How cool a mom is Jill Palumbo? Her sons each got electronic tablets for Christmas for which she had made polymer-embellished protective covers. (More pix here.)
The themed cases sported logos and icons from the boys’ favorite musical group and online game. (I had to look up Minecraft and Hot Water Music.)
Her design includes game pieces that turn the case into a stand for reading books or watching movies more comfortably.
Jill’s polymer ingenuity and thoughtful giftgiving need to be celebrated. Kudos!
Portland’s Sofie Skein describes her Poupettes as, “…spirited renditions of animals and mythical creatures in pure polymer.” She’s also a painter and grew up involved in the family vet clinic.
Her animals have realistic heads perched on simply stylized bodies that will make you laugh. See them all on Flickr including this picture that shows how she works from detailed sketches.
Katrin Neumaier is hooked on Pardo translucent clay and she’s becoming expert at showing off its glowing properties with these brand new beads and watery earrings. Here’s her polymer beach glass from October.
The recent hollow forms make the clay even more delicate and ethereal looking as she pushes Pardo in new directions. We can look forward to seeing more of this faux glass trend in 2012.
“Paciorky means necklace or beads in Ukrainian,” says Christine Bondar (dzjunka online). Christine’s extruded and carved Amazon River polymer beads offer variations on techniques spread by Vera Kleist and Margit Böhmer.
You’ll see developments in that part of the world on Maria Petkova’s Bulgarian blog that features artists mostly from Eastern Europe as polymer continues to gain popularity.
I’ll be writing a book on global polymer this year and I’m interested in hearing your ideas on what the story should be about. And I’d love to learn about new artists you’ve run into. We’re off and running into 2012!
“I’m loving this new project,” Heather Campbell said in October, “It’s so physical and messy. I guess a darker side of me needs to erupt and show itself before I can move on.”
The December result is Holding It Together, a large polymer and mixed media sculpture with a hopeful, healthy message for the end of our year.
Heather explains that, “Our strength is our ability to sew and hammer and bind, to glue and nail each piece of ourselves together, until the strength of our parts makes us whole again. Holding it together is our challenge, emerging with hope is our goal. We are survivors.”
The scale and power of this piece is remarkable. Watch Heather rip into a mannequin form that serves as the base. Scroll down to watch this big girl take shape.
As a fitting start for the new year, she received word that her rustic, layered polymer necklace has been chosen as a finalist for a Niche Award! Visit the Niche site to see more finalists. Happy 2012 to all of you!
Don’t you love to watch other people working when you’re not? I’m basking in the southern sun this week and have enjoyed seeing people like Berlin’s Conni Filip get a head start on the next holiday.
Some of her futuristic heart designs are magnets and some are money pockets with secret slots for gift giving. Below are the baked bases (I’m guessing Ultralight) that she then carves and paints.
Since I’m sucking up wifi at fast food joints this week, I’ve had to scurry through links and sites. Folks have been stuffing Pinterest.com full of their fabulous polymer finds.
If polymer is your prozac, spend a little holiday mental health time with Kathy Weaver or me or Anke Humpert or a number of other polymer enthusiasts on Pinterest.
Nena Sabo made her first appearance on PCD last week and here she is again with another great idea already.
Don’t you wish you’d seen her mugs and matching polymer handled spoons before the holidays? What a super gift idea or workshop/studio promotion.
This Serbian artist photographs her favorite polymer patterns and has mugs made from the digital file. (I’ve had good luck using Zazzle and you can google many similar and cheaper services.)
She fashions a companion spoon handle from the same pattern. Are your wheels turning?
The “mocha” gallery on Maine artist Suzanne Anderson’s YIKES! gallery drew me in as I lazily cruised the web today. You may be tempted by any one of Suzanne’s color pages. These bangles look like a good way to use up bits of pattern and color as you clean out your studio for the new year.
Fretting about what lies ahead? Tory Hughes offers some words of inspiration for 2012 on her site.
Christine Damm is busy using up the orphans and odd bits in her studio. I’m partial to these Carpathia earrings and wonder if there could be anything that magical among my scraps.
If you’re ready for a master class to catapult you into the new year, look no further than the new online book and master class offered by Dan Cormier and Tracy Holmes. The layout of the book is inspired, the lessons detailed and engaging, and the concept is spot-on.
Die-forming is an important trend for polymer art in 2012. Dan and Tracy are offering a package deal on the book and must-have tools for the rest of this week!
Drop on over to Donna Greenberg’s rendition of Nightmare Before Christmas on Flickr. Alexa Ray Joel (Billy Joel’s daughter) makes a guest appearance wearing one of Donna’s newest chunky pyrite and polymer Lava rings from her Volcanic Offerings series.
Donna’s straightforward and aggressive style pairs polymer perfectly with this rugged mineral that’s also known as fools gold.
Polymer showing up on the necks and fingers of the jet set would be a welcome trend to forecast for 2012. It’s time, isn’t it?
