Could you use a friend in your pocket this Monday? Serbia’s Milos Samardzic (Tramps and Glams) creates polymer Pocketmen that he markets on Etsy. He’s been recreating silent movie stars, circus performers and book characters into offbeat polymer and wire sculptures since 2008.
The eyes and hands of the 1 1/2″ x 3″ brooches are designed to peek over the edge of your shirt pocket. “They can be shy, they can be silly, they can even be grumpy at times, but they are always devoted and honest friends,” says Milos.
Uh-oh, my holiday picnic got started early. So let me quickly send you to Doreen Kassel’s Lady Liberty for your Independence Day polymer fix.
You simply must see this FB video (starring Dan Kassel) to get the full star-spangled effect.
Sure, Doreen’s Uncommon Creatures are on Etsy, Flickr, and her blog. But if you really want to see what ornaments she’s creating and what classes she’s teaching, you’ll have to try her on Facebook and Instagram. Have a happy fourth and a great weekend.
Backers quickly pledged over $32,000 to get first crack at the printed version of this useful and practical system that’s aimed to appeal to both sides of your brain. A full spectrum 216-card color deck helps you choose your palette and then coded numbers assure accurate color mixing.
The BTC Colour Basics cube shown above is the simpler 3x3x3 color model that Tracy used for her article in The Polymer Arts magazine. The BTC Mini Cube below shows 152 hues, tints, and shades on the outside plus 64 tones on the inside.
Tracy says that the first print run will fulfill the pre-orders that come from the Kickstarter campaign which wraps up at noon (Mountain Time) on Saturday, July 18. “Beyond that, I haven’t made firm plans about when and where BTC will be available,” says Tracy.
For those wanting either the Colour Basics Deck or the 216 BreakThroughColour Deck, the first and fastest place to obtain them is via Kickstarter.
Tracy will teach at Maryland’s Master Class Camp 2015 July 8 and 9. “We will make a polymer cube like this one. Then we’ll explore the colors and combos in the bigger model including color mixing experiments. We’ll investigate what we like and why we like it. And we’ll work with the newest clays and colors coming from generous sponsors.”
BTC looks like a great way to improve your color confidence. Read more about Tracy and other Cutting Edge products on Facebook.
A trip to a local quilt festival prompted Vermont’s Mags Bonham to go all rainbow. The colored paperclips used as findings take her Skinner blended swirls a step farther. The resulting Love Wins earrings make for a simple and striking project.
The feel of baked polymer reminds Lindsay Locatelli (wazodesigns) of wood. She carves the hardened clay to give it natural and organic textures.
“I graduated with a BFA in Furniture Design from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and worked mostly in wood/metal. After college, I began working in a smaller scale and I fell in love with the idea of art jewelry because there’s a component of function as well as sculpture. Polymer clay became my new medium of choice because it’s much more satisfying to work with at a smaller scale,” says Lindsay.
“Polymer clay allows me to have much more control than wood did. I’m interested in creating new textures/forms out of the material and working with it in unique and unusual ways.”
Minneapolis has a lively emerging fashion and art community and Lindsay’s active in shaping it. The necklace here, Bleached Bones, is made of polymer, brass with acrylic paint and the ring is polymer, silver and citrine. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook as well.
Lindsay was part of the ACC’s first Hip Pop Showcase at the St. Paul ACC show in April this year.
Short summer hair may have you looking for dramatic stud earrings and Croatia’s Nikolina Otrzan presents a whole series of deeply textured compositions. Dots of color lure your eye in for closer inspection.
They’re domed polymer circles of varying sizes sliced in half and set next to each other in various positions with small contrasting balls in the crevices. Her textures and colors are strong and varied.
It’s as if Nikolina is testing herself to see how many interesting variations she can imagine and she’s on a roll. See more of them in her Etsy shop and Pinterest. She shares some of her methods on CraftArtEdu. Does your signature design want to be expanded into a series?
If you’ve been around polymer for a while you may, like me, think you’ve seen every cane possible. But then a cane brain like Meg Newberg shows her newest ways to make an imitative indigo dye cane and you shake your head in wonder. That soft-edged tie-dye look is challenging in polymer.
Her monthly cane subscription is one of the best deals out there. Each month she emails subscribers cane tutorials that baffle and delight.
I’m off to the studio to try this. Here’s a sampling of my first efforts. It took me several tries to get the hang of it.
San Francisco’s Alberto Toscano creates square polymer paintings with a tactile and pictorial quality. His small formats, mostly 5″ to 9″ squares, contain industrial landscapes, fantastic figures, zoomorphic elements, surreal structures and remote scenarios that resonate with past and present.
Layering over foggy, colorful backgrounds, Alberto makes his scenes out of sharp-edged slivers of black and white canes.
Peggy Carlan and Carolyn Bond sent me the link to Alberto and I remembered having bought similar designs at the Flying Shuttle in Seattle. Turns out those items come from Raw Art which was founded by Laura Blaconá and Alberto in 1994. They have been producing a line of functional art pieces since then.
Meanwhile Alberto’s paintings have appeared in numerous southwest galleries and shows. You can piece together the story from his site, blog and Facebook sites. You’ll find Raw Art on Facebook.
Today’s the last day to visit Georg Dinkel’s polymer reliquaries and shrines to technology in the Palace of Culture Anwanden. Georg mixes technology, architecture and religion into a delicious ironic stew. His digital devotional pieces ask what we really worship and why. Here’s his latest.
Georg’s carefully crafted, elaborate sculptures are positioned against cracked plaster walls next to a curving staircase in a beautifully aging empty building. The old and new, the serious and the sassy play off each other in this festival of light.
Georg shares his splendid photographs of the event, saving us the airfare. I’m snatching his photos from Facebook for those who’d rather examine them on PCD. Enjoy your free trip to Germany. Here’s the pdf of the program for those who know German.
He shares videos of works in process and other sculptures on his site, YouTube and Facebook.
Pittsburgh’s Rebecca Watkins was inspired by a friend’s Spring in the Smokies photograph. Armed with new color skills from a Carol Simmons’ class, Rebecca mixed matching hues in polymer.
She carved and colored the beads in her signature style and accented them by brushing liquid black polymer into the lines and hollows. Her work-in-progress shots show how well Rebecca learned her color lessons.
She plans to wear her creation on an eggplant colored t-shirt with a black skirt. See more of Rebecca’s beads on Etsy.
If you’re itching to mix and match your own colors, browse through Carol Simmons’ Pinterest color boards (she has 12 of them). It’s overflowing with mouthwatering palettes that she’s unearthed and sorted.
