and heavy on charm.

Stephanie’s miniatures can be found on her Etsy shop and Facebook. On her blog she reveals her latest creations, miniature coral reefs that she transforms into jewelry.

This new art, she says, makes her happy. What a pleasure to have these small reminders of important times and places. Stephanie shares some free tutorials on her site.

Tender tentacles

Arizona’s Kaity O’Shea has a long term love affair with octopuses and her tentacle heart necklace begins our week of love. Kaity sells smaller items on her Etsy site (Killer Tentacle Octopus) and shows her commissions and larger pieces like this Killer necklace with matching earrings (fake gauges) and bracelet on her Deviant and Tumblr pages.

She also posted some in-progress shots and shows her glow-in-the-dark octopi on Deviant. The Comic and Anime communities share Kaity’s tender feelings for tentacles and she has a growing fan base there. Thanks to Carol Simmons for prodding me to look at this unusual polymer work.

Polymer vases

If your winter has been as snowy as ours, you’ll sigh to see these signs of spring from Germany’s Jana Lehmann. Examine her Calyx series of pendants as well.

These polymer Flower Vases are brooches with flowers rendered in her inimitable graphic style. Her Facebook film shows her progression with polymer over the past few years.

Now she’s teaching workshops and has written a new book available in March. The best overview of Jana’s work is on Flickr and you can still sneak a look at her blog here.

The brightness of her palette seems to melt the snow. Have a warm weekend.

Rolled polymer

This is the way Albuquerque’s Barb Fajardo rolls. She gathers thin striped polymer snakes into a bunch and suspends them from a ball chain to make a fashion statement.

She’s also adept at rolling snakes from bits of Skinner blend and then forming them into sinewy floral earrings and pendants. Barb hunts for bargains on bamboo placemats that she disassembles.

She builds her earrings on the salvaged bamboo tiles using the Skinner snakes in a southwest palette and adding texture and paint to the polymer leaves and blossoms.

On her Facebook page you can see the way she’s found to imitate knitting with her rolled Skinner bits. The snake shape suits her so well that Barb can’t help but explore its design possibilities.

Do you make a shape that feels like it’s all yours? Have you explored it fully?

Trailblazing polymer

You are invited to follow along on the class blog as students at Carthage College begin their adventure in learning polymer. Read the syllabus, check the links and examine the work produced in this first college level studio course that focuses on color theory, textures, patterns and compositional strategies using polymer and mixed media.

This Lichened sculpture was created by Professor Diane Levesque. “Polymer Clay Color Inspirations: Techniques and Jewelry Projects for Creating Successful Palettes by Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio is the required text for this course. Lindly and Maggie have been extremely instrumental in helping me to launch this course,” she says.

During the semester students will submit their work on the course blog. The class marks new territory for our community and you can witness the path they’re blazing.

Interactive polymer

Tory Hughes has been scouring Radio Shack stores for her latest polymer pieces.

She dismantles the small robotic toys she finds and upcycles the components to make moving sculptures.

This one is called Lurch and you can watch it dance and sway below.

Cats are some of her most appreciative art patrons. Watch this feline go crazy for art that rolls and ricochets.

Tory’s Jump Spin Wobble Hop class in March is designed to get your art moving.

Balloons and polymer

Spain’s Sona Grigoryan starts your week with a new way to create transparent hollow beads like the ones pictured here. See all her works on Flickr.

She has generously uploaded a few photos that give you the basic instructions.

Her method involves fine wire and small balloons! The deflating balloon pulls the raw clay inward and the wire helps keep the shape.

It’s tempting to try a trick with such easy ingredients. A few hours after it was posted Texas’ Joey Barnes already put her spin on a test bead (a great diversion during the Super Bowl).

‹ 1 2