Polymer can spruce-up, fix-up forgotten treasures around your home as you tackle spring cleaning. Redecorate cheaply with upcycled finds.
Israel’s Hila Bushari provides a video of ideas to get you started. A bit of paint and flourishes of molded polymer turn this dull picture frame into a trendy accent.
Find out more about Hila’s tutorials and artwork on her blog, Etsy, and on Flickr. She offers more free videos here.
Oregon’s Alison Sachs is still roughing up her polymer (PCD last checked in on her in 2012). She also creates some torch-fired enamel on copper pieces and it sometimes becomes difficult to tell which medium she’s dabbling in.
Alison calls her business BeadsByEarthTones and that pretty much sums up her approach. Earthy, scuffed, textured pieces.
One of her recent experiments is a faux porcelain line that will make you look twice. She gives Mother Earth’s colors some competition. You can find her latest works on her Facebook page.
Ontario’s Karen Pasieka replaced a career in architecture with polymer. Both careers demanded attention to SubtleDetails, her business name since 2007. Bouquets, cake toppers, ornaments and framed sculptures suit her better, she decided.
She most recently began teaching how to create 31/2″ square polymer scenes like the ones above which she mounts in deep 10″ frames. “The potential for themes is endless,” she says and they can be rearranged into endlessly interesting groups. Some scenes like this alphabet, require a larger format.
Karen’s clear palette is fresh air for your Monday morning. Take a look on her blog, Instagram, Etsy and Facebook.
Last fall PCDaily looked at Arden Bardol’s triangular shaped winged beads sold online through Artful Home.
Her spring circular version of the design is even more intriguing. Colors and patterns are added on both sides of flat circles. Two circles containing four patterns are curved and joined to small beads at their centers.
Gathered into a necklace, the beads turn and the patterns play against each other.
Another new design, Balancing Act, joins simple shapes in yet another way. Take a closer look at all of Arden’s award-winning designs on Facebook, Tallulah Belle’s online, nd her website.
This 2.25″ x 2.75″ polymer pendant by Iowa’s Patti Kimle balances light and dark in a soothing and striking way. A fine silver bail repeats the daisy pattern.
Patti’s works are reflections of the nature around her and often contain inspirational messages. Subtle repetitions and her muted palettes add to the calming influence of her pieces.
Patti’s taught for years and has written three books but she shies away from the limelight. You can search her out on her blog, on Pinterest, on Etsy and on Facebook.
Athens’ Klio Tsaliki winds her eggs with strips of pale pastel polymer and puts us in a springy Easter mood. The colors on her Waterfall Big Egg wash down the sides and carry away our winter blahs.
You can also sample her egg designs on Flickr and catch her work on Etsy and Facebook.
If you’re feeling April foolish and want more egg inspiration, go sample Blanka Prskavcová’s Pinterest board for Easter decorations.
What would you find if you scooped up a handful from Nikki Zehler’s bead stash? Pyrite? Porcelain? Polymer? If LoveRoot is missing a color or needs more texture she turns to polymer to fill the gaps.
The earrings to the left include chunks of pyrite along with African baule beads. The rusty textured chunks are polymer.
The distressed earring bells to the right? Yep, they’re polymer. The big bead in the bracelet is the only polymer there. Nikki lets her eye guide her, not the material.
This exotic gypsy sensibility comes from wild Ohio! Who would have guessed? See loads more on Facebook, Etsy and Pinterest.
Natalia Garcia de Leaniz is one clever and efficient artist. Look closely here and you’ll see that she built these polymer earrings right onto the findings. Her method is perfect for those of us who have trouble assembling and finishing earrings.
She filled the earwire’s bezel with clay and textured it then wrapped slim strips over the background clay and the bezel. She tops her construction with a small bowl shape with a bright shiny interior. Bake and wear!
Donna Kato shows these earwires on her favorite findings page and other vendors offer them as well.
Natalia will teach her tricks at the July 30 – August 2 Clay Carnival in Las Vegas.You can find more about this Spanish artist on Facebook, CraftArtEdu and Pinterest. Her free tool tutorial explains how she builds texture tools.
Nothing like a trick to start the week right!
Briget Derc’s polymer covered bottle will have you rummaging through your liquor cabinet! She’s covered the glass with a combination of beautiful gradations and geometric patterns.
The light glints off the smooth finish and makes you want to caress the surface. A browse through her Flickr pages shows how she pays meticulous attention to finish and she often mixes seed beads with her polymer cabs.
Her quilt inspirations on Pinterest show the striking patterns her eye is drawn to and there’s more about her work here. She’s part of the London Polymer Clay Group.
Staci Louise Smith hints that this dramatic new piece may be her Bead Dreams contest entry. These long pointed cigar shaped polymer beads are playfully carved and colored. Their marks, lines, cracks and curves seem to contain a message from some cyber tribe. The brass spacers are cured to gently separate the spiny shapes.
Now that the rush to finish her piece is over, she’s cleaning her studio and destashing. Check her site, Facebook and Etsy sites to see what she unearths from her workspace.
