Polymer Clay Daily

Back to School

Jeff Dever's pieces are organic, brilliantly colored, flawlessly constructed and impeccably designed. At Ravensdale a container of Jeff's spit, rumored to be his secret ingredient, was auctioned off at a stunning price. I wish I'd taken his class because his students produced some great work and gained some valuable insights.

Students in the Ravensdale color classes led by Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio couldn't believe how quickly they had learned to replicate colors using the basic primary colors and their own special "mud." Here you see Switzerland's Nadja Fuenfsinn holding her collage in her left hand and her mirror frame covered in polymer clay in her right.

Judy Kuskin's students were so proud of the metal work and polymer studies tried in her class that they wore their creations the entire week.

A class from a polymer clay master can stretch your talents and take your skill level to new heights. Get back to school this fall.

Recycling

Julia Sober recycles. From automotive fuses to computer parts, Julia sees beauty and utility in the most mundane materials and incorporates them into her polymer clay work.

Scrapbooking staples become bails. Grommets embellish bead holes. Julia's shapes are as playful and unexpected as her hardware. Pieces move. Messages appear and disappear.

Combining her talent for color with her ability to assemble Julia Sober comes up with some exciting and winning combinations (including her "best of show" in the recent NPCG show).

Toops Site

Cynthia Toops and Dan Adams have launched a site about their works. It shows only a smattering of their works and if you drag the images to your machine and view them, you'll get some sense of the scale of Cynthia's micromosaics. It's difficult to imagine working so small. The image at the left is ring-size. Click on it to view the larger-than-life version.

Thanks to Judy Kuskin who discovered the site and passed the link along.

Fiber Finds

Milwaukee's Debra DeWolff started out as a fiber artist, adding polymer to her repertoire a few years back. At Ravensdale she showed these very popular bracelets that combine felt and polymer clay beads. The felt beads are large and the colors bright…definitely diva attire.

Debra says that her web site will soon be in the works. In the meanwhile, you'll have to settle for these pictures or contact her for more information.

Northwest Flavor

Joan Tayler, a Vancouver, B.C. artist, creates these wonderful small birds which she had on display at Ravensdale. She placed the raven at the center of this commissioned piece in tribute to the event. I'd call these lovely little creatures by their proper name, fetis_es, but you would not believe how much spam results from a word like that.

Joan's work captures the flavor of the northwest and her birds and fish are beautifully rendered. Visit Joan's website for more pictures and info.

Chihuly Country

Gloria Askin was wearing these earrings at Ravensdale. I shamelessly tracked her down for a picture. She has some new items on her site for you to enjoy as well (click "next" in her site's gallery).

It seems fitting that we feature these Chihuly-inspired beads as we leave the American northwest, home of many glass innovations. Gloria's polymer clay versions are thin, colorful, lightweight…and not nearly as breakable.

At Ravensdale

The first person I ran into at Ravensdale was Nan Roche (see her knot necklace here). Since it was late in the evening, I only took a few pictures and headed for the hotel.

Today I've run through two sets of camera batteries and there's more ahead. We've got plenty to look at for the next few weeks. The atmosphere is quieter and more professional than I recall at earlier conferences. Perhaps at year 10, Ravensdale has matured and we've started taking our art more seriously. The work certainly reflects that.

How nice to put faces with the web names I've been talking about for the past year. Stay tuned.

 

One more day

I'm deep in vacation mode, relaxing and breathing in the mountain air. This has had an adverse effect on my ability to think about polymer and compose sentences. 

Tomorrow I'll be shopping in some funky areas of Victoria which will no doubt get my juices flowing again. Until then, talk amongst yourselves. Check back tomorrow.

To Dye For


Usually I stay away from project books but "Clay Techniques to Dye For" is a treat, successfully combining artistry with how-to's.

The authors (Judy Belcher, Leslie Blackford, Kim Cavender, Donna Kato and Debbie Tlach) cleverly demonstrate how to use a number of Ranger products and Kato Clay in creative and fun ways.

It may take a while for the book to appear in your area. Check with the publisher (www.d-originals.com) or polkadotcreations.com to find a copy online. The earrings at right are a great new design from Judy Belcher.