Polymer Clay Daily

Tips and Tricks

Polymer explained clearly

PCD readers have been clamoring for information about the mysteries of translucent clay. Missouri’s Ginger Davis Allman took the challenge and has written a crystal clear comparison of clays from different manufacturers, in varying thicknesses, and baked at different temperatures (go to the bottom of her page for that revelation).

She uncovers a few surprises and gives several helpful tips. It’s a must read and we’re indebted to Ginger for her research. Ginger’s entire site is a good read too – well written, pleasantly organized and a nice place to spend some time. A shout out to Christine Dumont who first passed the link along.

Valentines Day in Nepal

Valentines Day is becoming popular in Nepal and for the ladies in the Samunnat project, the holiday has taken on a special significance that Wendy explains in her post.

The ladies and the Board are daring to dream as the possibility of a facility for Samunnat becomes a reality – thanks to your donations. CLICK to donate.

Can they include a small shopfront to sell their pickles and incense? Could they make space for a little beauty parlour? It’s a big business in the area. Understand that are no botox treatments in Nepali salons! Only henna coloring and eyebrow threading. Here I am getting a lovely mustard oil massage in Kopila’s home! They slathered me in oil from head to toe and let me marinate until morning. The mustard is grown and processed locally.

“You have no idea what your donations mean to us,” says Kopila, “We realise that we are not doing this on our own; we are connected to people who love and care and encourage and support us, and we have new reserves of energy and courage to keep going. Dherai Dhanyabad!”

Tickling your cane brain

Meg Newberg on PCDaily

These two recent cane offerings may appeal to your cane brain – the part that enjoys figuring out how a pattern is assembled. Would you have guessed how Meg Newberg constructed a houndstooth cane before you saw her visual tutorial?

Wanda Shum on PCDaily

Wanda Shum covered a “Who’s da bomb?” form with tumbling block cane slices. She shows the hexagon canes she started with and her color palette on her blog. It takes some staring at the basic triangle and diamond shapes to get the gist of it.

This cane exploration and catching up online kept me entertained during long waits in airports yesterday. It’s good to be back home.

Heartfelt polymer

Katie Way brings us a whole bunch of very cool textured polymer hearts for our Friday enjoyment. Katie’s Bull’s Eye Studio shares studio spaces and gallery/classroom area at Upstairs Studio in downtown Anchorage, Alaska.

If you want a hit of happy color or a reason to dust off your extruder, check out the header on her Facebook page. (Here’s the image for the non-FB crowd.)

Tute treat

One more sweet little non-caloric treat to make it a lovely weekend – a freebie heart tutorial from Meg Newberg.

Off-center polymer

Nat Gernigon posted this very fun Cane Scribbles tutorial on her website as a New Year’s gift to polymer artists. Her photos make it easy to follow along even though the text is in French.

The concept is one of those clever, simple ideas that was hiding in plain sight.

As you cruise through her archives and photo pages you’ll see that Nat is accustomed to being different and she likes designs that are off-center. Thank you, Nat, for helping us start 2013 with a new trick.

Striped trend

 
Diane Keeble Margit Bohmer Lynda Moseley

Diane Keeble has been playing with Lynda Moseley’s Controlled Marbling tutorial. So has Margit Bohmer. Then I spotted a few others. Do you smell a Monday trend?

Polymer artists will stampede whenever someone shows them how to make good use of the pile of ugly scrap they’ve accumulated. And Lynda’s write up mentions that her blending method includes using Pardo translucent (another trend, right). Keep your eye on these soothing stripes.

Wood and polymer

Da Muse shows Tatjana Raum’s wood and polymer sculptures in her Saturday post. Don’t miss it.

Big faux

More faux batik beads from Pavla Cepelikova in Prague. These are hollow big beauties that will have you wondering which layer came first.

If you simply must know the answer, you may have to navigate to her Etsy site where she sells the tutorial for her solution to the problem.

Sweet wet kisses

Those vacation kisses from my grandson proved problemmatic and I’m recovering from his cold. All in all, the cold is worth it.

Organic extruded cane

Louise Smith’s Swanwalk cane marries Bettina Welker’s extruded retro cane with Alice Stroppel’s scrap idea. The resulting combination cane looks organic and like snakeskin.

Louise takes a chunk of scrap ho-hum cane, reduces it to a diameter that fits the extruder, and tops it off with two chunks of contrasting plain colored polymer. The resulting long extruded snakes are combined Bettina-retro-style. It’s all documented on Louise’s Flickr site. Getting your head around the concept is a good exercise to start the week.

And while you’re getting acquainted with Louise, be sure to look at her Facebook page which is filled with even more eye candy. Thanks to Perrie May for the new link.

Polymer phone decorations, bookmarks

Olena from Kiev, Ukraine has filled her entire Etsy shop with polymer bookmarks and cell phone accessories guaranteed to elicit smiles.

PCDaily first spotted the bookmarks with legs last May and the phenomenon has exploded. Look at all Olena’s legs and shoes designed to help keep you on the right page.

Too late to order for this holiday? You can make your own using cell phone jack plugs. Hang a festive bead from your cell phone. Thanks to Genevieve Williamson for the link!

Upcycled polymer

Debbie Jackson upcycles t-shirts with striking ethnic polymer beads.

Debbie was wearing this version and she shows us how she turns her thrift store finds into fashionable, no-sew necklaces that can be wound around and worn long or short. She also makes a bracelet version with a toggle clasp.

Debbie and I both live in Ohio but we escaped the political intensity and headed to Kentucky last weekend. Thanks to Debbie for sharing her design and for rescuing the camera I left behind.

Artfair polymer finds

Lori Wilkes’ was one of six polymer booths at the local show and I spotted this new necklace. The beads looked African to me but she swears that she was following an Italian influence. Either way, kewl. She revealed that tool used to distress these beads is a fine wire dog brush.

Lori has a book coming out in October that may satisfy readers who complain about how artists getting started in polymer can be deluged with confusing and conflicting information. Lori’s book, The Absolute Beginners Guide: Working With Polymer Clay, is from Kalmbach Books and it’s available for pre-order on Amazon. Sample a few pages here.

Spotting polymer at artfairs is one of my favorite games. The others I found yesterday were Kim Arden, Valerie Wright, Annabelle Fisher, Greg and BJ Jordan, and River Wolfe. Hope I didn’t miss any.