Polymer Clay Daily

Davis’ faux fossils

Lynn Davis makes polymer clay faux ceramic beads like no one else. In her recent post she lets us peer over her shoulder as she finishes a batch.

Repeated painting and buffings give her beads a patina and hints of past lives. These faux fossils are particularly alluring and the use of links instead of holes in the beads makes them even more unusual. Her Etsy shop shows a great selection.

If, like me, you want to know how to get started, take a look at this polymerclayweb tutorial. Here’s an earlier post about Lynn.

Duburg and Dowse fold polymer

Holland’s Annette Duburg folds polymer as if it were fabric, shaping it to resemble those double daffodils that have popped up in my yard. So springy.

Sophie Dowse treats polymer as fabric in her “Bloomies” series that she describes as bud-like pieces that “remind us there is still so much more that wants to blossom in and outside of us.”

Sophie’s shop is in Quebec City and she’s got an Etsy gallery up. Here’s an early post about her. Thanks to Betsy Baker for shouting out about Sophie’s Etsy site.

Charming polymer charms

The irregular shape of a Hamsa (the image of a hand often worn in the Middle East and Africa as a charm) makes it difficult to fill with design and pattern. Polymer clay artists have to work especially hard to make cuttouts interesting since our eyes read the shape first.

Israeli artist Angela.B21 takes an interesting approach, refusing to be hemmed in. She lets her polymer clay patterns spill over the hand shape creating a sense of spontenaity and freedom. Her added textures, lively color palette and careful craftsmanship make for lucky and lovely charms.

Angela’s approaches her pendants and bracelet designs with the same lack of constraint and you can see her collection here. You can see Hamsa examples from a variety of artists on WhiteFluffy’s site.

Polymer eggs, snakes and more

Carol Simmons has been hatching plans to extrude metallic polymer clays in new ways. (Here’s the link to the large picture of the eggs. The regular link is acting contrary.)

These clay-covered eggs were a recent product of her experiments and she’ll be revealing her discoveries in a class at her studio in Ft. Collins, Colorado this Saturday. Here are earlier posts about Carol’s kaleidoscope-cane works and award-winning pendants.

Egging you on…

May 1 is the deadline for entries in Interweave’s Bead Star Challenge. The prizes are pretty nice (just ask Valerie Aharoni, last year’s winner). I notice that Valerie has tested Creative Imaginations’ Super Seal Spray on polymer with good results.

And at the Chelsea Flower Show in London, they’re looking for clay artists who can help them create a 30 square foot garden. Thanks to Justine for the link.

Check out this faux snakeskin! This Python version from Christina (ArtByLilin) won third place in this month’s Etsy faux challenge. Thanks Ronna.

Lotta links today! You sent in a shower of April tips. Does that mean May will bring flowers?

Moseley’s transfer treats

Lynda Moseley (DesignDiva1) gives a delicate, Victorian feel to her polymer clay beads by transferring her vintage bird illustrations to a taupe base that has been mixed with embossing powders. The results are reminiscent of speckled bird eggs.

Lynda has a way with transfers and you’ll see the same graceful, careful touch reflected in many of her beads and pendants. Here’s her blog plus Flickr and Etsy.

Pinchuk, Portscheller start the polymer week

Anya Pinchuk is exhibiting polymer clay pieces in a show at Jewelers’ Werk Gallerie in Washington, DC through April 18.

In this series she embeds crystals in domes of polymer, a departure from her earlier soldered silver circle brooches. While still reflecting organic geometry, the polymer series is more playful and kitschy.

Visitors to the exhibit of Anya and Natalya (click and scroll way down) look like they’re totally engrossed in the sisters’ innovative combinations of materials, designs and ideas.

Busy week

Regina Portscheller’s polymer clay mosaic ATC card may help you start your week with a smile. “She may contain traces of nuts,” her card cautions. Indeed! Thanks to Elizabeth for the link.

Abarbanel’s polymer dreams and nightmares

Janice Abarbanel overcame her procrastination, angst, doubt and fear and submitted her entry, this Dreams of Tuscany polymer clay necklace, to the Bead Dreams competition by the April 6 deadline.

The sound you may hear is Janice crossing “enter competition” off her list. Sometimes just entering makes you a winner. Here’s an earlier link.

Now for a little tidying of my own…a couple of goodies from my desktop.

Cecelia Mabcrea has posted eight interesting tutorials on her Flickr site. The step-by-step photos and her work are good for a weekend browse. Thanks to MC for the link.

If you haven’t signed up for PrairieCraft’s free online newsletter, do it now. The last issue contained Yetta’s Cabochon Technique and there’s a picture of the results on Donna Kato’s home page. The signup is at the bottom of their page. Have a blooming weekend.

Project polymer runway

While I’m not much of a fashionista, I couldn’t help looking at the chunky crazy jewelry in the Fall 2009 Marni collection on Fashionologie. Imagine whipping it up in polymer clay.

Take a look at Marni’s jewels and then picture this…Marie Segal’s faux drusy (here too), Barb Fajardo’s flowers, with a few faux ancients from Velmachos and Yamamura. Help me out here. Who else can we recruit for our polymer project runway?

Thanks to Marie Segal for the new link to Yamamura. Here are earlier posts about Yamamura’s work and her Etsy site. (Kotomi offers her clever downloadable pattern for a DIY necklace display stand here.)

Polymer clay flying flowers

Tennessee’s Julia Michelle (aka GodsFlyingFlowers) makes full-detail polymer clay butterflies with a wingspan of 1/16″ to 1/4″. She prides herself on the authenticity of the small creatures for which she has a passion.

“I’ve been told often that pictures don’t do justice to how tiny and intricate the butterflies look when actually seen in person,” she says. I had to flip through her Etsy gallery several times before the size would register in my head.

Thanks to Susan Lomuto (DailyArtMuse) for sending us this tiny treasure.