Polymer Clay Daily

Artists

Faux Fordite

Dee Wilder educates and delights us at the same time with her polymer faux Fordite rings.

In big automotive factories, the overspray in the painting bays used to build up on surrounding surfaces. The layers of paint were baked as many as 100 times in the ovens where car bodies were cured. Paint build-up had to be removed from time to time.

Workers (and then collectors) salvaged the colorful layered byproduct, calling it Fordite or Detroit Agate.

No more Fordite. Cars are now painted using a process that produces no overspray. Then came Dee Wilder and her polymer clay experiments. Dee has mastered this bit of trickery. There are many more tricks on her dense and rich Flickr site. What will she think of next?

Buttons that top the cake

The fashionistas among you will salivate as you look at the hand-loomed knitwear, complete with polymer buttons and pins, from New York’s Andrea Geer.

I love the easy, asymmetric drape of her knit pieces and appreciate her use of models of various ages and sizes. (More views on FB.)

And to have designer polymer buttons topping off the look, so cool. Rollover details to see them up close and be sure to catch the necklace at the end of the gallery.

Andrea is new to the Craftboston Spring Show and the Smithsonian Craft Show next month. Note some new pictures from Karen Noyes on the Craftboston show site too. Thanks to Ronna Weltman for introducing us to Andrea.

Using cutters

Celine Charuau’s polymer Cathedral Flower brooch is very understated for the usually flamboyant Gris Bleu. The stepped, layered, dimensional cutouts immediately put the viewer in mind of a cathedral window. Delicate, simple and amazing!

On closer inspection, you can see how Celine used simple graduated cutters to achieve this brilliant effect. Then take a look at the snowflakes from Camille Young (and closeup here) that were featured more than a year ago.

Are you using your humble clay cutters to their full potential?

Faux oxidation

Inspired by the oxidized silver and gold jewelry at the Baltimore American Craft Council show, Donna Greenberg wanted to see if she could imitate the expensive metals in polymer clay. Here are her two faux oxidized gold Natura freeform bracelets with faux opal, quartz and hematite pearls. Her Facebook page shows even more.

She says, “I don’t have to tell you how seductive this material is. It’s always leading me down unexpected paths. I recently left my mural and decorative finish company after 22 years and I needed something creative to do as well as earn a living at. This is a lot easier than standing on scaffolding and ladders ten hours a day!” Have an easy weekend.

Grunge beads

After yesterday’s perfectly patterned polymer eggs and and symmetrical canes, Doreen Willey’s penchant for grunge beads feels delightful. Wednesday yin, Thursday yang.

California’s Doreen says, “It’s beginning to look like the grungier I can make my beads, the better I like them. Seems like I’m trying to make a mess.”

I so sympathize with her sentiments but I also know how tricky the fine line between grunge and garbage is. Doreen does good grunge. See it all on her Flickr site.

The secrets of good eggs

These polymer covered eggs are remarkable not just for cheery seasonal fun but because they were created by students using an ingenious, no-fail method developed by Carol Simmons.

On the groups’ Facebook page, you can examine these eggs and other objects created last weekend at the Buckeye Bash in Dayton. Using kaleidoscope-patterned canes, Carol’s students created consistently successful veneers.

Her egg formula involves four strips of cane slices, some math calculations and a template. Unfortunately I left before all the secrets were revealed. The Ohio class was Carol’s dry run for her new class called “Intricate Cane Veneers.”

Learn to quilt with polymer

These new polymer quilt canes from Minnesota’s Jennifer Patterson are built from extrusions (with more on Facebook here). It’s fun to look closely and see how she assembles the shapes using marbilized clay that simulates fabric. The squares are further textured and shaped into beads and brooches.

The one on the far left above is a custom design commissioned by the Oregon Coastal Quilters Guild. The piece at the right is a famous Underground Railroad sampler design.

Click here to see how she stacks the long extruded strands of polymer. She sells extruder disks made specifically for quilt patterns. There’s a free Ohio Star Quilt tutorial on her site if you’d like to give it a try.

Bashing ideas

Carissa Nichols’ Ultralight Sculpey pendants caught my eye at Ohio’s Buckeye Bash (my pictures here) in Dayton. She sculpts the pieces in white clay, bakes and then colors them with alcohol inks and seals them with a spray. Inking the chalky surfaces allows for a bright, frilly effect.

The marshmallowy ultralight requires more gentle handling than other polymer clays. Once baked, however, its soft texture, makes for easy carving and it can be used as a strong armature for large pieces. (See Sarah Shriver’s big beads and Melanie West’s biobangles, for example.)

Carol Simmons was the Buckeye Bash’s visiting artist this year and the room was abuzz with teams creating kaleidoscope canes and slicing them deli-thin on her prototype slicing device.

Sculptural effect from inclusions

Big hollow polymer beads with inclusions are the latest creation from Christine Dumont who is also the founder of the popular European Voila Web site.

In the new beads small fluted “ossocopia” are embedded in the clay, with the tips of their horns protruding or with concave saucers recessed into layers of color, the newest twist in her sculptural approach to polymer beads.

Christine has been teaching workshops online and in several countries. Her butterfly beads flutter all over Europe. She’ll be teaching at Polymer Pamper Play in the UK in March. I hope your weekend is filled with lots of pamper and play.