What are we looking at here from Moscow’s Juliya Laukhina? The translation isn’t helping much so let’s go with what our eyes tell us.
Juliya has loved repetition and detail in her round beads for years. But these pods take her obsessions in new and organic directions. She adds a variety of curvy forms, spikey balls, and lacey layers. What prompted this great change?
Go to her Instagram to examine each of these pods up close.
Her head was decorating the tree but her fingers were making earrings.
Texas’ Shelley Atwood says it was unintentional that her latest earrings look so right for the season. She textures the surface of embellishments with a stitch like pattern and stays away from the traditional holiday palette.
The ogee shape is based on Roman designs but today it reads like a delicate holiday ornament. Wear it or hang it? Ether way, it’s lovely.
These bright, cheery trees are from Italy’s Erika Bregani (Centodiecigrad).
Their sharp-edged shapes are covered with happily collaged patterns. Because Erika consistently uses bright colors and strong contrasts in her canes, even the smallest bits play nicely with each other and make sense.
She mixes and matches her earring pairs, putting a tree on one and an ornament on the other.
Tomorrow’s StudioMojo takes a look at some of polymer’s current cutting edge artists who are reflecting current cultural thoughts in their work. Join us for a look at what our work says about us.
“I pronounce you done,” said Virginia’s Melissa Terlizzi of her realistic polymer wedding cake topper.
Sculpting humans took her totally out of her comfort zone which usually keeps her in the animal kingdom.
Melissa offers tips on what she learned. It took her 9 heads and 6 pairs of glasses before she was pleased. See the in-process shots here.
Melissa gives credit to Maureen Carlson’s book (Family and Friends in Polymer Clay) for steering her in the right direction.
Thank you for your terrific response to the “Keep it rollin'” campaign for a new pasta machine for the inmates. Click the “donate now” button to the right of this post to add your Christmas cheer. Or you can buy Helen Breil’s new tutorial and get yourself a gift and help the women at the same time!
Michigan’s Georgeann Galante helped launch polymer lessons at the Ohio Reformatory for Women with her donation of 14 Atlas pasta machines several years ago. Those machines did not fare well when they were screwed down tightly to the tables. They eventually worked themselves apart.
We added a Lucy machine when we won the bid on it at the IPCA Synergy 4 auction. That machine is designed to be bolted down and continues to work well.
But one lone machine shared among the whole group slows production. So we’re raising money to buy another prison-approved roller to be used by the students in the Kindway polymer program.
You can help by buying Helen Breil’s newest In the Loop tutorial (a portion goes to the ORW program) or by donating to the program directly.
PCD will tell you more about the prison program as we sail through the holidays. Click in the right column to keep us rolling along.
Baltimore’s Amy Sun Ah (SunAhBlair) Is in the throes of the holiday bazaar season. While the repeated shapes in these earrings and pendant are straightforward, it’s the mix of patterns that makes them harmonize..
Amy deftly brings Victorian and Japanese textile designs to polymer via silkscreen and paints. Some, like the pendant here, are backed with slightly larger textured clay shapes and joined by a central crystal.
Visit her on Instagram and her site to experience the variety in her collections.
Connecticut’s Lisa Gauthier will hang this patchwork elephant on the tree in a competition that will benefit the Ronald McDonald House in New Haven.
I’m guessing that the patches are veneers made from scrap canes which Lisa makes look real and comfy.
The SCPCG has pulled out all the stops for this competition and we’ve featured several entries. Their Creatures Great and Small are winners in our book. Congrats to the guild for their outstanding efforts.
Join us over at StudioMojo this Saturday and be inspired by the latest shows and competitions. It’s beginning to look a lot like the holidays!
It’s not too early to shop, is it? For polymer art, you can’t do better online than Artful Home.
I searched the site for “polymer clay” and page after page of gorgeous jewelry popped up. I counted 22 polymer artists in this high-end catalog!
These simple circle studs from Pennsylvania’s Klara Borbas appealed to me. But oh, there’s much more!
CEO Lisa Bayne is to be congratulated for including such a rich selection of polymer art into her great online catalog. Judy Belcher and I met Lisa some years ago at an ACC meeting. Judy has a way of connecting with people and she certainly connected with Lisa and introduced her to polymer.
If you’re struggling with holiday shows, take a look and take heart! Stick with it and you’ll go places.
Russia’s Tanya Mayorova tops her crisp black and white patterns with highlights of gold that give this cuff, earrings, and necklace added graphic punch.
Big holed tube beads and a fat cord add the right touch for the bold graphics. Go bold, go big.
