Heartfelt collaboration

We are closing in on the big day for hearts so I went on the hunt for some new looks which led me to Ireland and back to Oxford, England as two artists collaborated.

In Northern Ireland Helena Benkoczka (AretobeadsJewellery) made the polymer beads that she stamped and colored with chalks. The colors bounce off the bright white touches. See her unusual color palette of chalked beads in her Etsy shop, Pinterest and Instagram.

It didn’t take long to discover how Sue Robinson (UtterlyLovelyStuff) in England had bought Helena’s beads and enhanced the hearts by surrounding them with glowing glass beads and wrapping them with wire. See more of her creations on Facebook.

It sometimes takes skills from an inspired collaborator to show off lovely beads in their best light. And it’s a relief to know that you don’t have to do everything yourself. Do what you do best!

Stacked squares

Slovenia’s Marjana Cajhen shows how minimalist designs that aren’t technique-driven can delight us with openness and wearability. Thin graduated flat squares of polymer veneer are stacked on each other separated by tiny spacers.

If Marjana’s sensibilities mesh with yours, look at more of her work on Pinterest, FB, and her blog.

PCD is closing in on 3,000 posts and 300 weekly weekend StudioMojos. That shocking number paralyzed me temporarily on Friday and I took the day off to recover.This link from Lindly Haunani jarred me back into action.

Loose and tight polymer

The painterly backgrounds on these flower canes from Maine’s Jayne Dwyer accentuate the realistic flower images.

The backgrounds are not just Skinner blends, they are chunky blends of companion colors that blend into brush strokes and set off the main images.

You may be wowed by Jane’s realistic scenes in polymer on her sales site here and on Facebook. If want to see what inspires her, visit her Pinterest boards.

Be sure to look at her latest teapot to see how Jayne gives salvaged items new life by applying her slices to them.

The wishing well

Your messages on my birthday burst onto my computer screen as I packed up for a class yesterday. Thank you!

And the surprise party where I was named Polymer Prison Princess for the day was so memorable that I have to share the scene.

The polymer wishing well filled with good wishes was a special gift from students at the Ohio Reformatory for Women.

The workroom was festooned with hand-colored toilet paper streamers that ended in rosettes. The table was strewn with confetti made from colored paper scraps interspersed with glints of silver from small pieces of saved pop tart wrappers. The wishing well was wrapped in a potato chip bag turned inside out to camouflage the label.

Students commissioned a couple of songs written and sung by a talented inmate. Cards were hand-lettered. The birthday cookie bar was cleverly made from commissary items (Meghan said I could share her special recipe).

I’ve never been to a more festive party. You couldn’t find more resilient, creative and generous women and I felt truly honored. They follow your work (via printouts of PCD posts), read all the donated books and magazines. You can be proud to have them as members of our community.

Home sweet polymer home

Nashville’s Lindsay Black (oddlyandcompany) creates home portraits in polymer. “Home is the memories we make on the inside. The outside is a symbol of those memories,” she explains.

In her miniature versions, the grass is mowed, the flowers are blooming and all is right with the world which is a comforting thought.

You can walk through her tiny custom scenes on Instagram, Facebook, and Etsy.

Does this make you want to create your own real estate?

Focal clasps

Betty Nelsen’s focal beads have a catch. She nestles and overlaps and builds designs that join magnetically. The focal bead is also the clasp in this Davis, California artist’s latest line. “My aim is to create jewelry that is playful, eccentric and a bit daring,” she says.

Betty Nelsen focal closures surprise and delight on PolymerClayDaily.com

Betty is a longtime artist/educator/painter who’s been working with polymer for a few years. Her online exposure at this point is on Facebook and her site where her collection of designs provides a boost of inspiration to begin your week.

The link to Betty comes from Tory Hughes.

Put your heart in it

Time flies and it’s time to start making hearts. No need to stick with traditional reds, however.

Israel’s Orly Fuchs Galchen (Hollowology) shows us her best blues and greens dressed up with carved dots and lines. She shares hollow heart tricks in a tutorial on Etsy.

A look at Orly’s unconventional approaches shown on Instagram and Facebook will have you skipping to your studio to try your hand at some romantic mementos of your own.

Colors for a vintage year

What you’re looking at is Virginia artist Angie Wiggins’ wrapped and stacked polymer palette for 2017. Each year Angie starts by choosing her colors and mixing a big batch.

“I cleaned out my half of our tiny crawl space attic and found a piece of fabric from drapes that my mom had made back in the 1950s. It had sat in the sewing room/spare bedroom for six months before it dawned on me to start researching the colors of the mid-century,” she explains in her blog post.

Angie has spent weeks mixing her vintage palette and now she’s ready to launch into her art.

Her methodical, focused yet serendipitous approach is something many artists aspire to but few achieve. Even the way she neatly wraps and stores her stash is impressive. It looks like a box of chocolates!

You can see Angie’s mixed media bowls and polymer pretties on her blog, Facebook and Instagram. Her Pinterest boards lead you through her process even further.

Inspired mosaic

The rich textures in the polymer mosaic work of Darwin, Australia’s Nicole Boucher (BlueMallee) reflect her tropical surroundings.

This particular oriental-inspired piece was snatched up by a customer who then sent Nicole a photo of its new home. It landed where it belonged!

Another photo of the mosaic here shows off its dark jewel colors with lustrous gold highlights. Over 90 tiles surround what looks like a slab of ancient text.

Scroll through Nicole’s Facebook to view some of her other mosaics and jewelry.

More pink

This piece from the unpredictable Carol Beal (beadunsupervised) blends nicely with yesterday’s pink brooches.

Carol’s style is carefree, almost slapdash and always entirely her. Her lemons make great lemonade. More on Instagram.

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