Moving polymer

Jeanette Kandray has been working in polymer for over 15 years. She’s been a go-to person for the Columbus, Ohio guild and we’re sad to see her go.

But even as she prepared to move to Pittsburgh, PA to be near family, the guild benefitted. She destashed her studio and showered guild members with supplies. Tonight the guild will say farewell.

In recent years Jeanette found her voice, developing the Shadow Cane (shown at right) and refining her own crackle technique (above) that you can read about in her free tutorial on the Sculpey site.

Our art usually reflects our life. Surrounded by packing boxes, Jeanette began making polymer drawers and boxes to match her beads and pendants. Now she’s looking forward to making bigger boxes and venturing away from jewelry. Here she is on Flickr, Pinterest and Etsy. Thanks, Jeanette!

Free I Love Tools

Sign up now for the sixth edition of I Love Tools on Craftcast next Wednesday (September 17) at 7:30 PM. This free webinar includes me and five other instructors talking about our latest cool tools – new from manufacturers or rediscovered from your kitchen. (You’ll be surprised at what you can do with a coffee grinder!)

Prizes, coupons and an evening of fun. Can’t make it at that time? Register to receive a recap and notes from the session.

Weighty polymer

You may enjoy reading about the birth of this sculpture from Latvia’s Diana Sh. Palma.

Diana envisioned this as her first polymer purse and decorated it heavily with what she imagined as underwater blooms. But the result was so weighty that carrying it presented a problem..

She decided instead to consider the creation a keepsake box. But Plan B didn’t work because the top and bottom had baked themselves together (probably due to the weight again).

Please admire her lovely objet d’art!

You can see more of Diana’s polymer work (including tutorials) on Etsy and on Facebook. Browse her impressive collection of flowers on Flickr. She has a board devoted to art purses on Pinterest and she plans to make another attempt.

Winged polymer

Arden Bardol takes two flat pieces of polymer, adds surprises on both sides and dots one side with color. She backs the two curved pieces against each other separating them with polymer stoppers.

Voila! Earrings that will have everyone studying them as they twist and sway. Even the space between is filled with interesting shapes.

Her Wings Multi 1 earrings are part of the Artful Home fall collection. See all the items that Arden offers.

On Facebook you can see a similarly designed necklace that she created for the Rehoboth Art League Fine Craft Show this weekend.

Exposed polymer

With a wink at fashion, the raised exposed seams on Anarina Anar’s latest polymer disk necklace mirror a trend in clothing finishes.

Tiny flecks of color on all the stripes unify Anarina’s bright colors. The seams are accented with contrasting colors. Is it fabric? Is it ceramic?

This Greek artist’s secret ways with alcohol inks give her polymer more vivid, transparent, liquid colors than tinted clays might allow. The dimension, the colors, the contrasts combine to make a clever visual treat for your Monday.

Anarina appears on Facebook and you can see her distinctive work on Flickr and Etsy. She also appears in the gallery section of the fall issue of The Polymer Arts magazine.

Oops…we’re early. Monday software glitch I guess. Let me look under the hood.

Scrap clay possibilities

In a rich and rambling post Laurie Mika fills us in on her rich and rambling art adventures. She’s been both a teacher and a student over the summer. And she’s been getting ready for fall shaows and a workshop in Mexico.

On her blog she shows how she used bright scrap clay as the base for this piece. Her photos are large and if you click on them you can take a close look at the recycled jewels, milagros, mirrors, beads and baubles buried in her polymer.

Her nichos and altars are full of scavenged items and bric-a-brac. Monarch butterflies inspired one piece in which she embedded butterfly wings.

“In Mexico, it was believed that the monarchs represented the souls of the departed,” she explains. “All along the forest path leading up to where the millions of butterflies cluster in the trees, one can see butterfly wings lining the paths like orange and black jewels.”

“The world is one gigantic panorama of possibility. Really taking the time to look and to grab onto that which speaks to your core and fills you with wonder is at the heart of inspiration,” she concludes. Track Laurie’s schedule on her site and keep up with her on Facebook.

Framed shapes

Genevieve Williamson makes minimalist look easy. Three drop-shaped polymer layers are stacked on top of each other and dusted with a hint of texture and paint. The effect is breezy and wearable.

Read all about her framed shapes approach to polymer in the latest issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry magazine. Genevieve’s Etsy shop and Instagram site are full of scrumptious examples.

Finding a format

London’s Olga Perova formed this 9″ x 7″ x 3″ polymer vase, adding decoration later. She treats the surface as her canvas, painting, carving and applying patterns to the openwork structure.

While Olga dabbles in jewelry, it’s clear that she’s most at home with larger forms where she can tell a bigger story. See Olga’s work on Flickr, Facebook and Etsy.

What format feels best for your art?

Keep calm and go 3D

Celine Charuau’s Empty Flower has a chiseled freshness that’s both organic and sculptural. It’s part of this French artist’s promotion for her Organic Forms 3D workshop at the September 11-13 Staedtler Symposium in France.

Need more calming influences? Browse her whole series of petal groups on Flickr and keep up with her on Facebook as well.

Calm and lucky

Five winners will be chosen every week in September by Staedtler, makers of Fimo. They’ll each receive 200 Euros (that’s $262.60 dollars). To be eligible, enter online on the Staedtler Facebook page.

Plugged in polymer

If you feel at home online, you may appreciate Jake Johnson’s Professor Poindexter, a 16 3/4″ x 9 1/2″ polymer, wood and wire sculpture that he’s airbrushed and hand painted with acrylics.

Jake is a sci-fi, horror, fantasy kind of guy and he calls his Etsy shop Dr. Sculptenstein’s Laboratory. His sculptures make the most sense on Mondays when we’re all trying to get our signals straight.

Like the mad professor, I like being wired. After weeks of conferences and travel, it’s good to be plugged in again.

Happy Labor Day and welcome to fall.

Polymer puzzler

What could all these 3″ polymer tiles add up to? There are no rules other than to follow the pattern you’re given and maintain a high contrast between the elements.

Tonight we find out what picture will be built from 25 of these beauties. It doesn’t really matter because they each reflect the personality of the maker. Take a closer look at tile 1, tile 2, tile 3, tile 4 and tile 5.

Then have a look at the whole shebang. Julie Eakes excels at creating these visual puzzles, a group-building exercise that some lucky winner will take home as a memento.

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