Polymer Clay Daily

Trompe l’oeil brooches for men

Bonnie Bishoff fools our eyes with her brooches on PolymerClayDaily.com

These flat pieces from Maine’s  Bonnie Bishoff have me questioning my vision.

Even though the “Hello Handsome” men’s jewelry show has been postponed, Bonnie can’t stop pursuing the ideas she came up with for the event.

These are 2D pieces that fool the eye into believing they’re 3D. They’ll become brooches once Bonnie finishes refining them. “You can’t imagine how many little tweaks it takes to get to this point,” Bonnie says.

See these and more of her brain-teasers on Facebook and Instagram.

Wednesday rainbow

Clare Lloyd relies on spot-on color for her feel-good rainbow on PolymerClayDaily.com

UK’s Clare Lloyd doesn’t quite know why but she’s been making rainbows lately. “Somehow all the bright colors together seem to be necessary at the moment,” she says.

No fancy techniques here. Clare concentrates on color. The jolt of color is a tonic for me. Need more? Here’s her website.

Sand-filled scrap polymer

Sand provides structure for Claire Wallis-Dovey's pinch pot on PolymerClayDaily.com

UK’s Claire Wallis-Dovey joined the pinch pot challenge over at the Facebook Polymer Clay Success group with this marbled entry. She used scrap Kato clay to create her bowl shape.

She gently folded the bowl’s excess clay over to form the top surface and left the pot opening raw to add to its rugged look.

Then Claire poured sand into the hole and added a trickle of water to firm the sand. The wet sand allowed Claire to roll the top flat. The sand also kept the flat area from collapsing during curing. She just poured the sand out after it cooled.

Tuck Claire’s idea away for your next bowl.

Wearable signs of hope

Chris Baird makes gaily gathered sprigs of hope for your lapel on PolymerClayDaily.com

Wearable signs of hope, growth, and comfort for all!  That’s the tagline that Minnesota’s Chris Baird gives her small brooches made of sweetly colored cane slices.

She likes to stick to geometrics and color these days though she’s had a long career in various media. You’ll want to explore what grows in her polymer garden on Facebook.

Make yourself a sprig of hope and fasten it to your lapel this fine spring Monday.

Armed and ready

Cynthia Toops pays homage to the virus in micromosaic on PolymerClayDaily.com

Seattle’s Cynthia Toops pays homage to our current reality with her latest small micromosaic brooch.

Her “Armed and Ready” cowboy wields a yellow tape lasso for 6′ social distancing, a mask, nitrile gloves and sanitizer in holster. He wears a covid brooch instead of a sheriff star.

Cynthia bakes very fine threads of polymer which she embeds in an unbaked layer and cures again. All this in a cast sterling bezel by Chuck Domitrovich.

Over at StudioMojo we’ll thread our way around current events and look at all the creativity this crisis has spawned. Join us!

Sheltering polymer

Christine Picaut finds beauty in our shelters on PolymerClayDaily.com

France’s Christine Pecaut adds the most charming villages to hair barrettes.

The array of textures, foils, crackles, and canes that she lavishes on these small wonders tells us how exciting these miniature scenes are to her. Such whimsical detail.

Maybe she wasn’t thinking of our current circumstances but she reminds us of the beauty and importance of the places that shelter us. She’s here on Instagram and Etsy.

Christine Picaut finds beauty in our shelters on PolymerClayDaily.com

Give a hug

Gesine Kratzner wraps her arms round what everyone needs...a hug in polymer on PolymerClayDaily.com

Yesterday it was a punch. Today it’s a hug. It’s hard to wrap your arms around all the emotions we’re feeling. Clay can help.

Portland’s Gesine Krastner shows us her Hugs by Mail on her Etsy shop and Instagram.

Gesine has a charming way of making difficult emotions and tender feelings easier to deal with in her clay creatures and illustrations. See a whole bunch of them on her website.

Polymer packs a punch

Anita Kennerley gets in your face with her polymer message on PolymerClayDaily.com

Georgia’s Anita Kennerley shows how polymer can pack a punch. She calls her 4 1/2″ round piece Rona Rules. Crocheted red dots are tucked in between textured and torn bits of silver clay with a tattooed fist that gets in your face with a message.

What a powerful way to emphasize the number one rule for fighting this virus.

Anita has great spirit and she never pulls her punches. Here she is on Facebook.

Easter heirlooms

Deb Hart shows you how to make an heirloom for Easter on PolymerClayDaily.com

Texas’ Deb Hart gets a jump on Easter with her polymer mosaic eggs. Deb has an unusual way of filling in around her central elements and defining the spaces with thin border canes and fine repeating patterns.

No time to make them? Deb offers 50% off her own finished eggs or her tutorials until April 13. (Use promo code Easter2020.) Her workbooks are all 50% off through the end of May while we keep our families safe at home.

You’ll also find Deb’s polymer designs with a southwest flavor on Craftcast and Facebook.

Strung out

Alice Stroppel offers a free tutorial. Add your portrait to her online gallery. PolymerClayDaily.com

Looking for a free tutorial that will bring you back into the present and give you a stress break? Florida’s Alice Stroppel offers just that. Access the tutorial here.

Squirt polymer through the spaghetti-like disks (the ones with multiple holes) of your extruder and get busy making a portrait from the strings. No, extruder? Roll long snakes by hand or use your medium of choice.

The tutorial is broken into four short steps. It may be just the thing you need to get your hands back on clay.

Alice wants to create an online gallery of “Self Portraits in the Time of Isolation” Add yours via the link. Any media welcome.

Studio Mojo will look at helping you deal with the shockwave of events and keep you looking at  “What is” instead of getting stuck with the less predictable and less helpful “What if”. Join us.