Silvana Bates has been mixing her patterns too. She’s using up her bits of polymer to make ornaments. One cookie cutter gives her a warren of gleeful leaping bunnies that show off their spring finery.
But that’s not all! She just uploaded a mixed bunch of spring beads made into a Flower Power necklace on her Flickr site
Cute, cute, cute. The pattern mix-and-match on Hila Bushari’s recent beads makes me want to pull out all the small remnants of my canes and make some big round beads.
Look at the ginghams and polka dots, stripes and little flowers! She combines the patterns and colors together in a trendy, carefree way that makes it look easy.
The translation of her post indicates that Hila leaned on her Israeli cane-whiz friends Marcia Tzigelnik and Ronit Golan to supplement her supply of canes.
Great idea! Recruit friends to bring their canes and have a bead making gathering. You make beads and do a little studio spring cleaning at the same time. It’s a win-win!
While you’re playing (and win-winning), remember to extrude a few patterns and send snapshots of your creations my way. I’m collecting entries for a Spring Push competition and prizes. Attach your photo to an email and send it in. The deadline is April 16 with winners announced April 18.
Three winners will be featured on PCDaily and pictured in our next ad in The Polymer Arts magazine. Strut your stuff! Email your entry.
These beads from Indiana’s Beth Ann Hoover will reflect your mood. She offers a whole series of Mirage polymer beads that include heat sensitive liquid crystals that change color.
How does Beth Ann do this? Does she add ink? Film? Paint? What’s your guess? Will she divulge her secret? Looking at these beads may put you in a curious mood (that’s yellow). Here she is on Facebook and Pinterest. What mood have you chosen for this week?
Correction: Thanks to all who quickly noted that these are manufactured hollow polymer beads that Beth Ann is distributing. My bad, I misunderstood and I rarely venture to wholesale bead sites. Problem is I’m still intrigued as to how this is done. So the question remains. Color my mood “red” with embarrassment.
Veronique Hoffmann’s polymer dots blink down a row of dashes of Skinner blends in spring colors.
She has experimented broadly and when she concentrates on geometry (like this one) or fabrics (one of my favorites), Veronique really shines.
She tucks lots of texture tricks and tutorials into her Flickr (and Flickrock) sites.
If you’re in the mood for simple and striking, checkout her recent work and have a lovely weekend.
“This polymer clay necklace called How the Stone Blooms was made for and inspired by an outfit of my friend and great fashion designer Jana Minarikova,” says Prague’s Eva Haskova.
Graduated black and white patterns and subtle designs flow around this long lariat style necklace that billows into flower shapes at its ends.
If you log into the Fler site, you can vote for Eva’s entry into their online design contest. Hers is entry #10.
Here’s Eva’s site but her most recent works show up on her Facebook page where you can follow her as she travels and teaches around Europe. You can also read about Eva in Polymer Clay Global Perspectives.
Christi Friesen invites you to join her as she travels around the world teaching from now until December. Don’t worry about tickets or accommodations, Christi brings the flavor of her travel to your computer chair. She offers projects, prizes, free stuff, souvenirs and a glimpse of each venue.
“I looked at my teaching schedule and realized that I was pretty much going on a world tour, visiting every continent except South America. So many of you come along with me by attending classes or by following my adventures on Facebook that an official World Tour was in order!” says Christi.
You will need a passport and it’s available on the World Tour site along with all the details. This enthusiastic and energetic polymer professional will take you on a journey of discovery.
The Orca Potlach Box (pictured here) is the first project of the tour. It’s part of the San Juan Island workshop and was inspired by the First Nation peoples.
Blooming Idiots from Kentucky’s Keven Carlton are perfect for April Fools Day.
Leslie Blackford sent the photo along and I couldn’t find a link for Keven other than Facebook. If you know where she hides online, let me know. (Here she is! Thanks Ginger Allman.)
Then I hopped over to Jody Travous Nee’s site for more polymer puns – a shotgun wedding cake topper, road kill, a can of worms. Jody hears a pun and starts sculpting.
Humor may be one of polymer’s best possibilities. Happy April 1.
Kathleen Dustin posted six new World Traveler Purses on her Pinterest board over the weekend. “Based on my travels of the world and the ethnic art I’ve seen and collected, these are my modern tribal purses and their influences,” she says. Each one in this group is named after a city in Turkey.
On this Amasya Purse, large swaths of subtly blended polymer colors are densely textured by hand. Additional dimension is added with dots and other appliques. Washes of color enhance the details.
When a violin bow maker offered Kathleen some horsehair, she gladly accepted it. The horsehair is incorporated into several of these new works.
The top half slides up on thick buna cord which allows the wearer to open the purse.
Thanks to Kathleen for igniting our week with inspiration.
Arizona’s Amber Radosevich was all about bugs – making caterpillars, arachnids, butterflies and such in polymer.
When she started experimenting with translucent polymer, her work took a turn to amber and imitative glass. She’s come up with some innovative methods and clever solutions for making hollow beads and she’s not done playing yet.
If translucent beads have been calling you, take a look at her tutorials. I bought one tutorial to test and now I want to know all her tricks. Headpins? Disks? Bumpy beads? She continues to turn out tutorials. Here’s her Etsy shop and her Facebook page.
Hope you didn’t have other plans for the weekend because you may be distracted.
Victoria’s Gera Chandler lets her poppies climb off the top edge of this 16″ x 8″ canvas. She’s become expert at layering high intensity polymer scenes onto canvases, combining painting and sculpture.
Read Gera’s project in Polymer Clay Global Perspectives to learn her process. There are lots more examples on her blog and a bit on her Etsy shop.
You may have to look closely at Susan O’Neill’s canvas below to see where she’s headed. A pair of earrings hang from holes in the middle of the canvas. This dual purpose work allows the owner to wear the artwork or simply appreciate it on the wall.
You may also appreciate how she used her bird in a stunning pair of earrings.
Susan has long experimented with combining liquid polymer and gauze (here and here). You can also track her progress on Facebook.
If you’re considering moving to larger polymer works, canvas is obviously one good path.
