Polymer Clay Daily

Winter polymer canes

Some polymer artists have been able to get beyond Halloween and jump right to winter. These two snowy examples (they’re both Canadian) may get you thinking holidays too.

Carolyn Good, 2 Good Claymates, created this snowflake covered candle collar with an easy tutorial for the cane on her site. She and her husband work out of their studio in Chase, B.C.

Wanda Shum is building up her stash of holiday canes. Can’t wait to see what she does with them all.

I’ll be leaving for snow-country (Minneapolis) and the ACC Creating a New Craft Culture conference later this week and I’m in a bit of a rush to finish an inlaid bowl before I leave. With any luck I’ll show it off tomorrow.

Easing into Monday

Start your Monday with a big dose of cute from illustrator Inhae Renee Lee, a former California game industry pixel animator and artist. Her blog, My Milk Toof, follows the adventures of two polymer clay baby teeth named ickle and Lardee as they frolick around her home. If you think you’re immune to cute, you may be surprised.

“A year ago I made my first polymer clay toy as a gift for my boyfriend. It was a whale holding a Panda holding a birthday cake. After that, I began playing around with the medium for my own projects,” she says.

As long as we’re easing into the week, take a look at the simple, silly Halloween jewelry on VoilaViola’s Etsy site – Frankenstein bolts, blood necklaces and earrings, and my favorite, the reattached head necklace. Ready to play now?

Creagers’ Punkie Sprites

One last bit of Halloween and polymer clay fine art fantasy for a Friday. Jodi and Richard Creager have been full time professional doll makers for 32 years. This Punkie Sprites sculpture (available on Ebay) gives you a glimpse of their skill and their wit.

On her entertaining blog Jodi tells of her struggle to make realistic pumpkin glop, a painstaking process that had Jodi covered in glue, paint, strings and moss. Nice to know that they’re enjoying their work and sharing a chuckle after all those years in the studio.

The Creagers had a giveaway for their blog followers a few weeks back and winner Lisa (Spritebites) positively gushed at the box of happiness they sent her. It’s a very cool story of generosity and surprise. Have a happy weekend.

Stubitsch’s polymer likenesses

Dawn Stubitsch made her first polymer clay sculpture in 1983. Now customers book their figurine orders a year in advance and Dawn only commits to six a year. Her site contains a marvelous selection of her lifelike figures and very clear instructions on the kinds of photos needed to help her create good likenesses.

Dawn began her polymer career making Thumbprint Kids. She no longer makes the kids but she continues to enter polymer-covered mini cars in racing contests. Her 2009 fish entry is shown here.

Thanks to Jana Roberts Benzon for the addition to our growing list of cake topper/portrait artists.

Glowing polymer ghoulies

Even some of Christi Friesen’s glow-in-the-dark polymer clay ghoulies have gone all steampunk! Once a year, Christi is compelled to whip up these mixed media mini sculptures for Halloween. She offers a whole page of them here.

Austin guild member Joyce Cloutman (Whimsy Lane) creates endearing fantasy creatures like this sweety witch with a glowing pumpkin.

Joyce is pretty new to polymer and her fellow guild members had to prod her to put up her first Flickr page. Her imps have captivating expressions and surprising details.

Thanks to Randee Ketzel for spearheading the effort and sending the link.

Malinow eyefun online

Wendy Malinow’s new sites live up to her business name, Eyefun! She brings her illustrator’s drawing and storytelling sensibility to polymer clay.

Wendy explains that, “Combining media of varied value, lots of color, and different emotional connections into a piece that resonates with the viewer is my goal. Using old and new, expensive and cheap, silly or dark, hopefully forms complex layers of meaning and value.”

Wendy’s a three-time Saul Bell Design winner and I’m giddy with excitement at her plunge into the digital realm.  She’s filled an Etsy gallery in addition to her new personal site.

In November, you can see her work in Mobilia Gallery’s quirky show, The Teapot Redefined. Eyefun, indeed! Thanks to Judy Belcher for the link!

Lisa Clarke (PolkaDotCottage) cajoled me into talking about the story of PCDaily for her Morning Coffee series. Her interviews are a nice read with a muffin and coffee.

UnaOdd’s pendant molds

This row of simple, rustic pendants by Lynn (UnaOdd) is even more appealing when you see the molds she made using plants from her garden and Knead-a-Mold. “The final mold can be used in the oven (for polymer) and is food safe as well,” says Lynn.

Here’s a lovely mosaic photo of her results and more examples are sprinkled throughout her Etsy gallery and her Flickr photos.

I try to stick to my “no products” rule on PCDaily but this idea grabbed me and I had to share.

Genevieve Williamson’s blog (JibbyandJuna) led me to the link. The two artists went to college together and you can feel a sympatico vibe in their work. Have a simple, rustic weekend.

Blackford’s hands on synergy

If, like me, you overlooked the hands-on classes that have been added to the Synergy2 lineup, be sure to look again. There are some gems being offered before and after the Baltimore conference.

The trick is that you have to contact the instructor directly (or his/her website) to get in on the deal.

Check out these whimisical narrative sculptures from Leslie Blackford’s “Off With Your Head!” class on the Tuesday before the conference. Their heads are built over small lightbulbs and you can change their head/body combinations to suit your mood.

If you’ve never seen Leslie conjure up creatures from a heap of polymer clay scraps, you’re in for a treat. Her spontaneous, direct way of bringing an idea to life will light your imagination. Here’s her Deviant site and here’s her email.

It’s rare to have access to this many top-notch teachers. The rest of the hands-on class roster includes: Seth Savarick, Tracy Holmes, Bettina Welker, Dan Cormier, Robert Dancik. Add to that the Cabin Fever Clay Fest workshops and their long list of experts. Take a class and your head will be spinning like the ones on Leslie’s sculptures!

Pindroh tops the cake

Polymer clay illustrator Paula Pindroh (here’s her professional portfolio) created these cake toppers based on US Postal Service stamps. They look terrific on the orange wedding cake of her Denver clients and are a great example of an artistic phenomenon.

A recent New York Times article confirms what polymer artists have been seeing – a trend to customized cake toppers. Says one expert, “…it singularizes the couple and communicates that this couple is like no other. That is the dominant movement in the wedding planning industry right now.”

A follow-up CNN story talks about the money side of the trend and links to examples at Younique Boutique (though I’m not quite sure who the actual creators of their toppers are).

I’m home from my nephew’s lovely mountain top wedding….a “singularized” event indeed.