Polymer Clay Daily

Leavitt’s art army

Seattle’s Mike Leavitt has crafted an army of 225 polymer clay action figures which he calls his Art Army. The people he immortalizes range from singer Bjork to Chihuly (pictured here) to Vincent van Gogh. “I liked the idea of the art army, of them fighting without violence….It wasn’t just about non-violence, it was about fighting with art, with music, just entertainment, whatever it may be,” he says.

His fully-articulated action figures represent famous artists, each one handmade from Fimo and elastic and standing from 7 to 10 inches tall. Leavitt’s web site chronicles his art that covers a wide range of media and subject matter. It includes an animated feature chronicling “The Art Army vs. The Man.”

One Seattle critic calls Leavitt’s work an antidote to cultural suckiness. Take a look and have an imaginative weekend. Thanks to Susan Rose for the link.

Mokume Gane light fixtures

You’ve probably figured out that I’m scrounging around the house for polymer clay fixtures to show you. The weather’s too nice to spend the evening web surfing.

Here are the lights from my copper bathroom. We made the tub surround from sheets of roofing copper…here’s the sink.

The little pendant fixtures from the lighting stores seemed overpriced so I made my own from translucent clay and copper leaf using Lindly’s “Haunani Gane” method. I first formed a thin cone of translucent, baked that as a base, added thin slices and baked again.

You have to be careful of the bulb wattage but with modern cool bulbs, heat isn’t a problem. These have been up for three years.

Hyde’s covered branches

Susan Hyde suspended several large polymer clay covered branches from the ceiling of her sweet little cottage in Seattle a few years back. She had strands of lights woven around the suspended twigs. The effect was colorful and charming.

I bought some from her and put them in a display above the piano (shown here). I’ve also covered sticks myself and put them in a vase which always causes people to take a second look. You can tidy your yard and gather art supplies at the same time!

Pennywise Project

Once upon a time there was a heating duct cut into this hardwood floor. I hated how the repaired wood looked in our otherwise lovely room. I’m a firm believer that most of life’s problems can be solved (or at least covered) with imagination and good adhesive.

Here’s my pennywise solution. I put a layer of self-adhesive cork on the floor first. My husband calculated that it would cost a mere $17.00 from his stash of pennies to stop my nagging about the ugly floor patch. Voila.

You’ll note that there’s not a speck of polymer clay in this project. I have something to show you but you’ll have to wait until I have enough light to take a picture later in the morning.

Rings & Things Winners

Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg swept the table at the Rings & Things contest with her polymer clay “Three Tiger Lilies” necklace winning first place in the polymer clay category as well as the $1000 grand prize. Congrats to Lynne Ann!

It was heartening to see so many good entrants in this year’s contest including (some, I see now, are from prior years…thanks Kim):

Ann Inman’s Cedric and Bubba, Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg’s Good Things Come In Threes, Eugena Topina’s Wild Fire, Deborah Anderson’s Reversible Tile Bracelet, Sandra Cowan and Lori Bouchard’s Roses of One Garden, Ginnie Parrish’s Happy New Year Vessel, Judy Dunn’s Fall Floral Splash, Cheryl Moore’s Nile River Goddess, Christina Cassidy’s Trot On (pictured here), Judy Dunn’s Underwater Starfish Box. Thanks to Tommie Howell for the link.

Fewer Bells and Whistles

There are so many clever widgets and trackers but all the bells and whistles sure do slow a site down. I know how frustrating slow pages can be. So I try the fun stuff for a day or so and then, poof, it’s banished.

IE images

Are the comments working for most people now? Oh dear, the images still aren’t aligning properly in IE on a PC. I’ve searched for a fix to no avail. I’ll keep trying.

Hughes takes a new direction

Leave it to Victoria Hughes to take the whole magic bead/mokume/texture trend that we’ve been examining in a new direction. Her colors! Her shapes! This is not your grandmother’s brooch yet this one hints at something ancient.

Victoria has a page of new brooches on her web site. She’s also included her roster of east coast classes this spring including a debut of a promising new pietra dura (stone mosaics) technique.

The weekend simply got away from me! How can it possibly be Monday already?

Picarello’s magic

There’s something alluring about the graduated color of the side beads which are interspersed with silver discs on this polymer clay necklace from California’s Julie Picarello. It’s part of her winged design series that gives a sense of movement and motion.

Julie has also posted pictures of her Bead Dreams entry (a winner in my book) and some new primitive, asymmetrical designs.

Julie’s technique is another lovely variation on the magic/mokume bead that’s been gaining popularity (see yesterday’s post). Have a magic weekend.

Appealing spring choices

Some days everything appeals to me. I couldn’t decide which of these polymer clay finds to feature today so I’m showing you all of them.

Barcelona’s Tatiana Franchi’s little figure has such a casual lifelike stance that I was totally charmed by it. Check out the Crocs on her tiny feet.

Perhaps it’s because I never learned to crochet that Portugal’s Sandra Rodrigues’ bright beads with crocheted covers draw me in.

And then there’s Scott Mizevitz’ magic bead (refer to basic how-to’s here and here). The colors glow and I wonder if you can make that magic happen consistently or if it’s just, well, magic.

It’s a spacey, spring Thursday. Everything looks lovely. Enjoy. (Comments may not be working right until this weekend. Send yours to cynthia@tinapple.com.)