Polymer Clay Daily

Artists

DIY Heads New Directions at MakerFaire

One more plug for our own Leslie Blackford whose polymer clay covered nightlights will be featured in the October 20-21 Maker Faire in Austin, TX. Maker Faire is a two-day event that celebrates arts, crafts, engineering, science projects and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset.

The DIY movement is helping to revitalize the polymer clay community and Leslie Jo is our canary in this coal mine. Craft and Make magazines are dense quarterly magazines full of quirky and clever ideas. Want to know where young artists are headed? Take a look. Maybe we’ll even be making our own plastic in the future!

Heat Gun Inlays, Hot New Blogs

Those of you hankering for more details about how to fire polymer clay with a heat gun can see final pictures of my project, related links, and instructions here. Thanks for all the great comments.

Encourage Fellow Bloggers

Look at Lindly Haunani’s new blog here. And Sarah Shriver’s taken baby steps on her blog with a bit about her history and a picture of her backyard studio. I see Judy Belcher’s even put a toe in the blog water.

If you’ll send them some comments, it’ll reassure these techno-shy polymer artists that we’re watching and anxious to hear more.

Kathleen Dustin’s uploaded more samples of her new work (like these pod earrings) to her website as well. Thanks to Loretta Lam for spotting that one.

Finishing Touch

Wow, was I ever surprised by your response to my polymer clay wall art. You’ve encouraged me to add some finishing touches.

Using a drill and a set of forstner bits, I drilled small circles into the hardwood floor. Since the holes are perfect circles, I could have baked the cane slices first and glued them in (my husband’s suggestion).

I preferred to put a dab of liquid polymer in the holes, press the unbaked clay in, trim flush with the floor and then fire on location with a heat gun.

It’s fun to watch people try to pick up the cane slices thinking they’ve fallen off the wall. And I love the idea that it looks like the canes blew up through the floor vent. Thanks to master colorist Lindly Haunani for suggesting that I sprinkle solid orange canes slices among the patterned ones to give your eye a place to rest. That worked. Have a great weekend.

I’ll post a better picture of the finished project this weekend.

Grouping

A little fun and self-promotion here. A recent post on Susan Lomuto’s site got me thinking about some penny-quilt canes that I had tired of, cut up, baked and bagged months ago. I intended to mount them on the wall and this was just the motivation I needed.

Some hot glue and an hour later, I had embellished the wall. My feeling is that it’s not finished but the next step’s not clear. The floor is calling for a few cane slice inlays.

I’ve claimed the wall, saved some canes from oblivion and amused myself. Thought you might enjoy.

More Mosaics

This polymer clay mosaic pin from California’s Ann and Karen Mitchell (AnKara) continues our mosaic conversation. (I found the piece at last year’s Ravensdale conference.)

Take a look at the mosaic necklace on their site as well. They detail their technique in their liquid polymer clay book.

If you’re thinking about mosaics, you must stop by Laurie Mika’s site as well. It’s full of inspiration with tiles applied to tables, shrines, mirrors and wall art.

Back to School

Texan Dawn Barker’s polymer clay Escudo do Mar represents life under the sea, capturing its color, movement and vitality. The 24" by 30" mosaic of 1.5" polymer clay tiles is mounted on stretched canvas and was voted the winner in the Etsy Guild’s August challenge. The details glow in the dark, giving the piece an entirely different look at night. A lovely summer memory.

Hit the books! If you’re itching to expand your vocabulary and sharpen your design skills, you may want to consider these two books on design. Design!: A Lively Guide to Design Basics for Artists & Craftspeople by Steven Aimone and Design Language, Interpretive Edition by Tim McCreight were favorites in the conference library. The books are not specific to polymer clay but they can help you build a good design foundation.

Clues

T

he work of Washington’s Sharon MacLeod makes me want to see more. PCDaily first featured her thin polymer clay bangles in January 2006, noting that her site was last updated in 2003. She signed the PCDaily guestbook this summer and sent the picture at the top right.

Elise Winters just sent in these pictures of Sharon’s bracelets that she recently purchased at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (click on the images for details).

Sharon has a distinctive, minimalist style and a sophisticated color palette. Her technique is a mystery. I guess we’ll have to keep piecing the clues together. Any help out there?

It’s all in your head

I’ve missed a few of our polymer clay nightlights from a session with Leslie Blackford last week. This will give you an idea of the silly fun you can have with a glass votive, some transluscent clay, a small light bulb and a dash of imagination.

Playing like this is a great exercise and the results are often surprising. I had no idea that a strange Walter Cronkite lookalike lived in my head. Click to see a few more twinkling samples.

And here’s Judy Dunn’s.

Summer Fun

This memory wire bracelet from Anne White Designs is perfect for end-of-summer polymer clay fun. The colorful transluscent beads are separated by hollow cording strung onto the wire. Clever, don’t you think?

Anne is from the Cincinnati area.