Bringing polymer alive

Pre-holiday jitters? Nope, that’s Gene Wilder during his famous “It’s alive!” moment rendered by Washington, DC illustrator Joseph Barbaccia and made entirely of extruded strings of polymer.

You’ll have to look closely to see how the intricately interwoven colors blend into a dimensional mosaic.

A powerful portrait of a soldier (pictured here) was selected to appear in Lurzer’s International 200 Best Illustrators Worldwide 2016/2017.

Read more about Joseph on Facebook, SaatchiArt, and his site.

Soft, hollow, complex translucents

Germany’s Kathrin Neumaier has moved on from simple translucent beads to more complex shapes like the pale hollow bead below which she has electro-formed with copper.Her solid imitative glass drop earrings have a warm mellow glow about them.

Kathrin explains that her collection of long Soft String polymer necklaces are colored with inks (as shown here) or chalks. You’ll want to explore her large upload of new works to Flickr.

Lovecraft polymer

Spain’s Ana Belchi plays with forms in her Lovecraft-inspired series of polymer baubles.

The bulbs and tentacles radiate out from the center of this pendant with pleasing dark symmetry. See more on Instagram, Flickr, and her site. She’ll be teaching a pre-conference workshop at this year’s Synergy4.

Thinking of introducing another dimension into your work?

Trending Moroccan?

Now’s the time of year to consider what you’d like to learn in 2017. Who’s teaching what and where? Which classes and events fit your schedule and your budget?

PCD will cover just a few as we move into the new year. Even if travel is out of the question, it pays to track what’s trending.

These Moroccan Lantern beads from Lisa Haney caught my eye. They’re from her class offerings at February’s Cabin Fever in Laurel, Maryland. Check out Lisa’s fish too! Registration has opened and the lineup looks terrific.

Prefer a warmer climate? Look at Florida’s Fandango May 4-8 with a great roster of trailblazing artists. Sign up before the end of the year and save. What’s on your calendar?

Making Santa in polymer

Kentucky’s Keven Carlton has been looking for Santa. She started her search by sculpting these affable old fellows and she has a way with men.

Keven spends time giving them good teeth because she’s a dental hygienist and bad teeth would be unprofessional.

But somewhere along the line, her polymer imagination veered off course and she ended up with a heap of dissipated and debauched Santas that her Facebook friends are all talking about. They’re trying to locate the art show where these creatures can be purchased.

Creativity can take us on a wild ride. I don’t often chuckle and snort at polymer art but Keven makes us laugh as her Santas come to life. Have a happy weekend.

Sparkle time

Need a little bling as you slide into the first December weekend?

Take a look at the glittery polymer bead experiments by Greece’s Klio Tsaliki on Facebook and Flickr.

Klio applies glitter with joyful abandon and the beads radiate celebration!

Maybe it’s time to break into your own sparkle stash. Don’t you feel a “gltter weekend” ahead?

Ornamental/elemental polymer

Yes, this cut and folded ornament was made in polymer by London’s Carol Blackburn. Based on a clever paper or felt geometric pattern, Carol proves that the same design can be done in polymer. Her gold and silver metallic blends pump up the drama.

See how she assembles even more pieces into larger wall art in this picture on Facebook.

Ornamental/elemental classes

If Carol’s precision is too much of a challenge, ease into new ideas with one of this week’s Craftcast classes. How would one of Doreen Gay-Kassel’s jiggly jointed characters look dangling from your tree? Join Doreen’s class tonight (Nov 30) at 8:00 ET.

You say you’d rather use your brain for jewelry? Jump into Lorrene Baum-Davis’ class on Saturday, Dec 3 at 12 noon ET. Using Skinner blends, brain canes and other tricks, you’ll learn tricks to create consistent sizes and add rich new looks to your work.

Dizzying patterns in polymer

Sometimes we polymer artists just want to sit and admire the work that goes into a series of canes like this lovely black and white grouping from Meg Newberg. And she doesn’t extrude!

Meg has a brain made for caning. She knows how to break the process down into bite-sized pieces that she shares in monthly tutorials. Take a look on Etsy, Facebook and her site.

Breathe in and let your eyes dance around the patterns. Feel better?

Polymer stash jar

Who doesn’t need a Stash Jar like this one by California’s Brandee Blank?

She’s covered a lidded glass jar with imitative succulents in polymer. The wide lip of the pot camouflages the top of the jar and makes it a perfect hiding place for whatever small treasures you’d like to hide.

Brandee started making them for her friends who admired her live succulents but couldn’t seem to make the real ones survive. What a terrific holiday gift for garden-challenged friends.

See more of Brandee’s hiding spaces on her blog, Etsy, and Flickr.

Polymer under the surface

These wintery leaves from Germany’s Vera Kleist-Thom rely on extruded polymer strings for their color. The oblique cuts at the edges reveal Vera’s palette of dark reds and blues highlighted with a dash of bright yellow. Like the leaves at our feet, seemly simple leaf earrings are more fascinating upon examination.

Look at her Flickr pages and you’ll see that cut, gouged and sanded extrusions figure prominently in all Vera’s experiments. She likes to reveal what’s under the surface. Look on Etsy and Facebook too.

Cut it out

Yes, you could cut this shape out by hand, slowly, carefully, patiently in polymer. But once you see what a die-cutting machine will do, you may reconsider. Join me on Saturday at Craftcast to see what’s happening in the world of die-cutting.

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