Polymer Clay Daily

Real polymer santas

Kassel on PCDaily

This 3-inch round santa is built over glass and painted with oils in multiple coats by Doreen Kassel. Her 2013 ornaments were awarded a 2013 Niche Award. A former illustrator, Doreen loves to tell stories with polymer characters.

Read more about Doreen’s Uncommon Creatures and her own story. There’s a whole box of Santas on her Facebook page.

If you were skeptical about Santa being real and the story being true, look no further. We wished and hoped for the funds for the Raise the Roof project and you Santas delivered.

We’re nearly three quarters of the way to the goal in only a few days. The Santas have come disguised as polymer artists, as the international guild and as friends of friends who’ve never heard of polymer clay. Lots of you bought tools on Cyber Monday which gave us a big boost thanks to Lee Ann Armstrong.

Please join the Santas and help with that last quarter push to the goal.

Playful polymer

Schulz on PCDaily

Here are three artists who can help reacquaint you with your inner polymer child. Look at the playful way Austria’s Eva Marion Schulz experiments and dabbles with clay.

If you scroll through her Facebook photos you’ll see that she paints with polymer, sculpts with it and even gives it wings and feathers.

Mishly on PCDaily

In the vase at the left she takes leftover canes, flattens them, backs them with scrap and cuts out ovals. Starting at the bottom of a glass vase, she adheres the ovals using her hand inside for support.

Want to play more? Two free tutorials popped up that are so simple and quick that you won’t be able to resist them.

Watch Iris Mishly’s video about how to make a holiday whirligig from a stack of narrow strips of polymer. Hang it and watch it spin gracefully.

Heather Powers shows you how to make merry little owls with just a pinch and some paint. You’ll feel like a kid again.

Raising a ruckus

Raising the Roof has raised a ruckus thanks to you. Your generosity is amazing. Remember that a donation here makes a great gift that you can print (here’s the donation card) and slip into an envelope to present with a slight bow and a quiet, “Namaste.” (The light in me honors the light in you.)

Cyber and fiber Monday

Morris on PCDaily

PCD has followed Jennifer Morris’ meticulous polymer work from New York to Portland. Her distinctive romantic and bohemian designs are precisely appliqued onto base beads and often embellished with rich beadwork.

Recently Jennifer’s work has taken a geometric turn and she’s being influenced by fabrics – quilts, weaving and needlework. The earrings at the left were inspired by aztec embroidery, the ones on the right by a kilim rug.

Morris on PCDaily

Her Etsy interview gives you a glimpse of her studio, her methods and her life in Portlandia.

Cyber Monday helps raise the roof

Lee Ann Armstrong likes simple solutions. Her search for a well-designed cane slicing device led her to come up with the popular Simple Slicer. Her response to the Raise the Roof project is equally straightforward.

On Monday, December 2, buy a tool from Lee Ann Armstrong and she’ll donate the entire amount to Raise the Roof. Your purchase of any tool from Lee Ann’s Etsy site will help put a roof over the head of a woman in distress. No paperwork, no governmental hoops, it’s another simple solution. Indulge your love of tools guilt-free.

Thanks to Friday’s “first responders” we are well on our way. Lee Ann’s generous gesture keeps the project’s momentum going. Read more Raise the Roof personal stories on their blog and donate directly here.

Raise the roof

Raise the Roof campaign

This year you raised enough money to build a permanent home for the Samunnat women’s project in Nepal. This music video by Australia’s Cathy Bucolo tells the story beautifully. The pictures of the construction and the stories of the women in this thriving program will astonish you.

Dr. Ron Lehocky has been a force behind the project (along with Australia’s Wendy Moore and Nepal’s Kopila Basnet).

When Ron saw pictures of the iron rebar jutting out of the roof for a second floor some day and asked about the stairs that lead to an upstairs eventually – well he couldn’t stand it. “The builder is there, the materials are available, the women need the space. You can do it now,” he said firmly and wisely.

Samunnat progress

If 500 people give $20, Samunnat can complete the second floor and fence the grounds for livestock and gardening. Ron seeded the project with $2000 (and a cow) and already polymer artists have begun contributing. Help now!

Every contribution counts and you can follow along online to see what a difference you’ve made. Need a holiday gift? A donation in the name of a friend or family member makes a thoughtful gift. Here’s a gift/donation card that you can print and send. You can also help by putting this ad on your blog or talking about Raise the Roof on social media. Let’s do it this month!

simple slicer on PCDaily

Simple Slicer Cyber Monday

If you’ve been eyeing one of Lee Ann Armstrong’s popular Simple Slicers, Monday is the day to jump on it. Lee Ann is donating all her Monday sales (not just a slice but the whole shebang) to Samunnat. You’ll be getting a super slicer and making a mighty donation at the same time!

Here in America, shopping gets frantic for the next few days. Monday is the big day for online holiday sales. Our buying frenzy is a little embarrassing but Lee Ann helps you slice better, shop smart and feel good this Cyber Monday.

Polymer geometry

Yarn and Clay on PCDaily

Snowflakes bring reminders of the awesome geometry of nature. Remember cutting and unfolding paper snowflakes that taught you the secrets of repeating patterns? Some of us still thrill to that lesson in polymer.

San Francisco’s YarnNClay (Lina Bailey and Yana Mostitsky) offer these gracefully shaped drop earrings decorated with a snowflake cane reduced to tiny dimensions. The two artists met on the internet and now mix their media fashionably in an Etsy shop.

Montarsi on PCDaily

This year I vow to make some of Jan Montarsi’s glittery snowflake ornaments. Look closely and you’ll begin to see how he used small cutters, combining them into a geometry of his own for ornaments. His delightful tutorial shares some of the finer points.

Bringing back childhood pleasures is a sure way to stay in touch with the truer meaning of the season.

Facing the holidays

West on PCDaily

Melanie West went all “spots and dots” while Donna Kato got “spikey” and Loretta Lam played “hide and seek” in the new work they just unveiled on Facebook in time for the season. The works have a loose and confident feel about them.

Lam on PCDaily

Not ready for the holidays? Join the rest of us in the crowd who have good intentions and are scrambling to get artworks finished (or started).

Settle down and remember that the holidays aren’t really about competition but about heartfelt expression.

Kato on PCDaily

Breathe and take in the beauty of what others have created.

Crocheted polymer

Ajates on PCDaily

Cut out and texture a polymer slab, pierce the clay with a few small evenly-spaced circles. Consider adding a second layer and more holes. Fire the design. Sew contrasting threads in and out of the holes, wrapping the edges and adding colorful touches.

Madrid’s Fabiola Perez Ajates developed this simple decorative mixed media technique that simulates popular crocheted fashions.

See how quickly her students added their own touches to Fabi’s concept and include this idea in your holiday project stash. Fabi is featured in the Polymer Clay Global Persepctives and her projects are inviting and ingenious.

Mutilated polymer

Margit Bohmer chops, scratches, carves, gouges, and mutilates her polymer beads in the most delightful and enthusiastic ways. Her colors are exuberant.

“I especially like to make simple, rustic beads and ethnic-inspired jewelry. Krobo beads from Ghana and the gorgeous jewelry from Tibet are wonderful sources of inspiration,” she says.

Margit’s DaWanda shop and her Flickr pages show how her color palette has remained constant over the last few years while her techniques have gotten bolder and more energetic.

Have a bold, energetic and enthusiastic weekend!