Polymer Clay Daily

Polymer clay with spirit

These two artists look like they’re having as much fun with polymer clay as I am this week.

From France, we have Evelyne (les RéCréaTiONS de Chamade) who tries every trick in the book and adds her own quirky style to each piece. I wish I’d thought to decorate my keys as she has.

And from South Carolina, Alisa (Treasurefield) takes faux to a whole new level with her faceted gems of polymer treated to look like weathered wood. Her whitewashed pieces feel nostalgic and she dabbles in styles and techniques with abandon. Thanks to Barbara Forbes-Lyons for the tip.

I’m hoping that this vacation can restore in me the spirit that these artists bring to their work.

PMC/polymer trends

I snapped this picture of Hollie Mion’s PMC pendants as she revealed polymer clay through holes in the designs and added additional seed beads. The effect was colorful and festive.

When I sneaked online (my vacation mates frown when I spend too long at the computer), I found that Cindy Silas has a new site up with many examples of how she is pushing the interaction of polymer and fine silver. Thanks to DailyArtMuse for the link.

I spotted Celie Fago’s sumptuous new PMC/polymer work on Etsy and David Vanover’s metal/polymer combinations there too. Shoot, I’d love to look for more but my computer time’s up. You’re on your own.

Pier’s objet d’art

Alexis Pier (of Pier and Penina) has also shifted her interest to making polymer clay “objet d’art”.

The small sculptures below and the 4″x10″ tile at the left show her first steps toward larger wall pieces and more sizeable sculptures.

Air-filled closed shapes build on a technique introduced by Pier Voulkos in 1997 with refinements and new style added more recently by Jeff Dever and others.

Note: I’ll try to pry Carol Simmons’ cane reducing secrets out of her before I leave at the end of the week.

Pier and Penina move toward sculpture

Penina Meisels' small sculpture

Alexis Pier and Penina Meisels (Pier and Penina) stopped by for a visit on Friday. They’ve both moved from California to Santa Fe to continue their polymer clay collaboration.

Their focus has moved from jewelry to sculpture. These two small sculptures are from Penina (look for Alexis’ tomorrow). The hollow form on the right is made of polymer and covered with organza which is painted with Prizmacolor markers and blender pen.

Since their web page hasn’t been updated recently, I’ll add a picture of Penina’s earrings here for your Monday inspiration.

More Simmons’ canes

Simmons New Mexico cane

Carol Simmons built this William Morris inspired cane here in New Mexico to add a new color way to her line of designs. I watched her construct the original extravagant cane that was about 6″ across by 2″ deep. Reducing the cane took a couple of hours with one or two 3-second trips to the microwave. She had only a miniscule amount of waste.

From this one cane, Carol generated at least 16 kaleidoscope patterns which will be turned into many, many beads. It’s a fascinating process that will soon be featured in a new color book by Maggie Maggio and Lindly Haunani.

New Mexico is a “target-rich” environment which means I won’t have to do much computer research this week. I’ll just pick up my camera and shoot. Even the sunsets are Skinner blends.

Polymer clay new works at CraftBoston

Noyes red bowl

Karin Noyes has a few new images on the CraftBoston site and her bio on her own site is a good read (the quickest, quirkiest life story I’ve read in a while). Like her life, her bowls show that what starts out simply can be combined and repeated to create a fascinating and complex work.

Louise Fisher Cozzi also shows some of her newest pieces on the CraftBoston site. The holiday show will be held this weekend.

I’m a bit jet lagged and gabbing with the girls.

Travels with polymer clay

I’m in travel mode and gravitated to this polymer clay postcard from Dayle Doroshow. I’ll be hanging out with her and if anyone can wake up my muse and kick-start my mojo, it’s Dayle. Go visit her site and you’ll see what I mean.

For more travel vibes, go to Tory Hughes site. Navigation, travel, and stamps figure prominently in many of her works. With any luck, we’ll run into her while we’re on vacation too.

Considering new bead shapes

My conditioned polymer clay and tools are packed and I’m thinking about what I want to experiment with on vacation. I’m considering new shapes and these two artists are way ahead of me.

Spain’s “CynsClay” uses open rings of polymer clay to build her Calder-like pendants. The spacer beads add color and a dash of humor.

Austria’s Carina Feichtinger nestles curved leaf shapes within each other to create the appearance of larger overlapping beads.

I’ll add these two to my binder of “possibilities” that you all have provided me with. We’re off to New Mexico.

Rich polymer clay neighbors

I’m blitzing through my weekend polymer clay reading as I get ready to go on vacation this week (not to worry, I’ll have wifi and I’ll post on the road).

You simply must click through the list of web sites of the finalists in NPCG’s Progress and Possibilities competition. There are some new faces and several familiar names have new work on their sites.

On the PolymerArtArchive, Elise is featuring a couple of Jeff Dever’s recent pieces (here and here as well) that must be seen to be believed. Go mine the riches on these sites while I pack.