Virginia’s Wiwat Kamolpornwijit calms his jittery nerves with a new spring line. This bracelet with magnetic closure reads differently depending on your perspective.
Patterned circles bend to reveal black and white graphics. “I’m too tired of being worried,” says Wiwat. “I started getting my hands on polymer again, and it really helped getting my mind in the right place.”
Would your mind feel better if your hands started moving?
New Delhi’s Jaishree Choudhary (JudaMani) creates mostly items based on Indian themes. These masks have more of an African flavor.
The features are added with a few rolls for lips and eyes and sharp triangular-shaped noses.
The colors add drama along with carved and textured details. Looking at the mask bases may tempt you to try to create your own tribe.
Jaishree has been working for several years to bring realism to her polymer figures and faces. Even her unpainted tiles have great power in their simple shapes adorned with abundant and accurate details.
Where do I our ideas spring from? That’s one of the subjects we’ll look at in this weekend’s StudioMojo. We found a fun and surprising story about how “what goes around, comes around.” Come on over to StudioMojo for a smile and a surprise.
I know very little about Cyprus’ Arieta Stavrodou except that she’s a strong, in-your-face, badass kinda woman.
And I want to paint like she does with polymer. Her 5″ x 6″ portrait is aggressive, driven, forceful with a soft underbelly and a discerning eye.
We’ve covered her wild teapots and other quirky works but her latest polymer paintings reveal something more.
See the power in her recent Instagram and follow her earlier works on Facebook.
Friends came back from a weekend class with Kentucky’s Leslie Blackford gushing about how much they’d learned about clay…and themselves.
There’s something touching, innocent, and vulnerable in Leslie’s unending series of loveable animal sculptures. How does she do that?
For the next few weeks, she will show how she imbues simple sculpted animals with irresistible qualities.
Class details are on Facebook. The tutorials are accessible, inexpensive and just the kind of play your inner child may be yearning for in rough times.
After so many years of posting, I don’t question why I choose items to post. I trust my gut and this one feels like a warm blanket on a comfy sofa.
Indiana’s Anita Long (nee.nee.ree) makes her ring bowl look like a really restorative nap. Soft and cozy. Not your usual one-layer ring bowl.
Want to step your bowls up a notch? Add a few more layers and it feels like a cuddle. Who couldn’t use a cuddle?
How do you picture this menacing virus? Polymer is a perfect medium for giving you an outlet for venting your anger, anxiety, and fears.
Here New York’s Nicole Johnson (mealymonsters) and Indiana’s Amy Hucks (supersculptor) show you their interpretations.
Nicole calls her containers of polymer specimens caught in resin Germ Jars.
Amy’s are more prickly and they’re wearing masks.
I’d love to see your versions of this monster.
Perth, Australia’s Bonnie Gilmore (Hatching Sparrows) loved making these commissioned statement earrings. They are a vibrant mix of colors, cultures, and styles. They combine ancient culture with a modern twist.
The earrings combine stories of family, history, weddings, Peranakan (Chinese) outfits, and favorite flowers. “I loved using elements of traditional culture alongside the client’s modern-day self,” she says.
Bonnie adds small sculpted polymer elements onto a slab base. Here she photographs the finished earrings laid on a magazine page to stunning effect. She gives us a breath of Spring. See more of Bonnie’s gorgeous polymer appliques on Instagram.
Need more beautiful reminders of spring? Come on over to StudioMojo for a look at what beauty these difficult times have forced into bloom. You’ll be pleased with the stories we uncovered this week.
Russia’s Tanya Mayorova suggests her labor-intensive, mosaic-style Planet pendant design as a good project for those with time on their hands.
She lines up small cane slices in sections on the outside of four-layer domed pendants. Aligning the slices looks a little compulsive, rather soothing and totally stunning.
See her designs on her Instagram. She sells a tutorial but I couldn’t locate it.
What can you do when you’re drawn to one more look at the news? Instead, try this link to Arizona’s Meg Newberg (Polymer Clay Workshop). You’ll be hypnotized by her simple, scrappy blends.
A solid background color unifies the crazy, devil-may-care dots of companion colors.
Whatever she throws into the blend oozes into its neighbor to make a lovely ombre.
The idea that a hot mess turns into something lovely is a hopeful analogy for today. Go watch and feel hopeful. Several more on her Instagram.
Maryland’s Jeffrey Lloyd Dever presents his Passage Obscura. Hanging from a long pin back, reminiscent of a medal hung on a presentation ribbon, this single round medallion has backfilled surface detailing,
For Jeff, the piece serves witness to the forces at work in a chaotic world, to obscure vision and all too often smother hope.
Two bright rays of hope come from the tutorials that educate and distract us. Click through France’s Sonya Girodon’s textures here and Utah’s Jana Roberts Benzon faux alcohol inks here. They share their inspiration free for all during tough times.
Stay strong!
