The land of What If

One benefit of teaching is what the students teach you. Look at this imaginative Miro-like polymer inlay from Florida’s Lynn Yuhr (TheFlyingSquirrelStudio).

My class in Georgia focused on making polymer art for the domestic environment. Students quickly embraced the concepts and happily dressed up sticks, covered paper forms, and drilled holes in whatever wood they could find to inlay. You could see their attitudes change as the possibilities expanded.

Lynn brought wooden jewelry components with her to our class. She and her Florida friends at Banyan Bay are tinkering with wooden beads that can be inlaid. While they were originally thinking of designs for bead weavers, Lynn urged them to consider polymer inlay as well. The new products should be available soon.

Once you enter the land of what if, a whole new world of possibilities opens up.

Autumn leaves

These tiny maple leaf earrings by Michigan’s Sue Screws called to me every time I walked by this display during my weekend class at Creative Journey Studio in Georgia.

Sue made these delicate cutouts for a number of types of trees in fall colors with intricate veining and realistic colors. I couldn’t resist wearing these on my long drive back to Ohio.

You can enjoy a few more photos from the weekend here and here. (Sue is hard to find on ine, try Facebook.) Back to our regular schedule tomorrow.

Studio goblins

Who better than illustrator/artist Wendy Wallin Malinow to remind us of the approaching spooky season with her mixed media Goblins?

She resurrects a cigar box and fills it with her distinctive painting and polymer. Go in close for a look at the details.

Wendy entered this piece in the seriously spooky #mabsdrawlloweenclub on Instagram. See more of Wendy’s works on Instagram, Etsy and Tumblr.

Are there monsters and ghosts lurking in your studio?

Inspired wire and polymer

Indiana’s Ponsawan Sila is a whiz with wire. Moved by Sonya Girodon’s recent polymer bowls, Ponsawan wanted to try her own version.

“I always get inspired by Sonya’s works and the way she pushes us to think, dig deep into our souls and elevate our creativity to the next level,” says Ponsawan.

Ponsawan passes on the inspiration with these wire-edged fall flowers formed into a bowl that is both delicate and strong.

Polymer nesting instinct

Seems everyone is trying out vessels and wall art in autumn colors lately. This 2 1/2″ x 7 1/2″ wire and polymer piece is from Arkansas’ Betty Jo Hendershott. Can’t you imagine an empty space in your home that could use a dash of polymer color?

Are we nesting in anticipation of winter?

Yesterday it was acorns we were gathering for winter. Be sure to see the Melissa Terlizzi version of acorn decor on her Facebook page.

“We’re all a bunch of nuts sharing the same small bowl. It’d be a lot easier if we were all kind to one another,” Melissa says.

Beads from the woods

Alaska’s Katie Way (BullsEyeStudio) took the summer off from her Etsy site. Let’s hope she’s out foraging for acorns.

Don’t caps filled with Katie’s signature beads look fabulously fallish? She made them earlier this year. You can keep tabs on Katie on Facebook.

Polymer acorns would be great for next spring’s Into the Forest exhibit too.

Check out Melissa Terlizzi’s nutty variation on this theme!

Bold bowls

Polymer vessels are moving to the wild side thanks to artists like Massachusetts’ Kathryn Corbin.

This one has holes and textures and what looks like three or four layers with a rough exterior. The chopped edged interior is colored with pastels and who-knows-what and given a mysterious touch with some cryptic drawing.

There are more vessels on Facebook and an earlier post on PCDaily to give you more samples of Kathryn’s work.

How many of us have drawers of pens, powders and inks that we’re saving for just the right project? Maybe this is the week to pull them out and venture beyond our comfort zones.

Mixing polymer digitally

The UK’s Jon Burgess brings his computer drawings to polymer in the ways that don’t have the usual hard-edge digital transfer look.

He’s working on ways to camouflage the seams on round and tube beads and hints that he’s working on a tutorial.

If you’re not in love with your phone’s camera and editing software and printing, you may not share Jon’s enthusiasm (and mine). To us the mash-up of polymer and computers looks like a big unexplored territory with lots of possibility.

See Jon’s very personal way of mixing media on Etsy, Facebook and his blog.

Kelp and polymer

Gera Scott Chandler (aMusedStudio) pairs her polymer with materials that are readily available. Not only is kelp plentiful along the BC coast in Canada, but it also appeals to Gera’s penchant for making baskets.

Look closely and you’ll see that she pierces holes along the edges of the polymer bowls. She uses the holes to weave in the strands of kelp that trim her vessels.

Kelp adorns the edge of her popular Halibut Platters as well. The rock and shells and Vancouver Island beach finds make their way into Gera’s work that you can see on Facebook.

Read about how she incorporates the landscape into her work in this recent profile. What calls to you from your landscape?

Decoding polymer DNA

Samples of cane slices are not usually newsworthy but these translucent pieces from Maryland’s Kelly Russell will have you transfixed.

The patterns have a slightly DNA look. Kelly holds a #5 slice out in the sun and the delicate strands light up.

There’s much that we’re just discovering about building layers of pattern with translucent thanks to Kelly and other experimenters.

If you check her out on Facebook, you’ll also see the stunning results from her recent master class with Carol Simmons.

‹ 1 … 120 121 122 … 405 ›