Kindly monsters celebrate the season

Leah Lester's dragons celebrate Halloween on PolymerClayDaily

Apparently, dragons enjoy celebrating Halloween as you can see in this edition of Little Lazies from Seattle’s Leah Lester.

Very benign and cute creatures are what we need this year and Leah’s is a happy story. She started out as a cake decorator but really wanted to create monsters and so she did.

Legions of polymer lazies appear on Instagram and fly off her Etsy shelves. Sometimes that happens when you follow your heart.

Here’s wishing you a Happy Halloween. I’ll be taking time off to write and play for the entire month of November. PCD will be on hiatus but StudioMojo will come out every Saturday. So if you’re needing to check in with your buddies in polymer, come on over for our Saturday confab. See you back here in December!

Tame and wild polymer

Pilar Rodriguez Dominguez mixes tame and wild for effect on PolymerClayDaily.com

Spain’s Pilar Rodriguez Dominguez (El Rincon de Amatista) layers flower slices over tiger and leopard cane designs to produce an effect that’s both tame and wild.

The combination seems odd but it works in this necklace.

Isn’t that often the way it works? If it makes sense in your world, follow that and people will stop and take note.

Playing with bright bits

Germany's Eliska Koliosova plays with shapes and bits of pattern on PolymerClayDaily.com

The way Germany’s Eliska Koliosova (fimeli) experiments with tube beads and plays with extruded patterns makes me want to know more about her and her work.

She’s quite elusive on her Flickr pages that contain mostly dreamy photographs with polymer experiments sprinkled in. Look at how she plays with shapes and scrappy bits in this necklace.

My interest in finding meaning in beads made from scraps has taken me to strange and interesting areas. I’ll be taking the month of November off to explore this phenomenon and write about it. No PCD for a month!

Writing daily is such a habit that taking a break scares me. This week and then some time off. It will be good for our relationship, right?

Bottled up feelings

Carole Monahan intends to bottle her feelings on PolymerClayDaily.com

Connecticut’s Carole Monahan (CuriousClayCreations on Instagram) made little emoji for her guild’s upcoming open studio.

Aren’t they totally cute? Little balls of yellow textured with the appropriate face and accentuated with paint.

Carole says the whole series will be displayed in a bottle she’s labeled FEELINGS. Who wouldn’t like these as magnets, pins, or earrings?

No translation necessary

Wakana Kobayashi builds quilted canes Japanese style on PolymerClayDaily.com

Tokyo’s Wakana Kobayashi (WakkaClay) creates crisp geometric patterns for earrings and hair accessories.

Though the online translation is rough, it’s obvious that she speaks polymer fluently.

In her work-in-progress shots on Instagram, the components appear to be extruded but they may be rolled carefully by hand. Something to aspire to on a Monday.

East meets west meet polymer

Caroline Casswell links polymer to fashion on PolymerClayDaily

UK’s Caroline Casswell has created a polymer link necklace that would be so easy to wear with any wardrobe.

It makes me want to sit down and make a whole bunch of blue and white canes that look a little Japanese and a little Willoware china. Old meets new. East meets west meets polymer.

Caroline shows these in several palettes and sizes on her Instagram.

But cane-making will have to wait until Saturday’s StudioMojo is finished. Links to great stuff from all over came sailing in this week. Organizing them and making them make sense is like reading tea leaves. Want to know what’s in your future? Join your friends in polymer over at StudioMojo.org.

Pumpkin-heads

Before you know it, Halloween will be here. UK’s Pete Simpson (impsandthings) makes it abundantly clear that the holiday is near with a collection of pumpkin-heads prepared for the Faerie Fayre at Glastonbury.

“When you walk through the woods, graveyards, and paths near your home, keep an eye open for movement in the shadows. Listen for rustling in the leaves or the sound of tiny feet. Who knows what wonders you might see,” he cautions on his Facebook.

Pete’s heads look mighty convincing.

Covered for the cold

Sarah Wilbanks covers for a cold winter on PolymerClayDaily.com

Seattle’s Sarah Wilbanks mixes her media so I’m only guessing that these earrings are polymer. She often starts with translucent and adds metal leaf.

Sarah says the frosty colors of this pair reminded her of winter. The outer strips hang over the underlying cones like a warm sweater.

Go look at her Instagram and see if you can identify her materials. I’m usually irked when artists don’t name their media but in this case, it’s as if the material is beside the point and I’m cool with that.

No two the same

No two of Wanda Shum's snowflakes are alike on PolymerClayDaily.com

These samples are from Victoria, B.C.’s Wanda Shum. She usually uses her cane slices to cover teapots and make bowls and jewelry. Now for an ornament class.

Her Papercut Snowflake Cane workshop brings back fond memories of creating snowflakes from folded paper. Wanda’s method also appeals because it allows you to control the chaos of a kaleidoscope cane.

You’ll find more samples on Instagram and on Facebook.

Boffo color

David Forlano prepares pops of color for the Philadelphia show on PolymerClayDaily.com

Boffo colors from Santa Fe’s David Forlano start our Monday off on the right foot with this photo on Instagram.

Color is the first thing we see as our eyes skitter over the simple patterns. Everything is contained within big silver bezels that become earrings.

You might expect fancy techniques but they are loose and playful and ready for the upcoming Philadelphia show November 2-4.

You’ll spot Bonnie Bishoff and Lindsay Locatelli at the show as well.

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