Garden polymer

Cornelia Brockstedt’s Morning Dew bracelet recalls the dew shimmering on spring moss. Her polymer clay and silver creation is part of a recent garden-themed series that includes City Garden, Shelter and Street Life and shows vegetation thriving unexpectedly in earrings and brooches.

Conny was trained as a goldsmith and has worked as a designer for years. Polymer allows her to combine her talents. “As much as I love black and white, I love all shades of green – and dots,” she says.

She likes to look at her subjects intensely and is fascinated by repeating forms. You begin to understand how her mind works as you flip through her Flickr photos and you will see why polymer fits her vision perfectly. Thanks to Donna Kato for the link.

Oxidized polymer

Spain’s Ana Belchi celebrates 500 blog posts with a shower of new work. Her Industrial Disease series shows Ana’s efforts at oxidizing polymer clay. Wires appear and disappear in these rough pieces that were inspired by the work of Montserrat Lacomba.

Her Cuerda Seca (translates as dry rope?) group shows ragged edged brooches made of blocks of color divided by deep black channels. Explore all of this and more on her Flickr site.

Ana will teach her oxidation class at the August GredosClayFestival in Spain. Visit the site for all the class listings.

Free folded tutorial

Helen Breil’s new free video tutorial is so clear and concise that it leaves you thinking, “Oh sure, I could do that!” It will start your week on positive note.

The first Folded Bead Tutorial shows you the basics. Part 2 shows you how to add a surface effect and Part 3 explores design possibilities. Simple and straightforward yet stunning.

A clean work surface, manicured nails, a calm voice – Helen presents a pleasant interlude and a thoughtful approach to clay even if you hadn’t considered folded beads previously. Here she is on Facebook.

Kazuri West (where Helen’s books and texture stamps are sold) is offering a free giveaway with purchase.

Polymer toppers

What are June brides choosing to top off their wedding cakes this year? There’s incredible variety! Like these polymer kissing fish from Indigotwin (Cortney Rector and Kirsten Arundt). The duo include birds, robots, whales, lobsters, apples and much more in their wedding toppers and favors.

For a more traditional approach, check out Spain’s Noemi Hurtado‘s Flickr page. She copies every ruffle and ringlet for her polymer toppers. Or try Dawn Stubitsch, or Elizabeth Bonura (she did a lifesized one), or Italy’s Mary Tempesta or Sophie Skein’s animals.

Polymer toppers have gotten so popular that you can launch yourself into a weekend’s worth of research by googling the term. I just wanted to put you in the mood for June!

No fear polymer

No-fear polymer fashions from Moscow’s Oxana Volkova. Her love of color extends from a headband bubbling with colors, textures and patterns to makeup that continues the artistry. Are those mokume gane lips?

Why not wear summer? Here are her bracelets, her mixed media, more of her fashion shoots.

Polymer headpins

Looking for diversion? How about polymer headpins like these rustic, antiqued ones from Missouri’s Ginger Davis Allman?

Ginger even offers a tutorial for her headpins, connectors, charms and other beads if you want her insider tips. She moves between grungy and romantic looks, abusing the beads until they look just right.

Ginger gave a clear explanation and comparison of translucent clays in an earlier PCD post and you’ll want to catch up with her more recent faux glass experiments.

Be warned, she’s having so much fun and writes so well that you may end up spending more time on her pages than you anticipated. Of course you’ll want to check in on her Facebook and Etsy sites too. And best of all, her husband offers a handy photo template for that troublesome new Flickr layout.

What if polymer?

It’s time to catch up with the newest versions of Stroppel and Retro cane tutorial possibilities. Just when you thought these cane formulas had been explored thoroughly, Page McNall stretches her scrap into striped tubes, Antonina Lyamaeva from Germany wraps her retros into multicolored swirls while Linda Wentink extrudes hers in flat strips that look very Klimt-like. It pays to keep asking, “What if?”

Polymer crossovers

Canada’s Claire Maunsell worked in hot glass for twenty years and she reflexively handles polymer as if it were hot and liquid. These beautiful hollow pods are created using a technique that Claire explains in the upcoming Global Perspectives book which is full of new names, exciting concepts and scads of pictures.

Artists who crossover from glass, textiles, ceramics and sculpture are perhaps the most exciting part of our global story.

While you wait (the book arrives in July), enjoy Claire’s rough yet sophisticated glass-meets-polymer work on her Etsy shop (where she’s busy adding items), her Zibbet shop, her blog and her Flickr pages.

The Turkish way

Turkey’s Alev Gozonar tied together large pixelated polymer portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Che Guevara, Virigina Woolf, Frida Kahlo and other VIPs pairing them with renderings of VOPs – that’s very ordinary people – for her Way exhibit at Mabeyn Gallery in Istanbul last year.

Here you see Alev with her Sahne IV piece that combines thousands of lengths of extruded cane into a striking 49″ x 40″ image. Polymer QR codes designed into the portraits offered viewers another way to interact with the works.

Visit the gallery site and read the news coverage to comprehend the scale and impact of these unusual mosaics. There’s a weekend worth of research here that may make you rethink scale and size.

Reclusive polymer

Bali’s Jon Anderson has been slow to warm to the social network scene and just launched a new website and Facebook fan page. Hop right on over there to greet this prolific polymer artist and make him feel at home online.

You’ll recognize Jon’s richly cane-covered animal sculptures which are carried widely in US gallerys and have ended up in the collections of such notables as Carlos Santana, Dave Abbruzzese, and Bill Clinton.

Jon creates massive complex canes inspired by Moroccan images and limits his colors to his favorite palette.Though we’re familiar with Jon’s work, his reclusive nature has made him something of a mystery in the polymer community. (You may remember his custom guitar designs from an earlier PCD post.)

We’ve been waiting since last fall when Canadian polymer artist and textile expert Barb Alexander scheduled a tour of Jon’s studio for her group of Bali visitors. Jon and his wife, artist Skid More, were working then to prepare the site.

This copper bowl, made from scrap copper telephone wire hammered by local artisans and covered with Jon’s signature cane slices, is part of his most recent collection. Browse and enjoy.

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