Germany’s Reinhard Fritz knows himself well! In his Facebook photos you can watch small life-like versions of him emerge in polymer over armatures of aluminum foil and wire.
For those of you holding out on Facebook, here’s a little montage of his work in progress and a picture of Reinhard with his self portrait.
His grin hints at mischief and amusement. Here’s his Flickr site.
Switzerland’s Janine Muller achieves a soft and soothing look with her almond shapes. The muted shades of her palette are unified by crisp white textures and accented by an occasional metal bead.
Her Guzuu sales site and her Flickr site will show you more in the same vein. Don’t you admire the neatly arranged palette in her work in progress photo?
We end the week with a big juicy kiss from Kathleen Dustin. It’s one of her signature polymer evening bags, of course.
Two of Kathleen’s purses were donated for an exhibit at Amsterdam’s Museum of Bags and Purses and will be part of the museum’s permanent collection.
Did you know that the folks at Sculpey changed the name of Premo Frost to White Translucent? (I had it turned around earlier…oops.) Frost and White Translucent are the same.
Iris Weiss from Polyform clarifies the situation explaining that, “We had to rename the two ounce bars for the larger craft stores because consumers didn’t understand what Frost was.” Thanks to Ronna Sarvas Weltman for bringing the switch to our attention.
Seth Savarick introduced these new bangles on his Facebook page along with a couple of brooches.
While everyone else is gushing in their comments, Seth remains silent and mysterious about his latest creations. Way to keep us on our toes, Seth. What gives? There’s a cool retro look to these bangles, don’t you agree?
Perhaps a polymer version of lolcats will brighten your mid-week. This feline brooch from TZ is bright and simple and fun. Spiraled extruded strings of clay are cut out in a kitty shape and enhanced with texture. A few dabs of clay form the cheeks and eyes. Add a tongue and whiskers and voila.
TZ shows off other cats on his site. It takes a while to load but it’s worth the wait.
The cat’s away today. You mice play in your studios.
Note: The translation confused me and I originally attributed this incorrectly. There’s much more art and a proper explanation on the artist’s site here.
These beads from Belgium’s Carolina Pazos Michel (malospazos) use extruded canes as embellishments in a fresh way. She adds strips of extruded canes on top of subtle blends. Not satifised with that, she shapes the beads into flat donuts and tops them off with cherry-like rounds in the center.
Her combinations are a riff on Bettina Welker’s retro cane and have a spontaneous vibe that energizes them.
Maggie Maggio will be in person and online Wednesday night at Craftcast teaching her split ring technique. PCD has featured her innovative technique and you’ll find people imitating her idea all over the polymer web. Maggie has expanded on her original idea and shares lots of new tips for construction and for successful color.
Maggie’s a great teacher and if you’ve ever wanted to meet her and ask her your questions, this is your chance. No matter where you are, you can login and join the group for a 90-minute workshop (and keep a copy of the recording for future reference). Sign up here. Check the rest of the Craftcast schedule (including my class on October 10).
Scotland’s Melanie Muir shifts coastlines and colors with her new Reggae series. Named for its color palette, this new necklace is built on hollow forms.
Melanie has also posted some new shapes and three-dimensional pieces that reflect her studio view of Ebb Tides and Rock Pools and Whirlpools from her studio on the coast.
Her flawless finishing work brings out the best features of her designs and colors. For the most complete view of her world (and her shape templates) go to her Facebook page.
Enjoy your weekend!
Dawn Schiller has just published her Faemaker book that shows you how to make standalone character figures with polymer clay. Dawn is partial to making dragons, treefolk, witches, wizards, fugitives from fairy tales, and figments of the imagination. Her tiny creatures peer out impishly from nutshells, seashell, pocket watches and other small spaces and they all share their stories.
Dawn has graciously sent me a publishing assistant, Fetch, (shown here) to help me finish the book I’m working on. “Just keep him supplied with sesame seeds,” she says. You can see more and buy an autographed copy on her Etsy site. Catch up on her latest delightful creatures on Facebook and her blog.
Midweek is the perfect time to be going around in circles. Vienna’s Izabela Nowak shows us how with her bright Planemo spiral up bangle. Thin strips of layered colors are wound around and around into tall cones, each topped with a silver bead. Here the cones are applied to a plain polymer bangle base to create a spiky bangle.
Izabela has been experimenting with acorn-shaped beads, rings and clusters that you can study on her Flickr site. She’s the queen of spirals!
