Polymer Clay Daily

Creative Sparks Giveaway

Dayle Doroshow and I created Creative Sparks, a little gem of a book, and it’s time to spread a little holiday cheer with a book giveaway.

To enter, respond to this post with your comment. We’ll choose a winner on Saturday. Did I mention that Sparks is filled with Dayle’s great tricks for keeping your spirits up in the studio?

Looking at so many of your lovely polymer creations makes it hard to hush my inner critic when I get my hands on clay. Dayle’s tips showed me ways to navigate around the obstacles that get in the way of creative joy. I include pictures and comments about my results.

2011 organizer

If you’re trying to organize for the new year, check out Laura Balombini’s polymer teapots calendar. She posted about it on Facebook. It’s $20 plus shipping. Write her to order yours.

Small world polymer

This polymer creche from Nepal’s Sammunat project shows us how connected we are. The characters are charmingly styled. Note that this Joseph carries a traditional khukuri knife and Mary wears a sari, bindi and beads. (This post on their blog tells another “small world” story.)

The power of the internet still astonishes me. Through it artists in the US, Australia, and Japan have developed friendships with the ladies in this project and helped their programs grow. Their fashion items become income, education for their children, food, medicine, and hope for a brighter future. I plan to visit there next November.

If you’re looking for the perfect gift for the polymer artist who has everything, a donation to the Sammunat project in his/her name would help artists a world away. Special Sammunat Christmas beads are available through Australia’s Over the Rainbow store.

Polymer rubble

Lynn Reno (aka Desert Rubble) is having an identity crisis. She’s looking for a name for her polymer style. Industrial? Steampunk? Surreal?

Her recipe calls for a hit of steampunk, a dash of industrial and a bit of cyborg. It adds up to a whole lotta fun.

Even holiday icons like this Santa and Gingerbread Man receive receive her special treatment. Check out the rest of her designs on Artfire and Flickr. Thanks to Janet Hoy for the link to Lynn.

Plotted designs

Nicole (NiQui) takes a careful, planned approach to her polymer jewelry which looks appealing as we start a new week. Influenced by her background in interior design, this Belgian artist plots out her modern accessories.

Her Flickr site is loaded with cleanly designed and rendered pieces. The wire and polymer “Beech Nut” necklace shown here was her response to the Dutch Polymerclay Forum’s fall challenge.

I admire her calm methods especially in this frenzied season.

Askin blogs

Gloria Askin tacked a blog onto her site and I just discovered it. Her attitude about color is infectious. “My love of color is best expressed in the Yoruba belief that the more colors you wear (or, I believe, use in art), the more positive energy you are putting into the universe,” she explains.

She forms cupped polymer disks edged with contrasting colors and gathers them into vibrant and playful accessories that are bursting with positive energy. Gloria has a most appropriate Facebook profile picture!

Have a colorful weekend!

Rustic polymer

Mai McKemy’s polymer accessories keep her true to her Woodland Belle name. She makes tiny succulents, terrariums and branches that become rings, pendants and hair pins.

She mixes sophistication with a rustic aesthetic that has fashion appeal. Her work has appeared in Real Simple, Teen Vogue and Glamour Weddings magazines.

Read more about Mai in an interview at this link and see her galleries at Etsy and BigCartel. Thanks to Susan Lomuto (DailyArtMuse) for the link.

Retro bling

The retro bling from PurpleCactus isn’t in traditional holiday colors but their polymer baubles suggest a cheery approach to the season. North Carolina’s Amber Edison and Laurence Abensour have teamed up to produce a line of small pendants and rings that really hit the spot.

Is the texture on this bicone bead a new trick or an optical illusion? Whatever…I find myself mesmerized.

Here’s an earlier PCD post on the duo and links to their Etsy and Flickr sites.

Prokic’s birdland

Janja Prokic spends time in the woods with her chickens, geese, goats and polymer clay. Her pastoral life is played out in her line of fashionable birds. Her models’ hairstyles match their feathered friends’ in dramatic and delightful ways.

The one below is a detailed pink cockatoo and the model is wearing what Janja calls a Silly Cockerel.

Originally from Belgrade, Janja is a jewelry designer who moves between Prague, Czech Republic and St. Malo, France as she studies painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Right now she’s roosting in France.

Follow her migratory patterns on her Flickr gallery (her web site is down) or her Facebook page. Enough with the bird puns. Enjoy.

Garbe’s jewelry with a story

The video at the right and a storybook accompany the latest polymer creations from Illinois artist Linda Garbe.

As I watched, I got caught up looking at her Dream Machine and admiring her fingers effortlessly building complicated structures. I had to listen a second time to follow her melodious words. While many artists have stories that inform their work, few have documented them in such a thorough and novel way.

Linda created four necklaces called Jewelry With Stories to Tell specifically for Chicago’s One of a Kind show. This one is called Standing in the Center of Spring. Three more necklaces are similarly captured on Linda’s YouTube page. Here’s her Etsy gallery and her home site. Thanks to Dee Wilder who sent along the link.

Bonham’s Black Friday

Today is the year’s biggest shopping day or “Black Friday” as it’s known in the U.S. and Mags Bonham’s polymer purse necklace looked like an appropriate symbol for the day.

There’s even a replica of a tiny Kathleen Dustin evening bag in the group.

Art Jewelry Magazine editor Hazel Wheaton picked these pieces for some of her annual favorites. Mags created a series of “Our Purses, Ourselves” which looks at the items that women choose to lug around in our bags. Here’s her necklace and her charm bracelet that winks at the items we carry with us.

Hang on to your pocketbook and enjoy the weekend!