Polymer Clay Daily

Let your fingers do the talking

Ron Lehocky's takeaway from Lindly Haunani's class on PolymerClayDaily.com

Ron Lehocky made this bevy of bowls after Lindly’s recent class in Kentucky. It’s comforting to know that even after he’s made 50,000 hearts, he still needs to practice just like the rest of us. Amazing!

Do your fingers need to wrestle the clay before you can you’re certain that a concept has lodged itself securely in your noggin?

No matter how many pages of instructions I have, my fingers insist on fumbling through the twists and turns.

Ron’s an overachiever, as you can see. I’ll consider myself a star if I can come away from Lindly’s Columbus class in October with a fraction of that. We have a few seats left! Come play with us.

See what outrageousness and oddities we’ve scooped up for this Saturday’s StudioMojo. Keeping up with our art medium is always surprising and fun. 

Alien agate

Sherstin Schwartz sees something alien in her layers of polymer on PolymerClayDaily.com

Minnesota’s Sherstin Schwartz (lifeofapaintbrush) notes that some viewers may recognize her latest creation as very Fordite-like. That’s what they named the paint slag chipped from the paint booth walls of various automotive plants in the 40’s.

Sherstin prefers to think of her undulating and swirling polymer layers as alien agate.

She’ll probably turn them into flowers (that’s what she does) but you may see undulating layers of stone or picture the residue from a paint booth in Detroit. Enjoy them in their natural state.

Polymer/laser combo

Cynthia Gougian-Fisher adds polymer to her laser-cut frames on PolymerClayDaily.com

Georgia’s Cynthia Gougian-Fisher can’t resist new technology. That doesn’t mean she’s leaving polymer behind.

She cut these wooden earring frames on a laser cutter and then gave them pattern, color, and shine by inlaying polymer. Lots more on Instagram.

In this week’s StudioMojo you’ll watch Texas’ Paula Kennedy hand sand her bowls to a smooth, satiny finish. And you’ll learn how shoe paste wax and face cream are part of her brilliant process. 

A bouquet of sticks

Linda Velas-Helton begins a decorative bouquet of sticks on PolymerClayDaily.com

I’ve been gaga for polymer-covered sticks for years. Mine are more slapdash than these carefully covered twigs from Detroit’s Linda-Velas-Helton.

Scraps, a schmear of liquid clay as glue, tiny cane bits, lots of this and that add up to a glorious trip down memory lane. The wood will tolerate the heat but you may have to use a big oven.

Before you know it, you have a bouquet of past projects to display and decorate your home. Isn’t it amazing how a theme, a palette, an aesthetic emerge from all those diverse projects?

When you’re red hot

Pat Stirniman makes red hot dishes on PolymerClayDaily.com

What do you do with yourself when the news makes you red hot? You could take a cue from Illinois’ Pat Stirniman and pound your cadmium red.

Pat uses polymer like ceramic clay, building all sorts of dishes and vases and objects to brighten the house or just to let off steam. She adds balls, stripes, dots, and other bit players. Here’s Pat on Facebook.

Scratching out and idea

Belinda Broughton cuts her pastel painting into earrings on PolymerClayDaily.com

Australia’s Belinda Broughton (polymerbelinda) could have stopped right here. She applied pan pastels to a sheet of polymer. Then she scratched through the top layer of jagged triangles (technically sgraffito) to make an even more dynamic design.

Pop that baby in the oven and hang it on the wall!

I saw a painting but Belinda had earrings in mind. Either way, it was fun to watch and may make you reconsider pastel possibilities.

There are dots and there are dots

And then there are dots by Madrid’s Silvia Ortiz De La Torre. She’s been making her blended, layered, high voltage colored, roughly textured dotted beads for years.

Silvia has stayed way ahead of the trends. We can learn a thing or two from her.

We go back and forth on StudioMojo. Every weekend we look at artists who’ve been around for years while we also keep up with the fresh faces that bumped into polymer during our forced confinement. Both vantage points teach us. Come see what we see.

Life with the kids

A cast of delightful characters from Diane Greenseid on PolymerClayDaily.com

The glee that California’s Diane Greenseid takes in her small sculptures comes through loud and clear. I know nothing about what her small characters (the kids, she says) mean or how she constructs them.

It really doesn’t matter, does it? She’s obviously having a good time and really, isn’t that the point? You can sense some good stories here.