Spain’s ZaZu shares her basic cane in a 15-second tutorial that’s hard to resist.
Her design looks like stitching and she turns it into all sorts of trendy geometrically shaped earrings and pendants in a wide variety of colors.
While the designs aren’t complex, they’re rich with panache and style. Here’s ZaZu on Facebook.
How are some of the new clays being used?
Here Olga Kadokhova puts Fimo’s leather effect clay through its paces. The texture is softer and the clay is flexible and holds up for her thin spidery petals.
I don’t know where Olga is from or much about her. Fill me in if you know more.
For those of us who are timid about testing and trying new products, it’s instructive to watch others explore.
Ohio’s Jan Montarsi has updated his pearl mix tutorials with this String Theory pendant. I found it here from 2013 but the tutorial has disappeared.
Not to worry, Jan has come up with even better inks/pearl clay mixes for a luminous effect. Plus, he makes some very good tools for precise quilt pattern cuts here.
If you like subtle glitz and shine in your work, catch up with Jan and his newest theory.
The Zen of these earrings from Florida’s Lorraine Vogel (wiredorchid) offers us a smooth transition to Monday.
She embeds rings into the tops of satisfying painted shapes. They feel balanced and swingy. A vacation vibe on your ears.
The painted surfaces are some combination of her batik and pretty grunge techniques. (Correction: Lorraine says: I created this surface with stencils and acrylic paint, not by using my batik technique.) Lorraine offers tutorials on her boho beachy styles. She’s here on Instagram.
Ontario’s Karen Pasieka gears up for Spring with a bouquet of canes.
“I find it so important when presenting a grouping, that the collection is cohesive. Their appeal as a collection can be the trick to getting a second glance, and hopefully, the decision to buy,” Karen divulges.
This luscious mix made me look twice. You too? Here’s Karen on Facebook.
Over at StudioMojo this Saturday, we’ll be seeing what else is getting a second look this spring. Are our 2020 colors shifting? What’s next for our art?
This polymer self-portrait is by South Australia’s Marni Southam (Oleander Avenue). Marni was responding to a PolyCollective and Friclay challenge to create a self-portrait.
They’re such a big, young, media-savvy bunch that it’s hard to keep up with all that they do online. There’s a Friclay Live event in Brisbane in April.
Does Marni’s layered and textured view of herself make you want to try a selfie? It could be a clever addition to promotional materials and signage.
Florida’s Deb Groover (@debortinastudio) has loosened her approach to painting with polymer on wood. She cures these quickly formed bright stripes, arranges them on a wood substructure, and finally paints the background.
I didn’t think she could create her large paintings in a more loose, vibrant way but she’s managed to do just that in recent works. They’re more abstract, more geometric.
Whether it’s beaches or birds or just stripes, there’s a lively attitude that permeates her paintings.
Here’s my old video interview with fuzzy audio (the microphone slid down her blouse). Persist through it for an explanation of this former ceramic artist’s unfettered style in polymer.
Washington’s Dede Leupold makes polymer earrings that have a delicate, calming effect. Her looping wire work is baked into the polymer cane slice.
A look at Dede’s studio shows you how and where these pieces are made. There’s a serenity that could only come from someone who had a serene spot in which to work. Go have a look at it.
New Mexico’s Gael Keyes (@keyesgael) focused on bugs at last year’s Clayathon. This year she’s added outrageous fish and birds to her repertoire of wildlife.
Gael developed her own cane style that she pattern-matches in the Natasha bead way (here’s a quick tutorial) to create feathers, fins, and wings.
During the holidays she turns to her own brands of angels that you can see on Facebook.
South Korea’s Kim Heeang (9angko) moves us in a more thoughtful direction.
Her delicately assembled pieces take their central theme from mushrooms, fungi hat ware neither plants nor animals. They are everywhere and then disappear without a trace.
You may note that thin petals of polymer are being used more and more. The newer clays allow us to stack paper-thin layers in ways that mimic nature.
Join us over at StudioMojo if you’re interested in how polymer is being used in surprising and unusual ways. Stay on top of the latest trends with a Saturday morning review of the week.
