Polymer Clay Daily

Clarke’s Polka Dots

Perhaps the best view of the Synergy conference is from the newer polymer clay artists who were there. Cynthia Blanton continues to post pictures and her impressions. Ponsawan dropped her jaw repeatedly. “I am happy to be here among all other fine artists. The first time in 26 years living in this country, I felt I belong,” she says.

Lisa Clarke (aka Polka Dot Creations) gives a great glimpse of what she experienced.

Lisa’s a self-described “wife, mother and geek” who sells various products, publications and her own artwork on an assortment of sites. She has an impeccable color sense and creates buttons to embellish trendy fabrics and handmade items. Lisa seemed astonished when I told her that I’d been following her charming blog closely.

Be sure to see Lisa’s photo of the international attendees at the Synergy conference. We’ll soon put names to all those faces for you. I’m worn out from the long drive home and still riding high on the positive response that my keynote address received at the banquet. And I can’t miss the Oscars!

Camera Karma

If you have any good vibes lying around, send them my way. My camera is resting under a chair in a convention hall classroom. With any luck (and your spare karma) it will be there in the morning and you’ll get your post…just a bit late.

Word is that the male polymer clay artists have dreamed up their own event, billing themselves as the “Clay Hunks.” They’re overwhelmed by our estrogen-laden atmosphere and long for something manly with more power tools.

Found the camera. Thanks. Here are a couple of quick pictures. Susan Lomuto and I are posting hurriedly from the coffee shop. The chic pendant above is from Maggie Maggio. The pin is from Linda Loew who’s new to polymer clay. I like the way it uses rough clay to good effect (similar to the European guild post the other day).

And here’s a pile of business cards from Laura Tabakman onto which she’s glued a thin textured piece of clay stamped with her web address. On the opposite side is her normal business card. Very clever, very effective.

Cynthia Blanton gives a great update on the conference if you’d like to follow along.

Silas and the unseen artists

At the Synergy conference I’m catching up with those polymer clay folks who fly under our internet radar and are hard to track – like Virginia’s Cindy Silas. She doesn’t have much of an online presence for her dynamite polymer clay/PMC work. It’s an impressive marriage of the two materials.

Clay pushed through open-work metal must be an idea whose time has come. The concept popped up on Susan Lomuto’s site and she’s experimented with it impressively as well.

My nagging about creating an online presence is paying off. Dan Cormier swears that the Cormier/Holmes site is nearly ready for prime time.

The set-up day was exhausting. Classes start early tomorrow. Need my beauty sleep.

Celebrating the European Guild’s Birthday

The European Guild for Polymer Clay People is one year old. Their membership roster lists artists from all over the world with links to charming web sites from villages in wonderfully remote locations.

These newcomers to the polymer clay community bring an enthusiasm and fearlessness as well as a fresh perspective. I loved the look of Slovenia’s RobertaM’s extrusion-covered bead. Even though her clay was dry and not quite conditioned, the resulting patterns make it look like stitching or fabric.

Happy birthday to the guild and thanks for your continuing contributions to the craft!

Synergy Icebreakers: Where else in the world can you stare at a woman’s chest, walk right up to her and ask, “Is that yours?”

We’re at the Baltimore conference early for general grunt work and set-up. Meeting old friends and making new is lovely, no matter how jet-lagged and road weary we are. (Left to right: Dorothy Greynolds, Meisha Barbee, Hollie Mion wearing Ann Monheit’s work)

Simmons Synergy Donation

One more yummy item in the Synergy silent auction. Carol Simmons has refined her kaleidscope polymer clay pendants to perfection. Take a look at the front and back of this piece. Her stringing method allows the wearer to comfortably adjust the length and the mechanism blends unobtrusively with the bead.

Thanks to Carol and all those contributors who donated their works to the guild even though they won’t be attending. We’ll try to keep you all posted. Hollie Mion and I are on the road!

NICHE WINNERS: Kudos to the polymer clay Niche Award winners announced last week at the Buyers Market of American Craft. California’s Meisha Barbee won with her mica pendant in the professional polymer clay category. New York’s Loretta Lam won in the professional bead category for her Kalamata necklace.

About entering competitions, Loretta Lam says, “It’s more about doing your best – often better than you thought you could. It’s creative problem solving and pushing out of your comfort zone.” Read more about the winners and their reasons for entering the competition.

Artists Head to Baltimore

Polymer clay artists from around the world are on their way to Synergy in Baltimore. England’s Carol Blackburn sent these pictures of her colorful, cheery bowls that will be offered in the silent auction.

Israel’s Iris Mishly shopped ’til she dropped in NYC and is blogging about it as she rubs her feet and prepares for the flight to Baltimore. Browse her Flickr photos from the comfort of your home.

Germany’s Bettina Welker blogs about a layover in Cincinnati that she’s dreading. Wish I could make her brief stay in Ohio more pleasant.

Melanie West is unveiling a great new bangle design that she’ll be selling and Martha Aleo has pictures of the bracelets she’s added to the auction.

Check in with PCDaily to attend the conference virtually. I’m gathering all my techno gear, cameras and batteries to keep you in touch with the action.

LAST MINUTE DONATIONS: Bring an auction item with you to the conference. There’s still time! Simply fill out this form and present the item at your check-in (there are forms at the desk as well).

Polymer Ouija Board Needed

I could use one of these little polymer clay oiuja boards by Wickedgems as I look at the past and predict the future of our craft at next week’s conference. There are a number of interesting pieces throughout the Wickedgems site.

Thanks to Kim Cavender, Bettina Welker, Ronna Weltman, and Janice Abarbanel for letting you peek at their contributions to the Synergy silent auction.

Fellow Ohioan Debbie Jackson has spruced up her web site with new work in a new format. After a year in the studio, she’s restarted her classes for those in the Columbus area. The schedule is on her site.

Mika’s Mixed Media Valentine

Laurie Mika’s polymer clay/mixed media “Sacred Heart” looks like a perfect Valentine for you.

Her workshops at April’s Artfest in Washington are full but that won’t keep you from enjoying a tasty treat of her work here and here. Mika says she has “a passion for combining and overlapping a variety of mediums creating an original style of mixed-media mosaics and assemblage using handmade tile.”

Follow-up: Ronna Weltman wants you to see a better example of the work we showed yesterday (photo by Doug Yaple). She’s donating it to the Synergy auction next week. If you’re donating something to the auction, I’d be pleased to show it off here (and you’ll be helping me expedite my posts as I pack for Baltimore). Email me.

Weltman’s Extruded Marbles

Ronna Weltman has been playing with her polymer clay extruder in a much more freestyle way. “I put in little blobs of this and that color (not randomly picked, but for harmony) and delight in the serendipity of my multi-hued bead caps,” she says.

“Yesterday I played around with randomly placing the strings on translucent and/or translucent mixed with ultra-light, running it through the pasta maker, and then covering an ultralight core with the result.” I love her looser approach. Check it out.

Follow-up note: I have not tested the PolymerClayExpress large extruder because I needed small batches. Word is that it’s quite wonderful. Oh, the perils of talking about tools! We all have our favorites.

Extruder fun

In my search for the perfect polymer clay extruder, I finally hit upon a dream machine.

I’ve written a short article about it (read it here) for Stacey Apeitos’ arts and crafts e-zine. Her Astarte’s Megazine is an Australian online magazine that you can subscribe to. There’s plenty of lovely info free on the site as well.

My hunt for a good small extruder (see an earlier project) became such an odyssey that I felt I could break my rule not to discuss tools on this blog. The BullensWullens adapter (contact pat@bullenswullens.com) was developed by an Ohio couple which makes my discovery doubly special.