Polymer Clay Daily

Fauxpal bowl

Opal has tickled the “faux rock” area of my brain since Donna Kato offered her free online tutorial. Camille Young, Randee Ketzel, Liz Hall and others devised their recipes.

My husband’s turned walnut bowl and a looming show deadline gave me the perfect opportunity to try out my own color combinations and mixtures.

Though I learned along the way and would do some things differently, these ideas are finally out of my head and strewn about my studio. It’s been a long time since I’ve shared with you and I want to start the year right.

Party tonight over at Craftcast where the group from the Polymer Clay Master Class book will gab and guffaw. Lots of prizes and fun. Join the gang!

Go-for-it polymer

Interior designer Nao from Brussels focuses her designer’s eye on polymer with this That’s not the shape of my heart pendant with freshwater pearl and gold chain.

She upcycles and recycles, mixing and matching her materials with flair and style.

Free from what can be the complications of tools and techniques, Nao starts from a designer’s perspective.

See more in her Etsy shop. Genevieve Williamson sent the link along (and she shows a neat earring trick here).

Reminder

Online party tomorrow night at 8:00 ET. BYOpolymer!

Pietra dura polymer

The UK’s Fiona Abel-Smith created this polymer box with its decorative panels using an ancient inlay technique called pietra dura. Fiona watched Sue Heaser demo the technique in November and she was smitten.

The box is 5 1/2 inches (13 1/2 cm) square and 4 1/2 inches (11 cm) high with decorative panels of birds on each side and the top. Fiona details the her successes and failures (cracks during baking) with this technique and shows how she began with inlay and added minute dabs of polymer from fine extruded strings. Adding these flecks of color for the feather details gives the piece a more painterly feel.

This ancient technique may not be for everyone and Fiona admits that the box took 120 hours of work. See more pictures on her Flickr site. The link came to us from another polymer painter, Cate Van Alphen.

Heartfelt polymer

Katie Way brings us a whole bunch of very cool textured polymer hearts for our Friday enjoyment. Katie’s Bull’s Eye Studio shares studio spaces and gallery/classroom area at Upstairs Studio in downtown Anchorage, Alaska.

If you want a hit of happy color or a reason to dust off your extruder, check out the header on her Facebook page. (Here’s the image for the non-FB crowd.)

Tute treat

One more sweet little non-caloric treat to make it a lovely weekend – a freebie heart tutorial from Meg Newberg.

Off-center polymer

Nat Gernigon posted this very fun Cane Scribbles tutorial on her website as a New Year’s gift to polymer artists. Her photos make it easy to follow along even though the text is in French.

The concept is one of those clever, simple ideas that was hiding in plain sight.

As you cruise through her archives and photo pages you’ll see that Nat is accustomed to being different and she likes designs that are off-center. Thank you, Nat, for helping us start 2013 with a new trick.

Bottled polymer

It may not dawn on you that Joyce Cloutman has formed these polymer art dolls over bottles. They’re not the kind of bottles we’re used to seeing covered with polymer patterns. These blissful sisters cradle simple treasures in their hands.

Joyce is teaching this 2-day Bella Dona class at All Dolls Are Art (ADAA) in July in Austin, Texas.

In an interview Joyce talks about how important it has been to her to get together with friends and guild mates. Prompted by a magazine article she stumbled into sculpting and she hasn’t looked back.

Polymer spirits

Fantasy, science fiction, and fairy tales fuel Starla Friend’s imagination. She renders her creatures using both traditional and digital media.

Egon, the spirit monster to the left, is 5 inches tall and his antlers span 6 inches. Regulus (below) is somewhat smaller.

Peek into Starla’s studio here and read about this Texas artist’s process as she sculpts polymer and mixed media monsters, dragons, cats and other creatures. Ronna Weltman stumbled on Starla’s Etsy shop and sent PCD the link.

Striped trend

 
Diane Keeble Margit Bohmer Lynda Moseley

Diane Keeble has been playing with Lynda Moseley’s Controlled Marbling tutorial. So has Margit Bohmer. Then I spotted a few others. Do you smell a Monday trend?

Polymer artists will stampede whenever someone shows them how to make good use of the pile of ugly scrap they’ve accumulated. And Lynda’s write up mentions that her blending method includes using Pardo translucent (another trend, right). Keep your eye on these soothing stripes.

Wood and polymer

Da Muse shows Tatjana Raum’s wood and polymer sculptures in her Saturday post. Don’t miss it.

Polymer shrine 2.0

Germany’s Georg Dinkel has rolled out version 2.0 of his TonSchrein. This shrine measures four feet tall (120 x 45 cm) and houses an Ipad. See several closeup views here.

“The shrine grew up to 120 cm – you, know, the gothic architects and their early skyscrapers! It holds an ipad, LEDs and a sound system,” Georg reports.

He embellished the polymer and wood structure with metal powders, leaf and acrylic stone. Here’s edition 1.0 which PCDaily featured in 2011.

Georg looked at polymer for many years in his job as a photographer for Fimo manufacturer, Staedtler. A couple years ago he started playing with Fimo to build a housing for his daughter’s ipod nano.

Winter wonders

Yesterday’s post about translucent caused concern about where to purchase Pardo translucent polymer. When Ponsawan mentioned that she gets hers from Creative Journey Studios in Georgia, I called to make sure they have a supply. They do and you can call 404-314-5767 for details.

That call led me to this dazzling picture of Daniel Torres’ hollow polymer pendants. He and Natalia Garcia de Leaniz will be teaching a class on March 10 and 11 (right before Synergy) at Creative Journey Studios. There are a few spots left. Plus a bus trip from Synergy and other festivities are scheduled.

In the mood for a class to beat the winter doldrums? Be sure to check out this year’s Cabin Fever, beginning February 15 in Laurel, Maryland. I’ll be there teaching along with a great cast of characters.

Freebie

Be sure to tune in to the free Craftcast webinar on Wednesday, January 30. The gang from the Polymer Clay Master Class book will be there with lots of tips and giveaways. It’s a party, it’s free and you’re sure to pick up a trick or two.