South Australia’s Leah Radlett tales a different approach to mosaics. Her 4″ tiles are composed of round polymer elements.
Nice of Leah to share her in-progress shots. She starts with the background and works inward. which isn’t what you might have expected.
See more of her landscapes on Etsy and Instagram. She calls this one Joyful and says, “I’ve been blessed by so many nice comments about my work and it makes my heart happy to know that people enjoy my art.”
Spokane’s Peggy Rose, one of Meg Newberg’s subscribers, sent in her version of Meg’s newest cane inspiration. Looks like Peggy got it right!
I sometimes gush about Meg’s “cane brain” but you know she’s onto something when her followers can come up with their own versions like this.
As I read about Peggy on her FB I saw that she’s a lampworker too. I’ve messaged her to verify that this is polymer. What’s your guess?
Vancouver Island’s Janet Bouey is experimenting with the veneers she made in Claire Maunsell’s recent class.
If you stack up squares of clay and then cut out the centers with a smaller square cutter, you can add a veneer on the top and bottom of the stack and have yourself a cool and simple hollow bead. The bead will be loose, light and lovely.
Janet puts her own spin on Claire’s ideas and documents interesting results on Instagram, Flickr, and Facebook.
The slim profile and clear blended colors on Deb Hart’s twist ballpoint pens put them a cut above others.
These are class samples from her second session in the RainbowBlend series. She turns well mixed Skinner blends into design elements that stand on their own.
Her March workshop for the Arizona guild features tips for making cane inlaid sculpted animals with a definite Southwest flavor.
Deb is on a roll! See what she’s up to on Instagram and Etsy.
This lily bud from Colorado’s Phyllis Pollema Cahill hints at spring. Dark veins cut through the Skinner blended green and lavender petals.
Phyllis spent years as an illustrator which helps explain her thorough planning and construction of this vase. She’s also been trying out her carving skills on this necklace from her Symmetry/Asymmetry online class with Christine Dumont and Donna Greenberg.
Phyllis carefully documents her technique and product experiments on her blog which contains lots of DIY tips and solutions.
Phyllis shows she’s ready for a new season. Watch her bloom on Facebook and Instagram.
You may have thought you’d done bowls, You remember all those little round ones we made? Then along comes the UK’s Angela Pike (BeadMeUpButtercup) with her first go at Helen Breil’s bowl tutorial.
Here’s Angela on Facebook and Instagram, The textures highlight the orange and blue glow of this retro bowl. Angela followed Helen’s instructions to the letter for her first try. Use your signature colors and your veneer patterns to put your own spin on them.
Helen is very methodical and her instructions are thorough. Looking for a no-fail fun project? This could be it.
Lindsey Hansen (Vivid Clay) lures us into the week with a tempting cane design that fools the eye with its 3D illusion. She covered a straight-sided jar with the slices and replaced the lid with a cork top.
Using black and white, she layers and stacks blends strips of blended clay into a square cane.
Lindsey shared her step-by-step how-to photos on the Hooked On Polymer page on Facebook. Several HOP members tried it with success and Ron Lehocky sent us the link.
If cane-building seems too much for your Monday brain, you can purchase Lindsey’s raw versions on Etsy.
Albuquerque’s Barb Fajardo has tweaked and tried every variation of her mokume gane. Her color choices are striking and her compositions are amazing. Now she’s trying to do less.
“I’m loving making earrings these days since I’ve recently forgone sanding. I’ve gotten lots of great feedback on the matte finish,” Barb says.
Is there a step in your work that you need to rethink and dial back?
Join us at StudioMojo Saturday where we look at lots of alternative approaches to work. Bigger? Brighter? Simpler? Crazier? Sure! Why not? Pop on over for a walk on the sometimes wilder side.
Why a branch on PCD today? Because it’s polymer and over the past year Jana Roberts Benzon has refined and refined her tools and technique for shaving polymer until it looks spiky. It’s remarkably durable.
Like yesterday’s Julie Picarello and her hardware store appropriations, Jana grabbed tools from a nail tech’s drawer for her new trick.
This is just one of the goodies from Jana’s Nature Walk workshop scheduled for March 17 and 18 in Texas. Taking classes from artists who have already done the laborious research saves you oodles of time and allows you to daydream about how you could integrate their research into your own style.
These samples come from Connecticut’s Lisa Gauthier, a student in Marie Segal’s Cernit Translucent 2017 class. Glass-like layers that reveal more color below remind us of the possibilities of the clay and may make you want to try your hand at it.
The flower and butterfly cane slices appliqued on came from another student, Seana Bettencourt.
Study these and other samples from Lisa on Facebook. “Thanks to Marie Segal and Cernit I can create colorful, bright things in these cold dark winter days,” says Lisa.
