Polymer Clay Daily

Bottled polymer

The peek-a-boo quality of Donna Greenberg’s polymer covered glass vase catches your eye. Rich colors and patterns with metallic sheen add to the allure.

Organic shapes and rough textures replace the flowers and frills we’ve come to expect on polymer covered items. Donna’s bottles shake up our expectations on this Cyber Monday. Be sure to visit Etsy and other online galleries as you start your holiday shopping. Dan Cormier and Tracy Holmes offer this coupon for discounts on their tools and techniques today.

Here’s Donna on Facebook and her FB fan page for more browsing.

More scribbles

You may have to study Vera Kleist’s attractive scribbles necklace to figure out how she did it. The polished polymer lines are surrounded by deep grooves that she’s enhanced with white grout and called To Be Different. Here’s her Etsy link.

Your scribbles

You readers have been great about sharing data with Judy Belcher and me. More data is better! If you haven’t yet filled them out, here’s Survey 1 and Survey 2 that will tell us how the polymer community is trending. We’ll report back at Synergy3.

Druzy doozie

If you need a little sparkle on Thanksgiving, check out Barb Jarman’s polymer and druzy media mixes. Druzy is the name used for the natural crystals that form on other rocks.This pairing with polymer may give you lots of ideas.

Barbara comes from a painting and mixed media background which is reflected in her pendants that look like small wearable canvases. Carol Dresben was inspired by a class she took from Barbara in California and sent us the link.

I’m thankful for you readers who send in links. You make my job easier and widen our circle of artists and friends. Pausing to appreciate what you have? Here’s a list of 60 things to get you started.

Variations on the Stroppel theme

Just when we thought we’d seen every Stroppel variation possible, we stumble on Sue Corrie’s latest riff on the technique. My eyes danced around her colors and landed on those gradated round slices with cherries on top. Even slight variations in color make a difference.

And this was just my favorite. You’ll like others in her gallery and on her Flickr site.

Be sure to read how Sue selected her business name, GhostShift.

I forgot to push the “publish” button so we missed coffee with you this morning.

Tumbling polymer blocks

There’s a buzz around the neat colorful tumbling blocks canes by Germany’s ST-Art-Clay. This updated interpretation of the historic quilt pattern uses shades of the colors to give the design dimension created by extruded triangles and edging strips.

ST’s colors are vivid and fun and she shows lots of variations on her Flickr page. You can see that she’s taken great master classes and that caning is her forte. She is able to control her canes in ways that many of us envy. Did you see her wildlife canes? ST is about to go wild!

The link first came to PCD via Cate van Alphen. Thanks!

Home sweet polymer home

Usually houses don’t sell so well at this time of year but Nevada’s Marjorie Dalgarn is doing a brisk business in home sales.

She uses polymer to sketch custom house ornaments and she’s booked through the season. She stamps the name and date on the back and they’ve made such popular gifts that she’s already stopped taking orders for the holidays. Should you add “Build a polymer house” to your holiday to-do list?

Marjorie also makes family ornaments, cake toppers and other themed polymer works and beaded items. She offers a free pumpkin pie tutorial just in time for Thanksgiving.

Finding good luck

What look like pieces of broken Delft pottery in this Scherven Brengen Geluk are modern polymer good luck charms from the Netherland’s Linda Ezerman.

On the beaches and in the rubble of cities Linda finds her mixed media version of centuries-old remnants from a life that still shapes people today. Here’s an earlier PCD feature.

This month Linda’s earthy, edgy beach mixes look right at home in the middle of Amsterdam’s Sierrad International Jewelry Art Fair. Enjoy the photos and her impressive show portfolio. The link came to PCD from Annie Pennington.

Data divas

Our community is changing and we need your input to track that growth. The latest survey will reveal how you learn and how you share. Easy peezy right here.

Cutouts redux

If Tuesday’s post prompted you to pull out your Kemper cutters, let me share two more cutter technique favorites from the PCD archives.

Rebecca Geoffrey created this cutout layer stacked over a contrasting color years ago (oh my, it was 2005). Even though she’s moved on to much more sophisticated work, the simplicity and beauty of these cutout rounds keeps them among my favorites.

Camille Young’s snowflake ornaments show circles of clay with cutter bits removed. Stacked on another layer of texture and topped off with some metallic and seed bead bling, these pieces are the grownup polymer version of cutting snowflakes out of paper. Easy holiday magic. Here’s Camille’s current site.

Polymer squiggles

This colorful polymer squiggle ring is from Serbia’s Milena Babic and Miloš Samardžic’s new Bold Geometry series. Generally the pair, known as Tramps and Glams, feature film stars, artists and lost souls in cubist constructions that become polymer brooches and pendants. Their geometric pieces pile polymer twists and curls into constructions that look like confetti gathered up for a party.

We need your squiggles!

…on our “Habits” survey. Ten easy questions ask where you learn about polymer and how you share your work. Your answers are important, anonymous and much appreciated! A few quick checkmarks will help Judy Belcher and me gather data for our presentation at Synergy.

If you missed the first survey, you can still fill it out here.

Cane brain

Arizona’s Meg Newberg thinks canes. She posted this free video tutorial on YouTube featuring a clever 4-in-1 cane that intrigued me. Using a small amount of polymer and some simple cutters, she makes four designs in a hurry. Her video made the cane look so simple that I had to prove it to myself before sharing it with you. Ta-Da! Even my first hurried scrap cane worked.

Meg worked with children for a few years. She explains her return to polymer saying, “One day my mom brought out all the clay creations she had saved from when I was a child. All the joy and delight flooded back to me. Now I teach art to people of all ages, and I can’t imagine anything I’d rather do!” Read more about Meg’s story in this interview on Kater’s Acres.

Making complex cane design look simple is an art in itself. Meg sells her tutorials (she has several good ones) on Etsy.