Polymer Clay Daily

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Nancy Preston has long been a student of belief systems. After years of reading, she abandoned her books and started building her own vocabulary of images in her artwork. The resulting collages of paper, polymer clay, beads, metal leaf and other materials show her broad interests (from Madonas to Bodhisattvas) and considerable talent.

Nancy is an art school graduate and special needs art teacher in Cortland, New York. She also teaches polymer clay classes. See the class list on her site. Another thanks to Susan Rose for the find.

Canadian Clay

Montreal’s Sophie Dowse "hairwrapped" her way through California in 1999 and realized she could make quite a life for herself through her beads. And so she has.

Her pieces range from bright and simple to dense and complex. The extensive hair wrapping training helped her develop some dynamite weaving skills.

Her site is bright and inviting and her work is full of energy. Who but Susan Rose could find such a new talent? Thanks!

Polymer Books

Chicago’s Geraldine Newfry is crazy for books and polymer and collage. It all totals up to some wonderful artwork. I won’t pretend to understand how she does the binding but it’s impressive and quite nicely explained in this series of pictures.

Read more about her work and her classes on her web site. And as a bonus there are some pictures of her studio (I love to look).

Robin Johnston unearthed this web treasure! Thanks!

Not your mother’s earrings

The construction and colors of Susan Samitz’ earrings and necklaces are a wonderful departure from the norm. Very Jetsons. Very retro. Vermonter Susan says she’s been working in polymer clay since 1988 and she was pointed out to me by the ever-vigilant, super-googler Susan Rose.

Both Susans are great finds.

This feels like a good recovery from yesterday’s blunder. Several of you assure me that David Urso does indeed use resin to fabricate his jewelry. My mistake. Still, his pieces are lovely to look at…and could be made using polymer clay. Thanks for the clarification.

Sounds good

David Urso has eluded my radar by using "hand tinted resin" to describe his work. Correct me if I’ve been led astray but I believe what we have here is polymer clay. And nice polymer clay it is.

I admire how artists cleverly use words to elevate their work. In fact I envy their ability to make me wonder if I’ve misunderstood something. "Isn’t this polymer clay?" I ask myself sheepishly. I have to stop and think….and that’s the point, isn’t it? It’s not exactly easy to make something named "fimo" sound hifalutin.

Ultimately it’s the work, not the medium, that speaks the loudest. The trick is to force us to look closely at the work and Urso’s done that.

Kitsch

I’m a sucker for polymer covered Bic pens. I can’t explain it. They’re so kitsch, so basic yet when I see ones that are particularly well done like these from Karen Ottenbreit I can’t resist.

By the way…there’s now a search form on PCDaily to make finding artists easier…and the comment form has been repaired.

Spring Works

Loretta Lam has spring creations on her site and it’s time to take another peek. See, you will be rewarded if you update your pictures! Ronna Weltman was web surfing and found Lorettas’ new work. Note that Ronna’s site shows her new work as well.

Ronna sent me one off-topic link. While I try to stick to polymer sites, this one intrigues me with its different approach to PMC. So here’s a link to Hadar Jacobson’s site for the PMCers among you dear readers.

Nice Knobs

Here’s a fun site from Mary Walsh of Rhode Island. You’ll want to check out her clever "brag bead" bracelets.

I was most taken with her drawer knobs and custom pieces which show nice handling of color (from muted to punchy) and lots of experimenting with design (from quilts to Japanese inspirations).

I’d be nowhere without tips from viewers. Thanks to Susan Rose for this one.

Transfers

Seattle’s Sarah Wilbanks uses her collection of small paintings and drawings to provide inspiration for her sterling and polymer transfer pieces. “I’ve got bits of wallpaper, a print from my grandmother’s dress, old photos of a French language book for kids…there are so many different historical things I find.”

She crafts the bezels and then cuts precise circles and ovals from the baked polymer. Sarah’s jewelry is available through Facèré Jewelry Art Gallery in Seattle. You can read about her process here.