Do you have pandemic hair? My longer hair keeps flying into my mouth and fighting with my mask and glasses. So I keep looking for barrettes and clips to keep my mane under control. Of course, I want them embellished fashionably with polymer.
These barrettes and clips from France’s Del Roussel show us how to tame stray strands with style.
Del’s patterns are crisp and summery. And these findings are perfect for using up scraps. A small project idea to start your week.
Don’t try to predict where your ideas will take you. Hop on Mari O’Dell’s magic carpet to see what I mean.
Mari’s journey started in the mummy section of the NYC Met Museum where she hung out as a teenager.
Recently she took my “Slots and Dots” online polymer class and reconnected with her Egyptian impulses. She learned to extrude narrow tube beads like those found in the layers of mummy wrappings. In Mari’s version, a scarab and beads dusted with metallics are interspersed with her imitative ancient faience tubes.
Beads are an ancient form of art and currency. Their echoes still ricochet around the globe. Please wait until the carpet comes to a complete stop before you leave your seat. Who says we can’t travel during a pandemic?
If you’d like to recharge your batteries, join us over at StudioMojo.
Monday can be a shock to the system and sometimes it helps to start slowly. What could be easier than buttons?
These simple gems from France’s Helene JeaneClaude have a surprising sophistication. The shape is common but the patterns are exciting. Some have a fiber look, others could be stone.
She may have used silkscreens over marbled clay. Go to her Instagram to see lots of others. Helene has been in a button mood lately and her methods change from batch to batch.
Swap out ho-hum buttons with your own fashionable versions. Two holes in a colorful slab of polymer and you can extend the life of your favorite sweater or jacket.
What is it about these scrap collaborations that seem so au courant? Ron Lehocky uses Laurie Prophater’s scrap veneers to make controlled, comprehensible patterns. Ron makes order out of what looks like colorful chaos.
That’s what we’re hungry for. Wouldn’t we all like to know how to make beauty and sense of what swirls around us?
Enough with the philosophy. How does Ron tap into fashion and zeitgeist at the same time? It has to do with his special brand of Ronnie Gane and the long threaded rod you see in this photo.
I’m hoping that he’ll jump in here to explain the mystery. Here’s the back story.
Ron is mighty close to reaching his goal of 50,000 hearts sold to benefit the Kids’ Project in Kentucky.
There are all sorts of “wowser” weekend posts out there but I’m stuck on the earring explorations from UK’s Rebecca Thickbroom.
She takes the football shape (or is a leaf shape a more accurate description) and combines with squares, circles, rectangles to arrive at a whole collection of earrings.
The finishes are scuffed and scratched. The colors are muted. Rebecca’s playing around makes me realize how I miss doing that.
Those of us stuck in isolation are wistful about how she enjoyed a weekend in-person, socially-distanced show (oldspitalfieldsmarket). It looks almost unreal. Here’s hoping that we can all experience that again soon.
New Hampshire’s Ann Dillon creates textures and shimmer that beg you to touch them.
I asked her how she created the impossibly fine lines on one pair of lovely earrings and she replied, “Corn husks.”
She has an eye for natural textures and slight bends combined with a fall palette that gives her leaf shapes a “just fallen” look.
As you wander through her new website and Instagram, notice the textures.
Czech Republic’s Pavla Cepelikova (SaffronAddict) has taken liberties with her version of the Columbine flowers (at the top right of the photo).
The long tubes drape down and flare to reveal secret colors as they open at the bottom. Pavla likes these bell shapes in her garden and polymer will allow her to wear them on her ears.
What inspiration is blooming in your garden?
Germany’s Monika Busch (Efmoni) consistently creates stunning colors in her striped polymer beads and buttons. “The luminosity of the colors and strong contrasts fascinate me,” she says.
The raspberry colors on these big-hole (7mm) beads are combined with reds, greens, pinks, and deep browns.
Monika makes what she calls dread jewelry for beards and hair and dreadlocks.
Don’t you want to try her juicy palette?
I flinched when this necklace from Ontario’s Gail Garbe popped up on my screen. “That looks remarkably familiar,” I thought.
Then I had to laugh at myself when I realized that Gail took my Saturday Craftcast class and stayed up late coming up with her own twist on the concept. I must have done something right! Gail extruded the tubes and added the dots perfectly.
Then she added her own off-kilter gaily colored spacer beads. It all works!
This is what teachers hope to see – students who take their concepts to the next level. Gail has taught me a thing or two!
My dotted necklaces are all-polymer and fun to make. They’re so simple that I felt I needed to “up my game” for my Craftcast class this Saturday so I quickly (last night) made a Rex Ray, mid-century modern inspired version with colors I had on hand.
The design had been rolling around in my head. Do you have a design that needs to be brought to life?
Join us on Craftcast to learn my tricks and create your own look. For 30% off use the code: summer2020
You’ll note that I’m claiming a new hair color thanks to quarantine and mother nature. And I’ve adjusted cynthiatinapple.com to reflect my mentoring and class projects.
For more behind-the-scenes chatter, join us at StudioMojo for a weekly update each Saturday.
