3D celebrations

The UK’s Erica Sturla creates 3D colorful scenes from polymer clay setting her characters against painted canvas backgrounds.

Australian doll maker Shirley Dougan spotted Erica’s work and greeting cards in the gift shop at the British Museum in London and sent us the link. Small world, eh?

Here’s Erica on Facebook. Many of her works are commissions that celebrate special family events.

Retreat giveaway

All you have to do is “Like” Polyform’s Facebook page and you’re entered in a raffle for a free ticket to the Polymer Clay Adventure Virtual Retreat in January. Click before November 30 and you could win!

Meeting your maker

Melanie Muir has upgraded her site just in time for her debut at the National Museum of Scotland in Endinburgh on November 29 and 30. Her tools, coaching, and workshops are easily accessible in one neat presentation on the updated site.

Melanie was selected as one of a handful of artists to share her techniques, processes and inspirations by Craft Scotland for their Meet Your Maker events.

The selected makers will talk informally to the public, demonstrate their work and show working pieces. Melanie will also teach a workshop at the museum.

“I am constantly inspired by the colours and patterns that surround me at my coastal home in Nairn, in the Scottish Highlands,” Melanie says. This cuff is part of her Rock series and is entitled Beach Net.

Going bigger

Arizona’s Marlene Brady likes big beads. In this case they’re chunky ceramic-looking polymer beads with loads of texture.

This is as large as she’s let herself go since the textures and layers of colors add visual weight. Does she dare go bigger? When you’re having fun, it’s hard to pull back on the reins!

See where she’s headed on her blog, Pinterest, and Flickr.

Polymers niche

Arlene Groch’s Blended Brights necklace is in the finals for the 2015 Niche Awards. Arlene’s hard to find online but she shared more of her summer creations like this blue beauty on the Philadelphia guild site.

You’ll also find Lindly Haunani, Judy Summers, Wiwat Kamolpornwijit and Louise Fischer Cozzi in the running. Link alert! Following these gems may take you some time.

Bias cut polymer

As Steve Ford and David Forlano continue their exploration of tube shapes, they hit upon this juicy jumble of obliquely cut polymer pipes. The magnetic closure fits easily into the design.

The long strand below shows what happens with the same oblique cut edges on smaller, brighter beads with a few surprising circles tossed in the mix.

They’re revisiting some of their ideas from the 90’s, updating them with new surfaces. Here’s a behind-the-scenes studio picture and you’ll find more on Facebook.

This is part of their selection for next weekend’s Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. To spot more polymer, look for Kathleen Dustin and Wiwat Kamolpornwijit in the show catalog.

Meeting your quota

To meet his quota of 10-12 polymer heart pins each day, Ron Lehocky has to get up early (we shot this video at 7:00 a.m.) and take advantage of every spare moment.

Funny how that daily quota has added up to 27,000 hearts in 9 years! All the proceeds support the Kentucky Kids Center where he is also a physician.

Used to the routine, Ron’s hands moved gracefully and effortlessly as we chatted. He’s refined his process to 3 steps which he shows in this demo. A few hundred hearts are always waiting for sanding and finishing which he does as he watches TV or listens to music. To purchase hearts, contact Ron on Facebook or via email. Watch the video here.

In this weekend’s StudioMojo, Ron continues talking about his studio habits, his motivation, and his own designs. Join us on StudioMojo if you’d like more.

Sunday school

Those of us who love both technology and polymer are ecstatic that Mags Bonham will teach an online Craftcast class that explains how to cut polymer using the computer and a Silhouette Cameo printer/cutter. That’s on Sunday at 12:00 noon (EST). I plan to be in the front row (virtually) with the rest of you artist/nerds.

Polymer costumes

Reinhard Fritz’ people always look dressed for Halloween. He creates small polymer sculptures that capture his subjects’ essence…right down to the pink Crocs on this interpretation of a tourist.

Visit the party his characters are having on Flickr and read more on Facebook.

He shows how he works over foil and wire armatures. Everyone is fair game (including himself) and he loves looking at the world with a wink and a smile.

Balancing composition

Tory Hughes has long been fascinated by linear compositions. What better place to play with balance and color than in making mobiles? Tory is working on an edition of ten Red Dot mobiles that measure 24″ across. The first one sold to a Santa Fe collector.

Another of Tory’s mobiles was suspended in the exhibit at Carthage College. It fluttered like a celebration of colored wings above guests at the show.

See more mobile photos here and here and on her Facebook page. She will teach in Portland, Oregon November 7-9 with a few seats still available in one of the classes.

Big gestures

Jill Palumbo’s big beads have an unselfconscious flair that’s part tribal, part fashion flash.

The layers and layers of pattern on these big beads have an appealing gestural quality as if she confidently shrugged her shoulders and flung on color. The fuzzy fiber cords fit right in with her “more-is-more” attitude.

If you’ve ever tried collaging with abandon, you know what a trick it is to tread the line between just right and too much.

Jill often finds inspiration in art challenges and does some of her best pieces when she’s reinterpreting great works of art. Here are her Pinterest and Flickr pages.

Start simple

The possibilities for patterns expand when you insert a cane into the tube of an extruder. Here are just a few examples from the Mammoth Cave retreat.

Mari O’Dell showed students how to position, control and combine canes. A striped cane started these petals. Slices of the resulting extrusions were shaped into flowers or reinserted into the extruder to create even more complex designs. Nancy Nearing created this lovely lotus.

The retro flower fabric (right) was an experiment with slices from my petal disk impressed on a striped background (see Debbie Crothers free tutorial).

Folded charms are made from slices of a checkerboard cane. Amy Koranek manipulates the slices into a graceful shape by lightly pressing corners together.

Will simple ideas grow into more complex ones in your studio this week?

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