Polymer Clay Daily

Delighfully simple storage

I thought I’d begin my return to PCD with something profound or stunning. Great insight! Revelation!

But first, it seems, I need to reintroduce myself to the software and make friends with upgrades. I’m sure it’ll all come back to me. I’ve been gone an ETERNITY in digital time. So here’s something small as I dip my toe tentatively into the digital stream again.

This little trick of organizing extruder disks on safety pins is so old school, clever, and thrifty that it totally delighted me when it arrived from a donor passing on decades of polymer tools as she downsized. I’ll find her name but right now, it escapes me.

I said I’d be back in March and if I get this done before midnight, I’ll have told the truth. Stay tuned for more.

Sayonara and a new link

I thought I’d keep writing PCD occasionally but my inner 5-year-old defiantly stomped her feet and said, “No.”  There was no coaxing her back to the computer.

Abandoning artwork and artists gathered over 18 years didn’t feel good either. That’s a lot of water under the bridge! How to solve the dilemma?

My mind wandered back to the beginning of my art adventure…the Columbus Guild, the National Polymer Clay Guild. Each step got me closer to the IPCA which was fortuitously rebuilding their website. IPCA said yes!

PCD and much more are only a click away thanks to Amy Brown and her amazing group of very capable sidekicks. I threw 200+ videos and tutorials from my travels in for good measure, handed over the passwords, and headed off.

StudioMojo, my weekly newsletter, continues every Saturday. It’s where I bring home all the treasures I’ve collected from the stream where my inner child still plays. Join the gang!

Nine ways to Sunday – FREE

Jane Hewitt gathers the mokume gane variations into one neat booklet that's free

Holidays are a perfect time to try something fun, easy, and no-fail. Hello, mokume gane!

Problem is there are variations nine ways to Sunday! You’ve got your deep, shallow, scrap, ghost, and natural methods.

For your holiday polymer pleasure, follow this free link from the UK’s Jane Hewitt, who gathers a slew of approaches to the technique into one nicely-illustrated .pdf booklet to download.

If you feel like giving to Jane’s charity, that would be lovely. Donate on the LimbBo page.

Christmas mystery solved

Cynthia discovers matching earrings from Karen McCorkle in her Christmas collection on PolymerClayDaily

As I layered up for the snow today, I figured out why I had these plain Jane earrings in my collection.

They’re the companions for this Karen McCorckle beautifully caned angel pin that I love. Oh, that goes back a couple of interesting decades!

Karen told us that she conditioned clay when she went to the movies with her family. In the darkened theatre, she could twist and knead the stiff version of polymer that we used back then. Her production schedule was so tight that she couldn’t waste any time.

Can anyone update us on Karen?

Long ago and before hearts

Dayle Doroshow or Ron Lehocky? The answer may surprise you on PolymerClayDaily.com https://wp.me/pegT3-7pB

When Ron Lehocky asked me several years ago who made this dotted square pin that I was wearing, I replied confidently, “Dayle Doroshow.” He corrected me. “I made that,” he said. This is a Ron Lehocky collector’s item!

Long ago and far away when Ron first started dipping into polymer, he made pins that weren’t heart-shaped and weren’t made from others’ scraps. That was 51,000 hearts ago! Hard to believe he’s raised that much for The Kids’ Center for Pediatric Therapies!

Ron pointed me to his 2015 tutorial on PCD that shows how to turn a heart into a Christmas tree. That was from when he had made a mere 30,000 hearts.

Oh, and Dayle Doroshow? She’s lived and taught in France (and Florida) for the past twenty years. And now she’s written a book about her art and life there. Time flies!

 

The history channel

Susan Hyde's polymer madonnas are favorites on PolymerClayDaily.com

In my quest to bring more fun into what I do, I decided to refashion PCD into the “History Channel” for a while. The history of polymer, that is.

As I pinned Susan Hyde’s angel on my down vest this morning, I thought about the works and the artists who have caught my eye since 2005. I’ll be thumbing through my collection for pieces that moved me to shell out money and made me feel so good that I wear them over and over. This clever ploy requires less time online and reacquaints me with my collection.

Susan’s angels always call to me during the holidays. Her madonnas were dark-skinned before that was a statement. She and I met at a weeklong Kathy Amt class on Whidbey Island in 1997 and she’s high up on my list of favorite artists. Her polychromatic color sense and affinity for textiles, inclusions, and faces, get me every time.  Click on the Instagram link to look more closely at her construction. If you put “Hyde” into the search box at the top of this page, you’ll see how she’s been my go-to girl for years. Here she is on Facebook.

The trap of looking easy

Vasso Tzima makes charming ornaments look simple on PolymerClayDaily.com https://wp.me/pegT3-7pl

Every once in a while a polymer artist like Vasso Tizma (ClaylandStudio) from Greece makes us think that we can all be polymer clay sculptors.

You’d think we’d learn that “making it look easy” is a trap. I’m trying to resist rolling out some red and green clay and giving it a go. Is there time to become an expert before the holidays? Hope springs eternal.

Plan B is her Etsy shop.

Spirits from the woods

Ohio mother and daughter give polymer bodies to the faces they find in the woods on PolymerClayDaily.com https://wp.me/pegT3-7p2

Ohio mother-daughter duo Keri Parker and Mikayla Beavan (kurumi_kodama) created these haunting, earthy walnut tree spirits using shells with round polymer bellies.

“I found some walnut shells on the ground back in our woods and thought they looked like little disembodied faces. I knew somehow I needed to give them bodies,” says mom Keri.

These magical creatures appear every week or two on their site and disappear quickly.

Discover more polymer magic in the weekend StudioMojo. For your free sample, shoot me an email.