Polymer beads that could be dismissed as hippie beads become ethnic treasures when they’re masterfully strung by Thailand’s Aow Dusdee.
Aow’s world travels have given her a keen eye for ethnic traditions. She combines fiber and polymer with metal and stone beads to create modern tribal pieces.
Photos of her living spaces show how she incorporates polymer in her distinctive decor. It’s all so Eat, Pray, Love, isn’t it?
Each polymer dot, loop and swirl on Jennifer Morris’ jewelry is added one at a time. She calls it her “embroidery” style. It’s not hard to believe her when she says she goes into a meditative state when she works. You can learn more from her interview with ArtBeadScene here.
Jennifer’s ornate baroque/victorian style is often rendered in the sunny colors of Mexico. Add to that her romantic product shots and her poetic descriptions and you’ll understand why she’s a big seller on Etsy.
Rebecca Watkins of West Virginia likes texture and she shares her personal process for etching unbaked polymer on her Flickr site. No smelly solvents, just a stylus and some patience.
This process looks like it was made for the Zentangle/polymer crowd.
Rebecca’s turtleneck-wearing fishes are dressed for fall. They’re shaped and marked in delightful ways. Thanks to Christine Damm for leading us to this new link.
Need a Kathleen Dustin polymer piece to complete your smashing ensemble? Now that she’s added a shop to her site, you don’t have to wait for the next ACC show!
And speaking of shows, Seattle-based artist Stephanie Tomczak uses polymer clay, copper, and enamel to create jewelry inspired by the nature of the life cycle. Tomczak’s work is now on view through September 9th at the Heidi Lowe Gallery in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
This faux coral necklace is from her Oceanic Gems Collection. (via Wearable Art Blog) She gives a great overview of her studio, her process and her display on her blog.
When Maggie Maggio quietly fiddles and fusses at a retreat, you know that she’s brewing a new scheme. She generously agreed to share with you her latest development, polymer clay split ring chains. Making this design was a relaxing way to look busy, get rid of scrap and have great looking new jewelry. By the end of the week we had heaps of links. I got out my camera and you can see the resulting video in the right column.
Students of Maggie and Lindly’s color book will probably pounce on the concept and come up with great variations. We only scratched the surface. Many thanks to Maggie for showing us her new method which she’s calling Maggie’s Missing Link.
Download the split ring template sheet and read Maggie’s latest blog post here.
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Every day presents new ideas. Shall I work with metals, polymer clay, resin or felt and fiber, or do I want to stitch beads? Does my mood reflect cutting edge modern, vintage, or something in between? My creative world can change on a whim,” says jewelry artist Barbara Briggs.
She reflects the sentiment of a growing number of artists who move easily between other media and polymer as their vehicle of choice. This cross-pollenization is widening our circle of friends.
Barbara’s site is a treasure trove, including these polymer-handled makeup brushes and this Asian Influence pendant.
The deadline for entries for the prestigious 2011 NICHE Awards competition has been extended to September 17. They’d like to encourage participation from our community.
There are new categories this year including: basketry, outdoor art, wedding jewelry, paper, and religious/inspirational art. If you meant to apply but forgot the date, jump on this second chance.
This RoseBall polymer necklace from Italy’s Laura Bocchi is an elegant solution to jewelry construction. She embeds ball chain in polymer as a design element and bakes the entire necklace.
Laura has also used guitar strings to achieve the same effect.
I’ll be teaching a polymer sampler class at our new art center this fall (there’s still room!) and my eye is drawn to smart, simple designs as I think about class projects.
Dan Friedlander’s series of 4″x4″ white polymer tiles is a study of textures. This Colorado artist makes the process sound like a meditation – sculpting the clay with only his hands, firing the tiles in a solar oven, and giving each a poetic title. You can see how he digs deep to come up with his wide range of variations…and titles! Ann Kruglak sent the link along.
Jon Anderson lives and works in Bali. His distinctive animal sculptures, densely covered with rich polymer cane patterns, have for years been found in galleries across the US.
Now Anderson has branched out, covering custom electric guitars with polymer for Hand Guitars. Hear him talk about his 50-pound, 12-foot canes in this video (at the top of the column at right) taken at a trade show in Nashville. The guitars range from $1800 to $6000. Here are more pictures and videos of the new venture.
I’ve returned to the midwest with a head full of ideas and a suitcase full of dirty laundry. I’ll be unpacking both this week.
Gera Scott Chandler has taken polymer rock making to the next level – inter-planetary. Her Martian rocks reveal colors and images from another planet. Click here to see one of her finished necklaces.
As a rock hound myself, it was gratifying when several artists attended our “Rockettes” session. They shared their secrets and compared their faux river rocks, beach stones and exotic pebbles. Gera’s were the most outlandish.
Gera was also the first one to spot a magical moose this week. Have a magical weekend.
