Gifts outside the box

Angie Wiggins wanted to think ouside the box as she considered making gift items this season.

Her business card holders are sure to be a hit and on Facebook she shared a photo of the wood block she drapes decorated clay sheets over to form her cheery desktop artworks. The bright bulbous feet give the card holders height and add to the party.

Starting out as a weaver, Angie has become well known for her paper bowls onto which she adds bright beads and small bits of polymer. She considers herself a mixed media artist, a chicken farmer and a garden grower.

You can see what inspires Angie on Pinterest and catch more of her work on Facebook. Angie has a strong and fearless sense of color that infuses all her designs with excitement.

How do you roll

Did you make paper beads from magazines and glue when you were a kid? Do you have a soft spot in your heart for these easy beads in polymer?

Margit Boehmer recently rolled these lovely chalked and textured versions. You can see her latest ones here and buy them on Etsy.

I dug out Dayle Doroshow’s versions from 2011 for you to examine too. Dayle used her scraps, flattening the rolls with stamps as a last step and then adding a contrasting color wash.

All that you need are tall triangles of flattened polymer. Wind each triangle up from wide to narrow around a rod.

Paper beads in polymer are easy and great for holiday projects, no matter how you roll.

Polymer Liahona

These Liahona pendants from MaryAnne Loveless intrigued and confused me. They’re very ornment-like, carefully layered and textured in but too small to hang on a tree.

If you google Liahona, you’ll find that in the Book of Mormon, a round brass ball of curious workmanship with two spindles was left on the doorstep indicating which way the leader’s party should travel.

MaryAnne scores on all counts with her polymer brand of curious workmanship and decorated spindles. She’s prepared a whole series of Liahona pendants built over striped beads with carefully applied embellishments that you can see on Flickr,her blog, Pinterest, and Etsy.

Black Friday polymer

Black Friday sounds ominous. Let’s ward off evil with these small polymer monsters from Sardinia’s Alessio Busanca. These mini-dragons are named CloudJumper and Bewilder Beast.

Alessio began as an illustrator and comic artist and likes his dragons small. This picture helps put them in perspective. They’re a mere 2″ tall and full of small scale scariness. Sorry, the last of them sold on EBay last week.

See more of his creatures on Facebook, Pinterest, Flickr, and his Deviant site. This earlier Goblin piece looks like a bad day of shopping. Let’s hope you avoid this crowd today.

Thanks to teachers

For this decorated vase London’s Olga Perova uses Jana Roberts Benzon’s New Age Bargello methods and applies them to a vessel rather than jewelry. The result is stunning.

Olga cut autumn colored sheets of raised bargello textures into leaf shapes that drape comfortably over the 11″ x 5″ vase’s curves. The rugged terrain of this pattern is best enjoyed up close and the vase shows it off to real advantage.

Here’s Olga on Facebook and Etsy. You may remember her earlier vessels on PCD in September.

A look through Jana’s bargello photos shows you how she continues to push polymer to new textural limits that her students take in all directions.

Thanksgiving giveaway

Leave a comment on Polyform’s FB page to be entered in their drawing for a pasta machine! Today’s the day.

Seasonal polymer

Donna Kato is getting in the spirit of the season. What started out as a green big bead necklace, begged for some red. It’s much more than your typical red and green design however.

Her clean graphic designs feel tidy, cheery and under control which is what most of us are aiming for on the day before Thanksgiving.

Donna’s been fishing and her fish look dressed for the season too.

Read more on Facebook, on her CraftArtEdu site and on the PrairieCraft site where she sells unusual findings and tools.

Interactive polymer

NYC artist Olga Ayala wants her art to be interactive. “I am a polymer clay artist who doesn’t believe that art should be something you just look at. That’s why many of my pieces of art are also functional, ” she says.

She’s preparing for Fiesta Navidena which celebrates Puerto Rican heritage month in NYC this weekend with her Bomba Dancer finger puppets, dolls and cutouts.

For the holiday season she’s created sets of Los Reyes Mago in several sizes including these finger puppets. See more of her drummers and dancers on Facebook and on her Etsy site.

Banner polymer

Laurie Mika provides us with a heraldic banner to start our festive Thanksgiving week. Historically, people displayed their coat of arms and other designs to identify and celebrate the family. This banner is a promo for her classes at the Tucson Art Retreat In the Desert (scroll down to her February 5 class).

Usually Laurie uses her techniques on polymer for shrines or jewelry. In this class she’ll show how the same stamp, paint, collage, embed, layer, transfer methods combine into a mixed-media mosaic that can be used to make banners and other artworks. The banner becomes the vehicle for a modern family narrative.

Laurie is just back from her Day of the Dead workshop in Mexico that you can read about on her blog. You’ll find more of her story on Pinterest and Facebook.

Twofer Friday

It’s a twofer Friday to tide you through the weekend.

Cecelia Leonini’s Surreal necklace stands on its own even as it contains echoes from Iris Mishly, Nikolina Otrzan and other artists working with textures and inks. (Cecelia credits Nikolina’s and Iris’ tutorials.)

Note how the three main pieces were cut from one image. This painterly approach is being played with widely and moves polymer in new directions. Cecelia’s progress is documented on Flickr and Facebook.

If you’re looking for some warmth this weekend, let Russia’s Anna Krichevskaya bundle you up in a tweedy blue bangle. The heathered colors of her extruded faux knit resemble the big bulky sweaters sure to beat the chill. There’s more on Flickr. Stay warm.

Bowled over polymer

Slovenia’s Claudia Kurent has stockpiled an impressive stash of bowls. She’s taking a few days to admire them before they disappear at the holiday artfair. You can examine these little beauties on her blog. It looks like she’s built them on glass liners.

Seems PCD always gravitates to Claudia during the holidays. Here are her snowflake ornaments from last year.

You may particularly like her Tips and Tricks album on Flickr. She’s also on Facebook.

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