Wishing for the new year
Australia’s Rocky Antonio (Rockysbeads) wishes all polymer artists a blooming new year with this bit of wizardry.
See more of Rocky on Etsy and Facebook.
Have a safe and happy celebration as you look forward to a great 2021.
What’s shakin’ for 2021?
As we step over the threshold of 2021, what will greet us on the other side?
I’m scanning through 2020 posts, putting my ear to the ground and my finger to the wind (an uncomfortable position but you do what you have to).
What’s popping up that will take hold in our community as we move forward?
One thing that might stick is wrinkled, folded, draped polymer like these earrings from Dallas’ Lisa (Makesmalltalk). Polymer begins to look like billowing fabric.
Messy, unpredictable, mismatched? Sounds like it could fit our attitude in the new year. Join us this weekend as I climb out on a limb and predict what’s ahead.
Punctuated polymer
By the time my cutters arrived from Etsy’s Silvia Tomas in the Netherlands, I’d completely forgotten why I needed them. What was I thinking? It looked like a comma!
After a little research, I figured it out and made myself a pair of earrings. Two cutouts swirl around each other to make a cool oval. Silvia makes some clever designs.
The web was slow so making myself a holiday treat did double duty. I had to talk my husband into a quick photoshoot over dinner so that I could make a post of it. I envisioned one of those lovely long neck shots but that would take some major photoshopping.
This is all to tell you that I’m definitely on holiday and that I hope you’re playing around too.
Pull out those tools and tutorials that you just had to try and then lost track of. Whip up something fun for yourself.
Follow instructions
Toni Street was in a polymer funk. You know the feeling, right? She decided to plow right through the doldrums by following instructions.
Meg Newberg offered a ribbon cane in this month’s Polymer Clay Workshop tutorial. Meg has a way of simplifying the most complex cane. When you’re fresh out of ideas and ready to throw in the towel, Meg’s step-by-steps are just the thing.
It wasn’t long before Toni had her ah-ha moment and was unstuck. Her tiny canes for pens are masterful. Here’s Toni on Instagram.
Sometimes it’s just a matter of getting your hands moving. Let your fingers get busy and walk you over the 2020 finish line.
Dog lover polymer
Oregon’s Lea Gordiner says, “My recent fantasy is a combination of birds and animals with human features. They are meant to be silly, fun, playful, nonsensical…really. Seen any birds lately with nostrils and lips let alone shoes?”
If the holiday hoopla has you in a dither, you’ll be set straight by a wander through Lea’s website and her Instagram. She has shifted to finely finished polymer boxes as well.
Lea’s Portland guild mate Laurel Swetnam turned her in. We thought it only right that Lea has a PCD post among her presents this year. Thanks for making us smile.
Polymer conjunction
Jupiter and Saturn are having their “Great Conjunction” so it’s no wonder that I’m seeing celestial implications in these earrings (Sage Danya studs) from Ishita Singh (@shop_rangeen)
Light and shadow, long days and short. “Ish” is from North Carolina by way of India. Opposite sides of the world, like planets, don’t get together very often.
You know me, I love a simple design that suddenly gets complicated. Half circles stacked throw shadows that become celestial.
Festive house lights
Short on festive decorations? Take a tip from Canada’s Magda (FiggStudio) and create some house lights.
Her video on Instagram makes it look easy peasy. A slab of clay, a few cuts. Fold it into a house shape and cure it. Do that a couple of times and you’ve got yourself a village. Add whatever details brighten your neighborhood.
It’s probably best to use battery-powered lights.
Don’t miss Magda’s jewelry.
Tassels with a light touch
Maine’s Bonnie Bishoff adds a flutter to her Birch Tassel pendants. But her method doesn’t rely on cumbersome links or laborious wireworking.
The steel cable she bakes into polymer is lightweight and the dangles move like leaves in the breeze.
The polymer pattern here is Bonnie’s modern interpretation of birch. The tassel ends in circles of translucent clay mixed with metallic leaf.
Shop Bonnie’s page and see all the ways she incorporates cable into her jewelry.
Making the season bright
In my ideal Instagram reality, my studio looks as festive and tidy as Australia’s Evelyn Jay’s. I like the idea of holly leaves and berries on a clean work surface.
Who are we kidding? My festive reality involved tossing strings of lights on the bushes and watching the four-year-old across the street build a snowman. That felt right. Close enough.
But maybe, just maybe, I’ll whip myself up a pair of these cute earrings. It’s an odd season this year and we’re allowed to celebrate in whatever way suits us. Raise your hand, if you’re with me.
My studio isn’t tidy but my hard drive is chock full of gift-wrapped goodies that you can play with every Saturday morning in StudioMojo. Find out what Santa brought us!
Metallic leaf and resin layers
Florida’s Sherri Kellberg (BedazzleMe) performs her own brand of alchemy with polymer and resin and specks of metallic leaf.
It’s easy to sink down into the layers. How does she do it? Got me. If her multi-layers and glassy resin toppings ring your chimes, study her dreamy pendants and try her tutorials or take a guess and do it your way.