Polymer Clay Daily

Polymer mixed media redux

Korringa on PCDaily

Kim Korringa purchased two great-looking ceramic birds from Etsy artist Natalya Sots. She loved them.

But the space on Kim’s kitchen wall begged for something more. So Kim designed this polymer pot of leaves and flowers for the birds to fly over. Kim posted the entire (now 3-piece) art on Facebook.

Kim started assembling this collection last fall. She had brought real-sized photos of the birds and her design to a retreat. But the mountain winds were blowing when Kim put her first try in the oven. The outside ovens spiked turning Kim’s bright dimensional blossoms a charred brown.

Try, try again! Kim’s kitchen is complete.

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Magic carpet polymer

Fernandez on PCDaily

Madrid’s Elena Fernandez has a wandering eye and she uses polymer to explore and recreate ethnic designs in contemporary jewelry. For this mixed media necklace, she reinterprets an African design adding seed beads on felt that hang from a deeply inscribed and weathered focal bar and dark simulated stones.

Ethnic designs have long appealed to Elena and you can follow along with her collections of tribal works on Flickr and see her collection of inspirations on her Pinterest page.

Polymer’s ability to imitate other materials lets us explore cultures and imagine travels from the comfort of our studios. Where would you like polymer to take you?

Strutting forward

Webb on PCDaily

This proud, colorful rooster from illustrator/artist Linda Webb (CreeksideStudio) brings our first week of the year to an energetic end.

With ruffled orange feathers and touches of gold, her wild polymer creature struts forward. Linda’s given him the can-do attitude that we’ll need as we barrel into 2017.

Linda brought a big plastic bag filled with failed projects to a fall show and her rejects became a hit. To her surprise, everyone was fascinated by her mistakes.

“I brought this ragtag bag of duds with a goal of showing the young people at my creation station that the mistakes I made while learning are not complete failures,” she says. “The things that went wrong for me while I perfected my art and the hard work are part of the process.” Good thing to remember.

Here’s her failure blog post. Linda’s been building an Instagram gallery of her mosaics along with her website and Flickr.

The nudge to improve

Stefano on PCDaily

These mokume gane polymer earrings from Massachusetts’ Liz Hinckley Stefano caught my eye. The colors and patterns come together for a gorgeous mix of retro and modern.

Liz is off to a stellar start making weekly earrings throughout 2017 for the PCClayChallenge organized by Katie Oskin.

It’s not too late to jump on board. Commit to make whatever shape or form strikes your fancy and create as often as you can handle.

Read Cate van Alphen’s post about how she finished 18 of 52 vessels she intended to complete in a 2016 group. She felt she succeeded on a variety of levels. See why.

You’ll find a few more links to Liz on Pinterest and her site. This isn’t the first time she has risen to a challenge! If group activities energize you and commitments nudge you to improve, join one.

2016 favorites – batch 2

The second installment of your favorite posts of 2016 includes wall pieces, acorns, canes, petals.

Mouthwatering colors and lovely execution with a personal twist are the threads that run through the group. Those ingredients leap off the screen and PCD readers are drawn to them.

So give extra care to choosing your colors and put an extra dollop of your own precious, quirky self into your projects for 2017. Click the images to visit these crowd-pleasing pieces.

In case you’re not seeing the photos, here are the post links:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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2016 favorites

Dana Phamova gives us a taste of 2017 and what’s ahead. with her charming numbers made of rolled up Skinner blends.

Meanwhile let’s look back at 2016 and see what you liked best. There were so many popular posts that I’ve whittled the number down to a dozen. Six today, six tomorrow.

You have good taste! We’ll start with last January…when you really liked everything blue! Click the images to go to the posts and come back tomorrow for the next batch. (In case you’re not seeing the photos, here are the post links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

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Sumptuous Color

Haunani on PCDaily

As you contemplate turning the page into 2017 let’s look ahead to Synergy4 next August. The theme is appropriately, A New Leaf.

I’m helping Lindly Haunani spruce up her website for the new year with exciting concepts that she’ll be teaching at Synergy4.

Haunani on PCDaily

Lindly’s Sumptuous Sagacious Color class will teach you five useful strategies that you can use to enhance harmony. You’ll learn how to create blends and patterns scaled for smaller pieces with dramatic effect.

These sophisticated blends relate gently with each other. See more on her site and sign up early to learn the newest twists and turns of color in polymer. Keep up with Lindly on Facebook.

Raise a glass to turning over a new leaf this weekend! Happy New Year!

Memories in polymer

Lazy on PCDaily

A sad sweet moment from Seattle’s Leah Lazy (LittleLazies) after the death of Carrie Fisher and then her mother.

Polymer artist Leah was all prepared with her 2″ polymer princess. After the news, Leah said, “My heart is broken…but I am happy that for some reason my heart told me to make a Little Lazies Leia this year – I’m keeping this one. Rest In Peace, Princess.”

See more of the Little Lazies on Leah’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Etsy. She reminds us that polymer can be good for capturing memories of all sorts.