Polymer Clay Daily

Polymer phone home

Blackford on PCDaily

A snake crawls through Leslie Blackford’s polymer woodland scene and bird peeks out of one of the tree stumps. Moss creeps onto the rocks. The creatures are waiting for something.

This small pastoral scene provides a perfect setting for a cell phone!

Leslie worked out the structure (it’s 4″ x 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″) so that a phone balances perfectly against the trees. Now your phone which used to get laid down and lost has a stand that makes it easy to find.

Blackford on PCDaily

She devised a Candyland scene and other themes for her phone cradle sculptures. Making polymer art that doubles as a useful household item is a trick that Leslie does with style.

Read about the L’Atelier: Polymer Clay Workshop that Leslie and friends are setting up from June 1-3 at the French Lick Resort in Indiana. Registration opens February 24.

Polymer nerve tonic

Need a dose of Nerve Tonic to begin your week? Romania’s Claudia Chindea says her business name came from her grandmother who thought that color was a cure for the soul. Polymer artists would agree.

Claudia’s business that combines polymer, fiber and fabric is now based in Sweden.

Always a seamstress and then trained in graphics, Claudia says, “I learned to observe in a much closer way. To draw first, and then to move on to the material. My mind opened up. That’s how my collection of jewels, made out of fabric, with much color and texture, begins.”

You can read a little about her (use a translator) and see more of her fabric purses in interviews here and here and on Instagram. Helen Breil sent this new link along.

Free I Love Tools

The weekend rehearsal for Wednesday’s free I Love Tools webinar on Craftcast gave me a peek at really cool new tools and ideas. These artists are clever!

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Plus Alison Lee is always able to dig up generous giveaways and tempting coupons. Whether you’re in the mood for heavy equipment, the latest little gizmo or just want to keep up with tool trends, you’ll want to join Wednesday’s online party. Sign up. No cost.

Significant others

Lehocky on PCDaily

Did Ron Lehocky think we’d celebrate Valentines Day without featuring the King of Hearts? Not possible.

His production of polymer heart brooches reached 25,801 yesterday and if you multiply that by ten you’ll have calculated how much this Kentucky doctor has raised for kids. You helped him by donating your scrap.

This year he also set his sights on helping the Samunnat women in Nepal and he was relentless. He knows how art can make a difference in lives and how the significance of bit of effort ripples out as others join in. Love to all who were part of that effort this year.

Ron used Lucy Struncova’s extruder disks to make this special edition of heart patterns. He has finally jumped onto social media and shares his methods and his news on Facebook.

Polymer at heart

Koontz on PCDaily

South Carolina’s Kathy Koontz combined 7 polymer hearts in reds, pinks and purples to make this 4″ valentines dish. She textured the clay before curing, later applying white paint to enhance the marks. The dish sits on short purple legs.

Kathy’s bright colors are everywhere on her Etsy store, Flickr, her blog and her Pinterest boards. Oh, and Facebook too!

One of the reasons Kathy landed on polymer is that she gets bored easily. She jumps with delight from dishes to buttons to jewelry, changing techniques along the way but retaining distinctive and personal colors and themes. She’s a polymer artist at heart.

Lo-cal polymer

Kilgast on PCDaily

France’s Stephanie Kilgast places tiny polymer chocolate pralines into a 3/4″ heart box for part of her valentine’s offering. Light on calories and heavy on charm.

Stephanie’s miniatures can be found on her Etsy shop and Facebook. On her blog she reveals her latest creations, miniature coral reefs that she transforms into jewelry.

Kilgast on PCDaily

This new art, she says, makes her happy. What a pleasure to have these small reminders of important times and places. Stephanie shares some free tutorials on her site.

Tender tentacles

OShea on PCDaily

Arizona’s Kaity O’Shea has a long term love affair with octopuses and her tentacle heart necklace begins our week of love. Kaity sells smaller items on her Etsy site (Killer Tentacle Octopus) and shows her commissions and larger pieces like this Killer necklace with matching earrings (fake gauges) and bracelet on her Deviant and Tumblr pages.

OShea on PCDaily

She also posted some in-progress shots and shows her glow-in-the-dark octopi on Deviant. The Comic and Anime communities share Kaity’s tender feelings for tentacles and she has a growing fan base there. Thanks to Carol Simmons for prodding me to look at this unusual polymer work.

Polymer vases

Lehmann on PCDaily

If your winter has been as snowy as ours, you’ll sigh to see these signs of spring from Germany’s Jana Lehmann. Examine her Calyx series of pendants as well.

These polymer Flower Vases are brooches with flowers rendered in her inimitable graphic style. Her Facebook film shows her progression with polymer over the past few years.

Lehmann on PCDaily

Now she’s teaching workshops and has written a new book available in March. The best overview of Jana’s work is on Flickr and you can still sneak a look at her blog here.

The brightness of her palette seems to melt the snow. Have a warm weekend.

Rolled polymer

This is the way Albuquerque’s Barb Fajardo rolls. She gathers thin striped polymer snakes into a bunch and suspends them from a ball chain to make a fashion statement.

She’s also adept at rolling snakes from bits of Skinner blend and then forming them into sinewy floral earrings and pendants. Barb hunts for bargains on bamboo placemats that she disassembles.

She builds her earrings on the salvaged bamboo tiles using the Skinner snakes in a southwest palette and adding texture and paint to the polymer leaves and blossoms.

Fajardo on PCDaily

On her Facebook page you can see the way she’s found to imitate knitting with her rolled Skinner bits. The snake shape suits her so well that Barb can’t help but explore its design possibilities.

Do you make a shape that feels like it’s all yours? Have you explored it fully?

Trailblazing polymer

Levesque_on PCDaily

You are invited to follow along on the class blog as students at Carthage College begin their adventure in learning polymer. Read the syllabus, check the links and examine the work produced in this first college level studio course that focuses on color theory, textures, patterns and compositional strategies using polymer and mixed media.

This Lichened sculpture was created by Professor Diane Levesque. “Polymer Clay Color Inspirations: Techniques and Jewelry Projects for Creating Successful Palettes by Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio is the required text for this course. Lindly and Maggie have been extremely instrumental in helping me to launch this course,” she says.

During the semester students will submit their work on the course blog. The class marks new territory for our community and you can witness the path they’re blazing.