Polymer Clay Daily

Deviant demo

When Judy Belcher and I mentioned deviant art in our Synergy presentation, a surprising number of artists in the audience didn’t recognize the term. While Wendy Malinow’s work might fit in any number of categories, deviant is certainly one of them. Anyone who sets up her own bone-a-day challenge certainly qualifies as deviant.

Her latest polymer faux antler is inlaid with garnet, sunstone, raw sunstone, abalone, pua. Air plants sprout from its openings. She’s offering this piece as a free giveaway to people who follow her Tumblr Inkhead site. The drawing will be on April 1.

If you’re an antler fan, you’ll love her 32-inch long polymer antler lariats. Her Etsy shop shows a wider range of wonderfully strange and deviant art.

Treasure chests

These are the collars, chests and arms where your eyes might have roamed if you’d been at Atlanta’s Synergy3.

Today was a travel day and gave me an opportunity to begin to make sense of all the ideas, goodwill and plans that floated around. As I decompress, I’ll share what I saw with you. Consider this a first installment.

Photos here include: Pendant from Croatia’s Nikolina Otrzan, brooch from North Carolina’s Carol Parsons, Maryland’s Jeff Dever’s brooch was made with balloons. Second row: Germany’s Anke Humpert’s beads were much larger than I imagined, UK’s Carol Blackburn‘s striped bangle, hollow pendant from UK’s Cara Jane.

More Meisha

Barbee on PCDaily

It’s rare that I have to jump up on my soapbox these days. But California’s Meisha Barbee still doesn’t have much of a web presence other than PCD! How can that be? (Sigh) She has a little spot on Facebook.

She’s won a Niche award! She does a big wholesale business. Her refined, color-perfect work makes us feel good in an updated-retro sort of way. Wouldn’t you like to see more? She wants to start teaching so she’ll surely have to have a site soon.

I’ll be hounding Meisha for the next couple of days at Synergy and you can join me by leaving a comment. More Meisha! More Synergy on Monday after I’ve had time to sift and sort photos and process all the great ideas floating here.

Size matters

On the Synergy display tables here in Atlanta I was flabbergasted by how much larger pieces were than I had guessed from photos.

Take this new brooch from Kathleen Dustin. I would have guessed it as moderately sized but it’s quite large. Look at these pictures to get a better idea of size. Note the care she has taken with the back, the submerged hardware and the additional loops that allow it to be worn as a pendant.

On the front the shapes are thick and the designs flow from textured in one block to smooth in the next with a fascinating interplay that teases your brain. Its size makes the brooch more imposing and causes us to rethink how size matters.

As an aside, Kathleen mentioned that she does not condition the translucent clay that finishes the foremost block. Her theory is that putting the clay through the pasta machine repeatedly introduces more air into it and she wants the thin top layer to be as bubble-free as possible.

Synergy is off to a great start but it’s late. Please visit tomorrow for more news. I need a bit of sleep.

Wheeling to Atlanta

Humpert on PCDaily

While Anke Humpert is excited to bring her work to America (like these new distressed hollow Wheely beads) and visit the U.S. for the first time, we Americans are excited to meet our European counterparts.

Anke is speaking at the IPCA Synergy conference in Atlanta, talking about the European scene and the German polymer clay group, Polyclaykunst.de. She’s trained as an architect and has published a number of books and classes. Read more on Flickr and Facebook and check back here for the next few days to see what I see at Synergy.

Rainbow polymer

Tatiana Begacheva of Russia admits that this Rainbow bangle made of extruded cane bits became quite heavy on her slender arm. Still, the construction is fun.

If I’m reading the translation right, she sandwiched memory wire between the layers to give the piece more strength.

She’s got some great ideas. Go browse through them while I pack for Synergy where I hope to find another rainbow of ideas to bring you.

Magic polymer

Dixie103 on PCDaily

These shapely complex beads from Dixie103 (Julie) provide a pleasant start to the week. Her husband thought they looked like magic lamps and dubbed them Alladin beads.

The shapes and patterns and muted colors make your eyes dance around to take in all the delightful curves and canes.

Julie is still shy about her work though it’s now her fulltime day job. See what she’s up to (she even posted her first tutorial) on Flickr.

The Deerclayer

When Arlene Groch‘s son asked her to cover a resin deer’s head to hang on the wall of his San Diego office, he was serious and it was a request she couldn’t refuse. The black and white pattern was his choice.

In a post on the Philadelphia guild site Arlene explains how she covered and baked the beast. Arlene doesn’t divulge what kind of business her son is in. Aren’t you curious to see how the mounted head looks in place?

For more of Arlene’s work, visit the Xanadu Gallery site. She was a finalist in this year’s Niche Awards (and not in the taxidermy category).

Guild web writer Sarah Sorlien sent the link along.

Raw polymer

Anar on PCDaily

Anarina Anar puts raw energy into her rough and vibrant pieces. You can feel the Greek sun and the heat in the colors.Texture and dimension add a tactile quality to the pattern on her striped bracelet.

Anar on PCDaily

Anarina also shows a hemisphere necklace on her Flickr page. I thought readers might mutiny at the sight of another one of these designs that have captivated me so you can see it here if you’re a fan of the trend.