Deep textures

These beads are from Mari O’Dell’s Deep Textures workshop that she holds in her treehouse in Annapolis, Maryland. She has a distinctive way with textures. Mari’s a whiz with extrusions and she has a real love of Asian designs.

While you can find some small pictures and lots of descriptions on her website, the place to find her most recent work is on Facebook. Look in on her classes, check out her latest extrusion patterns and see samples of her cake decorating there. Be sure to check out how Mari adds buttons to flipflop sandals to improve their fashion statement.

Polymer purse handles

Julie of Dixie103 combines men’s silk ties and polymer handles into this Indian Wedding Bag. This is her prototype.

Julie describes them, “The handles are quite a bit larger than a bracelet bangle and quite a bit thinner. I wanted them to easily slide over one’s arm. There’s a heavy wire going all the way through each handle and they’re double cured for strength. The seam, where the ends meet, is sewn together with many strands of heavy Nymo thread and covered with seed beads. These handles won’t break. I’ve tried.”

The design is her own after lots of research. Where do we sign up? See more pictures of the prototype on Flickr.

Fishy polymer

Victoria’s Gera Chandler is never far from west coast water. She’s been incorporating her beach finds into baskets that sometimes include polymer.

Her latest fetish is fish and the most recent version of Gera’s FuSion Bangles shows them in her signature colors swimming around wrists.

Catch up with Gera’s baskets on her Flickr site and on Facebook. Gera’s work is featured in the upcoming book, Polymer Clay Global Perspectives which is available for pre-order (hint, hint).

Polymer mementos

Photo transfers and polymer make a perfect match when you’re considering making mementos, charms and tokens. Of course transfers can go way beyond that as Tracy Holmes noted about this Polymer Clay Cubed entry for Synergy from Marty McGraw. Marty’s Matriarch Cube shows six women in her family revealed in 54 colors.

“I had not expected anyone to interpret PC3 in such a profoundly personal way, and Marty McGraw’s six-faced photo homage to matriarchs and matrimony was unexpectedly moving,” says Tracy, the project’s creator. “What a generous gift for a mother to give to her son,” she added.

Barb Fajardo’s Curly Cube solved the color problem with a delightfully tactile sculptural puzzle. The color cube project is ongoing (Tracy’s working out the next steps) and you can read more on Tracy and Dan’s Facebook page.

On a personal note, I’ll share this small polymer frame with twelve translucent photo transfers that hangs on the window screen above my sink. It provides a daily reminder of the women in my family. A Wendy Malinow faux birch heart hangs next to the frame and adds a rustic note to my nostalgic view. Enjoy your views this weekend.

Baby polymer

California photographer Aurora Rosselli (Eclisse Creazioni) makes the sweetest small portrait tiles that she turns into charms, pendants and magnets by adding silver findings, pearls and crystals. While she skirts the issue of exactly what material the tiles are made of, my eye says polymer.

In her Etsy shop she offers to transfer client’s photos to the clay and make them into wearable mementos. Kids art makes a companion charm to go with the photos. Of course, as a professional photographer, Aurora brings a great eye to her designs.

Just in time for Mother’s Day (May 12) this may make you pull out your transfer materials and give it a try. Or hop on over to her Etsy store to shop and see more on her Flickr site.

Runway polymer

We move from yesterday’s minimalist approach to Italy’s Chiara Curreli (Duecentogrammi) who lives on the other end of the scale.

Chiara debuted her exhuberant and colorful polymer line in 2012 and continues to promote it in fashion shows (this model is from the London show) and high profile media.

Much as museum shows help our craft get exposure, the glitz and glamor of the runway offers another big audience. Get caught up in the excitement on Chiara’s Facebook page and on her blog.

Springtime in polymer

Baltimore painter Jennifer Wilfong paints on canvas and wood and polymer. She moves between large-scale canvases and small-scale jewelry with ease.

Jennifer limits her polymer palette to black and white, challenging herself to expand her designs and explore form, texture and shape.

She also recycles vintage frames and watch cases like the one shown here. A delicately carved polymer flower reminds the wearer that it’s springtime.

You can read more about Jennifer in this Niche magazine article, on her Etsy site and on her YummyAndCompany site.

Polymer language

Alaska’s Katie Way made this 12″x12″ polymer and reclaimed wood piece for the silent auction at her son’s Spanish immersion school.

Katie’s been in high gear with circles and reclaimed wood lately and if you’re a circle lover, you’ll need some time to flip through Flickr to see how she works. Katie’s messy work table looks downright tidy to most of us. That woman knows how to use cutters to full advantage as texture tools! Here she is on Facebook.

Her torn edges, judiciously placed color and big energetic doodles highlighted with a wash of dark paint speak a language all their own.

Polymer 2000

These scrap bangles from Australia’s Debbie Crothers have a party vibe! Don’t you love those gold leafed and Jones-Toned dots that she tossed on to fill in the gaps? Debbie took her not- quite-right pile and turned it into something great that suits my mood as I celebrate post 2000 today. We’ve gotten bolder and better!

I jumped in the wayback machine and looked at the September 2005 posts. The photos were much smaller. Remember, we had tiny monitors then. Most of the links work!

Can you believe this tame and subdued early mosaic from Laurie Mika? She’s surely embraced color and claimed her own style in a big way since then. We’ve come a long way, baby!

Thanks to you faithful readers for helping to turn that early not-quite-right blog into something very good and have a great weekend. Happy 2000.

Polymer and math and meditation

A little quiet time in the studio got me thinking about how meditative working with polymer can be. These earrings from None of the Above are a perfect example.

In Daniel Torres’ class at Synergy he explained how repeating patterns like these appeal to us because they are found in nature – Fibonnaci numbers, fractals and such. Anybody have their class notes handy?

None of the Above knows nature’s math and she calculates with perfectly arranged dots of clay. Fascinating and mesmerizing work on Etsy.

Speaking of numbers, tomorrow’s post marks a special one for me. 2000! Maybe that’s why I’ve been contemplative! Whew!

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