Cutting loose with scraps

Is it the reminder of another way to use scrap clay that attracts us to Carol Beal’s (BeadUnsupervised) newest marbled domes? Or is it Carol’s unsupervised, no-holds-barred approach to jewelry-making that pulls us in?

No matter. It’s inspiring to see how she turns bits of fall colored scrap into stripes and then drags a stylus in zigs and zags across the surface to marble it. Carol’s good at messing things up in delightful ways and this is a great example of how effective cutting loose can be.

See more of Carol on Flickr, Instagram, Pinterest and Etsy.

Cut loose with me in a class at Creative Journey Studios in Georgia, October 7-9.

Bobblehead bounty

It’s not often that inmates can send art home to their families. When Leslie Blackford offered to mail their sculptures to families, students in the Ohio prison classes put extra effort and humor into their Bobblehead creations. Leslie and Tammy Dye are two of their favorite visiting polymer artists.

Just look at this prison cat named Fendor (short for Offender, I’m sure). There are more examples on Leslie’s Instagram. Tammy’s cone beads were also a big hit.

One very devoted friend from rural Ohio prints each PCD post which she mails in a weekly package to incarcerated artists who study and share them. They’ll be seeing this in next week’s delivery so shout a big virtual hello!

Few tools, no internet, no air conditioning, lots of rules! A pretty stripped down studio setup but a terrific learning experience for both teachers and students. There’s nothing better than when a student says, “For an afternoon, I felt free.” Where could you teach and brighten someone’s day?

Bits and pieces

There’s so much energy in this series from France’s Caroline Cornic Isola (Klick-Art) that it’s hard to know where to focus. Your eyes dance between shapes and colors and land intermittently on black and white bits.

Thin lines lead you between elements. When you dive in for a closer look you’ll see that the colors aren’t solid but mottled and graduated. Each pendant is a little Miro-like composition.

Caroline bounces between comic illustration and painterly compositions in her polymer work. Look at her exuberant pieces on Facebook, Etsy and Pinterest.

About face

Lisa Renner’s sculpted busts have wistful, pensive looks with lovely touches of fashion and mystery. Lisa avoids the telltale ways of working that scream “plastic”. Her strong expressions and ceramic-like fabrics pull you right past the material and into the art.

It’s an enviable trick that Lisa teaches in her 2-day About Face class (the next one’s in September in Albuquerque). See if you can figure how how she performs this sleight of hand by flipping through the work on her website. Check out her class schedule and friend her on Facebook.

Splat and swash

With her latest series of splats and swashes, Donna Kato indulges her love of colored pencils. She always liked the look and feel of pencils but didn’t feel she had the talent to become an illustrator. She always felt at home with polymer.

The Ribbon brooch is the newest iteration that combines the two processes. The Splat necklace continues a sunny spring version.

More and more polymer artists are coloring on both baked and unbaked polymer,

creating gradations, textures and colors. A black edge enhances the contrast.

Donna has uploaded photos of her growing collection of bright hand-drawn designs on Facebook. Combining pencils, polymer and most recently, animal drawings hits a sweet spot for Donna. “This series really makes me happy, happy.” she says.

Would pencils brighten your day?

Ancient updated

Switzerland’s Anouk Stettler (habetrotdesign) updates tribal designs and mixes them with modern materials and sensibilities.

This brass and polymer cuff, she says, is one she wears often. Her designs have a freshness about them and she pairs textures and shapes that you may not expect.

You can do a little detective work on Instagram, Flickr and Facebook.

Follow the dots

UK’s Olga Petrova shows off her latest polymer-covered 4″ x 8″ vessel.

Extruded designs? Probably. Textured? That too. Accented with a wash of black? Yes. Begs to be touched? Indeed!

The vase looks like a 3D zentangle with islands of designs floating in rivers of dots. Wouldn’t this look stunning as a shelf accent? See more on Instagram, Facebook and Flickr.

Room accents

If you’d like to create accents for your home decor, sign up for one of the remaining seats in my class at Creative Journey Studios in Georgia, October 7-9. You’ll learn all about polymer and wood plus other unusual decorative accents that will make your heart sing.

Pull this

Fan pulls! Now wouldn’t that be a smart idea on a hot day like this?

Angie Wiggins makes these in her rustic studio in the woods of Virginia – a good place to work when it’s hot. Picture her chickens clucking in the background.

Grab yourself a beverage and wander through Angie’s world on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Angie’s known for her handmade paper bowls embroidered with beads and polymer do-dads though she veers into switchplates, spoons and other dashes of color that customers enjoy using around the house.

Modern artifacts

Luann Udell moved from Vermont to California, switched her workspace from a barn to a small studio and added woodworking and box-making skills to her mix of media.

Now her polymer artifacts from lost cultures and imagined prehistories are sometimes housed in refinished antique boxes as in this Shrine: Red Deer Clan.

Her story’s a good one and you can read it and see an overview of her work on ArtsyShark.com.

Follow her on Facebook and Etsy. Thanks to Lyn Tremblay for sending the link along to PCDaily.

Luann adds that she’s having an Open Studio in Santa Rosa this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, August 6 & 7, from 10-5.

Performance, polymer mashup

New Orleans artist, Vinsantos puts his hoarder tendencies to good use in his Kreeture series of assemblage dolls.

“I see the art that I create as a mash-up of sculpture, assemblage, fashion design, makeup, and hair artistry.” “I also see it as the reinvention and preservation of beauty. The characters found in Kreeture stem from my years on the underground performance art circuit. I’ve spent many years in the public spotlight either as a live musician, a Drag artist, and more often as a combination of both,” he explains.

Vinsantos shadow box characters can be seen at Tresor Gallery and you can follow him on Facebook.

Thanks to Laura Tabakman who read an article on Vinsantos in Art21 magazine and sent the link along

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