Collecting myself
Uh-oh, I spent the entire day watching the news and I need a day off to collect myself.
You too? Let’s breathe and regain our equilibrium.
Snowbird polymer
Ontario’s Gail Garbe invites us into her studio on wheels in her latest Facebook post.
She pulls out bins and drawers explaining how she makes her studio portable. For those of us looking out our same windows at the same landscape day after day, Gail’s setup sounded magical and I imagined her on a beach or the desert.
So where is Gail working right now? “Haha!” she replied, “We’re in front of the fireplace! We aren’t able to cross the U.S. border and we’re locked down in our town.”
Her latest penguins and cold-looking polymer characters should have given me a clue. Ever resourceful she and her husband have parked the trailer on the northern shore of Lake Erie where they treat it like a studio/cottage from spring to fall. Keep dreaming!
2021 polymer glamour
This glamour shot from Slovakia’s ZuZu Liptakova is exactly what I need to believe is coming in 2021.
It’s an attitude, a mindset. We’re big and bad and fashionable. Don’t underestimate polymer!
Ok, so maybe I misinterpreted the story. It’s hard to follow Google translate. I like my version of our brave new world.
See what you can make of it here. Piece the story together from Instagram, Facebook, and ZuZu’s friends.
Rough and ready polymer
Texas’ Myranda Escamilla uses what she has onhand as she slaps together rough-hewn textures and stone color mixes for a bold fashion look.
“I’ve realized brown is usually available for purchase or at the very least, easier to find than other shades, and to save what precious clay I have, I’ve had to make-do,” she explains. The exercise pushed her out of her color comfort zone and into what turned out to be a trendy collection.
See more on her second Instagram page. The look is very 2021.
Wishing for the new year
Australia’s Rocky Antonio (Rockysbeads) wishes all polymer artists a blooming new year with this bit of wizardry.
See more of Rocky on Etsy and Facebook.
Have a safe and happy celebration as you look forward to a great 2021.
What’s shakin’ for 2021?
As we step over the threshold of 2021, what will greet us on the other side?
I’m scanning through 2020 posts, putting my ear to the ground and my finger to the wind (an uncomfortable position but you do what you have to).
What’s popping up that will take hold in our community as we move forward?
One thing that might stick is wrinkled, folded, draped polymer like these earrings from Dallas’ Lisa (Makesmalltalk). Polymer begins to look like billowing fabric.
Messy, unpredictable, mismatched? Sounds like it could fit our attitude in the new year. Join us this weekend as I climb out on a limb and predict what’s ahead.
Punctuated polymer
By the time my cutters arrived from Etsy’s Silvia Tomas in the Netherlands, I’d completely forgotten why I needed them. What was I thinking? It looked like a comma!
After a little research, I figured it out and made myself a pair of earrings. Two cutouts swirl around each other to make a cool oval. Silvia makes some clever designs.
The web was slow so making myself a holiday treat did double duty. I had to talk my husband into a quick photoshoot over dinner so that I could make a post of it. I envisioned one of those lovely long neck shots but that would take some major photoshopping.
This is all to tell you that I’m definitely on holiday and that I hope you’re playing around too.
Pull out those tools and tutorials that you just had to try and then lost track of. Whip up something fun for yourself.
Follow instructions
Toni Street was in a polymer funk. You know the feeling, right? She decided to plow right through the doldrums by following instructions.
Meg Newberg offered a ribbon cane in this month’s Polymer Clay Workshop tutorial. Meg has a way of simplifying the most complex cane. When you’re fresh out of ideas and ready to throw in the towel, Meg’s step-by-steps are just the thing.
It wasn’t long before Toni had her ah-ha moment and was unstuck. Her tiny canes for pens are masterful. Here’s Toni on Instagram.
Sometimes it’s just a matter of getting your hands moving. Let your fingers get busy and walk you over the 2020 finish line.
Dog lover polymer
Oregon’s Lea Gordiner says, “My recent fantasy is a combination of birds and animals with human features. They are meant to be silly, fun, playful, nonsensical…really. Seen any birds lately with nostrils and lips let alone shoes?”
If the holiday hoopla has you in a dither, you’ll be set straight by a wander through Lea’s website and her Instagram. She has shifted to finely finished polymer boxes as well.
Lea’s Portland guild mate Laurel Swetnam turned her in. We thought it only right that Lea has a PCD post among her presents this year. Thanks for making us smile.
Polymer conjunction
Jupiter and Saturn are having their “Great Conjunction” so it’s no wonder that I’m seeing celestial implications in these earrings (Sage Danya studs) from Ishita Singh (@shop_rangeen)
Light and shadow, long days and short. “Ish” is from North Carolina by way of India. Opposite sides of the world, like planets, don’t get together very often.
You know me, I love a simple design that suddenly gets complicated. Half circles stacked throw shadows that become celestial.